By Dorothy Brotherton

THE IDEA of an extreme makeover seems to have touched an Okanagan nerve.

Two Westside churches are kicking off 2008 with sessions geared to people who are looking for positive change, although neither church knew about the other’s plans.

This is not an extreme makeover that demolishes your house and rebuilds it to look like something from a magazine’s pages, nor an extreme makeover involving radical plastic surgery.

It’s billed as a makeover that takes on your entire person and transforms it in tiny steps.

That is possible to do, according to Dr. Michael Banman of Rhino Chiropractic, who is leading the six-week workshop called the International Extreme Makeover Challenge, at Westgate Church.

Dr. Brian Bittle is leading the same workshop at Emmanuel Assembly. Bittle comes from Lifestyle Chiropractic in Kelowna, and has coached hundreds of people to restored health and renewed life. He follows a step by step approach.

Pastor Derek Koch of Emmanuel Assembly does not think it is strange for a church to sponsor this kind of workshop.

The Bible, he said, “is a book that talks about our spirits, but also has a lot to say about how we live physically, mentally and emotionally. Churches are doing better at addressing this than they used to.”

The program is also endorsed by John Maxwell of the Global Pastors Network.

It is based on the book, Body By God: Extreme Makeover God’s Way. The book by Dr. Ben Lerner has become a New York Times bestseller.

To continue the example to its unavoidable conclusion, at the top end of the suggested pay scale for a mid-range pastoral position, a bank will loan out a maximum of about $180,000 depending on variations in terms, including the large down payment.  

The total of $220,000 dollars to go shopping for a new home will place a church’s new recruit looking at the bottom end of the used, one bedroom condo market in Kelowna.  

The challenge of finding the right person for the job – while following the will of God – has become an exercise of creativity and perseverance for pastoral search teams.  

Andrea Soberg, an associate dean at Trinity Western University, is an expert in the field, having written recent textbooks on the subject of human resources.

Soberg is quick to note that the recruiting challenges facing churches is the same challenge facing every business today. Supply and demand for talent is the big issue; finding a home for the person you wish to hire is the second consideration, in Soberg’s opinion.

“The demand for talent is great all over – and when you add the Christian faith, it becomes a smaller pool to choose from.”

Soberg outlines multiple strategies for creating a larger pool of choices, when churches go looking for the right candidate.  

Churches can start by assessing the people in their pews; some of the best options for church workers are church members.

This option requires long-term thinking, and watching for the qualities and character which can turn a lay person into a staff member. It may also require an investment: sending local members to school for training.  

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Creative new pay packages is another means of inspiring potential candidates to consider moving to a community where housing is an issue.  

Some churches include housing allowances; others add post-secondary education scholarships for the children of staff members.

Jobs can be redesigned to meet the lifestyle changes of staff; roles can be adapted to create opportunities for older staff to work part time and use their experience.  

The housing crisis can also be considered a question of perspective.

Many strong Christian workers with extensive education come from areas which might surprise local congregations, including Asia and Africa; their resources can also be surprising.  

“Churches have to start looking beyond the traditional box for recruiting,” says Soberg.  

“Every church is facing the same issue. Churches have to start looking abroad for talent.  There is a huge group of people who want in to Canada.”  

Looking overseas for the right staff person for an Okanagan church may be a newer concept. Many churches and Christian organizations are working on finding staff in either home grown talent, who already have homes here, or searching through larger centres where housing prices are comparable.  

Heritage Christian Preschool (HCP) director Christine Bitgood is looking for a qualified Early Childhood Education worker in a field plagued by staffing shortages, due to industry-wide low pay; it must be someone with Christian values, who can afford to live in the Valley.  

When searching for HCP’s new day-to-day manager, Bitgood found the resume she was looking for – in response to an ad  she put in a local secular paper.

“The first thing we look for is Christian values. But where do you find someone who can come here? Someone who had already moved here answered the ad, which was huge for us. At one point we were looking at [covering] moving expenses. We feel blessed that we found someone who was already here.”

Karen Steinmann answered the HCP ad.  She has a Bachelor of Education, a Montessori Diploma and an ECE certificate.  Steinmann made the decision years ago to work with small children, after time spent in the traditional classroom – accepting that her chosen field would come with a lower paycheck.

Yet Steinmann never would have even answered the job posting, had she not moved to Kelowna from Manitoba two years earlier.

While here on vacation, Steinmann and her husband found the right property at the right price – and a job to go along with it. “Two years ago, it was cheaper for us to move here.  My husband had a job waiting for him, and we had both a house and a cottage to sell in Manitoba.

“All of that combined made it possible for us to move here . . . There is no way that I could move here today for this job.”

Steinmann embodies the efforts of churches to raise up local talent. Two years previous to joining HCP, she went through several jobs which never quite lived up to hopes and expectations.

Coming to HCP has been the right fit, both professionally and spiritually, Steinmann explains.

“A lot of this was blessings    . . . God’s hand is in there somewhere.”

February 2008