Walk through Parkside’s doors on a Sunday and you will see a well-oiled machine in action. Each Sunday boasts four services -- three morning and one evening, hosting upwards of 3,000 people. Add to that six adult Sunday school classes, numerous children’s programs, and a variety of ministry classes and meetings -- and that’s just Sunday. Helping to support the many moving parts of Parkside Church, a talented and diligent team of eight women work to ensure that Sundays, as well as the rest of the church’s weekly events, special events, and ministries, run as smoothly as possible. 

“It always amazes me to see all of our hard work come together at our Sunday worship services or one of our church events,” notes Sandy Mansell who joined Parkside’s team in 2007. “I like to think I am serving the Lord by serving His people.” 

Serving such a large church family and pastoral team requires dedicated teamwork which this group embraces. “Everyone helps everyone [else] to make all the ministries, communications, and events run smoothly,” adds Linn Nash who joined the team in 2012. In many work environments, you might expect a team member to be focused on an individual department, but with more than 50 ministries, numerous special events, thriving church plant initiatives and missionary programs, Parkside’s support team has an all-hands-on-deck attitude. While challenging, the team understands that their work and attention to detail allows Parkside’s pastoral team to stay focused on ministering to the congregation. Case in point, Kay Carter, who is Senior Pastor Alistair Begg’s administrative assistant, and Lisa Scarpello, who is administrative assistant to Pastor Jeff Mills, Director of Ministries, both manage the many details and moving parts of each pastor’s hectic calendars, travel schedules, and correspondence that allow the pastors to study, teach, and lead their flock. Kay remembers when Pastor Begg offered her the position, “I believe he asked me to ‘help him with his life,’ which I consider a wonderful privilege.” 

Behind the Scenes and Workplace Hospitality

For this cadre of women, different skills are tapped for different reasons. Renee Pecek, who joined Parkside’s team in 2005, uses her background in accounting to lend a hand in the accounting department from time to time, and Rachel Peteya, team member since 2010, notes that all of the assistants manage the website content for their related ministries. "We don't have a special person who manages that, so we update the blog, events, registrations, and sometimes the content for the various [Web] pages," explains Rachel, who enjoys writing and assists with the youth ministries, young adults, church plant initiatives, and manages the rentals for the Warehouse and The Loft. 

Being a support team member also affords the women an opportunity to fulfill God’s call for hospitality. As evidenced by the numerous events that Parkside hosts, all of the assistants are exceptionally gifted in this area. For Susie Truax, Parkside’s receptionist since 2007, providing a warm and friendly welcome to callers and visitors is her primary mission. “Since people give me energy, I so enjoy connecting with them from far and wide. My job is to direct people to the person who can best minister/answer their questions and be a kind representative of Parkside Church,” explains Susie. 

Attendees of Parkside’s many events might see Renee stocking the snack table at the Men’s Golf Classic; or, Rachel making sure there is enough food and accommodations for hundreds of students at our middle and high school student retreats, or one of Parkside’s church plant meetings; or, Sandy, sitting patiently at the Basics Conference registration table waiting for the last few traveling pastors to arrive. And, of course, you’ll also see the entire support team at Basics welcoming and registering almost 1,000 men for the well-attended annual pastors conference.

But the team’s hospitality skills reach behind the scenes as well. You won’t see Jacque Platek, team member since 2002, when she prepares one of Parkside’s hospitality houses by stocking the fridge and leaving fresh flowers to help welcome Parkside missionary families who come home to Cleveland on furlough. Nor would you see Linn’s efforts as she helps to welcome a select group of interns each year through Parkside’s Pastoral Internship program by managing the logistics of the 6-month long search process which includes coordinating phone interviews, campus recruiting visits, travel arrangements for the pastors and the candidates, as well as identifying housing options for the young men upon their arrival. 

A LIFE Group of Their Own

“Hands down, the part of my work I enjoy the most is my co-workers,” says Lisa, who has been with Parkside since 2002. “Our administrative assistants have a great team spirit and are always willing to help each other out.” 

Renee agrees, “One of the hidden blessings of working at Parkside is the relationships we form in the office. We are a LIFE group all our own. My ‘cubemates’ have oftentimes been a source of strength on a bad day when I didn't feel I had any left. We all really do love each other unconditionally and are family in every sense of the word - very rare in a workplace.”

Jacque sums it up nicely. “The best part of working at Parkside is the work culture. There are not many work environments where bosses genuinely care about their employees, where you don't have gossip or back-biting and where each person is working toward the same common goal, rather than to better his or her own personal agenda.  That is what it is like to work on the Parkside Church staff. No workplace is perfect because no person is perfect but, I think Alistair Begg and Jeff Mills have done a good job of creating what they call a "Christ-centered Culture" at Parkside.