The Call Committee forwarded the Congregational Self Evaluation Tool (CSET) to the Executive this week for its review and input. As soon as this document is finalized, it will be forwarded to the District President, who will use our responses in selecting names of potential call candidates for us to consider in addition to the names you provided us. As the Executive Committee reviews the CSET, the Call Committee will continue meeting, discussing our interview strategy and questions we will ask the candidates, among other things.

Regarding the Call Committee vacancy mentioned in last week’s update, I am pleased to announce that Amy Theiss has agreed to join us as we inch closer to the filtering process of candidates, interviews and selection. As also mentioned last week, having a full complement of committee members is very important to the selection process for our next senior pastor and Amy brings prior call experience to the table for us.

As always, should you have questions or input for the committee, please feel free to engage any of the committee members. Your continued prayers for our church will be greatly appreciated, praying that God continue to cloak us in his guiding hands, guiding the person to us whom he has already chosen to lead us in our effort to expand His kingdom, and guiding us to recognize that person when we see them.

The Call Committee is finishing up its work on the Congregational Self Evaluation Tool (CSET). We hope to turn it over to the Executive Committee within the coming week for their input. As mentioned last week, the committee has a vacancy for which we hope to have a replacement shortly. While the committee’s work surrounding the CSET is largely done, having a full complement of committee members is very important to the selection process for our next senior pastor.

Regarding the committee, by the way, I (Steve Henslee, Chairman) am pleased to report how well the committee members are working together. We are moving along in a very cooperative, efficient, and professional manner. There are, of course, disagreements along the way, but everyone is respectful, listening to others, voicing their opinions in a frank manner, but arriving at a consensus rather quickly.

As always, should you have questions or input for the committee, please feel free to engage any of the committee members. Your continued prayers for our church will be greatly appreciated, praying that we quickly recognize the person God has already chosen to lead us in our effort to expand His kingdom.

Unfortunately, the biggest news is that one of our committee members, Carisa Marovec, has stepped away from the committee due to personal circumstances. That is disappointing because of her experience and because in the short time we worked with her, she was clearly a significant contributor. Her participation will be sorely missed. We are now in process of identifying a replacement for her.

Other than that, not much has changed from the last update, with the Call Committee continuing its work on the Congregational Self Evaluation Tool. We hope to have that completed soon, at least with the information the committee can provide, before we mete it out for the input of others, like the Executive Committee.

As always, should you have questions or input for the committee, please feel free to engage with any of the committee members. Your continued prayers for our church will be greatly appreciated, praying that we quickly recognize the person God has already chosen to lead us in our effort to expand His kingdom.

As you’ve seen from recent emails and eNews articles, the Senior Pastor Call Committee is in full swing. There is still time for you to nominate potential candidates via the Pastor Nomination Form. And we have also asked you for the characteristics you think we want and need in a senior pastor. The characteristics will feed into the Congregational Self-Evaluation Tool (C-SET) that we provide to the District President.

The C-SET helps the District President cull names from his database that he feels will possibly meet our needs. At some point, your input will be sought for the C-SET.

In the meantime, the Call Committee continues working on the C-SET, inputting information we have at hand and forwarding questions to others in the church, such as the Executive Committee, for their input.

While this process is going on, please pray for us. By “us” I mean not just the Call Committee, but our church. Pray that we quickly recognize the person God has already chosen to lead our church so that we can carry on with the business of expanding His kingdom. Should you have any questions about the call process or our proceedings, please engage with any of the Call Committee members.

The Call Committee

Amy Holsapple

DCE Rhonda Synovec

The call committee convened for the first time on Wednesday, June 7. After getting acquainted with each other, we planned next steps for developing the information we are to submit to the District regarding the call, as outlined by President Panzer at the May 24 Pre-Call Meeting.

You should have already seen one of those steps, the request for senior pastor nominations from you. Such nominations may be submitted as described in last week’s eNews.

Another step is to request of you the characteristics in a senior pastor that you think are most important as we consider our candidates. A checklist for this will be broadcast to you in similar fashion as the pastor nomination form, if not within this eNews then next week.

A final piece of information is the Congregational Self Evaluation Tool (C-SET), on which the call committee is currently working. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide your input on this in the weeks ahead. The pastoral characteristics and the C-SET are what inform the District as to potential candidate names they might provide us.

As questions arise about the call process, please contact or approach any of the call committee members. Pictures of each member are provided below. About half attend services at the Shawnee site with the other half, obviously, at the Mission site. Chairman Steve Henslee is rotating his worship attendance among all the services to increase his accessibility during this time.