That’s a very interesting question.  The Chi Alpha staff team is four people who’s full time job it is to enable university students to fulfill the callings that God has placed on their lives.  Well, that’s sort of what the staff does.  Technically, God does all of the “enabling” and the staff tries to stay out of the way, but you get the basic idea.  Practically, what does that look like?  Well, take the responsibilities of pastoring a church, add that to the logistics of running a small nonprofit organization, throw in party planning, retreat facilitating, and training and leading overseas missions teams and you’re getting close to what the staff “does.”  Sprinkle a little coffee on the top, add a side of “the best job in the world” and I think you’ve got a pretty accurate picture.  Have a look at some of our more specific responsibilities so you’ll know who to harass when you need something.

Matt Carpenter

Matt is our fearless leader, the top dog, the big cheese, the head honcho, the... you get the point.  He and his wife, Kiki, came to Arkansas from Nebraska and South Dakota by way of Minnesota and Montana.  They’ve both lost most of their northern accents, although you can still catch a bit of yankee when Kiki says things like “Oh, for the love!”  Their boys, Cort and Lane, might be the cutest kids ever and thanks to Grandma and her NASCAR paraphernalia there will be no doubt that those boys were raised in the south.

What does Matt do?  It’s hard to nail down exactly what Matt does because he does everything.  If you have questions, nine out of ten of them will be redirected to Matt because he actually knows the answers.  (That tenth answer is probably made up, and you should double check to make sure it’s right)  Beyond serving as a living version of Ask Jeeves, Matt teaches, speaks, mentors, keeps the rest of the staff out of trouble (or tries to at least), ties up all the loose ends, carries all the slack, and mows the grass at the office.

Carrie Bowen

The first thing you should know about Carrie is how to spell her name.  There are 18 thousand ways to spell “Carrie” and she is actually quite sensitive about having it spelled correctly, so take note.  Beyond that, Carrie grew up in northwest Arkansas, graduated from UCA with a degree in Religious Studies, and could easily write a dissertation on the mechanics of throwing a softball.  If you want to meet the real Carrie Bowen, you have to go to the Fall Down.  At our annual barn dance/ hay ride the mask comes off, the boots go on and the cowgirl that is always lurking just beneath the surface comes shining through.

D-Groups are Carrie’s domain.  You might even call her the D-Group guru.  Whether it’s filming and editing promotional videos, scheduling meetings and retreats, or training current and future leaders, she takes care of everything.  But by far, her most important responsibility is that she check the mail every Tuesday, and she never misses a week.

Chief

Everyone under the age of forty calls her Chief, but you can still call her Jennifer if you want.  The biggest problem will be that no one in Chi Alpha knows who “Jennifer” is.  She grew up as an Army brat and recently finished a graphic design degree at UCA.  She’s really the one you have to watch for made up answers to questions.  Chief has an endless wealth of useless knowledge, everything from random history facts, to proper bonsai pruning methods, but she can also lie through her teeth and keep a straight face... so watch her.

Chief’s job... basically she picks up all the little jobs that Matt doesn’t have time to do.  If you’ve got a bookkeeping or design issue she’s definitely got you covered.  Other than that she spends a lot of time hanging out in coffee shops and tries to remember to take the trash out to the curb on Wednesdays.

So who (or what) is the “staff”

and what do they do?