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Mrs. Kim nodded. “Unfortunately, I was unable to tell you what our future plans were in the women’s ministry until they’d been approved by Pastor Kim and the deacons.”
“I understand.”
“When you decided to move to Florida, that made me scramble to find someone who can not only be a ministry assistant but also an event coordinator.”
“Oh.”
“What will your new position be at Lakeside Resort?”
Maggie was surprised that Mrs. Kim knew where she was going. She tried to think of who might have talked to Mrs. Kim.
“Don’t worry. Just know that I have friends everywhere.”
Riona, Pastor “Fizz” Fitzpatrick’s wife, would be among her friends, Maggie ventured to guess. After all, Pastor Fizz had beena counseling pastor at Midtown Chapel for a number of years until the Lord called him to pastor Lakeside Chapel for a year while training the next “Timothy,” Maggie’s brother, Malachi.
“Marketing assistant to Colette Fitzpatrick, the director of Lakeside Resort,” Maggie answered. “I’ll be doing similar things to what I’ve been doing here. I schedule things for her, manage her social media, and whatever else she needs done at the office.”
“However, you will not be scheduling events.”
“No. They already have an event coordinator who does that.”
“Here at Midtown, you were able to schedule events in the same job you had.”
“I love doing that. Organizing events for the women’s ministry as well as for Tally’s speaking engagements have been the highlight of my job here at the church.”
“I know. Not only has Tally told me about your efficiency, I’ve also seen it myself this year.” Mrs. Kim leaned back in the loveseat. “To be honest with you, I don’t see myself entering the speaking engagement circuit. I’m not like Tally. My gift is more in the area of meeting needs and filling gaps in church.”
Maggie agreed. Mrs. Kim and Tally were totally different in their approach to ministry work.
“For example, our church is growing quickly,” Mrs. Kim said. “Last week our preschool area was almost bursting at the seams. While the children are ministered to, how about their mothers? Tired and overworked, no pay, no salary. How can the women’s ministry better meet their needs? That’s what I think about all the time.”
I want to help!
Maggie waited.
“At the meeting upstairs, I mentioned that we need an event coordinator. That is to say, the women’s ministry needs to find two people in January: a ministry assistant to replace you, andan event coordinator to help me organize all these activities for mothers, single women, career women, widows, and so forth. We will minister to all women at our church.”
“How is the event coordinator job different from what I’ve been doing thus far?”
“You know what a ministry assistant is supposed to do. If I need a poster or flyer, you make me a poster or flyer. If I need to make an announcement, you write me the copy. If I need a brochure done, you make it happen. If people call the office, you answer the phone. You are all-in-one.”
It was by God’s mercy and grace that Maggie had been able to do that, both at church and at the Village.
“When Tally was here, she was skilled at organizing events for the women’s ministry. Under her, you have learned to organize and do some of the work that she did,” Mrs. Kim explained. “In many ways, you have been apprenticed and now you’re a journeyman event coordinator.”
“I see. So you’re saying that while I was being paid as a ministry assistant, I did a lot of things outside my original job position because of Tally.”
“It’s not Tally’s fault. We didn’t give her enough human resources to do the job. So the two of you were a formidable team who could get anything done, and to do them unto the Lord without extra monetary compensation. For example, how many times have you worked extra on your own after work hours and on weekends because you couldn’t get everything done in forty hours a week?”
“Especially if we have events and activities everywhere. I carry my tablet around so I don’t lose track of the schedules.”
“If I hire a new ministry assistant, she will most likely only be the administrative assistant and nothing more. She will be paid less than you were. She will not be organizing events in lieu ofa director or managing low-income housing at the Village.” Mrs. Kim paused.
Maggie began to see where Mrs. Kim was heading.
“In many churches, workers wear many hats. This is a critical problem and could lead to high turnovers at any ministry. As a counselor, I can say that doing multiple jobs under one salary and working outside your skillset can burn you out. It is my hope that Midtown doesn’t cause its workers to burn out.”
“Are you saying that since Tally left our church, I’ve been holding down three people’s jobs?” Maggie hadn’t been aware, but here it was.
