Welcome Eric!
Dear Hope Church Family,
Patience has never been my greatest virtue. However, through my times of impatience, I am reminded repeatedly of God’s perfect timing and faithfulness. Most recently, that lesson has been through our search for a new Sexton.
Hal Roach completed his work with us in that role at the end of last November. We posted the position and started searching for his replacement even before Hal left. However, we were unable to find a person with the right combination of work experience yet willing to work a limited number of hours per week. Jim Page graciously and competently stepped up to fill that void until we found someone. However, we never intended that to last almost seven months!
As we searched, I was very hesitant to post the position on Indeed, knowing that I would be flooded with applications that were most likely not the good fit for which we were looking. But as month six of Jim’s gracious offer to temporarily fill in was approaching, I relented and posted the position for three days. As expected, my inbox was flooded. But in weeding through all of those applications, I was drawn to a retired lieutenant from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, Thomas ‘Eric’ Osborne.
Here’s where God’s perfect timing comes in. Eric only retired at the end of October, so he wasn’t even thinking about a part-time job when we first posted the position. But as we continued to pray for God to bring the right person to us, Eric was completing his honey-do list and figuring out how he wanted to fill his days – besides picking his bass guitar back up after many years.
Prior to his 24 years at the Sheriff’s Office, Eric was a police officer with the City of Winston-Salem. At the Sheriff’s Office, he was promoted through the ranks from deputy to corporal to sergeant to lieutenant. That final role included responsibility for all of the building issues, so he brings valuable experience in building codes and required inspections. He has also flipped houses – tile work is his specialty – so minor repairs and overall upkeep of our building will not be a challenge for him.
Eric is married to Holly and has two daughters, a granddaughter, and a grandson. Eric’s first day with us will be Monday, June 16. Please join me in welcoming Eric to the Hope family and thanking Jim for his faithful service during the interim.
Blessings,
Melissa Williard