Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide a service that will assist in facilitating and empowering the advancement of the gospel in the Lake Union.
We currently have a staff consisting of four individuals who are committed to providing the very best service to the field.
Kong Yoong is key to our operation as he provides excellent support to several software packages and is a software developer for LUCIS Software.
Ben Freeman is primarily responsible for providing on-premise network, server and PC support, and oversees the servers and firewalls and many of our conferences.
We are blessed to have Ben Rietman on our team. He started at the Union as an intern in the summer of 2021 and will be helping with software development.
And, finally, Sean Parker, our departmental director, provides oversite and assists in all areas of operation. During this quinquennium, our long-time, esteemed software developer and support guru, Lance Mack, retired and is sorely missed!
The Lake Union and associated conferences were well prepared for working remotely as the spring of 2020 rolled around and the pandemic drastically changed our work environment. Implementing the Office365 platform and utilizing its cloud services proved to be invaluable during the pandemic. This service allowed easy access and simultaneous collaboration on documents from the comfort and safety of our homes. It also provided a communication tool and video-conferencing module which was remarkably beneficial in operating an office remotely.
We also were grateful for the foresight the North American Division had in setting up the contract for Zoom. This allowed our conferences, schools and churches to acquire licensing at reduced prices which made it possible for ministry to continue during the pandemic.
Finally, in 2016 and 2017, we implemented standardized network infrastructure and firewalls at many conferences and academies. This infrastructure made it possible to easily set up virtual private networks, also known as VPNs, which also contributed to the ability of our workers to easily continue their work from home during the pandemic. We’re just thankful that God gave us the insight to pursue these items before the pandemic hit.
LUCIS software continues to be utilized in several unions, conferences, academies, churches and schools across the North American Division as well as internationally. During this past quinquennium, the Information Systems Department completed the redevelopment of the remittance module for the Windows platform. This module will be used at the conference offices to replace a product being retired.
There also is work on the automation process for sending remittances from the local churches to the conference office, which hopefully will be ready in the next year. The continued design, development and support of software to meet the needs of churches is still an area of concentrated effort in this department.
The Lake Union is an awesome place to work in multiple ways, but one characteristic stands out for us above the others: the staff at our conferences, academies, churches and schools are dedicated to self-sacrifice and serving others. It is our desire to replicate that principle as our guiding mission as we move forward together in service to Him.
Sean Parker, Information Systems director
