Last night was my Church’s annual “vision meet” whereby our pastor updates us on the previous year and then looks forward to the coming year.
Sometimes there are relevant prophetic words that are clarified but mostly it is a look back at the highs and lows of last year and then he gives an indication of the items that could take up the coming year. Some of these relate to visits by other Church leaders or our hosting of some Bible college students for work placement and yet other bits refer to stuff we’d like to achieve this year. I’m sure you all know the format …
Anyway, once again IT got short shrift with almost no mention at all. The one bit was when the pastor admitted he didn’t get the modern need for social media sites. I’m not disheartened by this apparent lack of recognition and neither does it mean nothing will happen in the land of IT in our Church. It just simply means I have a tougher task ahead in trying to get this ‘department’ more recognition than it currently does. It would appear that by now I should have worked out that this is the path my personal vision takes me. Heading up departments that get little to no recognition and consequently little leadership input!
Ah well, at least I now have a time and a date for our first ever IT / Media Meeting – and therein lies some of my problem. I’m battling to get the Church to understand that it needs to look at the bigger picture and that IT isn’t just about computers for the staff to do their jobs. There needs to be a lot of cross-department focus to see how one affects another and how each one can support or feed off others. I detail a lot of this on my vision page but I firmly believe that I need to get the leadership to understand that IT is more than just desktop services and central storage.
Perhaps I need a catchy title for the department name that points at more than just IT? Suggestions via email or in the comments please.
