Thanks for the vulnerability here Tim. Letting someone go is the stuff that leaves one drained and wiped out. It had to be made tougher because they were friends. I am sorry that you lost a friendship over it. Thanks for the look back/present.

Tim,

As someone who was layed off by a church in January I thank you for your comments. My layoff wasn’t nearly as compassionate as what you have said here and that has bothered me but I’m glad to hear all churches aren’t the same way. When I was laid off I was given as a severance just my vacation time and since I’ve left I have hardly heard from anyone still there to see how my family is doing. I’m sure you’ve made it a point to tell those people how much they mean to GCC and I just hope other churches would learn that “out of sight shouldn’t mean out of mind”. Thanks!

Wow – your compassion brought tears to my eyes. So many churches are going through layoffs and/or restructuring and your genuineness for all that were involved is so apparent. It can be extremely difficult personally when faced with making hard decisions. And like Bill, I appreciate you sharing your vulnerability.

We have gone through something similar to Granger. We have been betrayed by a friendship that appeared to be a lifelong friendship in the making. The wounds of the response of this staff member run deep. We trust in the confidence of the sovereignty of God and His Plan that supercedes our own perspective.

Great to know you continue to uphold these people in prayer. That means so much to the family of those whose positions were eliminated. Thanks for sharing your perspective and for having such integrity in handling a very difficult situation.

Part of me reads this thinks ‘Bull Shit’!
Especially when you write that you’re praying for these individuals everyday.

Tim if your heart goes out to the folks you laid off so much, if you feel so bad for the stress (physical, emotional and spiritual) introduced to these families how come you didn’t put your neck on the chopping block?

Gotta love how senior management (whether church or corporate) take full responsibility for misreading the times and screwing up on the budget — smells like someone’s passing the buck.

Cheerio,

Graham Roe – I hate to assume or be judgmental but it sounds like that you may not understand the role of senior management or why there are layoffs around the country right now. You are stating that the church misread the times and screwed up on the budget. If that is the case, I guess all companies that are having layoffs should have known ahead of time that our economy was going down the tubes and planned accordingly. To bad life is not that easy. How do you know that senior management didn’t “put their necks on the chopping block” and take a paycut at the church? I’m not in senior management but am capable of looking at the big picture during these tough times.

I am also one of those guys who will be out of a ministry job come October. Our church did it right. (I don’t think many do)They have given me all the time in the world to look for another ministry to plug into while still serving here. I really appreciate that. They even contacted another ministry who needs someone like me. I thought that was very generous. This one hurts the most because I really loved this place, and my family did as well. Not to excited about the future but we will see what happens.

Good job remembering to pray for those people. It probably would be pretty easy to forget all about them.

Josh -

Your response is just as wonderful as the church’s staff response to you! We tried to offer one of the staff members who lost their job the opportunity to stay on staff at lesser pay at his previous position and if he wasn’t happy with that in a few months, my husband would use every seminary resource and connection to help him find the right job for him. He viciously refused the offer and left the church in a very divisive way.

Thank God for staff members like you. What ever church has the privilege of hiring you and your character will be greatly blessed!!!

This is such a great post… and shows what incredible character you (and Granger) have.

–Terrace Crawford
http://www.terracecrawford.com
http://www.twitter.com/terracecrawford

Better late than never, but I’m back from a few days backcountry camping (even though I’m sure folks are no longer reading this post, comments included).

Dearest teary-eyed Deana, your points are well taken. I do wonder how much skin Tim and his friends at Granger put on the table. I figure at a successful big-box church, salaries could range between 150-200K, so a modest cut (3-5%) could represent say 15k.

As tough as it is for Tim to fire his staff due to a drought in the nations tithing, my opinion is that he should have kept his pain to himself as it pales in comparison to the strife that it caused.

Indeed life isn’t easy, but it’s definitely easier for some. And to your big picture comment, there’s always a bigger picture and it definitely doesn’t end when money trumps people.

My hope is that a better way is possible and I tremble with fear as it feels like the corporation has infiltrated the church.

Graham – I think you are putting a filter from a bad experience you had somewhere else on Granger. I get that, but it doesn’t seem quite fair.

Your suggested salary ranges might be true in NYC or California or a large metropolitan area–but they are not even close in Granger, Indiana. Additionally, we have gone without raises for nearly 3 years now. And our senior staff has declined financial relief offered to the rest of the staff over the past 2 years.

[...] made it through a recession (20% unemployment locally) that included layoffs, 6 budget cuts, while finding creative solutions for continuing the ministry [...]

[...] made it through a recession (20% unemployment locally) that included layoffs, 6 budget cuts, while finding creative solutions for continuing the ministry [...]