Mike VanLaan
I previously served (as a volunteer) for many years at Friendship Christian Reformed Church, in Byron Center, MI, as the church administrator -- I am very much interested in church administration, church culture, and how we get things done in the best way in doing the work assigned to the Church. In addition to being a retired military officer, I have previous experience as a facility manager for a large hospital, an operations manager for a construction company, and, then, as a business owner. I also have previous experience as a deacon and as an elder, to include a term as Council President. I have been a delegate to Synod one time.
I am married, with two grown children (both married). Grandchildren are one of the my greatest enjoyments in life right now.
Posted in: Unordained Staff Compensation
Rick: I think your approach is a great one. It combines the national data ("Church Compensation Handbook") with a local analysis. How did you contact the churches in your classis (e-mail, phone call, letter, ...), who did you contact (church treasurer?), and what kind of response did you get? How do you ensure you are comparing similar jobs? Also, do you think this is worth the effort each year, or just do it every two or three years?
Posted in: Unordained Staff Compensation
Rick: I actually think there is more variation in the job expectations from the national survey than the local survey. I just think the quality control goes down as the number of participants goes up. Based on living in various places across the U.S., I know that there are different perspectives of what a "youth director" does -- this is true at the local level as well; however, I think the variation is greater as you go national. For the local survey that we did this spring, we used "job codes" with summary descriptions of the job. This helps with the standardization. I think it's the same tool the national surveys use; however, it was easier to follow up with phone calls and e-mails from the local survey and I felt that we actually got a better match. Also, I think there is a difference for clerical and custodial positions between the private sector and the church sector jobs. That is, however, a matter of opinion. I think there are unique requirements in each sector that make the jobs different. I agree that the size of the church and the skills of the employees are very important factors. Ideally, we tried to get data from churches that were both similar to our size and also in our geographical area. Tough to do. Compensation comparison and decisions -- definitely both an art and a science.