First Day

Yesterday, I began my new job at Lutherans Concerned/North America. Before I began, I had images of Hillary Clinton walking into the State Department, amid cheers and hoots. It wasn't quite like that.

I called my co-worker to ask when I should arrive. I knew that I probably couldn't do much without him, but I also knew that he tends to come in quite later than others, but stay later into the night. He told me to arrive between 9-10. I'm still used to getting to work between 7:30-8:30, so that seemed so late. I slept in a little bit, and leisurely got ready to go.

When I arrived, there were only two other employees there. Now, this place has a staff of 8, including me, so two is pretty regular. I walked in and said hi to the first person I saw. He said, "Hi...Welcome to Lutherans Concerned." We laughed, and then he showed me where I was going to be working. It was pretty much set up for me, with a new computer and everything. I found that I already had an email inbox with about 75 messages in it. I spent the next hour sorting through the emails. Some were spam. Some were welcome messages from board members and regional coordinators.

Then, the work began. There is a lot going on at Lutherans Concerned, so there is much to do. We realized that this week held some pressure, because the ELCA is releasing it's (almost) final draft of a sexuality statement. We wanted to be prepared for the release, so that has become the main focus of the week.

So, I'm in it already. There are still transitions to complete. The nice thing is that I've been around Lutherans Concerned for quite some time. I served on the board of directors and worked events for them, so I'm quite familiar with how it operates. That means a lower learning curve. But now I'm in the heart of the business. And there is a lot of business.

OK - I need to go to my second day of work!