Good
morning! I plan to continue the practice of these brief, Life of the
Congregation updates. I am sure you will let me know if I should stop them.
The
search for a developmental minister continues. The Ministerial Selection Team did
identify a potential candidate but members of the Board were concerned about
the lack of experience of this candidate and we will be continuing our search.
As
we approach the summer and if we do not find a suitable candidate, we will have
to decide on next steps. This could be the beginning of a search for a settled
minister which may take up to a year if we follow the UUA selection cycle. If
we go this route we could consider an interim or contract minister for a while.
I will keep you up to date on progress.
Members
of the selection committee and the Board met and had a excellent discussion
about the selection process. We reinforced the need for confidentiality. We are
dealing with the lives of candidate ministers and really need to take care of
the people in this process. So, if you ask about specifics, you are likely to
be told “there is nothing I can share at this time.” So, I invite you to avoid
putting members of the selection team on the spot. We will update you as soon
as we can.
Susan
Westbrook has offered to serve as Hospitality Committee chair. Susan will be
coordinating hospitality and may be asking for your help. Thank you,
Susan!
A
few words on the staff:
Peilin
has agreed to continue as our music coordinator. She will take a break during
the summer so we will have guest musicians for some Sunday services. Thank you
Peilin for your continued service.
Barbara [office administrator] will be working summer hours during June, July, August, and September. She will
be in the office Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. We will be monitoring the
workload over the summer to determine future needs. Barbara is also a very
active volunteer in our Congregation.
Thank you, Barbara
Willie
Nelson will continue as our sexton. Sylvia and Ben are working with Willie on
prioritizing his activities. Thank you, Willie, and Ben and Sylvia.
We
are looking for help with our Religious Education and Youth programs. We need a
champion to lead that program. Please contact Suzanne Schluter or a member of
the Board if you wish to volunteer.
You
may have seen the email about the lay pastoral care team. Janet Fryman and I
are the team and we are here to help. We have also had two additional
volunteers and, once we have completed the training, will be able to extend the
team. If you are interested in joining the team please contact Janet or me.
I
am appreciating your emails and calls. Please reach out if I can help in any
way.
Paul
G Ward
President,
Board of Trustees
