The Staff on the Sidelines

Administrative tasks vary for each staff member as it depends on what the Area Director needs for support. Tanja Hansen is the Communications Director for Minnesota FCA and works with the State Director, Tom Ness. Her job focuses mainly on communications (like her job title suggests). She manages the website and blog, posts on social media, publishes the newsletter, and promotes camps, events, and more.

“A big passion of mine is sharing the ministry with the masses in a way that an individual field staff person can’t do or just doesn’t have the tools to do on their own,” Tanja said. “What every staff person is doing is so significant and has an eternal impact, but I want more people to know about it, you know?” 

For her, through this administrative position, she is able to use the skills that she has built throughout the years for “Kingdom work” as she puts it. She is able to mix her strengths in administrative tasks with her faith, and she loves being able to do that.

Sharing stories about the ministry with the masses is also what Shelley Pearson does. She writes the stories on the Minnesota FCA blog about athletes, coaches, staff, volunteers, and donors. 

Shelley says, “Most of our staff members are so busy doing ministry that they don’t have the extra capacity to tell the story of how God is moving, but I do.” The stories she writes don’t just impact the reader, but also the people the stories are about. “They don’t even realize how much God has moved until they hear it reflected in the stories I write.” Once written down it can be shared with others to let more people know about the work God is doing through FCA.

Kaycee Moore laughed when asked about what her job entails, “We do a lot.” 

She works for three different Individuals: Brent Voight (East Metro Area Director), Zach Hansen (Northern Metro Area Director), and Tom Ness (Minnesota State Director). Kaycee does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, setting things up for the Directors, arranging locations for meetings, managing budgets, and many other things. She helps make the ideas of the Directors a reality. “My role and ultimately the goal and purpose of my work is to multiply the ministry in a way that my Area Director can focus on things that he wouldn’t be able to focus on without my support.”

“The most helpful Admins even give feedback on how to make those things better, not just run the play that they’re told,” Said Jenny Conklin, the Administrative Assistant for the Northland Region. “Have the insight and input to [say], “You know what would make this better?’”

Jenny and all the other administrative staff have a certain set of gifts to help them with what they do. “God has wired us Admins a different way. It really is just the hands and feet. It’s [the] ways that we fill that body.” They are able to use those gifts that God has given them and use that strength accordingly. 

That is the reason administrative staff are so integral to the ministry and to the Directors they work with. They are gifted with a different skill set than some of the field staff. While they might not feel comfortable talking to coaches, they would be able to efficiently make the Powerpoint for the meeting. “Don’t spend a week making a Powerpoint,” Said Jenny, “Day two, stop yourself and say, ‘this is insanity!’ It would take me ten minutes and a template to make your Powerpoint.”

For her and the other Admins, doing their job allows the Directors to do their job better than they would otherwise. “Do what only you can do and let me help fill in the rest of it,” she said. 

For Lindi Barrett, that’s exactly why she became involved with FCA in the first place. She didn't know much about the ministry, but she saw a brother in Christ struggling. Lindi goes to the same church as David Melms, the Collegiate Director, and was suggested to him when he asked if anyone was looking for a part-time position as an assistant. Her heart immediately went out to him as she saw him working into the night, being constantly tired, and getting sick. 

With this position, Lindi has been able to help lighten the load for David. For example, he took a long time to write emails, while it took Lindi just seconds. “I think ministry people think that they owe more because people are donating [financial support] so they’re like, ‘I should work a little bit more,’” she said. “I want to encourage him to give me more to not feel that, to not drown himself in work guilt.” By Lindi doing the administrative tasks that filled up David’s time, he is now able to spend that extra time working on other tasks that he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish otherwise. It also provides him with a balance between his work and personal life so that he can spend more time with his wife and newborn baby girl.