Facilities are a necessary part of the ability to gather each week as the church and not get rained on. Most churches use them. Some churches care about how well maintained they are. There are generally two types of people who run facilities. There are those who care about maintenance and those who care about appearance. It is very difficult to find the “combo” facilities director … mostly because the person responsible for the facility in most churches is responsible for a host of other things as well. It’s usually not until your building becomes ginormous that you need a full time facilities person.
The “maintenance”-focused person can literally walk right by a garbage can overflowing into the lobby to make sure all the ballasts in the light fixtures are working properly. It’s not that they don’t acknowledge that it is messy if asked. They simply don’t see the mess unless it is pointed out. They are happy to take care of it if someone points it out, but they really care about the functional parts of the building rather than the aesthetics.
The “appearance”-focused person sees every little thing that is out of place. They will also make a beautiful sign to tell everyone the toilet is out of order (and it may be for three weeks). They care much about how the place looks.
When looking for a facilities guru, do yourself a favor and make sure both of these things matter to them. The building should be in ready condition every hour of every day. It’s where we come to gather in worship and get trained to go apply the Gospel better. Your facilities person should see it that way.
If you step over a pile to get in your office this morning … you know which type of facilities person you would be …
