Critical HR Information for Churches

As many of you may have noticed, the world of Employment Law-or the law governing how you interact with your church staff- is ever-changing with the new administration.  Even though I deal with Human Resource topics daily, I still find myself behind the learning curve of current HR events.

On April the 2nd, my company, SourcePointe of Alabama-a Human Resources Outsourcing company- provided its clients a Lunch and Learn on the various topics of today’s hectic HR scene.  As a benefit, I am passing along this information to you as a courtesy and investment into your ministry.  With all of the changes, I want to first be sure you are protected.  If you would like to view the presentation, please click here.

If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

Just the Word

This past weekend, my wife and I took our children to Lifeway Christian stores.  As part of our Easter gift to them, we let each of the three pick out a new Bible.

The oldest, Braxton, is especially interested in reading things for himself.  After some bantering back and forth, he had his hopes locked in on a particular Bible that had a lot of pictures and very few words.  We looked around a bit and found the new Veggie Tales Bible which is a nice transition from the kids’ Bible to the more adult Bible.  One look at it, and he determined he didn’t want it.

I decided to work some “parental magic” on him and diplomatically got him to bring the Veggie Tale Bible with him as we walked over to where the Adult Bibles were.  I picked up one of the NIVs off of the shelf and sat down with him.  I selected a Scripture passage in the bible I had and had Braxton turn to the same passage in his.  Since I knew how much Braxton wanted to learn about Scripture, I thought the best way to get him to step up is to show him how similar the Veggie Tales Bible was to the “big person Bible.”

After I read the passage from the Bible I had, Braxton read the same passage out of his and instantly, his little face brightened with a smile.  Now, as a parent, I thought silently to myself, “I won!”  It was a short-lived victory because the lesson to be learned in this situation was not for Braxton, but rather more for me.

Braxton asked if he could look at my Bible and as he looked through it, he simply looked at me and said, “I don’t want the Veggie Tale Bible, I want this one.”  I spent some time trying to tell him that one was too old for him and that he needed to start out with the other one.  He said he didn’t want a Bible with any pictures in it.  Why?  His reason, simply put, struck my core.  With simple innocence, Braxton looked at me and gave me his reasoning:

“I just want the Word.”

I couldn’t hardly find any words to tell him no.  In fact, I was so busy trying to hold back tears that speaking was simply a bystander thought.  Granted, Braxton most likely meant he only wanted one with words, however, my spirit knew what Christ was saying through him to me.  And as you can see, a week later, the situation still consumes me.

How often do we spend Easter or Christmas focusing on what to wear to service, who’s going to get what, and what songs will be sung at church?  I know personally,  I have read several blogs this week talking about how to make the service more “attractive” or “inciting” to the visiting lost.  Churches will practice new songs, bring additional people into the choir, have additional services, but what is the real reason?

I guess as I sit and ponder upon Good Friday and think of Christ’ life, death, and resurrection, I am awestruck.  Jesus didn’t have the grand pianos, large choirs, or anything similar to Power Point, he simply had the Word.  After all, John 1 tells us he was the Word. And with only the Word, he drew masses of people.  In fact, you could say his sermon on the Mount was the first “mega-church.”

I am not, in any way, knocking the intense focus on making the Easter Celebration a grand event.  After all, it is worth more than any show, service, or anything we could ever put on.  I guess Braxton’s words just struck my core, challenging me to wonder how often I go to church looking for the “pictures on the page”.  Rather, I hope I begin having my heart, mind, soul, and flesh cry out, “I just want the Word.”

I sincerely hope you all have a great Easter…

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

Church Organizational Questions

Recently on my Linked-In Profile, I decided to post a poll to see if I could get an unbiased response from Pastors regarding their views on Church Organizational Structures.  I was surprised to see the results.  Look below:

Of course, there were many discussions and comments surrounding Biblical structure and denominational structures.  Casting all of these discussions aside, let’s spend some time looking at this topic from a behavioral and human resources stand point.  I will take each of these topics in numerous posts beginning with the highest percentage first.

How Do You Do It?

Chances are, you have taken some time to read earlier posts on Choosing the Right Church Structure.  If you have not, I would strongly urge you to take a glance over it when you have some time.  The first decision to be made must be which structure you are going to choose.

The next stage of the process will depend largely on the current church structure and the amount of change required to embrace the new church organizational structure.  When you find yourself ready to begin contemplating who should go into which position, I would suggest a couple of the following to consider:

• Post the New Positions: From a compliance standpoint, it is always good to post any new positions to enable anyone interested in the position to apply and go through interviews.  Although this is labor intensive, it is the best way to ensure all who are interested in a change express it, and that you are presenting positions in a clear, open, and fair manner.  One of the negative sides of this practice is the exposure to having to have difficult conversations with those who may not qualify for the position they applied for.  On the flip-side, posting such positions may give someone an opportunity to express a need for a change in their current role.  Even if they may not qualify for the position, as a leader, you now know there is an opportunity to coach someone who is potentially needing, feeling, or wanting a change.
• Talent and Passion: In an earlier post highlighting reorganizing your team based on strengths, we spent some time discussing possible ways to use individuals’ strengths as a way to align them.  Sometimes, I have seen teams with individuals who were miserable in their positions due in large part to their “misdiagnosis” in their job.  It is critical to conduct interviews with each team member to discuss those things they are passionate about.  What gets them up in the morning?  When it comes to Kingdom work, what gets their fire stoked?  As you are talking with them, you should be able to tell the answers to some of these questions by their behaviors.  I have seen in some cases where simply swapping one person for another person on the same team has produced great results.  By conducting these interviews with each of your team members, it may help provide some direction to the leadership on who may apply for which position.
• Accurate Job Description: We discussed church job descriptions in an earlier post and will spend some more time in following posts.  As discussed in these posts, be sure to accurately describe what you are looking for in the position and then be prepared to honor those qualifications.  The worst thing to do is write a job description and hire someone who does not meet those qualifications.
• Dual Communication: Depending on your by-laws, you may have some verbiage dictating how decisions will be made (whether by a council or board of directors, etc).  My one major suggestion / strong recommendation is to conduct these announcements in a one-on-one manner with at least two people facilitating the conversation.  Again, one of the mistakes commonly made is not to have someone else in the room to communicate the impending changes.  This will ensure a buffer for anyone who may not take well to the changes and will also provide a witness for each of the conversations.  You would be amazed with the impact of having someone else in the room not only to help you as a communicator with anxiety, but also help ease the overall tension of the situation.

We will spend some more time discussing the other aspects of the poll results in following posts.  If you have particular questions you would like to submit, please email me your questions at trent.cotton@gmail.com.  Also, if you would like to learn more about the poll results, you can visit the poll by visiting it by clicking here. I look forward to exploring these topics with you.

If this article was of interest to you, please check some of the others in this topic by clicking on one of the titles below:

Divide or Don’t Divide?  Church Organizational Structures

Questions for Church Organizational Structures

Reorganizing your Team According to their Strengths

Building the Right Church Team

Church Organizational Structures : A Bit More

Discovering The Right Church Organizational Structure

Discovering The Right Church Organizational Structure – Part II

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If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.