5 Moving Tips For Clergy and Employees of Faith-Based
Organizations
Since the 1993 establishment of its Clergy Move Center ©, Stevens Worldwide Van
Lines has placed special emphasis on serving the relocation needs of those who are
called to serve in the pastorate or work within a ministry in another capacity. As a
result of this focus, and our ability to consistently deliver a high standard of service
and value, we are currently endorsed by more faith-based organizations than any
mover in the United States.
As a part of this effort, we want to offer our clergy customers and prospective
customers five tips on how to make their next move as smooth and hassle-free as
possible while getting the best value for their moving dollar.

Tip #1 – Check with the regional or national headquarters for your
denomination for a referral or recommendation. At a minimum you should
be able to get a list of pre-screened movers. In other instances your
denomination will have partnered with a mover. In this case the company
has been thoroughly vetted by church headquarters as a proven mover that
delivers quality service at a fair price, and supports the mission of the church.
In addition, if your denomination has a national contract with a mover it’s
usually at a discounted rate. Plus, in most contractual arrangements the
mover is required to conduct customer satisfaction surveys on every move
and regularly report results to the denominational or organizational
headquarters. For example, here at the Clergy Move Center we report our
survey results to all faith-based organizations we contract with quarterly or
annually.
NOTE: Your new church may be non-denominational or have chosen not to
involve itself in the vetting and recommendation of movers. In this case our
strong recommendation is that (in addition to your normal due diligence) you
choose a mover that has been certified through the American Moving and
Storage Association’s ProMover program. The ProMover program promotes
ethical principles in the moving and storage industry and works with federal
and state governments to mitigate unethical moving practices.

Tip #2 – Make every effort to get the best moving value for you and your new
church. If your church is like most, it will require that you get two or three
estimates before choosing a mover. That’s standard and all well and good.
What we’ve seen during many years of working with churches and clergy
though is that there’s a strong inclination to choose a mover strictly on the
basis of price. This is especially true with churches and clergy because they
want to be good stewards. It’s understandable; we all like to save money.
Especially in this instance when any money saved is money that can be used
for the mission of the ministry.
On the other hand, it’s often the
cheapest mover that delivers the
poorest service. Be especially leery
of the mover who says they’ll beat
your lowest estimate; because if
they do not know how to properly
value their service they likely do
not know how to deliver quality
moving services either. The point
is, as a pastor, choir director,
organization executive, or faith-based educator you’re no less deserving of a
quality, hassle-free moving service than anybody else. Besides that, the
moving business is highly competitive. If you get quotes from three reputable
movers they’re usually all going to be within 10% of one another. Then it’s up
to you to determine which moving company offers you and your new church
the best overall value.

Tip #3 – Allow yourself plenty of time for
packing. In corporate America, companies
often pay for full packing services for
relocating executives. Faith-based
organizations are more frugal and more
times than not our customers are
expected to do their own packing. But not
only will a clergy’s family have to do its own packing, they’ll have to deal with
other factors that can keep them from getting their packing done on time.
That’s because when a pastor leaves one church to go serve another he or
she is leaving behind an extended family. A family the pastor has served and
ministered to, often on a very personal level. Depending on the size of the
congregation this extended family could be 50 people or several hundred
people. The thing to understand is that a great many of these people will
want to help, and to personally say goodbye. And all these personal
goodbyes – many from people just “dropping by” – can seriously cut into
your packing time. So plan ahead. When most clergy accept a call it’s about
thirty days out, in some cases a bit longer. My advice is to start packing right
then and there.
At Stevens one way we help is by providing you with an estimate of how
many packing boxes you’ll need. As a rule of thumb, you can pack five boxes
an hour. So if the estimate calls for three hundred boxes you’ll need to allow
for 60 hours of packing time. Also, that five-boxes-an-hour number is based
on the work of a professional packer, someone who packs without bias or
reminiscence.
As for church members who want to help, here’s an idea. Set aside a packing
day, say seven to ten days from your moving date. Call it “Pizza & Packing
Day” and invite all interested congregants to join you. Assign people to
specific rooms and make sure you have boxes, tape and all the materials you
need organized and at the ready. Make sure also that you and your family
members circulate between the various rooms.

Tip #4 – Limit the size of your welcoming party. Just as your leaving presents
special moving challenges so too does your initial arrival at your new
destination. Your new church family will be excited and many of them will
want to be there to give you and your family a warm and gracious welcome.
They’ll want to help unload the truck. They’ll want to help with the boxes and
furniture coming into the house. But no reputable mover will allow any of
them to set foot on the moving van. No reputable mover will allow any of
them to do anything that might cause them personal injury or damage to any
of your household goods.
Obviously, this is because of liability and claims issues. That’s the crux of it of
course but there are other reasons. For example, you (and other members of
your immediate family) will want to be free to focus on the placement of
furniture, the condition of the furniture, the checking off of inventory and
other important details. But if there’s a crowd of church members on hand
you’ll feel obligated to play the role of convivial pastor – and lose that focus.
Resist the urge to put on your “social hat” and you’ll risk coming across as
distant and aloof. It’s a lose/lose situation.
Here at the Clergy Move Center our move counselors always speak with the
chairman of the call committee ahead of time. Our recommendation is that
having one or two members of the call committee on hand is plenty. But
anything beyond that is potentially disruptive and dysfunctional. Not only for
the pastor, but also for the driver and the helpers who are trying to efficiently
get everything into the home. We suggest that if people feel compelled to do
something, they can offer to help with unpacking – after the big move-in is
completed.

Tip #5 – All things being equal, take an even closer look. Then choose the
mover that best reflects your values and with whom you feel the most
comfortable. As mentioned earlier, competition for your business is such that
most reputable movers are going to be within 10% of one another on price.
Often the difference is closer to 5%, but you also want to consider the terms
of the estimate. For instance, is it a firm price or variable price once the move
has been completed? In these cases you’ll want to take an even closer look at
the benefits and advantages of choosing one mover over another.
A few examples of “closer look” factors worth considering:
o Does the mover offer you a knowledgeable, experienced, single point
of contact for questions, issues and needs you may have before,
during and after your move?
o Does the mover have a written, fair and easily understood damage
claims policy?
o Is the mover willing and able to find a way to work with your budget,
as opposed to “this is our quote and that’s all we can do”?
o What, if any, special perks might the mover offer to earn your
business? For example, some movers (Stevens being one) offer the
customer a cash rebate for facilitating the sale or purchase of a home.
o Does the mover give back? For more than 100 years Stevens
Worldwide been a part of the Saginaw, Michigan community,
supporting various civic and charitable initiatives. In addition, Stevens
is a proud supporter of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and
Move For Hunger.
When it’s all said and done your choice of mover may well come
down to the company you feel the most comfortable with. And
usually we feel most comfortable when we are dealing with
people who share our values. At this point we’ll forgo objectivity
and tell you that we believe this is one reason the Stevens
Company and the Stevens Clergy Move Center has been
successful. Because we strive always to live and work according
to Christian values, and those we come in contact with sense
that and feel comfortable working with us.
And there you have our five tips. we hope you’ve found them helpful and on behalf
of Stevens Worldwide Van Lines we wish you safe journeys on all your future
moves. The Stevens Clergy Move Center look forward to the honor and privilege of
assisting you with those moves.