HIRING A SECRETARY AND ASSOCIATE PASTOR

 Rockyview Alliance Church

With the the rapid growth in attendance, my plate was full.  I had to prepare two sermons each week, serve as chairman of the church board, do all the secretarial work which included preparing and printing the bulletin, answering the phone, and all the other paper work, etc. that is part of a church office.  Being in the midst of a building program brought additional work, including frequent building committee meetings, meeting with the architect, etc.  High on my list of priorities was visitation.  Leona and I tried to visit all of the members and the newcomers, which not only meant making visits during the daytime, but also two evenings a week, with at least two calls each of those evenings. Since so many of our congregation were young couples, with both husband and wife working, they were not home during the daytime and evening was the only time that we could find them home. Thankfully we were forty years younger than we are now.  

The first secretarial staff, which the church hired, was a Bible school student, Moreen Brandt, who was endeavoring to raise support for a short term mission ministry in Japan. Being involved in a building program brought a lot of extra work.  Moreen did a lot of secretarial work, organizing files, which were pretty well non existent, mailings and matters relating to our building program.  She was a big help, relieving me of the office work.  She was with us the summer of 1978, working in a room in our basement which served as an office.  She was able to organize things in the office that helped see me through the next year.

The fall of 1979, when we moved into our building, the church hired Leona, who served as secretary and receptionist.  She started off at two days a week, increasing to three and then to four days.  When we needed a secretary for five days a week, she stepped aside and we hired Lois Thompson.  Lois only served for about six months, resigning due to some health issues and then after her recovery became Paul Maxwell's secretary at Prairie Bible Institute.  We then hired Teresa Born, who served us well, working at the church for some time following my resignation.  I was able to leave the operating of the office in her hands.

In the summer of 1980, when we were beginning to see a Sunday morning attendance of around 300, the church hired Allen and Suzanne Powles as an associate pastor.  The Powles were a great help and I was able to share my pastoral responsibilities with Allen.  I couldn't have picked a better assistant than Allen.  We worked well together and I was relieved of some of the pressure.  Allen was also a great help in the area of music and an excellent soloist.

 Allen Powles quizzing four men re marriage at an adult social event


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