The Wheaton Center for Faith and Disability (CFD) is entering a critical growth phase. A five-year Lilly Endowment grant funds the Faith and Disability Convocation Framework, a multi-mechanism initiative designed to create sustainable cultural change in how churches include children and families impacted by disability in worship and prayer.
The initiative's founder and director, Dr. Thomas Boehm, carries the theological vision and the relational authority that makes this work credible. What the initiative now needs is an operational leader who can translate that vision into systems, relationships, deliverables, and momentum across a five-year arc.
This is not an administrative support role. It is a strategic execution role. The person in this position will function as the primary operator of the initiative, owning the day-to-day and quarter-to-quarter work of making the framework real and replicable.
The Assistant Director / Chief of Staff serves as the operational backbone of the Thriving Faith Initiative. This person reports directly to Dr. Boehm and is responsible for managing the full lifecycle of the grant's three core mechanisms: Convocation Events, the Consortium Network, and Faith and Disability Summits.
The role requires fluency across multiple disciplines. On any given week, the Assistant Director may be building a project management system, coaching a pastor through Convocation planning, drafting Consortium communications, analyzing participant data, coordinating event logistics, or developing content for training resources. The common thread is not a single skill set. It is the ability to move between domains without losing coherence or quality.
The role evolves across the grant's three phases:
Phase 1 (Foundation). Heavy emphasis on building systems, recruiting partner churches, drafting the Convocation Workbook, and standing up the Consortium Network. The Assistant Director is hands-on in nearly every dimension.
Phase 2 (Expansion). The role shifts toward scaling, training facilitators, managing a growing network, and executing the Mid-term Summit. Sustainability planning begins here.
Phase 3 (Self-Direction). The role pivots to coaching, quality assurance, and strategic positioning. The Assistant Director ensures the framework can survive and replicate without direct CFD involvement in every event.
The initiative has dozens of moving parts across churches, partners, events, and reporting cycles. Someone has to hold the whole picture and keep it organized.
Specific responsibilities: