Laurel Hopfe has been working as the Office Administrator for the Weyburn Free Methodist Church for 18 years. She's who answers the phone when someone calls, who greets anyone who shows up during office hours at WFMC, handling prayer requests, facility rentals, and anything else one may need. 

"I've come to appreciate her quiet wisdom over the years," shared Pastor Ian Isaak. "Oftentimes, you think administrators are very good detail-oriented people, and they're good at keeping things organized and on track. 

"Laurel has also demonstrated significant wisdom, and I consider her one of the people that, when we are wondering what do we do as a church, where do we go, how do we do things well, what concerns could there be here, what issues are we going to face, Laurel is oftentimes a voice of wisdom and a perspective that we value much more than as an administrator, but as a wise person who helps our organization follow Jesus well, and so she brings that to the table, which is far and above beyond any job description or any kind of corporate part of the part of the role. But she brings it all the time and it's a blessing to us."

Pastor Isaak said Laurel also keeps a lot of the internal systems running.

"For example, if a prayer request comes into our church, Laurel will review that she'll process it, she'll get it forwarded on to the right team," he explained. "If we need something for our board meetings, or if we need to schedule vacation days, if we need to schedule different service times or ministry times, all of that goes on Laurel's giant calendar, we call it, and she does all of the internal organizing of a lot of our systems as well, keeping us all on track."

He said she's been doing the job for so long, they often joke as pastors, 'if Laurel wasn't here, the church would fall down!'

"You know, on the one hand, it's a bit of a joke. On the other hand, is it's really true," he noted. "If our organization didn't have someone like Laurel, who is detailed, focused on scheduling and making sure everything has its place, and it's in its place, even simple things like making sure people have insurance when they rent the building, these minute small little details, that a lot of people would just kind of forget or gloss over, can have significant impacts on our organization."

"Laurel is always making sure those are in place and we're doing everything above board, by the book, and safe." 

Being an administrative professional within a church setting, he said, requires a more unique skill set. While most administrators are dealing with only administrative issues, a church administrator is dealing with a wide range of needs.

"With a church we get people who are in times of grief, we get people who are in times of hurting, or pain or in financial need, or sometimes they just need food or they need help with something," he shared. "Laurel doesn't just deal with people booking rooms at the facility, she also deals with people coming in off the street, who are having a terrible day, a terrible week, don't know where to turn to and are at the bottom. They walk into the church and Laurel's there and so she is very good at offering that first point of contact, that first point of care, and praying with them, and ensuring that they get connected to a pastor or to the resources that our church offers."

Find WFMC online HERE.