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110 South Euclid

Pasadena, CA 91101

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(800) 244-UMCC

(626) 568-7300

(626) 796-7297 (Fax)

 

Congregational leaders and business owners know the same important truth: every organization succeeds or falls based on its people. A church and a restaurant both depend on the greeting a first time visitor receives coming through the door; a manufacturer and a Sunday School class both depend upon the quality of hands-on, personal competency that a teacher and a line worker bring to their jobs.

 

This also means that, given half a chance, leaders in both church and business will slip into complaining about the inevitable turnover of people in jobs, both paid and volunteer: it’s hard to find good people, to keep good people, and life keeps interfering all the time. Here at the Conference Center, it feels like there has been even more turnover than usual: including Bishop Swenson, 40 people worked in the Conference Center up through this past fall. But since July 1, 2009, there have been changes in 14 jobs involving twenty people, a change-rate of 35%.

 

The first change was the overdue response to Grant Hagiya being elected Bishop: the Rev. Sue D’Alessio picked up where he left off as Executive Director of the Leadership Center, starting July 1^st. At the same time, two more changes at the professional level were straightforward reductions: when the Rev. Keith Hwang left Connectional Ministries to pastor a congregation, the Leadership Team and Episcopacy Committee agreed to the Bishop’s proposal to cut the position of Executive Assistant to the Bishop in half, and add the Connectional Ministries duties in at half. (The Rev. Gary Keene continues in this dual role, pending action on changes proposed at the Conference Session in June.)

 

Next, the Board of Camping and Retreat Ministries moved to control costs in the camping system by deleting one full-time management position; the manager at Camp Wrightwood now carries a dual responsibility for both Camp Colby and Wrightwood. Also in camping administration, there was a one-for-one transition when Patti Palomo left to start her own business, and Michelle Corbett was welcomed to the team.

 

In the Connectional Ministries office, five support staff positions were trimmed down to two and a half: one person retired, another took a new job, another was let go, another swapped jobs from Congregational Development over into Connectional Ministries, and yet another job was cut to half-time, which was picked up by a person already doing one half-time job, so now there’s one full-time role split between two offices.

In other areas of ministry, accounting closed one part-time job, exited another and has been utilizing the services of a temporary employee until that position is posted and filled. Also, late in 2009, our Conference Chancellor Stephen Harbison set up shop in the Center to work on a consulting basis for the Conference Trustees and Treasurer’s office. In Human Resources (personnel) Linda Beatty became a mom and moved with her husband back east, and everyone welcomed Tamara Hammock in her place to the family of Center employees.

 

Over in Communications, discontinuing Circuit West meant closing out the job of editor, and graphics designer / writer Mark Stuckey shifted from full-time to an on-call contract, freeing him to finish his graduate education. In the Media Center, many people know Julie Garcia’s story; her family was burned out of their home in the Station Fire, and after a surprise gift from the Ellen DeGeneres TV show, the Garcia family chose to move to Pennsylvania where that gift could provide a new home. (Since then, the Media Center has hired Justin Crutchfield on a part-time basis.)

 

Coming up next, the Rev. Jim Conn will retire from serving as Director of New Ministries; the Leadership Team and Board of Congregational Development are in the midst of a hiring process, hoping to name the next director before Annual Conference. The Rev. Woong-Min Kim will leave the appointive cabinet to start a new church in Los Angeles, and the Rev. Tom Choi will take his place as Hawaii District Superintendent. Finally, life goes on as Director of Camping and Facilities Paul Cogger has announced his resignation, effective just before Christmas, which means starting up the next search process for people interested in serving the mission of this Annual Conference.