Like many commissioned pastors, Kari Preslar had a full-time occupation during many of her years leading a congregation. That commitment outside of the church prevented her from being as involved as she would have liked with some church-related organizations.
But now that she is no longer an employee of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources where she was a secretary for 20 years, Kari has the time to devote to other interests. At the top of her list was the Association of Partners in Christian Education – commonly known as simply APCE – which is a networking organization full of helpful curricula that aims to equip Presbyterians and others in their work in the church.
“The annual events are the time to go and get renewed with your ministry,” Kari said. “It’s almost like going home. I see friends I’ve had forever who live throughout the country and Canada and meet new people. I go to workshops and just get renewed for ministry, come back with all kinds of wonderful, new ideas to share with my church. APCE has always been that for me all of these years.”
This winter at APCE’s annual gathering in Memphis, Kari was elected as its administrative officer after she was presented as the top candidate by the search committee. Being able to assist such a meaningful organization is extremely rewarding to her.
“I’ve been a part of APCE for over 30 years,” Kari said. “I’ve always had a part-time job most of the time in the church, and I had a full-time job outside of the church. So, I was never able to participate much except to go to the annual events. I retired from my full-time job with the state last year, so I have a little bit of extra time.”
The role of administrative officer, which is a newly created position at APCE, is a clerical position, one that involves taking minutes, keeping membership roles and working directly with the executive director.
“I’m a support person across the board for everybody,” Kari said of her new role. “There’s always been a secretary, but the secretary just took minutes. This position has expanded from what that position was.”
Because of her secretarial background at West Virginia’s DHHR, this opportunity to serve APCE in this way is a perfect fit for Kari.
“I’ve always been a secretary in my jobs through the years,” she said. “Taking minutes, doing administrative stuff comes easy to me. I’ve always worked under an executive at my jobs and been their right-hand person. The original job description was all stuff that I’ve done before.
“The challenge is that we live all across the United States and all across Canada, and so all of our meetings are on Zoom. The only time we all get together in person is at the annual event, which happens in January. So, doing things by Zoom is a totally new way of doing things for me since covid, so it loses a little bit in not being able to be together in a room face-to-face with somebody. But this is the way we can do it financially and to allow anybody wherever they live to be a part of the organization.”
Kari’s position as administrative officer carries a three-year term, but that could be reduced by a year once APCE’s restructuring is finalized. A commissioned pastor for 15 years currently serving the First Presbyterian Church of Dunbar, WV, Kari is part of a new-look APCE that has hired an executive director, the first paid position of the volunteer organization.
“We’ve never had an executive director before,” Kari said. “I think it’s a good thing just to have somebody who is overseeing the entire organization. They also cut down on the number of committees, the number of mission teams and the number of volunteers that are needed for each mission team.
“The mission teams are new as well, and they’re being asked to look forward to not just what the committees have done before but how can we look forward to doing new and exciting things.”
Kari Preslar, second from left, stands on stage during her induction in January as APCE’s administrative officer. With her are, from left, Bette Case (Communications Officer), Sandy Safford (Co-President), Deb DeMeester (Co-Treasurer), Jim Monnett (Co-Treasurer), Tori Smit (Co-President, at the podium) and Thom Cunningham (Executive Director, sitting).
It’s all part of a new vision for APCE that Kari feels will be beneficial to the future of the organization.
“We want to strengthen our relationships with people who work in the church – educators, ministers, volunteers – specifically everyone who works in educational ministries, but it’s across the board,” Kari said. “We want to be able to support people in new and different ways, ways that are more helpful for people who are working in the church.
“We’ve reached out a lot to people, getting them to tell us what exactly do you need from this organization. Besides the annual event, what more can we do? The big thing is everybody needs resources. We have a lot of people who are thinking out of the box about how we can do ministry in a new way because everybody across the board is having issues with everything from the budget to less members to almost everything.”
For example, Kari said at First Dunbar they are focusing on what they do well and not worrying about things that they aren’t able to do due to a lack of volunteers and other resources. Helping the community and their members are priorities at First Dunbar.
Now she’ll do her part to assist APCE as it looks to continue to equip Christian educators with the tools they need to share the word of God.
“For me to be chosen to be put up for election, I was incredibly honored,” Kari said. “Then when we had the official election at the annual event, just standing up there with the rest of these men and women who have been part of the organization forever, it was really cool to be up there with them who I have looked up to my entire career.
“I’m really looking forward to working with everybody and helping to be a part of moving APCE forward into the future.”