Back in early 2008, right after Mandi and I got married, Mandi got a job for a few months working as a bank teller. As a bank teller, she directly interacted with the customers. There was a teller manager who helped oversee the tellers, and handled all of the escalated or complex banking transactions. Then there was a branch manager who was ultimately responsible for the whole banking branch.
However a couple times during that season, Mandi got to meet the district manager for the nationwide bank she worked for. This district manager (DM) was directly responsible for each of the branches, primarily communicating with each of the branch managers. The DM spent time understanding the various policies and procedures that the corporate office put out, met with nationwide VPs for the bank, and helping to solve any issues that the various branches had.
Each branch was different. Mandi would alternate branches at times and she would see the differences between the locations. Different workers, different customers, every branch had a different ‘culture’.
If the district manager did his/her job well, every branch would be healthy. The branch manager’s job would be easier, able to spend time with the customers instead of trying to understand a new policy or procedure. The tellers would be well trained, able to handle any customer that walked through the door. And ultimately, the branches would bring financial success to the bank. The district manager’s job was essential to be done well so that each individual branch would be both profitable and have efficient employee retention.
Why did I spend all this time explaining the ins and outs of banking hierarchy? Because in our region of Child Evangelism Fellowship, this example is almost directly related. The ‘customers’ are the children that we reach in our discipleship and evangelism ministries.
The ‘tellers’ and ‘teller managers’ are the Good News Club volunteers, Good News Club team leaders and board members.
The ‘branch managers’ are the national directors of each unique island nation. The ‘nationwide VPs’ are the regional directors and the ‘nationwide bank headquarters’ is of course CEF international headquarters. And I serve as a ‘district manager’ in this example, helping each ‘branch’ in my specific area to be as successful as possible. I travel back and forth to the ‘branches’ as needed and I serve the ‘branch managers.’
Except a major difference is that CEF is not a for-profit business focused on the bottom line, we are a non-profit ministry focused on helping local churches build the Kingdom of God in their country through outreach to children. I serve as an area director to help each nation of the area we serve to be healthy, thriving and locally sustainable.
And YOU are the ‘bank’ investors! You deserve regular ‘quarterly updates’ and ‘press releases’ on the results of your investment of your prayers and financial gifts. You are clearly directly interested in how your investment is making an impact on the Kingdom of God. We thank you so much for joining us on the path of ministry as we serve with and alongside those in the North Caribbean and Bermuda. We are all one team, serving together so that every child on every island will be reached with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
