This past weekend, the search committee formally began work during a retreat at the summer home of Andrew and Sarah Schulz.  The meeting and discussions were led by the Reverend Misty-Dawn Shelly, a settled minister in Fort Wayne, IN, who is serving as our Regional Transitions Coach from our UUA Mid-America Region.

The process is a long one, ending (hopefully) with a selected minister for our Fellowship coming to join us for a “candidating week” that will end in our “call” to the candidate, most likely in May of next year.

Between now and then, our committee will be working with Reverend Misty-Dawn, with our interim minister Reverend Connie, and with Fellowship members in an effort to determine what that “best candidate” might be based on information we will be asking of our congregation.

In addition to determining what we want and need in a minister, we will put forth information on our website about our Fellowship, our congregation and greater community for prospective ministers to review to help them make an evaluation about whether we would be a good fit for them.

We want everyone to understand how the search process works, and will be posting updates in the Candle Flame about our progress.  Additionally, if you have a question about the process, please feel free to ask me or any other committee member (Maxine Guettler, Mary Johnson, Sasha King, Chris Nakamura, and Tim Wagner) and we’ll be happy to talk with you.

Although the process is transparent, the actual identification of any prospective candidates, their history, background, or planned visits is strictly confidential, and we cannot and will not be sharing this information.

We appreciate the support and confidence you have placed in us for this important task, and are excited to begin the process.

In Fellowship,

Tom Bailey
Search Committee Chair