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Combining the best stewardship practices (the administrative and corporate business of being the church) and the ministry practices (making disciples of Jesus Christ) is nothing new. But the Baltimore-Washington Conference recently broke new ground with the hiring of William "Bill" Isberg as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The conference is the first annual conference to employ such a position. The addition of a COO has provides an opportunity to better manage the organizational needs so that more resources, talent and time can be used to make disciples, reverse long-term declines in membership, worship attendance and professions of faith, and continue to reduce the apportionment benevolence factor.

Drawing on his business background, Isberg explains the position of COO "typically is created to alleviate the operational burden from the chief executive officer, allowing the CEO to shed some of the company's more financial and management-oriented tasks to an organizational process expert."

Then drawing on his church background, Isberg concludes, "It's really just a matter of good stewardship. A COO frees the bishop to be a visionary, spiritual leader."

Isberg has lived, and even thrived, in this balance between corporate and religious realms. He smiles, remembering when he took management courses and Discipleship Bible Study at the same time and principles from the book of Proverbs were discussed in both settings.
Charles Allen, who served as an interim COO for the past 10 months, laid the groundwork for this position within the conference " implementing and reinforcing sound financial systems and strategies, creating a project-management system for use in the conference"s 10-Point Plan, and beginning to develop strategic ways that that the conference staff and churches can collaborate in mission and ministry.

Ray Mosley, who serves on the denomination"s General Commission on Finance and Administration and the conference Council on Finance and Administration, is enthusiastic about the specialized skills a COO can bring, enabling the conference to set and maintain clear objectives, manage its products and ministries more effectively and efficiently, provide increased service to churches and deepen its stewardship efforts.

"As we look at the conference"s objective of growing 600 Acts 2 churches by 2012, it is essential that we maximize the services provided to the local churches," Mosley said. "Utilizing sound, strategic business principles can help us to be the church that God intends."
One of Isberg"s first challenges will be creation of a state-of-the-art, Web-based information system designed to streamline and increase the effectiveness of communications between the conference and local churches.

Isberg comes to the conference from his position as a vice president with HSBC, a bank in Washington, D.C. He has also worked at SunTrust Bank, National Cooperative Bank, Sequa Financial Corporation and Westinghouse Credit Corporation.

Last year, Isberg, the lay leader of Bethany UMC, attended a conference of the Northeastern Jurisdiction.

"That really opened my eyes to the big picture of what was going on with the church. There was a lot of vibrancy and great ideas at the conference, and a lot of passion. But at the same time, there was also a lot of sober reality about what is going on with Christianity in the United States," Isberg said. "I felt like God was calling me to action and that I somehow needed to be involved beyond the local church. I needed to do more."

With the help of others he began to examine the gifts he had developed in 22 years of business and how they might be applied in the larger church.

"God led me to the Conference Center," Isberg said. "I felt like the Lord opened the doors."
While he"s been the conference COO for less than month, he says he"s pleased and challenged by what he finds there.

According to Isberg, the most important challenge the conference faces "is keeping our eyes on the end goal, which is to build disciples and save lives for Christ." How we accomplish that will be just as important as what we accomplish, he said. "We need to model Christian behavior."

At the center of all Isberg does, he says, is stewardship.

"I believe God has given me all that I have and I am responsible for being a steward of those things, whether they be co-workers, or my family, or folks at church, or even somebody I stumble across while I"m at the food store that needs a smile," Isberg said. "God is pleased when we take what we"re given and we grow it."

During the next few months we will be focusing on helping the conference to "build a toolbox of best practices for churches that will help them execute our common mission and goals," he said.

However, he cautions, "tools are just mechanisms. Only passionate, committed people build the Kingdom."