The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 4

I've been talking about the people that make our church great.  So far all of the groups and teams that I've mentioned serve in volunteer roles.  No church can be great without passionate, committed, hard working and competent volunteers and FCBC is full of them.  And I'm so thankful to pastor a church with such amazing volunteer leaders.

But a great church also has to have a great staff and at FCBC that's what we have.  Besides myself we have six paid staff members and everyone of them has tremendous gifts and strengths.  While I don't have the space to mention all that each person brings to the table I do want to share a couple of strengths of each of our staff.  Feel free to add to the list in the comment section.

Brian is our Student Pastor.  He's also a stay home dad which I think is amazing in and of itself.  Brian not only loves students and wants to see them commit their total lives to Christ, he also has a unique ability to understand their culture and help them translate their faith into that culture.  Brian has a unique way of communicating with students that not only helps them understand biblical truth and how it relates to their lives but also challenges them to be different people because of their faith and relationship with Christ.

Another strength of Brian's, that I've come to appreciate, is his ability to reframe a discussion in a way that creates unity.  Many times our staff and other teams need to have discussions about how to move forward, make a change or do something new.  Sometimes those discussions, because they are so important to everyone, can get serious and passionate and occasonally heated (it's actually a healthy process.)  Because he has the ability to understand different cultures (including generations) and their languages Brian has the ability to re-frame the conversation in a way that give clarity and brings people to the same page.

Cathy's title is Ministry Assistant but that title does not do her justice because of the many ways she serves and the many hats she wears.  Cathy manages the office, directs much of our communication, produces most of our publications, provides support for special projects and events, gives administrative support to staff and teams and the list goes on.  It's a position that requires a lot of flexibility and Cathy is one of the most flexible people I know.  Because we have a church that embraces change and is constantly in a state of movment there's always an element of chaos around.  Cathy also has the ability to do great work in the middle of that chaos.

She's also always willing to jump in where ever she is needed and has the ability to push through and do whatever it takes to make a ministry, event or project a success.  Her role on our team is very much behind the scenes and she deserves a lot of credit for our church's successes.  In writing this one of the things I've come to realize is that Cathy's work, in one way or another, touches every ministry, every event, every project - literally every aspect of our church.

Carolyn I. is our Pastor of Fellowship.  She wears several hats and leads two important areas in our church - small groups and hospitality.  Carolyn has the spiritual gift of hospitality and that gift is evident in the warm, friendly and inviting atmosphere she has helped us create on Sunday mornings.  In fact the number one positive feedback we get from first-time guests has to do with our hospitality ministry.  Carolyn also coordinates our small groups and since each of our small groups are unique with their own personalities this requires her to have a lot of flexibility, patience, and organization.

Another strength that Carolyn brings to our church is her experience in the corporate world.  Before joining our staff she was a nurse and adminstrator for Sunrise Assisted Living.  Time and time again she has used that experience as a pastor to support the senior adults in our church as well as our younger generations who have parents moving in to senior adulthood.  This can be a challenging time for entire families and Carolyn's willingness to use her previous experience has helped to support and encourage many of our families.

Carolyn R. is our accountant and all around financial expert.  Before she joined our staff our church's accounting had always been done by volunteers.  Those volunteers did a wonderful job with our finances but having a dedicated staff person in the position has made a huge difference and has helped us have even greater financial health.

Over the last few years Carolyn has made systematic improvements to the way we manage and report our finances.  She's worked along side of our Administrative Council to help us create financial policies that will protect our church and protect those who work with our budget and finances.  She makes sure that our church has transparency and integrity in all areas of our finances.  Carolyn is also a key part of our staff as she helps each staff member understand their area of our budget and helps them track their spending and plan for the future.

Elise is our Children and Missions Pastor and like most of our staff she wears lots of hats.  Elise was the first Children's Pastor in our church's history.  She also came to know Christ as a teenager at FCBC.  Children have always been a priority at FCBC and Elise, through her creativity and willingness to think outside the box, has brought a level of professionalism and a quality to that area of ministry that we didn't have before.  She has a heart to see children come to know God, grow in their love for him and allow that love to spill over into the people in their lives and around the world.

Elise is also passionate about "the least of these" in our community and in our world.  Over the last several years our church's heart has grow tremendously for the hurting people in our community and in our world and much of that is due to Elise's influence and leadership.  When she joined our staff Elise was one of just a couple of people in our church who had ever traveled on an international mission trip.  Today everyone of our staff have participated in a least one international mission trip and the number of people who have served internationally through FCBC is well over 50 people.

Elise' also has what I call a pastor's heart - she genuinely cares about people and is great in situations where people are going through a difficulty and need pastoral care, support, guidance and wisdom.

Susan is our worship leader and she's a gifted musician and songwriter.  Leading worship is more than just creating great music, it's about creating an environment that helps individuals shift their focus and attention to God.  Through Susan's leadership that happens every Sunday morning.  One of the things I love about how Susan does this is the amount of prayer she puts into the process.  Not only does she spend personal time in prayer as she prepares, she also leads our team to be prayerful about what they do.

Susan has also created a great team.  I'm so impressed with her ability to take a group of passionate and creative people with many different personalities and shape them into a unified team.  That's no easy task and requires a lot of patience, humility, organization and love.  Another strength that I appreciate about Susan is her ability to spot talent and incorporate that talent into our worship team.  Our team is made up of a lot of voices and a lot of different instruments and Susan has found a way to blend them all into some truly great music.

As I said behind every great church is a great staff.  I'm so thankful that our church has a staff that loves what they do, has the gifts and talents to do it well and works together as a team to ensure the church's best interested are our focus.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what makes our church great.  Whether it's our staff or our volunteer leaders and teams, what qualities do you appreciate most?