Molly PavlovichGet to know Bill Coder, Messiah Lifeways’ Vice President of Development, in this Q&A.
Q: IF YOU WERE TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN JUST ONE WORD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A: Enthusiastic. It’s not hard for me to buy into something, whether it’s a cause, a sports team, or a trend if a compelling enough case is made. When something matters to me, I’m all in.
Q: WHAT DOES GIVING MEAN TO YOU?
A: I think that a lot of times people think about giving as just writing a check or giving money. My philosophy is that there are three Ts of giving, which is time, talent, and treasure, and everybody has something to give. There’s power in giving back to something that you care about and pouring out of yourself, whether that be of your time, talent, or treasure, into a cause that’s meaningful to you.
Q: HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN FUNDRAISING WORK?
A: I like to tell people I have the heart of a pastor and the mind of a business person. I went to Lancaster Bible College to be a pastor, and I’ve always wanted to serve and help people. My career took me into sales, and there came a point where I thought to myself, How do I merge these two things? How do I take my passion for ministering to people and at the same time filter that through “sales”? That brought me into professional fundraising.
Q: WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
A: My love for my family and a desire to do my best every day to provide for them and make them happy while at the same time doing with passion what I feel I was created to do.
Q: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING IN YOUR FREE TIME?
A: I DJ events and weddings, and in my lifetime I’ve definitely DJed at hundreds, if not thousands, of events. I also really love to golf, but I’m actually terrible at golfing for someone who golfs as much as I do. I have a 5-year-old at home, and so this last year I was a T-ball coach, which was a lot of fun. I love spending time with my family and discovering new hobbies and activities with them.
Q: WHAT’S SOMETHING THAT NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOU?
A: A goal that my wife and I share is to travel to all 50 states. We’re at 47 now. Our last three are Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. We actually recently read in a magazine that North Dakota has a “best for last club” because a lot of people save North Dakota for their last of the 50. If you go to this one visitor’s center in North Dakota you’ll be applauded by a bunch of employees, and you get a certificate and a T-shirt, so we’ve decided we’re definitely going to do that!
