Sheila Schaefer has been hired to be our church secretary. Among her responsibilities will be processing the mail, preparing the bulletin each week, gathering information for and printing the monthly calendar, recording gains and losses in the PMC membership book, sending announcements of marriages, births and deaths to church publications and keeping a current record of PMC regular attendees’ addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. She will also provide secretarial assistance to pastor Tim, mailing official church correspondence, meeting notices and reminders, "get well" letters and yearly reports to Virginia conference.

In the near future we hope to have a small office area set up where Sheila can work and answer the phone during working hours.

Sheila brings to this position a few years’ experience as an office assistant during her years in Charlotte, NC, where she worked in the corporate office of Goodyear and Associates. She recalls enjoying the many tasks required of the position and looks forward to expanding her skills with her new duties.

The term for the secretarial position coincides with the church’s fiscal year, which begins each September. Sheila has already begun to take over some of the duties that do not require the use of office space, such as sorting and distributing the mail and publishing the bulletin. She welcomes any help or suggestions as she takes on this new challenge and would like to thank those who have already shared their expertise.

As this is a new position at PMC, the church does not presently have the office equipment required for the various duties. A printer and fax machine have already been donated, but if you have any new or good used office equipment that you are willing to donate, please contact Dave Moyer or pastor Tim. Items most urgently needed are a small desk and a computer with at least Windows 98 operating system.

When asked if the eight-hour week will generate enough income for her to be able to stay with the job long term, Sheila responded that she will be using it as a base to carry her as she pursues what she feels God has called her to do. "As a little girl I can remember having a huge briefcase that I loaded with papers of every kind to use in my ‘office.’ I loved pretending I was a secretary, filling out forms, writing important letters, and, most importantly, organizing and reorganizing my beloved briefcase. It gave me such a sense of importance. And I have had a desire to work for the church in this capacity for quite a while. Along with that is the desire to use the artistic talent God has given me to bring Him the glory He deserves. I can’t take the full credit for my artistic abilities, especially when drawing people. I have come to learn that making someone ‘come alive’ is a rare gift and one that is not easily taught. Most of the time I can be working on a project and see the Holy Spirit directing my pencil. I can’t explain it any other way. A correspondence course in Basic Art, which I took right after high school, is all the training I have had, so it’s very easy for me to say, ‘It’s God.’ On the other side of that, I have to admit it was that lack of knowledge that kept me from taking this leap of faith and pursuing my art. Someone once told me that faith is walking to the edge of the light and taking one step into the darkness. I am jumping in with both feet. My heart’s desire is for God to have the freedom to accomplish all that He wants to through me."