Test Driving Theology

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”   – Isaiah 6:8

The call process for Trinity’s new pastor or deacon, who will lead our faith formation ministry, is on track and moving forward!  I just wanted to share a quick update with you, so you’d know where we are at in the process.

As you may have read in previous months, our Call Committee began meeting in March.  Since then, they have met 4 or 5 times.

• They have connected with each other, and set up their own structure and system for how they function.
• They have completed our “Congregational Profile,” a 20-page document that the Southeast Minnesota Synod sends to potential candidates. It is a detailed analysis of our congregation, our mission and our needs.
• They have reviewed the new position description, which was created by our Personnel Commission.
• They have created an initial list of questions that they will ask candidates when we begin the interview process.
• We collected congregational nominations for possible candidates and forwarded them on to the synod.

On Tuesday, the Call Committee met with Pastor Susan Miller of the synod office, who walked us further through the process and answered questions.  We also received the profile documents for four candidates.  We received a fifth file on Wednesday.

Pastor Susan let us know that of the eight names that were nominated by members of the congregation:

• One was honored to have been nominated, but was happy where they were at and respectfully declined the invitation to be a part of our process
• Three had been in their current congregation for less than 3 years, and so were not eligible to move yet
• Two were not on the ELCA roster of pastors or deacons, which is a requirement for the position
• One is a finalist for another call, making them ineligible for our process, and
• One of the names was being included in the set of files that we were receiving

On Tuesday night, we distributed the candidates files to the call committee, and asked them to read them thoroughly by Monday night of next week, when we meet again.  Our goal will be to determine which of the candidates we are interested in interviewing.

Our hope is that the first set of interviews could begin in the next two to four weeks.

Please continue to keep our process, the committee and all of the candidates in your prayers.  This is an exciting time for Trinity.  God knows who this next member of our pastoral team will be, and we are excited to learn how God is at work, preparing this person, and our congregation, for the next chapter in our faith formation ministry.

If you have any questions or concerns at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ToddB@tlcowatonna.org

God’s blessings!
Pastor Todd