Greetings Fellow Congregation Members,
As we are well into the season of Advent, we wanted to provide you with an update of what has been happening with the Senior Pastor Search.
Over the last two months, the Senior Pastor Search Committee has been meeting weekly, doing the important work of praying, planning and preparing for the search. The first weeks were focused around us getting to know each other, talking about team norms and expectations that we have of each other. We talked through what the stages of the search process will look like. We have talked about how communication will work to the congregation and assigned roles on the team to support the search process.
One of the biggest items we have been working on is reviewing and updating the position profile. We have also reviewed the candidate attributes that were used last time based on the listening sessions held in 2023 for the prior search. We reviewed these along with the feedback received in the Vital Church Survey and have re-aligned on what attributes of a Senior Pastor we are prioritizing in this Search.
The search committee recently engaged with the Vanderbloemen search team. Our search consultant will be CEO William Vanderbloemen, with support from Executive Search Consultant, Eric Albert.
This weekend, we are having a retreat day for the team. During this retreat we will be spending time praying and fasting over the search process, building stronger relationships with each other, studying scripture together and working through a practice of discernment. Please be in prayer for us as we work through these important steps of forming as a team.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and words of encouragement to this team. We are humbled by the weight of the task set before us and appreciate the support of our faithful congregation.
Sincerely,
Victor Gerdes, Chair of the Elder Board
Below is an update following the Search Committee's first retreat...
Christmas Greetings to our fellow Grace Chapel member and friends,
The Senior Pastor Search Committee completed its first retreat this past Saturday. The retreat was a meaningful and encouraging experience, giving the team the opportunity to meet together in person and begin building relationships.
During our time together, each committee member shared an important moment from their faith journey. We participated in a spiritual discernment exercise using an example from the life of Moses and engaged in a Scripture study focused on the attributes and qualities of a pastor. Most importantly, we spent extended time in prayer, seeking God’s guidance for this search process. We concluded the retreat by breaking our fast and sharing a meal together.
Thank you for your prayers for our retreat. We are grateful for the support of the Grace Chapel congregation as we move forward in this important work. The committee will resume regular meetings in the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Victor Gerdes, Senior Pastor Search Committee Chair
