director

youth director

music director

administrative assistant

executive director

United Methodist Church

A typical workday usually started early in the morning and extended on into the evening due to meetings, visitation, hospital visits, teaching evening classes, and attending community functions in a leadership role. What I learned in brief; that it is both a privilege and great responsibility to be given entrance into the lives of human beings and their needs, struggles, joys, and spiritual development. In terms of management, my role as a leader was to facilitate the ongoing administrative duties of leadership, finance, public worship, mission, and community development. I worked in cooperation with church lay leaders, my direct overseers, and the Bishop. The workplace culture was demanding at times, even exhausting. Long hours away from my family, administrative duties, and keeping pace with the rhythms of life from cradle to grave in the lives of the congregation. The most difficult aspects of the job included long hours, unrealistic expectations by some congregants, and balancing personal life with the ongoing demands of the job. The most enjoyable parts of the job included teaching classes in theology, family development, working with youth and adults through wilderness backpacking, canoeing, and outdoor education. Leading several trips to Appalachia, Africa, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and inner-city ministry. But overall it was an awesome privilege to be trusted by a community of people.

There was no typical day at work! When you work with kids, anything can happen! The workplace culture was very supportive of staff. Co-workers were pretty fair and worked as teams in the various classrooms. Responsibilities included preparing lesson plans, snacks, songs and play stations, communicating with parents and staff about upcoming events and student progress. My manager was excellent! I'd love to have another manager like her. She really genuinely cared about people and was also a very hard worker and very organized. The most enjoyable part of the job was when you connected with the kids or saw them "playing" a Sunday school lesson and realized it had gotten through. The hardest part of the job was knowing how tired some of these kids were by the time they came to your class. Many had to be there by 7 in the morning and didn't leave the church until almost 1 pm. That is a long day for little people. Also sometimes we had problems with co-workers calling out at the last minute which made it difficult to keep classes organized as we would have to combine classes to stay within legalities.

This was the best most rewarding job that that I have ever had.  The venue that I worked in required creativity, enthusiasm, people skills, and enabled me to use my talents in many different ways.  My staff was wonderful.  Because of their dedication and tremendous talent they made my job so much easier. 
I worked most days out of my home where I kept my office.  I usually worked on my message for the following week.  I tried to keep my messages topical and where people could relate in their daily lives.  
As the manager of the church, I was the final decision maker.  I kept expenses down and kept the church in good financial shape.
My co-workers were limited, we had musicians, cleaning staff, my assistant pastor was my wife who is also a Methodist Pastor.  
I think that the most difficult part of the job was dealing with people who were terminally ill.  You always hate to lose someone that you have grown to love.  
My greatest joy came when I performed weddings, baptizing babies, and meeting with new people.  There is no down side to this vocation as far as I am concerned.  
 We were a small church that was in the process of growing when I retired.l

My typical work day would be being there at 8am in the nursery room to wait on the children to get there, I would be there until they all left which is normally around 12:30. I have learned a lot about how to be patient and calm when things don’t always go right. I also have learned how to be more mature and how to handle my responsibilities. My manager was amazing she treated everyone with respect, she was very nice, calm, and very organized. She helped me out with a lot of my growing up to be out in the real world. She told how it was and never told you she was going to do something and then not did it. She taught me a lot about how to act in a work place, that you can have fun as well as be serious and get stuff done. My co-workers were really professional, and very supportive of each other. The hardest part of my job would have been making my lesson plans and coming up with different activities to do with small children and keeping their attention. Most enjoyable part of my job would have been working with other people to become better, and learning as I go along with my life. I have learned a lot about being professional and getting things done that need to be done.

For always I will be grateful for the opportunity and trust invested in me for the opportunity of serving as pastor. Many of my colleagues in ministry are fun people to work with. The love of many of my congregants was also a treasure deerly closed to my heart. The memories I lived while serving in clergy, I will never going to forget. While I recognize that life is not perfect i need to recognize that some people are impossible to please always no matter how hard you try and that I consider that the hardest part of my job as a clergy. 

The most enjoyable aspect of the job was having the oportunity to share about my faith in Jesus Christ. I recognize we live in a pluralistic culture with diversification in values and beliefs therefore people have the right to differ with my own convictions and beliefs, I respect that with open heart, open mind, and open door aproach to all.

handled casualty claims for a major Indiana insurance company...worked under 3 different supervisors depending on type of claim being handled...casualty, bodily injury, physical auto damage...usually had far too many claims to be handled given the time available ...claims VP was a complete jerk..and the company didn't really appreciate the employees they had...poorly compensated for the responsabilities being handled on a daily basis given the fact that we were the direct personal contact between the company and the customer....and handled a LOT of financial reserves on a monthly/yearly basis...but I loved working with the customers and enjoyed the other adjusters working with me on a daily basis....hardest part of the job was sometimes making decisions I didn't like about coverages in certain claims situations...i.e. was the accident covered under the policy...most policy owners had no idea what their policy covered...and I had to be the one to educate them.

The United Methodist Church in Iowa has been a blessing to me.  The weekly tasks of preaching, teaching, visiting the sick, meetings, weddings, and funerals, have provided me with opportunities to serve several communities, large and small, while also allowing me to grow spiritually and faithfully.  I have also discovered new interests, especially my 20 years of volunteer work in our church camping program, which has also generated more volunteers for this program from the men and women who have worked with me.  I have also been active in efforts to relieve the causes and effects of hunger throughout the world, and will continue to do so through my retirement.  For all this, I can thank the Iowa UMC for the opportunities to serve and discover who I am as a pastor and a believer.

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  A typical day at work included processing communication between other departments on behalf of at and the direction of the boss; to include paper mail and email.  Scheduling of office and speaking engagements to include making lodging and other USA travel arrangements and international travel arrangements.  Reconciling travel expenses for reimbursement with the General Church. Filing to e-file system.  I learned to keep up to date on all aspects of the job.  The management is excellent but the boss was required to travel frequently so had know what I could handle and needed to be  decided by the boss.  My co-workers were great but depended heavily on my past work experience.  The most challenging part of the job was getting one major task accomplished and then moving on to the next major task with little down time. The most enjoyable part of the job was having a great boss and being appreciated on a regular basis.

Typical Day: Began by 7AM; meditation and prayer; visitation in hospitals, nursing homes, shut ins; met with Pastors' Study Group as scheduled. I learned over and over again that my gifts and graces were better suited in ABLC (appointments beyond the local church) and that I prefer to work with people who do not scream in order to manage their employees. The appointed church can be difficult, especially so, because you have been shoved onto the local church regardless of their wishes--many small, dying churches prefer to have older men lead them. The best thing about my job was doing the visitations, helping families find comfort while grieving, allowing/encouraging families to make the funeral the way they wished. Marriages and baptisms were rare as the youngest member of the congregation was 84.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The members at the congregational level bond well. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The UMC “system” is racially insensitive ESPECIALLY in the higher ranks. Most boards that are the decision makers are stacked with older white people. They try very hard at giving an appearance of diversity but the fact is it remains heavily and predominantly white people driven. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Tense and micromanaged in senior level jobs. The pastor of the church… especially  for pastors of color … have to wear lots of faces to appease DS’s and others in authority. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Lots of work to do in preparation for Sundays. Little to no staff because budgets are always low.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Director 11 salaries reported	$59,591 per year
Youth director 9 salaries reported	$45,944 per year
Music director 1 salary reported	$41.00 per hour
Administrative assistant 2 salaries reported	$27.25 per hour
Executive director 2 salaries reported	$78,750 per year

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