During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ICOC Administrative Service Team met virtually to continue to address some of the administrative needs in our fellowship, particularly for the smaller churches. As a result, we are excited to announce a two-part Virtual Admin Workshop on Saturday, February 20, and Saturday, February 27 from 11 am-1 pm EST. Each Saturday will consist of two one-hour classes for Administrators (including volunteers) and/or Board members. On Feb 20, the topics will be Ministry Compensation and Benefits, and on Feb 27, Use of Technology and Risk Management. Click here to register.

Over the last year, the service team has been able to discuss issues related to the pandemic, such as the Payroll Protection Program loans offered as federal relief, and advise churches regarding the application for those loans. A number of our churches benefited from this federal pandemic relief. Other discussions about church needs led to the planning of our first online training for Administrators in February (mentioned above). Other projects are still under development, including policies resources, and salary model tools.

The ICOC Administrative Service Team last met in person in San Diego in October of 2019 and Lord willing, we will be able to see each other in person at the World Discipleship Summit in Orlando in 2022. At our meeting in San Diego, we were excited to welcome a number of new administrators to the team. Several of our veteran administrators have or will soon enter retirement or have moved on to other endeavors. Many thanks to Connie Beene, Tom Briscoe, and Tom McCurry, who have faithfully served many of our churches for many years but have retired from the Admin Service Team. Thankfully God is raising up new talent to serve in many of our churches. We have also taken steps to invite every US family of churches to have a representative on the team. Here are our current Administrative Service Team members:

  • Cheryl Kaplan – Northern Virginia Church of Christ, Admin Service Team Co-Chair (ACR)
  • Brian Gross – Gateway City Church, St. Louis (Heartland)
  • John Garrett -Denver Church of Christ (Rocky Mountain)
  • Paul Rowden – London Church (UK)
  • Yvonne Burch – Seattle Church of Christ (NW)
  • Bobby Ritter – New York City Church of Christ (NY)
  • Steve Smith – STS Consulting, representing many small churches (TX)
  • Brian Gold – Alliance of Christian Organizations, LA (PacSW)
  • Vivian Hanes – North River Church of Christ, Atlanta, GA (SE)
  • Megan Famodun – North River Church of Christ, Atlanta, GA (SE)
  • Christen McDuffee – European Missions Society, Boston (NE)
  • Gary Slebodnick – Boston Church of Christ (NE)
  • Ray Schalk – San Diego Church of Christ (PacSW)
  • Janet Schalk – San Diego Church of Christ (PacSW)
  • John Beene – Greater Houston Church of Christ (TX)
  • Paul Ramsey – Austin Christian Church and Africa Missions Association (TX), Admin Service Team Co-Chair

If your church has administrative needs or you would like more guidance in discerning best practices in serving our churches either as an Administrator or as a Board member, or if you just need more training, please reach out to one of our team members. We are here to serve you!