Quick: What do these have in common? A machinist. An investment banker. A lawyer. A schoolteacher. And a master plasterer.
Those are the career backgrounds of the five guys who comprise First Free’s Facilities team. Together they take care of a 140,000-square-foot church building that includes 3 ½ acres of carpet, close to 1,000 portable chairs, around 75 locking doors … and 53 “holes” (that’s a gentler way to say toilets and urinals).
Three of the guys are named Dave, so if you’re greeting one of them and you’re not sure, that’s a solid guess. They’re often invisible during times when the church is full, but their footprints are everywhere—at least before they vacuum the carpets. They set up and take down hundreds of chairs and tables for assorted meetings, Bible studies, funerals, weddings, Zumba class, you name it. Change a lightbulb, shovel a sidewalk, replenish paper products, clean up after a kid has gotten sick. And those holes … well, you can only imagine.
Throw away every stereotype you have about custodians, and meet this unlikely team.
David Finley works full-time at church and full-time programming CNC machines at PBC Linear in Roscoe. He brings the most janitorial experience to the team, having served similar roles at General Mills-Green Giant and the Rockford School District. The servant’s nature of the job motivates him.
“We want to have the cleanest toilets in the kingdom,” he says with a smile.
Wes Wittmus taught middle-school science and physical education for 34 years in the North Boone school district. Then and now, he also operates a lawncare business in the warm months.
“I can’t let the grass grow under my feet,” he says. “These guys will probably attest to that. I don’t like to be idle. And here, we’re serving people who come here to worship. It doesn’t bother me to clean toilets every week and do this and do that. There’s no ego trip here.”
His whole career has been spent working around kids and parents, so a busy environment like First Free’s feels familiar.
Going from courtrooms to restrooms was an adjustment at first for Dave Hugdahl. After starting his career as a juvenile probation officer, Dave went to law school and then spent the next 32 years as an attorney, mostly handling criminal defense cases.
“I hit a burnout stage,” he says. “I was stressed out and needed to do something different.”
Custodial work is definitely that, but the pay is … less.
“I’m not doing it for the money,” he says. As he sets a room or vacuums a carpet, he’ll often pray for those who will be using that room. Cleaning bathrooms, sometimes he’ll catch himself thinking, “What am I doing here?”
“But then I think of Jesus washing people’s feet,” he says. “Our king, our creator of the world. If he can do that, I can do this. We’re serving the Lord.”
Jeff Worden started as a commercial banker, then earned an MBA and worked as an investment banker in Chicago until the financial crash of 2008. Later his banking expertise served the healthcare industry. Family healthcare responsibilities brought him to Rockford, and he started working at First Free in 2018. With those issues in the past, he views his part-time role as temporary as he gets ready to reset his career. But he has appreciated being here.
“This was perfect for the flexibility I’m offered here, and I like the culture of the guys,” he says. “I mean, it is 180 degrees from investment banking. You walk in the door and you don’t get scowls.”
The team’s boss, Facilities Engineer Dave Bodrie, was a master plasterer and drywaller. Like Jeff, his career got waylaid by the 2008 economic meltdown. “It definitely destroyed the construction industry,” he says. After several difficult financial years, he took a job refurbishing playgrounds for Kids Around the World. Then in 2011, First Free hired him to train under and eventually replace Facilities Engineer Mark Carlson, who was preparing to retire.
“A lot of people in this church know me because I’ve been in their house doing work for them,” he says. “I just love the family here. I love this church. This is the only church I’ve ever known. I came to the Lord here.”
The tales they could tell
The guys are careful not to name names, but they can sure tell stories. About being summoned from outside by a former staff member just to turn on a light switch … or to unlock a door when staffers with keys were standing just a few feet away. They emphasize that those moments are few and far between, and that both the staff and congregation tend to be great about helping them when needed.
But then there are the noises. One custodian stays each night until 10, then locks up after everyone else is gone (these days that’s mostly David Finley). When Wes was new in the job and working nights, he was finishing up in the kitchen when a loud crash sent his pulse racing.
“Who’s in here?” he yelled.
It was the ice machine. It periodically empties, with authority, whether anyone’s around or not. And that’s not the only weird noise at that end of the church.
“That HVAC at the end of the east hallway goes BOOM once in a while, too,” Wes says.
David Finley has offered his colleagues guidelines for things that go bump in the night: If you hear the same noise twice, that’s probably something to pay attention to. He also confirms there’s no truth to any wild talk of a headless Summerama girl haunting the kitchen late at night.
Dave Bodrie remembers another dark night when he thought he was the last one in the building. Suddenly a set of keys flew over his shoulder and landed loudly in front of him. As he performed the human equivalent of a car alarm, Dave looked behind him. Rusty Hayes, senior pastor at the time, was doubled over with laughter. “I got you!”
“But I’m telling you,” Dave adds, “it’s creepy here at night in the dark.”
Top photo: Dave Hugdahl, Dave Bodrie, Wes Wittmus and Jeff Worden. They’re in the custodians’ office, which features a framed poster evoking Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats for critical problem solving: facts, creativity, benefits, cautions, feelings and process. Because David Finley works evenings, he wasn’t present for this photo. But like the rest of the team, he certainly can claim some of those hats.