The year 2020 has been memorable for many reasons. 2020 has been especially important to The McKnight Group because it marks our fiftieth year in the church design and building business. We’ve told our history through our podcast series, which appropriately concludes with the thoughts and memories of our long-time employees. This group of people, all of whom have worked with us between 12 and 44 years, sat down to discuss what working with The McKnight Group has meant to them. We’ll introduce them here with a little about how they came to work with us. (To hear all their memories and stories, you’ll need to listen to the podcast!)

Jennifer L. Snider, Interior Designer

Jennifer has worked with The McKnight group for 16 years. After earning a degree in interior design, she worked in the office design industry. However, after several years, she began questioning the value of her work and discerning a call to a ministry of some sort. A friend of hers told her about The McKnight Group, but she didn’t follow up. Then she saw an ad in the paper for an interior design assistant at The McKnight Group. This time she made the call and began working with us in August 2004.

Diane Anderson, Administrative Assistant

Diane’s a 12-year veteran of our company. She also saw an ad in the paper after moving to the area. She had been working as the assistant to the development director at a Christian school in California for nine years. The ad was for an administrative assistant position in marketing, which fit her perfectly.

Dale Turner, Senior Project Coordinator

Joining The McKnight Group 22 years ago, Dale worked for the church he and his wife attended as a business administrator. The church was looking to expand, and The McKnight Group was called in to do a church building presentation. (Homer McKnight, our founder, used a carousel slide projector—remember those?) We got the job and Dale worked with us through the church building process. Then, when he was ready for a career change a few years later, he gave us a call and we had an opening.

Mark Hall, Warranty Coordinator

Mark learned about The McKnight Group 18 years ago by chance. Mark’s parents were holding a garage sale and their neighbor came over to browse. The neighbor overheard Mark grumbling about his current work situation and asked him what he did. He then informed Mark that The McKnight Group was hiring, and he should interview for a job. He did, and we hired him.

Jeff Hutchison, Project Architect

Jeff joined us 31 years ago. He had a position with another architecture firm, but the primary architect there passed away and Jeff needed to find another position. As a Christian, he decided to use the Blue Pages (which is a “Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices”) and found The McKnight Group. Since we specialize in church design, he knew it would be a good fit. Not only that, we had just sent in a hiring ad that same day! (Perhaps another indicator of God at work!) Jeff was the top candidate and got the job.

Dan Doyle, Superintendent

The last name on this list, and also the one with the longest tenure, 44-years, Dan was a subcontractor doing carpentry work with us. He had a sense that the company he worked for wasn’t going to thrive. We approached him, asked if he wanted to join The McKnight Group, and he’s been with us ever since.

These dedicated employees, as you can see, have taken a number of roads to our doors, and have stayed with us through the changes and challenges of our first fifty years. To hear their complete stories, be sure to listen to our podcast.