|
|
INTRODUCTION The roles of the church secretary have changed. Our job is much more demanding and requires constant attention. Managing a busy life at the office in addition to getting the things done that we need to in our personal lives can be very challenging at times. Our commitment to ministry and the men and women of God that we serve makes our jobs even more demanding than many of our counterparts in corporate America. Ministry is a whole different ball game. Not only does the church secretary have to be spiritually mature, she/he must be professionally skilled as well. Having worked as an engineer in corporate America, I have learned to mesh two worlds, corporate and church, in order to be more productive as a church secretary. When I first took the position as Executive Assistant to Pastor Irishea Lewis at New Light Church I had been a member for 7 years. I really didn’t want to become a staff person because of all of the “drama” I’d heard existed in ministry, and I didn’t want any parts of that. Little did I know, I was walking into my destiny to wholeheartedly serve an amazing woman of God. I also didn’t know that I was about to work harder than I had ever worked before. I jumped into the job headfirst and found that by the grace of God I had already developed many skills that caused me to shine as an Assistant. Things that came naturally to me were what made me stand out. I am an organizer by nature so some things were easier than others. It is also natural for me to cringe on the inside when a phone rings... I hate talking on the phone. I always have. And I absolutely hate filing. So what did I do? I developed a system for doing the things that I hated so that I’d have more time to do the things that I loved like writing, organizing and planning. The systems make everyday tasks so routine, they almost complete themselves. Today’s churches have the difficult job of running their offices like the businesses that they are while keeping in line with the vision given to their pastors by God. My goal is to help church secretaries, executive assistants (EA's), and administrative assistants (AA's), regardless of denomination or tenure, become better at the work that is so dear to their hearts. I am not trying to be anyone’s pastor. I strongly believe that sheep should be fed by their Shepherd. My desire is to provide practical tools and strategies that will help you do your job effectively and with efficiency. I want to help you better utilize available resources and technology and as a result, cause your ministry to stand out. When you get more done, your leader can focus more on hearing from God and accomplishing more in the Kingdom of God. With a few small changes, you’ll be clicking on all cylinders. Your families will benefit. Your Pastor will benefit. And you will benefit. That, my friend, is my greatest desire. Sometimes just keeping up with our regular schedules can get overwhelming. If we sit and dwell on the mountains of tasks that we have to accomplish each day we can get weighed down by it all. Fortunately, with just a few minor adjustments to how you work, you’ll be able to get more work done, stress less and look good doing it. Here at New Light, we have multiple major events throughout the year. We do have a Special Events department that organizes many of the events that we have, however there are some events that my boss (Pastor Lewis) handles directly. In addition, she is also responsible for the oversight of every event that happens at our church. For example, the manager of the Special Events department reports directly to Pastor Lewis. So events like our monthly men’s and women’s meetings are under her managerial oversight. And as you can imagine, any job that lands on her desk lands on my desk as well. Some of the events that we’ve handled directly include our Bishop’s Confirmation Ceremony, our annual youth conference (Spiritual Encounter), our First Lady’s 50th Birthday Gala, and our annual worship concert, to name a few. All of these events require the coordination of guest transportation & lodging, floor direction, sound checks and rehearsals, contract negotiations and more. Basically, it entails making sure the event goes as planned and looks flawless (notice I said “looks” because things will happen). In 2006, I had the awesome job of managing our Spiritual Encounter youth conference, from beginning to end. I must say that Pastor Lewis prepared me well. She gave me a highlevel list of everything that needed to be accomplished for the conference and I had to make sure it all got done. From booking artists and decorating the stage to coordinating projects with volunteers and writing dramas and video scripts, I was ultimately responsible for it all. At times, she was out of the country with very limited contact but I still had to get it all done. Did our office shut down because we were having a conference? I wish. Members still called needing counseling, we still had to travel across the country for speaking engagements and we still had our regular church events and services. In other words, I had to learn how to manage it all. The mechanics of handling it all is what I want to share with you in this book. God gives us grace for our assignment and calling. Our job is to tap into that grace through prayer and abiding in Him. However, he also gives us common sense. This job is probably more spiritual than natural, but there are some things that you can do in the natural that will expand your limitations in the results you produce. So where do you begin? Sincerely,
  | |||
|
