Newsletter, Mar. 4: From 3 “Pre-Candidates” to 1 “Candidate"

   

Newsletter, Mar. 4, 2014:
 
From Three “Pre-Candidates” to One “Candidate"

Your Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) continues to appraise our three Pre-Candidates  as we evaluate their records, contact their references, and read or listen to their services and sermons. In weekend-long interviews, we are assessing how each minister’s qualities measure up against the priorities you’ve articulated via the Listening Sessions, the Survey, and the ongoing life of our church community. In addition to all the “data” we’re reviewing, we are discussing who feels like our personal minister, who matches our current needs, and who is best equipped to lead us into the future. 

As with all UU searches, the MSC is charged with finding the best ministerial Candidate and recommending this one Candidate to the congregation. This effort requires research, reference checking, interviewing, listening, and prolonged deliberation. The depth, intensity, and systematic nature of this effort are why you have delegated it to a committee.

In early April, we will announce our recommendation. You will then have many opportunities to learn a great deal about this Candidate. At the end of the month, our Candidate will visit First Unitarian for Candidating Week. This “week” is really ten days, from Friday, April 25, to Sunday, May 4. (Please mark your calendars!) The Candidate will preach in our sanctuary on two consecutive Sundays. In between, we will host receptions, meals, question/answer sessions, and other get-togethers, at different times of the day, so that as many people as possible can meet and assess the Candidate.

On Sunday, May 4, after conducting the service, the Candidate will depart. The congregation will then meet to vote on whether to call the Candidate as our next settled minister.