Not too long ago, we had the good fortune of moving an existing staff member into an Operations Pastor role. For the most part, she focuses on the facility. It’s big enough for a whole staff of people, but having her in the position is a great start. Basically, she is now the coordinator of the volunteer team that does the actual work.
One of the first things I said to our new Operations Pastor, in the first few weeks of her new role, was, “The facilities game never ends!” Call it “job security” I guess :). I know from first-hand experience that taking care of a building and campus is a “never-ending battle.”
In our case, we are blessed to have two buildings (more than 50,000 square feet) and 19 acres of land. It’s an awesome thing to have a 1,000 seat venue and lots of children’s/student space for services on Sunday morning. It’s almost as awesome to have some nice office space in which to work through the week.
But, it means there are …
- 22 toilets
- 9 urinals
- 1 poop grinder
- Lots of paper towel dispensers, soap dispensers, sinks, mirrors, etc.
- 14 separate HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) units
- 14 separate, programmable, thermostats
- Hundreds of light fixtures
- Thousands of light bulbs
- 2 security systems
- Lots of hedges and grass
- Lots of “stuff” (carpet, tile, tables, chairs, vacuum cleaners, hand trucks, ladders, tech/production equipment, servers, computers, phones, etc.)
- Etc …
Yes, a lot to maintain and otherwise fix, adjust, replace, repair, clean, paint, patch, schedule, etc.
In my corporate days, for similar facilities and grounds, we had lots of dedicated staff and contractors to take care of it all. These days we don’t. In our case, we now have a leader in place to work with the volunteer crew (and occasional contractors) needed to do the work. For this, I am grateful!