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Upper Columbia Conference Employees Move Forward

[Spokane, WA] December 31, 2008, Source: Upper Columbia Conference
In spite of the recent fire that destroyed much of the conference office building Sunday, December 28, Upper Columbia Conference employees are moving forward with daily ministry efforts.
Tuesday, December 30, administrators met with the office staff at the Spokane Valley Church to discuss and plan for the future to ensure that the conference is able to continue providing vital services to members.
In sharing with the staff Tuesday, conference president, Max Torkelson, said, "The conference isn't a building. It's people. We have the whole staff, all the members, all our students, so we have lost hardly anything of what the conference really is."
"This is an opportunity to show we are a team. Our goal should be to keep the services of the conference as uninterrupted as possible and I think with a little extra effort we can accomplish this."
The staff have embraced Torkelson's call to move forward. This is evidenced by the diligent efforts to restore vital services. By Sunday evening, the conference's phone, website, and email was restored. Computer files and electronic documents have been available to employees since Monday.
Office manager, Bill Skidmore, is in charge of locating a lease site for office space during reconstruction. On a temporary basis, employees are reporting for work in area churches and homes until office space can be located.
All calls to the main conference phone number are being routed to the UCC receptionist. Callers are provided with direct phone numbers and email addresses for the various departments and conference ministries. This contact information is also available on the UCC website.
The office mailing address is still the same and mail is being picked up on work days and distributed to the appropriate departments. Faxes sent to UCC are being distributed to the various departments with the mail.
"Our goal is to provide services as consistently as possibly and to pull together as a team. The Lord will help us figure this all out. Your prayers and understanding are greatly appreciated as we adjust to a new way of operating at the UCC Office." said Torkelson.

Jay Wintermeyer
Communication Director