MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
S I M E O N M AY / C E O / T H E C H U R C H N E T W O R K / P H I L L M A R T I N / D E P U T Y C E O / T H E C H U R C H N E T W O R K /
DALLAS, TX
Answering an
administrative
By RaeAnn Slaybaugh
Simeon May, Phill Martin & The Church
Network ™ have driven the ministry of better
church management since 1956
Church administration professionals are called to their roles
in much the same way any church leader is called. In order to
provide thought leadership and specialized training to these
unique professionals, it’s a mindset which must be acknowledged
and embraced.
Generally, these special individuals “land” in their roles in one of
two ways: from the pew / business world, or from the seminary
— something The Church Network CEO Simeon May and Deputy
CEO Phill Martin know all too well.
After all, they’re prime examples of these two divergent paths. And
it’s precisely this varied, in-the-trenches knowledge which has
helped them serve association members successfully for more
than 20 years.
Simeon May came to church administration from the pew. His path
began while he was working as a CPA in Dallas. Very active in his local
church, May became a deacon and took on other leadership roles, as well.
Along the way, he realized that doing CPA work alone wasn’t enough.
“Put it this way: I was feeling a higher calling,” So, after talking with his
wife (the child of missionaries, raised in Peru), the couple began to pursue
missions work.
“When that door closed on us, I went into my private space and prayed
to God,” May recalls. “I said, ‘God, I'll do anything you want me to do. I'll
go anywhere you want me to go. Just tell me.’”
Message received: about two weeks later, his pastor offered him the
position of church business administrator. “Lightning flashed, and
lightbulbs went off,” May says. “It was like, ‘OK, God didn’t want me to go
across the world; He wanted me to stay right here. But, He needed my heart
to be in the right place.”
May served in that administrative role for 15 years. Along the way,
he joined an organization known then as the National Association of
Church Business Administration, or NACBA. (In 2014, it was rebranded to
The Church Network [ www.thechurchnetwork.com ]. More details later)
He got certified, was accepted to the board of directors and, ultimately,
became board president.
In 1998, he took on the role of executive director of NACBA, a title
that was changed by the board of directors to CEO after May earned the
designation Certified Association Executive from the American Society of
Association Executives.
“I wasn’t looking to leave my role at the church; I was very happy doing
what I was doing,” he recalls. “But, again, I felt called to take this role. And
I've been doing it for 20 years now.”
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CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUGUST 2018
Phill Martin’s path was different.
Since high school, he wanted to be a minister — of music, specifically.
In seminary, however, Martin shifted tracks to pursue Christian
education; that way, he reasoned, he could serve churches in both music
and education.
At 34, having earned his seminary degree, Martin landed at a large
church in Houston. Though he had no administrative, accounting or
facilities management expertise to speak of, four staff members — who
had all those responsibilities — reported to him.
“We didn't even know what an executive pastor was in 1986,” Martin
recalls. “I’d never even taken an accounting course.”
He began looking around for some help, quickly finding NACBA. In
1988, Martin earned his certification with a project focused on using
computer bulletin boards to communicate at the church — a very
forward-thinking concept at the time.
Soon, he was accepted to the board of directors … and every board
member received a dial-in modem so they could communicate by email.
Ultimately, the association grew enough to add another executive-level
staff member and Martin was hired as the association’s first Director of
Education. His title was later changed to Deputy CEO.
“So, really, ours are the two models we see most as people decide
they're going to do this job professionally,” Martin says. “Some come up
out of school; they train and go. Others — I’d say the larger percentage,
today — are people who never intended to be in the administrative side
of church. They're just good, active, faithful church members who have
business acumen.”
Providing necessary, niche training
In 1956, NACBA was established by a group of 45 men and women —
all church business administrators — who saw a need to get together
and share their knowledge. The organization’s tagline is simple, but all-
encompassing: Don’t Go It Alone.
“Whatever you’re dealing with in regard to church administration,
there's somebody else who has already dealt with it,” Martin says. “You
just have to meet them.”
For Ivela Dickens, Finance Director at Covenant UMC in Winterville,
N.C., that sentiment is like preaching to the choir. She joined the National
Association of Church Business Administration in 2013, after being
introduced to the organization by a co-worker, who was also a member.
Today, Dickens serves as president of the Triangle Chapter (Raleigh-
Durham area of North Carolina) of The Church Network.
“I love the support it provides; the motto of ‘don’t go it alone’ is so true,”
she says. “Why try to figure things out yourself, when there’s a whole
support system out there?”
Aside from the day-to-day guidance afforded by the organization,
perhaps its most highly regarded offering is the annual conference. The
next gathering — the 63rd of its kind — will be held in Charlotte, N.C., in
July 2019 [ http://tcnconference.com ].