The first time I ever worked in a church office was the summer after my freshman year of college. I was a children's ministry intern and shared a semi-large office space with three women who served as directors and two other interns (including the wonderful Jenny V.) I don't remember much, except that we had some shared desk space and it wasn't a position that required too much office time. That following summer, I moved up in the church office world to "The Annex." Though it sounds hostile, it was simply a house turned office that the church had purchased next to it's property. This was a pretty cool office, with the back area consisting of the youth ministry offices and our office being located in what used to be the garage. We had a little intern station (that I shared with Paige!) out front with a computer and desk space and I believe our own phone line (that the same student called us on most mornings around 10:00am just to see how we were doing and to see if we could hang out . . .again). The office had an extra table-desk and a comfortable couch and was still in adequate yelling distance of the intern station and the high school director's office (who needs intercoms?) The high school intern has an incredibly cool office upstairs, with an inside and outside set of stairs leading to the bachleor-pad of all offices, fully equipped with video games and dowloaded epidodes of the Family Guy for a mid-afternoon break (thanks, Melvin!). I had that same office the next summer. It was still cool.
You could also qualify the chair in youth pastor's offices that I worked under, my R.A. dorm room and possibly even "The Shack" as other offices during those years.However, my first real office was in the basement of the church. Not actually the church, but the originalchurch, parts of which dated back over 100 years. Stop to imagine the lovely musty smell for a moment. We had our own "secret" entrance leading right down to our office (and most members of the church also had keys to this entrance) and another more public entrance via two large, heavy wooden doors. We had some block glass type 1/3 windows at the top of our office and some nice fans. The room was semi-decorated in a lodge-y way with some nice nature pictures and some nature stencils (stencils were put to thorough use all over, actually). We had a humongous old desk, a couch and chair set we picked out at a thrift store, some bookshelves (which portrayed both biblical scholarship and youth pastor immaturaty) and some other things. This was also a great office and had the kind of character you can't capture anywhere else. It has the same nostalgia as our first apartment, but was like a second piece of (borrowed) property, so it felt even cooler. It was a bit scary at night, and our cell phones (our church lines) didn't work down there. Nonetheless, it was great. Sadly, this office was demolished along with the building about a year after we started our jobs there. The church was tearing this building down to make room for additions to the newer church building and to move forward in their ministry opportunities through a newer, more usable building. The front foyer of the church and various coffeeshops became our office for the duration of our time there.
And this brings me to our current office, which is really only our second real office. This time we are on ground level (there is no basement or second floor) and we have a rather large window (looking out to a little walkway between sections of the building and to the sanctuary). After some organization and moving things out of and around the office, it is quite comfortable to work in (even more comfortable when I get the swivel chair). It has a large tripartite desk, a computer, our own phone, a stero anda laminated chart of the cursive alphabet. There are no stencils, but there is a real sign next to the door with our names on it. We just need some pictures and things to make it feel like "ours." Possibly the best (and strangest part) is the partition that sits between us in our office and the youth pastor in his office. Some may even call this "The Annex." So far it has been fun to have conversations both by talking through and by peering over the wall between the two sides. (Today, I even got a cookie sent to me over the wall). It's a bit awkward because it feels like you are in your own room, but then you hear someone else talking and realize they are only feet away from you. And upon stapling something into a bulletin board which is on this partition, I also realized that the wall can easily be pushed down into his office (ours has a large filing aparatus to protect us).
It's fun to have an office again.
You could also qualify the chair in youth pastor's offices that I worked under, my R.A. dorm room and possibly even "The Shack" as other offices during those years.However, my first real office was in the basement of the church. Not actually the church, but the originalchurch, parts of which dated back over 100 years. Stop to imagine the lovely musty smell for a moment. We had our own "secret" entrance leading right down to our office (and most members of the church also had keys to this entrance) and another more public entrance via two large, heavy wooden doors. We had some block glass type 1/3 windows at the top of our office and some nice fans. The room was semi-decorated in a lodge-y way with some nice nature pictures and some nature stencils (stencils were put to thorough use all over, actually). We had a humongous old desk, a couch and chair set we picked out at a thrift store, some bookshelves (which portrayed both biblical scholarship and youth pastor immaturaty) and some other things. This was also a great office and had the kind of character you can't capture anywhere else. It has the same nostalgia as our first apartment, but was like a second piece of (borrowed) property, so it felt even cooler. It was a bit scary at night, and our cell phones (our church lines) didn't work down there. Nonetheless, it was great. Sadly, this office was demolished along with the building about a year after we started our jobs there. The church was tearing this building down to make room for additions to the newer church building and to move forward in their ministry opportunities through a newer, more usable building. The front foyer of the church and various coffeeshops became our office for the duration of our time there.
And this brings me to our current office, which is really only our second real office. This time we are on ground level (there is no basement or second floor) and we have a rather large window (looking out to a little walkway between sections of the building and to the sanctuary). After some organization and moving things out of and around the office, it is quite comfortable to work in (even more comfortable when I get the swivel chair). It has a large tripartite desk, a computer, our own phone, a stero anda laminated chart of the cursive alphabet. There are no stencils, but there is a real sign next to the door with our names on it. We just need some pictures and things to make it feel like "ours." Possibly the best (and strangest part) is the partition that sits between us in our office and the youth pastor in his office. Some may even call this "The Annex." So far it has been fun to have conversations both by talking through and by peering over the wall between the two sides. (Today, I even got a cookie sent to me over the wall). It's a bit awkward because it feels like you are in your own room, but then you hear someone else talking and realize they are only feet away from you. And upon stapling something into a bulletin board which is on this partition, I also realized that the wall can easily be pushed down into his office (ours has a large filing aparatus to protect us).
It's fun to have an office again.
1 comment:
Your blogs are so entertaining. I picture the scene completely.
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