February 2023 Senior Minister Search Committee Update

February 16, 2023

After months of preparation and diligent review of profiles and letters of interest, the Search Committee has spent the last six weeks in the joyful work of meeting candidates in virtual interviews.  We have had the privilege of engaging a group of deeply committed, experienced ministers and exploring their perspectives on worship, community building, leadership, and faith-based social action. We have invited them to imagine with us Old South’s future and given them a chance to ask their questions about our congregation.  Committee members have also had the opportunity to review recorded sermons from each candidate and sample correspondence candidates have prepared for their congregations in the past.  Now we begin the difficult work of discerning – with God’s help – a smaller group of candidates that we will invite to Boston this spring for deeper mutual exploration.  We hope to be ready to extend invitations for in-person interviews to a small group of candidates by the end of February.

As we were engaging in this first round of interviews, we continued to receive new applications and expressions of interest from additional qualified candidates.  As a Committee, we are reviewing these profiles now and making decisions about extending additional invitations for initial interviews.  Given the strong and diverse candidates we have in our pool and the Committee’s confidence in the people we have already met, we have made the decision to stop receiving new applications. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we enter into this important next phase of discernment!   We continue to believe that our timeline is realistic and hope to be ready to introduce a final candidate to the congregation before the summer begins.

Thank you, as always, for entrusting us as a Search Committee to serve the church in this meaningful and vitally important way.