Meet Joan Miller

We were lucky to catch up with Joan Miller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joan, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I attribute my resilience to my late father. Born in Iowa in 1920 to failed homesteaders, he was a primary source of support for his family from a very young age. His father visited the family on Sundays only as he worked on farms miles away. With his older brother unable to walk due to the effects of polio and a differently abled younger brother, my Dad, along with his mother and sister, provided food for their family by hunting, fishing, and gardening. At the age of 9, he assisted his family out of their house as it burned to the ground. After graduating from high school in 1938 he became a farmhand like his father. Although he loved the work, he took a cousin up on a motorcycle ride to Pennsylvania for a chance at a factory job after miraculously surviving a fall down a 60-foot silo chute uninjured and, later, receiving a nasty kick from an angry cow. Loving town life (especially indoor plumbing!) and his job building radio cabinets, he and his new friends bought a plane and learned how to fly. Together, they joined the Army Air Corps six months before the United States entered World War II. He spent the war as a flight instructor and test pilot. Supported by the Montgomery GI Bill and working full-time as a draftsman, after the war he did what he couldn’t have imagined as a child in Iowa – going to college. After receiving an engineering degree, he and his young family followed jobs from Texas to California and then to Ohio, where I was born. The lovingly cared for gardens of my suburban childhood were my dad’s link to his rural upbringing. In retirement he consulted, helped found a military aviation museum in our community, and wrote poetry. He was, always, happy to be where he was.

There are many things that are true about each one of us. There are certainly many things that were true about my dad, but what I marvel at most now is how resilient he proved to be. I often picture him in his 80s sitting at a computer emailing me or my brother and then remember that he grew up without electricity or indoor plumbing and had to hunt and gather his own food. The degree and depth of change he experienced over the course of his life was astonishing. Somehow, though, he seemed to take whatever setbacks appeared in stride and keep moving forward. He worked tirelessly to provide more and different opportunities for my brother and me – and he did. Although he showed frustration at times, especially as he aged, my dad always struck me as the happiest man in suburbia. He never forgot where he came from, but he loved where he landed.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

On paper, I am the half-time pastor of a small congregation of mostly older adults. I am that but am also the property manager for a facility that hosts a dozen or so community partners, the leader of a team visioning the future use of our facility, and the de-facto Executive Director of a small non-profit started by the church two years ago. On any given day I may be picking up trash on the property, writing a grant proposal for Recovery Café Roseway, visiting a church member in the hospital, or preparing to lead worship or teach a class. While the variety in my work is something I’ve always loved, it also reminds me that there is always something else to learn!

Our present work “visioning” a future for an underutilized church property is among the most challenging I’ve ever done. There is not one clear path forward, and the pressures of limited time and finances are real. And, yet, the relationships that have been formed and the community created as we make this journey are among the most satisfying of my career.

Being part of the team that started Recovery Cafe Roseway (www.recoverycaferoseway.org) has been an immense honor. As part of the larger Recovery Cafe Network (www.recoverycafenetwork.org), we are helping ourselves and others create meaningful connections to heal what ails us and create fuller lives.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

No matter what job we do, we are all in the business of communication. The ability to communicate effectively is an essential life skill. Especially when the information to be shared is difficult, I remind myself to “THINK” before speaking or typing. The acronym stands for “True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, and Kind.” The “THINK” acronym reminds me that the ability to convey information in a way such that it can be heard and understood is a skill worth developing.

Genuine humility is a trait commonly found in good leaders. People who are secure enough in themselves and their skills have no need for arrogance. They admit when they’ve erred, apologize, and seek to make things right. Accepting responsibility engenders confidence in the people around good leaders which creates an environment conducive to success.

Leadership is all about team building. Getting the “right people in the right seats on the bus” is a fundamental task of leadership. We can do so much more together than we can individually. The ability to build a strong team and foster its growth is a quality of all good leaders.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

One of the most impactful people in my career and life was the late Michael Pearson. “Mike” was my boss in a new church development in the late 1990s. Mike offered me the best job I’ve had on a handshake. We worked together for the next five years until Mike was transferred to another community.

Mike was an extraordinary leader. He “walked his talk” in every way. As a leader of a faith community, Mike practiced his faith through spiritual disciplines including study and generosity. He never asked anyone to do something he wasn’t doing himself.

Although he was my supervisor, Mike never referred to me as his “associate” or treated me as a subordinate. I was always his “colleague.” He gave me latitude to develop programs and pursue opportunities on our community’s behalf as I felt led, while good-naturedly reserving the right to tell me “I told you so” if I didn’t fully consider his guidance beforehand. His sense of humor made our staff meetings joyful and life giving. He was often the smartest person in the room but listened respectfully to everyone. In difficult situations I often ask myself, “What would Mike tell me to do?”

In the years after we worked together, Mike became a trusted mentor and dear friend. After Mike died in 2021, I came to appreciate how many other pastors also considered him their wise mentor and friend.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.recoverycaferoseway.org

Image Credits

Photo credits to Kate Sechrist