Teachers-in-service Is Seeking

Executive Director Roles

Teachers-in-Service is seeking an Executive Director who will maintain the current operation while developing and implementing a new aspirational operation, which s/he will then supervise and support.  This will be accomplished while working alongside the current Founder until the transition is complete.  

(Note:  TIS has no paid staff; all staff are volunteers.)

  1. Executive Director Job Responsibilities

    1. The executive director will adhere to the rules and policies for non-profit organizations as established by IRS, 501C3, and to the rules and policies of incorporation of a non-profit organization in the State of New Mexico.  

    2. The executive director will work alongside the Founder to effect the transition from TIS’s current status to the new dynamic, proactive, and aspirational operation.

    3. Board of Directors whose job will be to guide TIS. The Board of Advisors will routinely review (1) the executive director's job description and performance, (2) the financial audit, and (3) metrics related to the Strategic Plan.

    4. Work with the founder to recruit directors for various departments.

    5. The executive director will conduct a weekly staff meeting and maintain transparent and timely communication.

    6. The executive director and Founder will recruit top-tier management volunteers for the roles of (1) managing financial operations and (2) managing volunteers.

    7. The executive director will seek methods to enhance TIS’s relationship with MK schools. (MK schools serve the children of Christian missionaries who are in the field.)

    8. The executive director will review monthly budgets, accounts, and audits to maintain financial regularity.

    9. Job responsibilities will be reviewed and revised as the new operation is implemented.

    10. Where needed, assist schools and learning centers to enhance their own websites.

    11. Establish an orientation program for new teachers, TIS staff, and volunteers to learn about the value of and need for schools and teachers for children of missionaries.

    12. Please see the YouTube testimony from a former superintendent of an MK School Here.

  2. Maintain Current Operation

    1. Assists overseas MK schools and learning centers in finding teachers

    2. Maintains network within MK schools and support organizations

  3. Develop and Implement the new aspirational operation.

    1. Write a step-by-step strategic plan to achieve the new operation, including goals, actions, calendar and responsibilities, completion rubric, and benchmark metrics. Explicitly, the plan should develop the capacity and implement the actions necessary for TIS to become a teacher-sending organization, as follows. 

    2. Recruit and Supervise top tier Volunteer and Financial Managers whose job responsibilities will be:  

      1. Chief Recruiter and Manager of Volunteers  (Note: this position may require several managers because of the scope of activities.)

        1. Recruits, supervises, schedules, and coordinates teachers and their work, maintaining metrics of successful deployment.

        2. Seeks volunteers to become leaders of two subsets of volunteers

          1. Group 1 - Volunteers who form partnerships with MK schools and learning center staff to

            1. Identify significant needs that can be communicated through online ads.

            2. Obtain testimonial videos related to MK schools that can be posted on TIS YouTube. 

          2. Group 2 - Tech-Savvy Volunteers who

            1. Tailor online ADS targeting information to groups of potential teacher recruits.

              1. Current, former, retired teachers

              2. International Christian teachers

              3. Adult children of missionaries

              4. High school students

              5. University students

            2. Edit and post testimonial YouTube videos online linked to targeted ads

      2. Chief Manager of Finance and of Funding Development (This may become two positions.)

        1. Seeks support for MK teachers to pay monthly student loan fees/college debt while they are teaching in MK schools. 

        2. Addresses the monthly college debt repayment for new teachers

        3. Seeks support for TIS administrative costs including web page management and maintenance fees and outside auditing fees 

        4. Designs and administers accounting procedures for both teacher support and administrative budget

        5. Hires an outside auditor annually to review fiscal procedures and financial regularity

        6. Develop a proposal for the Teacher Funding Foundation

Whacha Doin’ With Whacha Got?

(From, Thom Votaw, the founder of Teachers in Service, inc.)

When I was a student at John Brown University in the 1960s, we had a variety of speakers come to campus. Most were polished and eloquent speakers; one was not, so we were told:

"This Mr. Frank of Frankohma Pottery in Oklahoma has given the university some money and likes to come and talk. Please be courteous."

During my four years at JBU, I only remember three speakers. One was Mr. Frank.

He said he was a Christian and had been so for many years. He said he had learned some things about making pottery that he wanted to share with college students, some of whom were unsure of what they wanted to do with their lives.

Some students’ eyes rolled. Some saw a long, boring, speech from a man who had probably never gone to college. "And he was going to talk to me, a college student, an EE major, a pre-med student? A future history teacher, an art major, a Bible major, and going to the mission field? Give me a break!"

Most students remembered that they were supposed to be courteous to Mr. Frank. That did not mean they had to listen, let alone hear, what he had to say.

I listened and heard for reasons unknown at the time; it became evident only many years later. I was a biology major focused on my classes and my major, but I did listen to Mr. Frank.

He told the story of the clay pit where he obtained the clay for his pottery. Out of the same pit, he said, the same clay was used by another manufacturer, one who made bricks for housing construction.

Mr. Frank made a comparison between the refining of clay for pottery and for bricks, for the molds for pottery and bricks, for the different skill sets of employees who made pottery and those who made bricks, for the entire manufacturing process of pottery and for bricks, and for the use of the finished products.

He told the story in plain, simple language. He was not trained in elocution, how to hold his audience's attention, or how to keep them at the edge of their seats, he did not interject jokes at appropriate places. He did not take up the entire allotted time.

What he did do, however, was to strike a parallel between the use of his clay and his neighbor's clay: Same clay, same pit, different uses. And he looked around the room at the JBU students, hesitated for a moment, and then with all seriousness said, "Watcha doin' with watcha got? I had clay and made pottery. My neighbor had the same clay and made bricks. That is what we did. But what are you doing with what you have? What are you doing with your life?"

“What are you planning to do with whatever you have from the Lord? Pottery or bricks? Both are needed and both are valuable in their own way. One is not better than the other. How are you going to use the raw material the Lord provided? Watcha doin' with Watcha got?"

Mr. Frank ended his talk and there was a token clap of hands. University administration breathed a sigh of relief. Students filed out of the auditorium, some shaking their heads and mumbling.

Over many years Mr. Frank's words kept returning to my mind: "Watcha doin' with Watcha got?" I finished college, spent four years in the Navy, had a variety of jobs, taught school, obtained master's and doctoral degrees, and ended up as a professor of science teacher education.

Over the years, however, I still remembered Mr. Frank's dictum and thought there was still something more out there for me. Something beyond being a professor. Not pottery or bricks but something.

That something occurred in 1997, around 35 years later, and may be found, under administrator testimonials.

Verses I knew and suddenly many things, past and present, became crystal clear. I was chosen by Christ to develop a program for teachers for children of missionaries (Ephesians 1:11). He prepared me for the project even though I did not know He was doing it (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

"Whacha doin' with Whacha got?" Now I knew.

My response to Mr Frank's challenge and my long, circuitous, random-abstract path with broad steps, prepared me to initiate Teachers in Service.

And now, I pass this same challenge on to those considering applying for the Executive Director position of Teachers in Service.

MK teachers and administrators and other candidates may have their own paths in motion that may lead them to the executive director position with Teachers in Service. Some may come from a desire to move up from teaching MKs or administration of MK schools.

For others, they may feel the Lord is pursuing a brand-new path for them in their journey with Him.

In either case, they may want to take Thom, the founder of Teachers in Service and a random-abstract thinker, to bring about an aspirational, proactive, and dynamic reconstructed Teachers in Service, by being a linear-sequential thinker.

MK teachers and administrators and other candidates may have their own paths in motion that may lead them to the executive director position with Teachers in Service. Some may come from a desire to move up from teaching MKs or administration of MK schools.

For others, they may feel the Lord is pursuing a brand-new path for them in their journey with Him. "That I may go wherever you are calling me!"

Thank you for your consideration and blessings on whatever decision you make!

Thom