Ministry Support

Jim McClure, Director

What is the Director of Ministry Support? The Director of Ministry Support position was created this year by the Session to join Pastors John and George as a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Under the leadership of the Session, the three of us are responsible for developing and implementing the strategies that will permit Central to become a "church without walls." My responsibilities are to provide strategic direction, oversight and support in the areas of administration, human resources, finance, legal concerns, facilities management, communications and information technology. I will also focus on management of staff, resources, processes, policies and procedures needed to support the church and its ministries. The people who serve as the Ministry Support Staff have a special calling to serve the body at Central by supporting the various ministries. The following is a review of these key areas.

ADMINISTRATION
   Sandy Strawhand

The Administrative staff is called to be the hands and feet of Jesus on a daily basis here at Central Presbyterian Church. By supporting our Pastors and Directors, scheduling rooms, keeping the rooms cooled and heated, just to name a few, the staff does an excellent job. Quite often, folks need assistance immediately and the staff is there to help in the best way possible. The broad group of tasks this staff does is too numerous to list, but there is a definite calling to serve the Body in the administrative area.

COMMUNICATIONS
   Wanda Parks

The primary function of the church is to communicate ~ communicate the Good News to the world; communicate to believers about what God is doing in the Body of Christ at Central and throughout the world; communicate to believers the most effective ways to accomplish their calling. Through communications, the world is growing smaller and we have an opportunity to reach the world not only through paper communications but also electronically through the Internet. People find Central through the website. Email provides a method to communicate to the members of the body at Central in a more rapid and cost-effective manner. Whether it is Sunday bulletins, News & Views, or the website, our Communications staff is dedicated to fulfill God's calling in all areas of effective communications.

FINANCE
   Brenda Ames-Ledbetter

We are commanded in the Word to be good stewards of our time, talents and treasures. The Finance area is called to ensure that all of the finances of the church are managed in an appropriate way. Our Finance staff is dedicated and faithful to this calling. From weekly accounting for gifts to assisting the leadership and ministries in the effective use of the resources that God has given us, the Body can know that effective control and trustworthy stewards are managing His resources at Central.

FACILITIES

The facilities at Central are used 365 days a year, usually 6:00 or 7:00 am to 9:00 or 10:00 pm every day. To provide for a clean, well-maintained facility, there is a team of dedicated folks who work extremely hard and are very flexible with their time to accomplish this mission. Literally, there are hundreds of room usages each month which require cleaning, setups and take downs, and building maintenance. There is always exterior maintenance to be done to present the world with the message that Central is a God-honoring place.

TECHNOLOGY
   Jim McClure

Technology is a wonderful set of tools to be used for enabling and enhancing ministry. Central has a great set of tools supported by key volunteers in the areas of website, computer hardware/software/network, security systems, multi-media/graphics, database technology, financial and office applications, office and telecommunications systems. Since most of these technologies are used "behind the scenes," it is easy to take them for granted, but the staff and volunteers who support and use them on a daily basis are called to use them for the glory of God and they do it extremely well.

WEBSITE
   Jeff Wilkinson

Central's website continues to support our vision and our ministries by reaching way beyond our walls into every household connected to the Internet. Our vision is to provide not only a welcoming introduction and community site for CPC, but to reach out with strong biblical teaching via sermons and other teaching resources. The 334+ sermon transcripts and 177+ sermon MP3's are popular, making up over 30% of our site's hits and drawing people to our site directly from search engines. This year, we started helping people find our sermons using podcasting feeds, enabling easy automatic download of recent sermons into MP3 players. Also new is a photo sharing area for photos of Central ministries and events.

MINISTRY SUPPORT
   Jim McClure

Supporting the development of both existing and new ministries is a key responsibility for the Director of Ministry Support. Ultimately, the goal will be to work closely with ministry team leaders operating both within and outside of these church walls to ensure that they are appropriately resourced and supported to accomplish their mission.

THANK YOU --- JANICE CHUBSKI!

Janice Chubski has faithfully served the ministries at Central as the Office Manager for the last seven years. She has been the glue behind the scenes that has made things run smoothly and her exemplary service and dedication to this calling is second to none. We rejoice with Janice on God's calling to a new ministry, however, to say she will be missed would be a monumental understatement. May God continue to bless you, Janice.

In conclusion, the Ministry Support staff feels blessed in so many ways- visits from God's precious children, friendly animals, and some very kind folks who just drop by to say hello. It is such a pleasure to work in this very busy office and meet and greet so many wonderful people. There are many occasions when the staff just stops what they are doing and prays because someone has just told them of a joy or a concern. We are all working for the Lord and he blesses us every day.