Search and Transition Update

St Philip’s Profile in Progress!

As you read this, your Transition Committee will have tabulated all of the information on the surveys that you completed and turned in. We are in the process of writing a profile that accurately represents this congregation to potential candidates for called priest. Thank you so much for taking the time to do the surveys and for helping your children to complete them also. Most churches seem not to survey their children. To those of us on the committee, it was essential that we have input from our children of all ages. They are a dynamic and integral part of this congregation!

When the profile is written it will be submitted to the Bishop’s Committee for approval.  When it has been approved, the Bishop’s Committee will complete the Church Deployment Office (CDO) form which comprises the basic information that is contained in the profile.  Once Britt Olson at the CDO has both the form and the profile, the form will be posted on the Diocesan website, and the profile will be posted on the St. Philip’s website.  At this point the Transition Committee’s work is finished, and the Search Committee, chaired by Steve Dodds, takes over.

Britt Olson's task is to receive the profiles of priests who express interest in St. Philip's through viewing the CDO form on the Diocesan website and looking at the St. Philip's website where our detailed narrative profile will be posted.  Britt does the initial screening and will forward profiles to the Search Committee, a few at a time.  This is where the confidentiality I wrote about last month comes into play.  The Search Committee will then begin to screen candidates as to their “fit” with St. Philip’s.

On a Sunday after church in October or early November (the date is yet to be decided) there will be a presentation to the congregation by the Transition Committee of the results of the surveys you all completed.  At that time we will be available to answer any questions you might have about the process we are in. 

There are still big questions to be decided.  Will the search for a new priest be limited to California?  To the western United States?  How will we handle the housing situation, given the home prices in Scotts Valley?  How can we make our stewardship campaign in October powerful enough to call the best priest among the candidates and allow us to move forward as a vital and strong mainline Christian congregation in Scotts Valley?

Please continue to pray for this process and the members of the Transition and Search Committees to whom you have entrusted with this most important task.

Your prayer support undergirds our work.  We continue to keep our eye on the goal of having a settled priest shortly after Easter.

If you have any ideas on the above questions, please talk to a member of the Bishop’s Committee, Transition Committee, or Search Committee. The members of the Transition Committee are: Tod Connor, chairman, Jane Ellis, Diane Evans, Marcus Granger-Jones, Jeremy Honey, and Karen Krestensen, with Susan Seaburg as consultant. The members of the Search Committee are:  Steve Dodds, chairman, Donna Jones, Karen Krestensen, Julie O’Brien, and Dave Sanguinetti, with Susan Seaburg as consultant. 

             Karen Krestensen

Meeting Our Friends in the Diocese

On Saturday 17th September, I went to a Diocesan meeting at All Saints’ church in Carmel with the Revs. Barry and Nancy Miller and a delightful octogenarian, George Mooers, from Calvary Church.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together what had been learnt and discussed at three previous meetings around the Diocese about who we are as Episcopalians and the type of person we are looking for in a new Bishop.

I had not been to such a meeting before; I’m not a member of any Diocesan body but felt it was important to attend. I’m glad I did. There were 104 folk from all over the Diocese of El Camino Real ( The Kings Highway ) and we split up into groups of eight to a table.

The meeting was very ably led by Rev. Rob Voyle, the former Dean of  Portland Cathedral (a Kiwi with whom I enjoyed discussing rugby and the recent England cricket triumph over Australia).

There was a great deal of humour, thought-provoking ideas and discussion over a five-hour period. The congregation apparently covered the spectrum from conservative liberals to liberal conservatives (don’t ask me which is which) and

was full of graceful conversation. Folk had come from as far as Morro Bay and Palo Alto to attend.

The result of the discourse and prayer was that a questionnaire, somewhat similar to our own, is going to be sent to every Episcopalian throughout our Diocese. The questions were developed by those who attended and it is very representative of us all.

Until you get it (and please fill it in and return it when you do) you might like to ponder over what makes you belong to the Episcopal church, why you like living here in California (on this bit of dirt, as Rev. Rob called it), and what you treasure most about your church and your faith. Finally, what would you want the new Bishop to do about taking care of those things that you treasure most.

Oh, and one last thing:  Next time there is a Diocesan meeting, I encourage you to attend. You never know who you might meet.  George Mooers taught Cindy and her brothers when they were at school. It’s great fun and worth building up the contacts with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Learning more about other churches throughout the Diocese brings a fresh perspective for us in Scotts Valley.

             Francis Honey, Bishop’s Committee