And Many, Many Thanks
For 16 years, Angela Bengtson has served as Zion’s Communications Coordinator. In that time, she has led Zion into a new era of communication mission, vision, and implementation. Angela has not only been key in sharing Zion’s mission, but she is also seen as a leader in church communications circles throughout our Synod and beyond. Her development of Zion’s newsletter was often lifted up as the example of “how to do a newsletter well”. Of course, her work went well beyond the newsletter. She fostered Zion into a new age of social media presence with website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She led the way in establishing communication guidelines and goals. All the while also serving as Zion’s manager of the database and membership records. Now…before this gets to sounding too much like she is leaving her job at Zion, let us say: she is not leaving her work at Zion! She is, however, transitioning.
First: we owe her many, many, many thanks for the work she has so faithfully accomplished. This article won’t do that justice but suffice it to say Zion has been served well by her skills, talents, gifts, commitment, and faithful love for Zion and our mission. We give thanks to God for all the ways Angela’s work has helped Zion.
What sort of transition is going on? Angela is reducing the number of hours she will be working at Zion. Moving from an average of 30 hours a week to an average of 15 hours a week means that Angela will be giving up the communications portion of her job. That includes: newsletter, website, social media, slides, posters, graphics, our outdoor sign, and several other aspects which were a part of her job description as Coordinator of Communications. We can’t thank her enough for all her work in this area. Being such a creative person, Zion has been blessed by her innovative work and creative eye. We give thanks to God for her and for her work!
What does this all mean? Angela will retain her work as the Coordinator of Database Management and Membership. The rest of the staff is grateful for this because Angela is the staff person who is always at the ready to help the rest of us figure out our robust database system. She is also the person who will help you navigate our F1 mobile app and maintain current info so that we can stay in touch with you [by the way…please remember to keep us updated when you change address, phone, etc.]. Angela is the person who keeps the prayer list, Holy Communion, confirmation, wedding, Holy Baptism, and funeral records up to date. Our database management system is capable of way more than we’ve been able to utilize it for, so we are excited that Angela’s job will now allow her to focus on helping all of us utilize that resource to the fullest.
What next? Obviously, the communications work of a congregation is never-ending. During this interim time, as the Zion Personnel Team works on hiring an interim communications coordinator*, several of our current staff members have been asked to take on additional tasks.
We know you will be patient and understanding as they stretch themselves even further. Your staff has been very willing to do what it takes to keep you informed and engaged with our ministries, and Angela has been working to make this a very smooth transition.
In the interim:
- Holly Husom is responsible for bulletin and worship graphics, and social media.
- Kim Haggen is responsible for the newsletter.
- Melissa Galvin is responsible for some of the website work.
- Tammy Zumbusch is responsible for outreach through our electronic sign.
All of them are doing this additional work along with their current duties. We are working as fast as is prudent to move these additional tasks off their plates.
You will see changes in each of these communication areas:
- because we bring our own gifts to each task,
- because these staff members are not allotted the same number of hours or amount of focus on these tasks as someone solely in the position can be afforded,
- they are juggling their current workload to attend to the immediate needs we have in the interim, but they are first responsible for their ministries to which they were hired,
- therefore by necessity, they cannot and will not be expected to maintain everything as it has always been.
*If you or someone you know might be a great fit to serve as Zion’s interim Coordinator of Communications, please let us know by emailing office@zionbuffalo.org or pastorbahe@zionbuffalo.org. This is an interim part-time position, with flexibility on when the hours are worked, and could possibly be done remotely.
*We are also in need of people who are willing to take photos of Zion events and send them to office@zionbuffalo.org so if you have some good Zion photos on your phone or find yourself at one of our many events–take a few photos and send them our way!
