Heartland Lutheran names development director

Lloyd Wagnitz has been named as Heartland Lutheran High School's first-ever development director.

Wagnitz begins his new job Sept. 2.

Heartland Lutheran Principal John Weber made the announcement Thursday.

Wagnitz is the Heartland Lutheran basketball coach and he also works at Pathway Bank in Cairo. Weber said Wagnitz will continue to work one day a week at the bank and also will continue to coach basketball at the school.

Although Wagnitz will be working at the bank one day a week, he said he considers his job as development director to be full time.

Weber said the idea of asking Wagnitz to be the development director came to him while he was on vacation this summer. He said he had been pondering who would be a good person to fill that job and when he went on vacation, he began thinking Wagnitz was that person.

"When I got back and talked to a couple of other people, they'd had the same idea," Weber said. And when he talked to Wagnitz, he found out the banker and coach had independently been thinking about the development director's job.

Weber said it seemed as though God was leading him to think about asking Wagnitz to be the development director, while simultaneously leading Wagnitz to consider the same job.

Hiring a development director was part of the 500 Plan announced by Heartland Lutheran officials earlier this year. The plan called for 1,000 people to each donate $500, which would raise a total of $500,000.

The money would be used to pay down the debt on the new classrooms, commons area, office and gymnasium built for Heartland Lutheran and also to hire a development director.

Weber said the school has not raised $500,000, but has raised more than $200,000. He said that was enough to give people the confidence to hire a development director.

Wagnitz himself and Heartland Lutheran helped raise $54,000 of that total by staging a marathon basketball game earlier this summer that earned the school a place in the Guinness World Records.

Wagnitz said that as he was cleaning up after the marathon game at the school, a person told him that he should be the development director, "instead of working for a bank."

Wagnitz said he began praying about the situation and asking God for signs. Then, one day, his son -- who was unaware of the other person's comment -- told him, "You need to be the development director."

Wagnitz said he agreed once Weber told him he could continue to coach basketball. He said the school has come to mean a lot to him, and that is why he wants to be development director to help raise money for the parochial school.

In addition to trying to raise the remaining funds, Wagnitz said he wants to organize the school's regular fundraising activities and establish even better lines of communication with the 12 congregations that support the school.