Most of us are well acquainted with our Administrative Assistant/ Financial Secretary Mary Lou Jackson. How many of us though, are well acquainted with the service she provides to our congregation and what we can do to help her accomplish her tasks more efficiently?
During this time of transition, it is critical that things continue to run smoothly. Mary Lou works from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm Monday through Friday. Remember that when you see her on Sunday morning, she is worshipping just like we are and not “on duty.”
This is how her 20 hr. week goes and how we can help it go smoothly.
• Every Day – Open and distribute mail, respond to e-mails and answer phone.
• Monday – Mary Lou fulfills her financial secretary duties which take up the entire day. If you are available to volunteer to answer the phone some Monday so that she can focus on finances, she would really appreciate it.
• Tuesday – Prepare the Joys and Concerns, monthly calendar updates and fulfill special requests from our treasurer. You can help by providing your information to Mary Lou by end of day Monday or very early on Tuesday morning.
• Wednesday – Complete miscellaneous work, catch up on any backlog. This is the best day for you to make requests from Mary Lou such as reimbursement checks, acknowledgement letters, etc. Committee/Ministry chairs and others should make sure that Mary Lou has received any items to be included in the Weekly Calendar of Events and/or Sunday bulletin. . Final call for items to be included in the Sunday Bulletin including music, announcements, scripture readings, prayer lists etc. If items are not received by 1:00 pm, you run the risk of the item not appearing in the bulletin.
• Thursday – Prepare and distribute Weekly Calendar of Events and begin preparation of the Sunday Bulletin. Ministry chairs if you need extra help from Mary Lou, it is best to ask for it on Thursday.
• Friday – Finalizing, printing and distributing the bulletin and the worship leader instruction sheet, and any special inserts for special church season offerings etc.
• Newsletter Articles
I am guilty of sending my Outreach Ministry articles in at the last minute. I am making a public declaration that I am breaking that habit. Newsletter articles should be submitted to newsletter@covenantcc-cary.org by the 15th of the month. Using this email address you ensure your articles goto both the church office and the volunteers preparing the newsletter. If you are as guilty as I am, please send your articles in on time. It will save time if we make sure that our grammar and spelling are correct. We should rely on Mary Lou to proof read our articles.
• Finally (Whew! She is finally done!)
Mary Lou is very friendly and it is so easy to engage her in conversation when we drop by with a request …guilty again! When we do that, we interrupt her work flow. So…come in, give a quick how are you, make your request, and then say goodbye. I am getting better at it and if I can do it, so can you!
Blessings,
Renie Palmer, Personnel Chair