Associate Minister Search Updates

Having said a fond, festive farewell to Acting Associate Minister Shawn Fiedler on August 28, we've moved into gear on some important steps toward finding his successor.

The small Working Group appointed by Council back in July to begin the search (Randy Billings, Sarah Cowles, Eliette Hilaire and Rick Spalding) came back to a special meeting of Council earlier this month to recommend a particular framework for the position: a U.C.C. model known as Designated Term Ministry. This entails a particular term of service - in our case 2 years, in order to ensure that the new Associate and the new settled Senior Minister, when found, will overlap. Council approved this DTM framework, which is renewable at the mutual agreement of the church and the candidate; and they affirmed that the new Associate will be considered eligible to apply for a settled (i.e. permanent) Associate position at whatever time the church may decide to create and seek to fill such a position. The DTM model entails the articulation of several goals which the church will seek to achieve during the term with the help of the new Associate Minister: providing some pastoral and collegial continuity through and beyond the transition in senior leadership; strengthening our ministries of congregational care; and helping to guide our continuing efforts to restore Old South to its pre-pandemic programmatic vitality. 

With Council's approval in hand, the Profile has been posted in the U.C.C. call system - and we've just begun hearing from candidates.  Some of the best recruiting happens by word-of-mouth - so if you know anyone who should apply (or know anyone who might be in a position to encourage good candidates to apply), please feel free to refer them to the Old South website - where the Profile is now also posted, along with instructions for submitting materials.