Emily and Suzanne

 

A friend of mine often reminds me that healthy organisms grow. Human enterprises like a church grow in different ways and size is only one of many indicators. However, size might be the hardest to control or predict. At Downtown Church we never anticipated that we'd ever need to hire a full time assistant for the pastor or promote someone else to manage the staff. But we did pray that people would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in the unique voice we felt called to claim. Our prayers were answered, and answered again. Another friend of mine frequently reminds me that you must be careful what you pray for.

Meet the new Director of Everything:

On her first day at work two years ago, Suzanne Mueller put together her desk and sharpened a few pencils. She started working at Downtown Church as a staff assistant, which meant nothing more than she did a little bit of everything. Two weeks ago and two years later, she was promoted to Director of Everything. Seriously, that's her new job title. Suzanne now manages the entire staff, which includes a few people that are expertly skilled in desk assembly.

Her broad job responsibilities are a challenge that she's not shrinking from. And as a friend, co-worker, and her boss, I'm excited that Downtown Church will be able to enjoy the fruit of her labor. If you are wondering how good she is, look around, she helped build Downtown Church from scratch.

Meet Amos' new assistant:

My wife wants Emily Long to move in with us. That's how much her presence has quickly transformed my work from a clumsy and quick dance with the most pressing task to something else that I can't name yet because I've never known it.

Before assuming this new full-time position at Downtown Church, Emily worked for a financial services firm in Columbia as a client associate focused on performance analysis (lots of spreadsheets, I assume) for 13 years. Determined that God was calling her to do something different, she patiently waited until that call was clear. Her timing couldn't have been better. Now that she's made herself indispensable and has all my passwords, we have no choice but to keep her around.