Laid Off, Expecting a Job Offer

In the latest development in our organizational saga, I was laid off on Tuesday. No kidding. I hadn’t done anything wrong; I’d been faithful, honest, productive, and hardworking, and brought in a lot more money than I spent. People like me and respect me. But I had to say my thank-yous and goodbyes, tell my friends where to find me, close down my email account, turn in my keys, and be out by 5:00 pm.

And the stranger thing was that this happened to all but a skeleton crew of my colleagues. So I guess the way I started this story is a bit misleading. My being laid off was not the real development. We were all laid off. The Board of Directors of our ministry, Initiative360, met on Monday night and made the decision to close down us down. It will take some time to wrap up administrative business but all operations were to cease at the end of the next business day.

Many of us knew this was coming. The hemorrhaging of staff, donations, and morale was just too much; the financial crisis and loss of leadership had crippled us to the point where we were not going to make it. Personally, I was bracing for an announcement that the curtains would fall on us March 1.

I’d accepted that we were not going to make it, but closing down shop immediately felt like ripping off fresh scabs. Tuesday was such a difficult day! I think everyone in the office that day was crying. But the immediate shutdown also had several advantages:

• Staff members are now free to look for and accept other employment without coercion, and without being, seeming, or feeling disloyal.
  
  
• Staff members are no longer in the awkward position of encouraging their supporters to keep giving without much confidence the funds will be used as intended. The organization can return donations received after February 13.
  
  
• The assets of the organization can now be reassigned/sold. In fact, tonight the Board of Directors is meeting again to consider several generous offers from like-minded organizations interested in seeing what we do continue. Staff members, while free to decide on their own where to go, will in many cases be receiving offers from these other ministries to apply for and step back into their jobs in a matter of days.

So, here’s the paradox. Initiative360 is in the process of closing down, not assuming liability for any activities, and all the people have been laid off, yet many of the services Initiative360 has been offering will continue with little interruption! And, in the same way, many of the staff should be able to continue to receive funds and salary with little loss as they quickly transition.

Yes, we’re starting over.

Before I go into that, I should say that another benefit of having the organization close down is the opportunity we will now have to step back and figure out what went wrong. I have a good idea about some of the things that will come up in the post-mortem, but it will bring some closure and satisfaction to be able to talk about these things and learn from them, even if we don’t fully agree on which decisions were good ones and which were not, what was cause and what was effect, and which of the disastrous results were inevitable and which were not. Especially as we try to continue in similar ministries, I think we need to know this!

Up until now the legal issues, the (legitimate) fear of pointing fingers, and the uncertainty of the future made it difficult to have conversations that were simultaneously inclusive, open, and meaningful. Perhaps it could not have been any other way. But it’s been very frustrating for the staff not to be told why certain actions were taken or what they meant, and to be pushed down one path only to be told by the next person who came along that we were all wrong and should be on another.

Some of those of us who have been around for a while have felt that the ministry we joined has been disappearing and being replaced by another for years. So it’s a heartbreaking loss but a relief, as well, to say that it is over.

What This Looks Like for Me

About 20 of us, mostly former Caleb Project employees, have expressed interest in staying together and coming under the auspices of a respected ministry based in Florida. Pioneers has put in a generous offer to take over many of the organization’s assets, including programs, equipment, publications, and intellectual property. Like other like-minded missionary sending agencies, they don’t want to see all the things we have been about for years just disappear. They see value in our programs, products, relationships, and experience. Several of their top leaders flew out a week or two ago to initiate conversations. For the sake of continuity these talks have been accelerated and I’m expecting a deal to come together tonight.

While many staff are saying goodbye and going other directions – one source of the many tears on Tuesday – a bunch of my closest co-workers and I will likely be filling out applications and other paperwork this weekend and soon become members of the Pioneers staff. Ministry accounts for us will be opened as soon as possible, we will call all our former supporters inviting them to give through Pioneers, and we’ll be on the payroll starting March 1 to do basically the same things we were before. Our health benefits coverage will be carried by Initiative360 through the end of March.

I am grateful for the sacrifice of leaders at Pioneers, on our leadership team, and on our board of directors to see these plans come through quickly. It’s pretty amazing.

At the same time, there are some big risks in rushing ahead. Will you take these to prayer?

One, as I mentioned, is the risk of repeating and perpetuating the same mistakes. Are the things we do really what people want and are willing to be part of? What in our old ways of doing things needs to be preserved, and what needs to change? Can we get by without some of the resources to which we had access before?

Do we really know if we fit in with the Pioneers values and culture? If we just go on as a relatively autonomous group within the organization, will we be missing a lot of opportunities to connect with the wisdom and resources there? If we slow down and try to become more fully integrated – like, say, relocating to Florida – will we lose more staff and run into too many differences and lose what makes our ministry effective?

And what about all the staff we have who do not raise their own support? Some have already left and been laid off. But a significant chunk of the people on the list of those who want to go to Pioneers are those we call ‘organizationally funded.’ The increasing number of people in this category in our ministry in recent years, hired in anticipation that we were going to grow and needed support structures in place for that growth, was probably one of the big things that brought us down. Not the main thing, but a significant factor. Our overhead expenses were out of control. So how can we keep that from happening? Can we afford to keep these people on? Can we continue without them? If we take them temporarily and can’t keep them down the road are we just going to go through all this again?

Time will tell. Please pray for wisdom and grace as we move forward.

Although following the stuff I have been working on to Pioneers seems the best path to me, I will look at least briefly into some other options, such as joining two families who will be working under the ministry of Frontiers. It just happens I’ll be in their Phoenix office next week.

I’ll keep you posted.