When Accounting Has the Final Say
In my first career out of college, I was in retail. I progressed from Management Trainee to Buyer in several steps within a couple of years. It was a lot of fun to display and distribute merchandise in departments and branch stores. But the most fun was actually selecting the merchandise in New York and working the budget in order to purchase items for our stores. Once on the sales floor, we tracked the rate of sale and watched trends. This was all before computers so it was done with the phone, a legal pad and a calculator.
If an item was selling fast, we would call the vendor and get a reorder in order to continue the sales trajectory. Department store executives could even spot a trend, call New York and get something specifically designed for their store. The energy was all about reacting to trends and market response. Sharp retailers even predicted their future markdowns. Every night I brought home my spreadsheets and studied what was happening to each item.
Retail isn't like that anymore. Oh sure, there are still buyers and executives, but they don't have the hands-on fun. Now the company's financial relationship with the vendor is at a premium. Trends are forced upon customers and big box stores do not react to fast-selling items because they have another load of something else coming in next month anyway. The accountants have taken over and the consumers are at their mercy.
A couple of years ago, we were purchasing leather kitchen counter stools one at a time from a major big box retailer. The stools were a staple in that furniture aisle for 3 years. When we went to purchase the 4th stool, this simple design was nowhere to be found. Not in any of their stores or online. We had to get the "new" model that was is just a little bit different and stain the legs. A new financial relationship had been forged - so out with the old. This same retailer has vicariously decided not to sell Monterey Jack cheese. Huh?
Ever wonder why Campbell's has more facings than Progresso in the Soup aisle? Or see more Lays than Old Dutch? It's all about the deal with the vendor. If the deal isn't attractive, you aren't going to find that special sauce for your secret recipe in a big supermarket. The accounting department is hard at work swapping and negotiating without regard for what is expected on the sales floor.
The church business is very similar.
As churches grow and more positions are added, somewhere along the way the senior pastor believes it is not enough to have a business manager (often only part-time or a volunteer) and craves someone called The Executive Pastor. This person manages everything and everyone on the church campus so the senior pastor can go about his business. The bigger the church, the bigger the shield this person becomes. They have their hand in every pot and attend every board meeting there is. They must be excellent with financial management above all else.
When the executive pastor joins the table, the fun departs often like what has happened in the retail industry. The whole focus slowly slips from people to projects and cost containment. Pretty soon everyone is so busy with numbers, the very people they exist to serve are lost in the process. One colleague I know spent so much time being managed line by line by their executive pastor they were unable to do the scope of their ministry job. Another casualty with this position is that the senior pastor is further removed from the rest of the team and gets his information from one source rather than directly from each department. That can create quite an imbalance, especially if the executive has areas that he favors.
This happened in several of the churches I served at. In one church, the executive was focused on ministry to homosexual overcomers and barely listened to the rest of us and only got excited about his pet area. In another blunder, a senior pastor listened heavily to the person in charge of small groups and when he got his executive pastor, they gave the largest budget to small groups for adults. It was nearly double that of children and youth, a focus simply unheard of in this industry.
One executive only focused on office decor and appearances. I would share theological points being incorporated into the kids curriculum and his eyes would glaze over, telling me the children had to sit in chairs because it looked better. Another time a very large church's antiquated phone system died while the senior pastor was out of the country. To save money, the executive did not have the system repaired for 3 weeks, flooding the switchboard and causing the poor receptionist to scribble hundreds of phone messages by hand each day. Not only did morale tank and communication break down, the purpose of the church was affected. But money was saved. At what expense?
When we lose sight of the purpose and only count cars, noses, dollars or vendor relation$, we have compromised.
Big box retailers and big churches have a lot in common. They are both operating by accounting first and purpose second. Both like to celebrate a big event, but soon there will be another one on the calendar and the current one is forgotten. Both like to know how many people units where in their venue on a given day. And both do community outreach in order to make their brand known. And in their zest to get good numbers, neither one has time to weep and pound their fist on the table for the soul of just one person who entered their doors. Time for another important meeting with each other.
If an item was selling fast, we would call the vendor and get a reorder in order to continue the sales trajectory. Department store executives could even spot a trend, call New York and get something specifically designed for their store. The energy was all about reacting to trends and market response. Sharp retailers even predicted their future markdowns. Every night I brought home my spreadsheets and studied what was happening to each item.
Retail isn't like that anymore. Oh sure, there are still buyers and executives, but they don't have the hands-on fun. Now the company's financial relationship with the vendor is at a premium. Trends are forced upon customers and big box stores do not react to fast-selling items because they have another load of something else coming in next month anyway. The accountants have taken over and the consumers are at their mercy.
A couple of years ago, we were purchasing leather kitchen counter stools one at a time from a major big box retailer. The stools were a staple in that furniture aisle for 3 years. When we went to purchase the 4th stool, this simple design was nowhere to be found. Not in any of their stores or online. We had to get the "new" model that was is just a little bit different and stain the legs. A new financial relationship had been forged - so out with the old. This same retailer has vicariously decided not to sell Monterey Jack cheese. Huh?
Ever wonder why Campbell's has more facings than Progresso in the Soup aisle? Or see more Lays than Old Dutch? It's all about the deal with the vendor. If the deal isn't attractive, you aren't going to find that special sauce for your secret recipe in a big supermarket. The accounting department is hard at work swapping and negotiating without regard for what is expected on the sales floor.
The church business is very similar.
As churches grow and more positions are added, somewhere along the way the senior pastor believes it is not enough to have a business manager (often only part-time or a volunteer) and craves someone called The Executive Pastor. This person manages everything and everyone on the church campus so the senior pastor can go about his business. The bigger the church, the bigger the shield this person becomes. They have their hand in every pot and attend every board meeting there is. They must be excellent with financial management above all else.
When the executive pastor joins the table, the fun departs often like what has happened in the retail industry. The whole focus slowly slips from people to projects and cost containment. Pretty soon everyone is so busy with numbers, the very people they exist to serve are lost in the process. One colleague I know spent so much time being managed line by line by their executive pastor they were unable to do the scope of their ministry job. Another casualty with this position is that the senior pastor is further removed from the rest of the team and gets his information from one source rather than directly from each department. That can create quite an imbalance, especially if the executive has areas that he favors.
This happened in several of the churches I served at. In one church, the executive was focused on ministry to homosexual overcomers and barely listened to the rest of us and only got excited about his pet area. In another blunder, a senior pastor listened heavily to the person in charge of small groups and when he got his executive pastor, they gave the largest budget to small groups for adults. It was nearly double that of children and youth, a focus simply unheard of in this industry.
One executive only focused on office decor and appearances. I would share theological points being incorporated into the kids curriculum and his eyes would glaze over, telling me the children had to sit in chairs because it looked better. Another time a very large church's antiquated phone system died while the senior pastor was out of the country. To save money, the executive did not have the system repaired for 3 weeks, flooding the switchboard and causing the poor receptionist to scribble hundreds of phone messages by hand each day. Not only did morale tank and communication break down, the purpose of the church was affected. But money was saved. At what expense?
When we lose sight of the purpose and only count cars, noses, dollars or vendor relation$, we have compromised.
Big box retailers and big churches have a lot in common. They are both operating by accounting first and purpose second. Both like to celebrate a big event, but soon there will be another one on the calendar and the current one is forgotten. Both like to know how many people units where in their venue on a given day. And both do community outreach in order to make their brand known. And in their zest to get good numbers, neither one has time to weep and pound their fist on the table for the soul of just one person who entered their doors. Time for another important meeting with each other.
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