New Beginnings

Tomorrow I start my new job as Communications Director at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church. They are an ELCA mega-church located just south of the Twin Cities in Apple Valley, Minnesota.

I first learned of the opportunity after interviewing (and not receiving a job offer) for a similar position at another Twin City area Lutheran mega-church. This was way back in July. The job posting was still being worked on and they were not interviewing candidates yet. It wasn't until late October when I finally received a copy of the job posting and was selected for an interview.

My first two interviews went well and I thought I clicked well with the senior pastor and other staff that I met. The third round was a project, a brochure to raise funds and awareness of a campaign to build a new pipe organ. Shortly thereafter I was called back in for what I thought would be a third interview, but instead I was completely surprised by being offered the job!

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the new job. I'll be doing a little of everything: marketing, communications, web design, promotions and operations. As you might imagine, they are a pretty big church to even need a Communications Director, but here's some other numbers: six full-time pastors, six services a week serving an average attendance of 2,000, nearly 9,000 baptized members, 6,000 of which are confirmed. While those are certainly not modest numbers, they also represent numbers in decline. You also may have noticed a very large disparity between the average number of worshipers and the number of members. These numbers are one of the major reasons why they wanted someone with my skills in their employ, and I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

For those who have been following the story, I started officially looking for a full time job in the Twin Cities Metro a year ago in January 2010. Over a 115 cover letters and additional online applications, 20 interviews and several networking events later, I am glad to be done with the process.While it is indeed very poetic that both the job hunt and the new job would each begin at the start of their respective calendar year, it made for a very nerve wracking 2010!

While it was my intent to be blogging regularly throughout the fall, I'm glad you were all spared some of those gory day-to-day details. There were many moments when I was overcome by fear and a lack of self confidence. For every interview I had, I did a ton of research and preparation and spent the hours afterward writing thank you notes. As hard as many of the interviews were, the next day was always the hardest. After all that build-up of expectation and adrenaline, there was always an inevitable crash that would last a day or so. During that time I had to both squash my ohmygodIhopeIdidwell anxiety and also pick myself up and go back to the well of writing new cover letters. I will certainly not miss spending my evenings job hunting.

I wish everyone a great new year and thank you all for your support and prayers during this difficult time. Here's to new beginnings!