Mick Maguire, Dave O’Farrell, Dale Hollrah, Howard Tisdale in March 2000.
JobSeekers has been changing lives since August 1998. Ernie Childs, Howard Tisdale and Larry Pelkowski started this group after they attended a JobSeekers’ group that meets in Dunwoody. They gained the support of The Kiwanis Club of Peachtree City, and they have been a sponsor since day one.
Chaplain Howard Tisdale attended more meetings than anyone else — about 600, and he led about 300 devotionals. He said this is the best ministry he was ever involved with. Ernie Childs led the group until the spring of 2000, when he took on a new role as CEO of a biotech company.
I came as a participant in February 2000; two months later Ernie stepped down and I moved into the leadership role. This photo was taken in March 2000. For several months I held the dual role of participant and facilitator. Soon I landed a great job where I traveled around the country teaching consultative selling skills.
I also started my career management business, O’Farrell Career Management. At first the sales training dominated, but my business grew to a full-time enterprise by 2004. Since I wasn’t traveling anymore, I began to lead the group every Friday morning. This is not only the ministry that God has called me to; it’s what He called me to do for a living.
We met at Longhorn Steakhouse for more than nine years; we moved to First Baptist of PTC in January 2008. After meeting on Zoom during the pandemic, we moved into The Bridge Community Center in 2023. Over 7000 individuals have come through JobSeekers in the past 25 years, and total attendance is over 32,000 people.
Yes, our participants have received many blessings over the years. The cool thing is the leadership team and I have too. What a privilege it is to serve our Lord in this way!
If you are job seeking, or you know someone who is, be sure to come to JobSeekers every week.
– Dave O’Farrell
(Updated May 2023)