Our regular worship leader has been on sabbatical, and just asked our SP for even more time (Now, to me "sabbatical" is oftentimes Christianese for, "I want to quit, but I want to feel better about it," but I digress!).
My nursery coordinator, who has a degree in music and has experience leading worship teams at previous churches, was approached by my pastor and asked to help give the adult worship team some leadership and direction...with the possibility of it turning into a permanent, full time position for her (depending on what happens with "Mr. Sabbatical.").
While it would be great to have someone overseeing that area full time, and it would be a blast to have her on staff with me if it comes to that...
WAH!!!!!!!!! (**stomps foot and goes and sulks in a corner**)
I want my nursery coordinator!!!! She is excellent at what she does, which, let's face it, is why she's being pursued. And she has felt God leading her back to the area of worship ministry.
But...sigh.
I am no match for God and my senior pastor teaming up to snag this person away from the early childhood department. I am more or less venting here because I really can't vent anywhere else at the present moment.
Just pray...if you would...that if God is leading my coordinator AWAY from me, that he will lead someone else TOWARD this area of ministry (and that they'll listen to Him. And soon!).
God always blesses when you release those into ministry that He has given you relationship with. There will be someone even as gifted and in love with those kids and the heart that goes along with it.
You will reap what you sow..sow her into the worship team and watch what God can grow out of her, you, and the new awesome Nursery Worker!
If you don't have quality nursery provided, let's face it, it's going to REALLY affect the church in a bad way and you won't be able to keep families with babies. And, if there's not good worship in the sanctuary, let's face it, nobody's coming back no matter what age they are. I have been in both predicaments.
I totally understand why you are stressed. Do you have anyone at all on the burner? One thing my dh and I decided would be best in that ministry years ago is to have several people in the "leadership" of the nursery with one main point person, but two "assistants." Our plan if the head person resigned would be to ask one of the assistants to take it if at all possible, or at least while we were waiting in the interim (never mind that the interim could take years...ha ha!) they would cover it.
I know this is one of the hardest areas of the church and probably THE most difficult to fill, so your angst is understandable. I know you're basically "staff person extraordinaire" (I've told you before I really admire you in that aspect) and you know the dilemma your pastor is in and don't blame them...however it doesn't mean your job is any easier.
Well, apparently she wasn't so excellent at nursery coordinating...because the whole area is falling apart.
I need a new coordinator...I have very few prospects...I apparently have people ready to quit because it's so chaotic...and our pastor's daughter (grown, married, two small kids) goes and WHINES to her parents every time she doesn't like something - and I'm sorry, but she is really getting unbearabley whiney! She is UBER-picky about who she leaves her kids with, and if she personally has a problem with someone, then "that person should not be in the nursery/preschool."
I'm sorry, but I do not have time to run the ministry based on who this person likes or does not like. Give me a solid reason, other than "I don't trust them," and I'll run with it (obviously, all of my workers go through an application process and are background checked, and if there are any questions, I run it by my SP before I officially put them on the schedule!).
I know there are problems that need to be fixed. I know we need a new coordinator, because it is physically impossible for me to be in two places at once on a Sunday morning. I know that early childhood recruitment is an ongoing thing, and I have honestly been working on it (to be totally honest, preschool has been my #1 priority because I just had about 4 people drop off!).
The thing is - we (and by "we," I mean me, PW and her daughter - she's been assisting with the scheduling) are meeting tomorrow night after church to talk about all of this - plus some other ideas.
And I don't mind meeting at all - I don't mind working on making things better - I'm all about that. I am just feeling like I'm going to be "ganged up on." PW and her daughter are extremely close, and we're talking about the program that their children/grandchildren are part of. Since:
a. I'm not a parent; b. The program under MY leadership is pretty much falling apart, and c. I am talking to a mother/daughter team, one of whom is my co-senior pastor;
I pretty much feel like I don't have a leg to stand on here!!! I guess...pray for me, because I am seriously dreading this meeting tomorrow, and I want to get a good night's sleep tonight.
Okay, feeling much better today. Panic attack over, lol!!!
My DH has volunteered to take over the nursery coordinator position. He is SUPER organized and is an excellent recruiter - seriously, every job he has had started out as mass chaos until he stepped in and whipped it into shape...his current job included (he has been told by his supervisor's supervisor that he can NEVER leave!).
He is not going to do it forever and ever. His plan is to whip the place into shape and then recruit someone from the church body to "groom" and take over once everything is running like clockwork. This is in accordance with my "hit by a bus" theory of work/ministry. That is, if I were to be hit by a bus today, would the ministries under me be able to function, or would they fall apart? I want ALL my department heads to be working themselves out of a job!!!
Obviously, he cannot fill in if someone doesn't show up on Sundays - because I need him in kids' church...LOL!!! But he can do everything else that the job requires, and is planning to recruit people from the existing schedule to be "on call" in case of emergencies. Our PW pointed out, "At least we'd know the coordinator was communicating with the children's pastor!" This has been a struggle in the past.
He said, "Hey - in other churches, the CP's spouse oversees early childhood - why should we be any different?"
This is another reason why my husband rocks my world - we really do make a great team!!
I am also not as worried about the other aspect of it - that is, feeling "ganged up on" by my PW and her daughter. Now that I've spent some time sleeping on it, I realize that isn't going to happen that way. It's going to be fine...
And I've got a few meetings I need to prep for now - so adios for now!
