Search Committee Update - November 2, 2021

The Search Committee conducted its final meeting last night to celebrate the successful completion of its mission and to memorialize the lessons learned, which will be shared with a future search committee. We also completed the final administrative tasks necessary to implement the selection of the New Senior Minister for First Christian Church. Please remember that until we have been informed that her current congregation has been officially notified, we cannot publish her name in public communications. Hopefully, you were able to participate in person or by the private Zoom call and caught your first glimpse of why the Committee so highly recommended her. You can expect a very formal and public announcement of our new minister soon and then you can share her name with the world.

The new minister’s start date is still in flux but is expected to be either January 16 or 30th. The committee asks that you keep her and her family as well as her current congregation in prayer. As we all know, loss of a popular minister can be hard, and that congregation will certainly grieve the loss of a truly gifted minister. When she does arrive, reach out to her, introduce yourselves as often as you need to for your names to stick, and welcome her as we have been welcoming newcomers for nearly two centuries. Smooth her integration into the faith family that is First Christian Church.

To all the congregants who reached out to committee members after Sunday’s service, thank you for your expressions of gratitude and well wishes. They certainly made our efforts all the more worthwhile. Our work is done as a committee but our journey of faith with new spiritual leadership is only just begun.

Submitted by

Alan Parsons, Committee Chair

On behalf of committee members, Amanda Stratton, Gary Fogle, Gracelyn Jack, Kathy Olliges, Patty Rankin, Scott Lantern, and Tonya Bordy.