The Search Process
Now that we are a month removed from Shannon’s departure, it is time to turn
our attention toward the beginnings of a search process and what that will
look like. As a first formal step in that direction, the Vestry met last
week with the Rev. David Johnson, Bishop Gray’s canon to the ordinary and
the primary diocesan liaison with parishes in the search process. What
follows is a report of some of what the Vestry heard at that meeting. This
is necessarily the broadest of overviews. Rest assured that there will be
much more information to come, frequently, in this space and elsewhere.
It is the norm in this diocese for a parish the size of All Saints’ to have
an interim rector between the departure of one rector and the calling of the
next. Interim rectors are typically not retired priests or clergy in between
jobs. Instead, interim pastoring is a specialized ministry marked by
experience and training. The interim helps the parish take stock of itself
as the parish discerns what it needs from the next rector and what the
parish in turn can offer to the next rector. An interim is especially well
suited to provide the kind of objective assessment of things which only a
temporarily-resident outsider can give.
In our situation, an interim would additionally provide the much-needed
presence of a full-time clergy person. We are most grateful to have Michael
and Gene among us, but Michael is part-time and Gene is retired. As we move
into our new facilities, the demands of parish life will be more than is
fair to expect Michael to shoulder alone. He signed up to be a part-time
assistant to a full-time rector, and Gene signed up to be, well, retired. In
any event, whether an interim will be utilized at All Saints’ is ultimately
left to the discretion of the Vestry. In our case, the diocese will suggest
possible candidates for an interim rector, and the Vestry will decide what
to do. In the meantime, Michael and Gene will share preaching duties, with
guest preachers occasionally. Michael will continue to have primary
responsibility for pastoral matters, and Gene will fill in when Michael is
unavailable.
Another important step during our transition, of course, will be the
formation of a search committee. The search committee will do just that ---
search out the right person to be our next rector and make recommendations
to the Vestry, with whom the final decision will rest, subject to the
bishop’s approval. An extremely simplified overview of the search process
involves the committee’s working with a search consultant, an experienced
advisor who guides the committee on its path. The committee will develop a
parish profile, based on input solicited from every household in the parish,
which will serve both as a discernment tool to be used by the parish and as
a congregational self-portrait for clergy candidates who are invited into
the process. The committee will visit candidates in their current parishes
or other situations, conduct interviews, and ultimately make recommendations
to the Vestry for the calling of All Saints’ next rector.
The membership of the search committee is defined by the parish bylaws. It
consists of a chair, selected by the wardens and approved by the Vestry, and
of eight additional members selected by the wardens and the chair and
approved by the Vestry. Pursuant to the bylaws, three of the members of the
committee must be from the Vestry. While the detailed work will be centered
in the search committee, the entire parish will have a role to play in the
search process. The Vestry has not yet set a time table for establishing the
search committee but will soon.
One point that was emphasized with the Vestry and which bears repeating here
is that completion of the search process is not intended to happen quickly.
The search will be by design a thoughtful, careful, deliberate process. But
it will not be a process we have to invent. Instead, we will be following a
model which the church has greatly improved in the past decade, with counsel
and advice from our search consultant, the diocesan office and the bishop.
If we trust this process, our patience with it will be rewarded.
--Les Alvis, Sr. Warden Albert White, Jr. Warden
