As the Pastoral Search Team, we are thrilled to be open about our process and include you, the rest of our church family, as much as we can while protecting the privacy of future candidates. We’re just getting started, so there’s not much to share just yet. But to begin the habit of transparency, here’s what’s been going on so far:

  1. We have a book we’ve been reading and pulling out useful tips; it’s called, Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, by William Vanderbloemen. Dane found it, and we’ve all had a chance to start reading our copies. Some notes in there will likely not be as useful for River’s Edge, but there’ve been a number of really good points about things we should start doing early, and make sure that we’re in sync about now as a team.
  2. One of the things that the “Search” book recommended was to agree to roles on the team, to have designated point people with skills for certain aspects of this journey. While we will be working together and supporting each other, we have agreed to various roles such as Team Leader, Researchers, Congregation Communicator, Prayer Lead, Candidate Contact, Secretary, etc. Some of these roles will adjust or swap out as we move into next stages of the process.
  3. We are researching a number of things right now, from Presbyterian rules we should know for calling a new pastor to lead us, to resources we can leverage, to what forums are being used these days for pastoral advertisements.
  4. We’re also taking this time to review the church website’s content and make some proposals for bringing information up-to-date and ensuring that 1) the info is easy for church-seekers to see what we’re all about; and 2) we also want to ensure that when we have an advertisement posted, when potential applicants do their research on us via the website, they get an accurate picture of who we are today.
  5. During these beginning stages of preparation, we are meeting virtually once per week to pray, check in with each other, and follow up on things learned from each role.

Please feel free to come to talk to any of us at any time to share thoughts, to ask about details, or to pray with us as we seek next steps for our church family. We will be requesting some specific input from you all soon, but are still deciding what are the right questions to ask. So be prepared to share thoughts and opinions soon!

Thank you all, and until next time … Blessings and Peace.