SEARCH PROCESS
May 18th Update:The Vestry has interviewed the final Rector candidate. The next steps are:
1) that an offer would be made and
2) the offer is accepted.
Then we can move on to the final step of welcoming the new Rector. Alleluia!
• Alert Diocesan resources
• Arrange for supply and interim clergy
• Review history of the church
• Gather data to form an accurate picture of the congregation
• Form a search committee
• Complete the Community Portfolio Information to be used to match us with candidates
• Candidate identification
o Screening of candidates by the Search Committee
o Presentation of final candidates to the Vestry
o Selection of the final candidate by the Vestry
o Making the call
o Call is accepted
o Welcome the new Rector!
2. Describe your liturgical style and practice for all types of worship in your community.
3. How do you practice incorporating others in ministry?
4. As a worshipping community, how do you care for your spiritual, emotional and physical well-being?
5. How do you engage in pastoral care for those beyond your worshipping community?
6. Describe your worshipping community's involvement in either the wider church or geographical community?
7. Tell about a ministry that your worshipping community has initiated ion the last 5 years. Who can be contacted about this project?
8. How are you preparing yourself for the Church of the future?
Ellen Jeffery, Chair
Kelly Borowiak
John Carroll
Matt Cashen
Rita Mauchenheimer (Vestry)
Barb Raedeke
Tom Smith (Vestry)
Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a Rector for this parish, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
June 22nd Update: Attached to this article is a link (Parish History Project) to the final version of the Parish History Project, the gathering together of your notes and comments on the parish time line. My thanks to all of your for your participation in the project. I am certain that the Search Committee and clergy candidates for the position of Rector will find your comments and insights very helpful as part of the Search Process. A personal observation: any errors in what you read should be considered my responsibility, errors that might be the result of my trying to decipher handwriting that sometimes was difficult to read. If you have corrections to offer, we can always make the changes.
Interim Pastor
Thank you to all who completed the Questionnaire for St. Mark's Church and to all who took the time to add their St. Mark's memories to the Parish History timeline.
April 27th Update: The Search Committee has completed two more steps in the process. The screening of candidates by the Search Committee and the final presentation to the Vestry. The Vestry will be completing the next steps in the process: final review and selection, and making a call. Then, God willing, we will all be participating in the final step which is welcoming the new Rector! ~ Ellen Jeffery, Search Committee Chairperson
March 7th Update: Visits to the candidates are taking place during March.
February 17th Update:The search committee has conducted all the phone/Skype interviews, and is now scheduling visits to the selected candidates. The visits are targeted for March. Please keep the work of the search committee in your prayers.
January 11th Update: The Search Committee has reviewed all the candidates provided by the diocese and is proceeding with scheduling phone or Skype interviews with the candidates still in consideration. These interviews will take place during late January and early February. The next step after the phone/Skype interview is for the committee to select which candidates to visit. Please keep the work of the committee in your prayers.
January 3rd Update: In December the Rev. Dr. Dan Smith from the Offices of the Bishop met with the Rector Search Committee to present them with names of possible candidates. The Search Committee will meet again with Dr. Smith on January 5 to review the Search Committee’s progress with those names.
December 16th Update: The Search Committee met on Thursday, December 8th and now we can add "Candidate Identification" to our completed list.
November 4th Update: A Search Committee Update - Now is the time to submit names of clergy you would like the search committee to contact. Please send any clergy names, along with their current city/state location to Ellen Jeffery. Once we have all the names gathered we will send a query to each to see if they have an interest in participating in our search. Our next search committee meeting is December 1st. At that meeting we fully anticipate we will be reviewing names with the Canon to the Ordinary, Dan Smith.
October 28th Update: The Search Committee met on Thursday, October 27th.
September 30th Update: The Search Committee met on September 15th. Below is an updated list of the search process...the black bullet points are things we have completed, the open circles are yet to be done.
• Say Goodbye to the current Rector
• Alert Diocesan resources
• Arrange for supply and interim clergy
• Review history of the church
• Gather data to form an accurate picture of the congregation
• Form a search committee
• Complete the Community Portfolio Information to be used to match us with candidates
• Candidate identification
o Screening of candidates by the Search Committee
o Presentation of final candidates to the Vestry
o Selection of the final candidate by the Vestry
o Making the call
o Call is accepted
o Welcome the new Rector!
This list will be updated as we go along.
August 31st Update: The next Search Committee meeting will be Thursday Sept 15 at 7:00 in the AA room.
August 10th Update:The Rector Search Committee has received its training from the Rev. Canon Dan Smith from the Offices of the Bishop and has started working on the next steps in the Search Process.
One of the next steps will be the preparation of a Parish Profile of St. Mark’s, and that will be used to match against the skills of clergy who are being considered for the position. The following eight questions will be considered by the Committee as they work on the Profile. Ellen Jeffery (the Chair of the Search Committee) and I thought you would be interested in seeing the questions. They also have been posted in the Parish Hall for all to read and discuss.
1. Describe a moment in your worshiping community's recent ministry that you recognize as one of success and fulfillment.
2. Describe your liturgical style and practice for all types of worship in your community.
3. How do you practice incorporating others in ministry?
4. As a worshipping community, how do you care for your spiritual, emotional and physical well-being?
5. How do you engage in pastoral care for those beyond your worshipping community?
6. Describe your worshipping community's involvement in either the wider church or geographical community?
7. Tell about a ministry that your worshipping community has initiated ion the last 5 years. Who can be contacted about this project?
8. How are you preparing yourself for the Church of the future?
If you were to identify the gifts/skills you need in leadership as you move into the future, which words would you use to best describe these?
July 5th Update:The Rector Search Committee has been formed, and on July 28 they will receive formal training on how to conduct a Rector Search Process. After that, the Process will pick up the pace as the Search Committee works with the congregation on the next steps that will lead to the call of the next Pastor of the parish. These steps might include the research and self-study that will lead to a Parish Profile that will tell the story of St. Mark’s and its aspirations for the future, and also a Rector Profile that will identify the characteristics being sought in the next Rector.
The members of the Rector Search Committee are:
Ellen Jeffery, Chair
Kelly Borowiak
John Carroll
Matt Cashen
Rita Mauchenheimer (Vestry)
Barb Raedeke
Tom Smith (Vestry)
First of all, please keep the Search Committee and the Search Process in your thoughts and prayers. I recommend the following from the Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a Rector for this parish, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Secondly, I want to remind everyone that the work of the Search Committee is absolutely confidential because, among other things, they will be working with the names of clergy who are being considered for the position. Those clergy will not want their congregations to know that. So, please do not ask the Search Committee for details about their work. They will report regularly on their work, giving us information that is not confidential. Please do not expect any more than that.
June 22nd Update: Attached to this article is a link (Parish History Project) to the final version of the Parish History Project, the gathering together of your notes and comments on the parish time line. My thanks to all of your for your participation in the project. I am certain that the Search Committee and clergy candidates for the position of Rector will find your comments and insights very helpful as part of the Search Process. A personal observation: any errors in what you read should be considered my responsibility, errors that might be the result of my trying to decipher handwriting that sometimes was difficult to read. If you have corrections to offer, we can always make the changes.
May 25th Update: PARISH MEMBER QUESTIONNAIRE REPORT Last month members of St. Mark’s were given an opportunity to complete a questionnaire that sought to gather information about our parishioners, and to answer some narrative questions about the future goals and ministries of the congregation.
A total of fifty-eight (58) questionnaires were returned – a very good number that gives a fairly accurate snapshot of the membership, and what the future might look like. I finished writing the report on the results and sent it to the Bishop, Dr. Dan Smith in the Bishop’s Office, and to the Vestry. This message contains a link (Membership Questionnaire Report) to the report so that you may read it and discuss it. The Vestry and the Search Committee might find some of the report helpful as they write a Parish Profile and search for the next Rector of St. Mark’s. The report contains conclusions and recommendations that are mine, based on the responses I received. After you read the report in its entirety, please speak to me if you have questions.
(The Rev. Dr.) Peter E. Van Horne,
Interim Pastor
May 18th Update: The vestry will be meeting this week to discuss the next steps in the rector search which is to define the parameters to give to the search committee.
Thank you to all who completed the Questionnaire for St. Mark's Church and to all who took the time to add their St. Mark's memories to the Parish History timeline.
On Sunday May 15th we welcomed the Rev. Canon E. Daniel Smith from the Offices of the Bishop. Dr. Smith met with the Vestry after the coffee hour to explain to them the next steps to be taken in the Rector Search Process.
