WELCOME TO CHRISTINA EBBEN, CHURCH BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR!

Hello, Calvary! We are excited to welcome Christina Ebben as our new Church Business Administrator! You will recall that the Staff Structure Ad Hoc Team last year created 3 new roles, a part time Congregational Chaplain (Rev. J. R. Brenda Goodman), a part time Pastor (Rev. Ian Cummins), and a part time Church Business Administrator. It is this third position that Christina will be filling as of April 20. After a 3-month search for just the right candidate, all of the “puzzle pieces” are now in place for the new structure!

Christina will have responsibilities in Operations Management, Finance, Accounting, Budget, Building and Property, and Human Resources, hopefully allowing Pastor Anne Scalfaro to turn over many of the administrative duties that currently take up so much of her time. Christina will also take on duties from Luwan
Jones, who is wrapping up her time as Calvary’s Accountant after 14 years.

We had a multi-stage search process. After my initial screening interview, there was a second interview with Kreg Brown (Staff Relations), Katherine Pound (Deacon/Treasurer), and Rev. Ian Cummins. The third interview included Chad Lawrence, Cindy Schall, and Ye Ye Wong as well as Rev. Anne Scalfaro (who also had some one-on-one time with Christina). The CBA search participants feel that Christina will be a wonderful fit for this role for many reasons, starting with her professional experience. Her most recent position was Administrative Director for Nexus Recovery Services, a non-profit. She is also a certified Peer and Family Support professional, and plans to continue this aspect of her career on a part-time basis while working for Calvary. In her initial interview, she said that Calvary has supported many of her clients, and that Calvary does amazing work! What a nice way to start our working relationship! Christina was also a Fulbright student researcher in São Paulo, Brazil for 2 years. (She’s REALLY good with numbers!) We are looking forward to having her apply her gifts and skills at Calvary! She will be partnering with the administrative staff mentioned above, plus several of Calvary’s deacons, in
tackling all of her new responsibilities.

In announcing Christina’s acceptance of our offer to the Ministry Advisory Board, Pastor Anne wrote:

“Christina is gifted in so many of the ways that we need for this position, and we feel she fits our staff team and our Calvary ‘culture’ really well. She enthusiastically supports our inclusivity statement and our church’s mission. Working at a church will be a new experience for her, and we will all help her learn the ropes in terms of what makes working at a church unique, and then specifically what makes Calvary “Calvary.” Five things that stood out to me about Christina in our interviewing process are 1) she likes to problem solve and learn new things (she’s a quick study), 2) she is highly organized and efficient with systems, 3) she is humble and curious about
things she doesn’t know and confident about things she does know, 4) she is smart (like in a nerdy math way!…and in a cultural/emotional intelligence way) and 5) she is looking for a workplace where she can be authentically herself and serve the community.” 

Christina will be working 20 hours per week. We will determine her schedule once she gets through the onboarding plan established for her first two weeks, as we try to bring her up to speed on so many different things at once. Her home base will be in the Business Office. If you see Christina, please introduce yourself and give her a warm Calvary welcome!

Beth Dickinson
Staff Relations Deacon

PS – Wondering how to pronounce Ebben? You are not alone! Christina says it’s like “ebb ‘n
flow.”