Cool Church XP: What do you do, anyway, Clother?

Quite often people stumble over my title when introducing me at church, sometimes people ask me point blank "what do you do all week?" and "What's your background?" Here's some stuff for you if you've ever wondered! If not, I promise to post something more interesting in a few days!

In our early years at Abundant Life we used to joke that all George did was preach a message, do a wedding or two and go on a bike ride. What a great job! Of course we knew that wasn't true. The life of a pastor is a 24/7 proposition, and when others are catching their evening TV shows, or at a ball game, pastors all over are on call and quite often "at work."

A pastor's work week is typically at least 50 hours, and often many more. When I first started on staff I was working 65-70. Not healthy! But there are still weeks where the Pastors at Abundant Life push those crazy limits, and we certainly discourage it. Be sure to thank your pastors for their tireless service, and encourage them to spend time with their families and play!

As Executive Pastor, my primary purpose is to oversee the staff and operations at Abundant Life. Basically I put arms and legs to the mission, vision, and values of the church. Given Abundant Life is a growing church that is constantly adapting to its size and calling, my primary work is in program and staff development and “change management."

My background is engineering and executive management and I've been serving in the leadership of Abundant Life pretty much since George began back in '89. I switched from Elder to Executive Pastor in 2004, leaving my secular role as president of Anthony-Ross company for career ministry.

Here are some more details of what I do...

Report directly to the Senior Pastor, with a dashed line responsibility to the Eldership, especially in financial and strategic matters.

Protect the Senior Pastor’s best interests and initiatives for the church, developing staffing to this end and assuring that communications and perceptions accurately reflect his heart.

Oversee the operations and ministries of Abundant Life, helping daily with various decisions, as well as program, policy and procedure development.

Oversee the Senior Staff, dialogue with them daily for real time decisions, and meet for “one on ones” every other week to mentor, coach, and resource them.

Meet with the Senior Pastor weekly to update him on activities, plans, and priorities, as well as to gain perspective and/or direction for bigger issues.

Work with the staff to prepare mid and long term strategies and plans to support our mission, vision, and values, including program and site development.

Prepare for and co-lead staff planning sessions.

Serve as the “first responder” to church and staff crisis.

Serve as top level “customer service.” If there is anything “wrong” that has not been taken care of by others, I take responsibility for assuring the best resources to resolve the situation are dispatched, or take care of it myself, including personal meetings when necessary.

Serve as a member of the Communication Team for church wide communication strategies.

Oversee Personal Care (benevolence, counseling, hospital visitation, helping hands, prayer, marriage mentoring), including initial meetings with individuals needed to connect to these resources.

Fill in for responsibilities we have not yet staffed for, and for other staff members when they do not have the “band-width.”

Act as the Business Manager overseeing a team that includes Accounting, Human Resources, Facilities, Information Systems, Communication Arts, and Office/Adult Ministries Administration.

Prepare the annual budget proposal and finalized annual budget.

Prepare monthly and annual financial commentary for the Elders, and am responsible for the budget and expense side of the ministry.

Oversee campus quality assurance, and regularly check in on weekend programming at each campus, as well as other mid-week ministries and activities. For alignment with our teachings and strategy.

Co-teach the Membership Class, and lead the Connection meeting at Happy Valley.

Perform funerals and other similar pastoral duties on an as needed basis.

Serve as a “Pastor on Call" during the week.

Attend monthly Elders meetings and serve as secretary for meeting minutes.

Serve as Secretary/Treasurer from a corporate officer perspective.

Resourcing other church’s leadership including involvement with mentoring 15 other pastors, as well as assisting other ministries that make contact needing help/advice.

On a voluntary basis, Cynthia and I are active in marriage mentoring, and I'm serving on the steering committee for this year's BikeMS event.

In the middle of all this I prioritize time with my family, and enjoy living in a three generation household with Cynthia, our son and his wife, and our two grandchildren. I love working on our house and yard, keeping our cars running, and fixing anything else that breaks around here. Oh yes, and I like to ride my bike. I'm going to go do that now!

This post is dedicated to Jim Finucane and Steve Jones. Two men I partner with and respect a lot who also love to ask me "so what do you do all week?" Jim and Steve, that's what I do all week!