“We are disappointed that our search has not borne fruit, but we have not lost any confidence in the attractiveness of St. Paul’s and our ability to attract the spiritual leader we seek to take us into the future. Having sat on the Search Committee throughout this process, I would not change a thing. The committee’s process, deliberations and decisions were textbook. Sometimes, the book has a surprise ending and that’s what happened.”
Senior Warden Charlie Rhudy
A summary of the results of the Parish Survey was presented in a Forum on Sunday, March 22, 2009.
If you want to dig deeper into the complete survey results, you can download a pdf by clicking here. Please note that since the survey was confidential, only a summary of the "open-ended" questions are included.
The St. Paul’s Search Committee began its work on December 2nd, 2008 and was commissioned on Sunday, December 14th by then Diocesan Bishop Andrew Smith. From that point to early September 2009, the committee worked diligently through the process of “self-study” as prescribed by the Diocese.
We conducted a parish-wide survey and focus groups, and we held “learning sessions” to which all were invited. We used the information we collected to create the Parish Profile, which we distributed to the 25 candidates whose names we received from the Diocesan Office of Transition Ministry on September 1, 2009.
We began interviewing those candidates by telephone, then we selected eight of them to visit and evaluate in their home parishes. From that group we selected four semi-finalists to come to St. Paul’s and by late December we selected two very strong finalists that we planned to present to the vestry for their final decision.
At that point a search that had proceeded very smoothly, methodically and prayerfully took two very surprising turns. One finalist withdrew from the process on December 19 for personal reasons. The other finalist withdrew on January 19, citing our lack of sufficient pledging, and the corresponding uncertainty about a full-time assistant rector.
Consequently, we have launched a new search. Although disappointed, we remain confident that our commitment and effort—guided by the Holy Spirit-—will ultimately point us to the spiritual leader that will take St. Paul's forward to a bright and promising future. All 12 members of the committee have "re-upped" and are eager to press ahead. Late in January 2010, we met with Erik Larsen, our Diocesan Canon for Transition Ministry, to re-start the search, and we met with him again in February when he brought us a new list of candidates.
The good news is, we don’t need to start up the entire process from scratch. All of the work we did before September 1, 2009—when we received the original candidate list—is still valid. Our parish profile has been updated for 2010. And since we have all of this experience already, we believe that we can vet the new list and come to a new group of finalists in much less time. We will continue to do our best to keep the parish informed.
Click here for a timeline which shows approximately where we are in the process--we’ve had to “rewind” it a little.
If you have any questions, please ask anyone on the search committee--their contact information can be found here.
3/26/10: Our updated Parish Profile is available for download here.This document is the primary vehicle for telling our story to all interested priests. It features the history of our parish and town; detailed information about our current worship, programs and administration; and a ton of great photos.
3/26/10: Our updated Parish Profile is available for download