Lord of Grace Family and Friends
By the time you read this, we will be about 2/3rd’s the way complete on our Cottage Meeting feedback. We have already collected some great feedback from 35 people.
What’s next?
In late October, we’ll release the all-church survey. This will be an online survey designed to collect some demographic information, and some more detailed feedback on the key questions of who we have been, who we are, and who we want to be.
What are you going to do with this feedback?
The transition team will review it all together and determine if there are key themes that help tell the story of who we are and where we want to go. This will be used to complete a transition report to the council and congregation, and the Ministry Site Profile which is used by potential pastoral candidates to decide if they want to apply for our pastoral vacancy.
What else do you have to do?
Here’s a list of what else, besides feedback, the transition team is seeking to complete prior to concluding the transition phase and starting the Call Committee phase. Some of this is needed to ensure our house is in order for the new pastor, and some of this is needed for the Ministry Site Profile
ü Review of Church Constitution and Bylaws
ü Review of Church Stewardship and finances
ü Review of Marana Demographics
o Review of Employee Handbook and Policies and Procedures (starting this, could use help with this)
o Review of Church Job Descriptions (work on this in October, could use help with this)
o Review of the Strategic Plan, need mission statement (we have one), vision statement, and core values (work on this in November)
I heard that Pastor Randy is applying for the new position. How does that work?
This is true. Pastor Randy is open to consideration of the full-time call at Lord of Grace. Once the transition work is completed (probably by end of January), Pastor Randy is the first candidate we will consider. God’s blessing to us, is that we’ll be able to collect a bunch of feedback from the church that we can use to consider Randy’s permanent placement with us. If God does not lead us to proceed with Pastor Randy, or if Pastor Randy does not feel a calling, we will move on to request additional candidates from the Synod.
What can I do?
2 things
1.) Consider helping out with the Policy and Procedure review if you think you have a good eye towards policies and procedures
2.) Prayer…constant prayer
· Prayers for the new pastor who will be leading us, wherever he or she is, that he or she is starting to feel God’s calling to something new, and has a heart that wants to serve a church like Lord of Grace
· Prayers for the Transition Team that we continue to seek God’s will for Lord of Grace, not our own, and that we seek the church’s feedback on who we are, not our own thoughts.
Questions – please email William Willcoxson – wwillcoxson@comcast.net