After conferring extensively with officials at the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) and our Joseph Priestly District (JPD), your Board of Directors, meeting Monday, February 1, voted unanimously to recruit an interim minister for a period of two years, rather than one, following Revered Henry Ticknor's retirement on July 31, 2010. This action reverses a December decision made immediately after Henry's retirement announcement and prior to consultation with UUA and JPD representatives. The Board's rationale is outlined below.
During a personal visit to meet with UUCSV Board members, Interim Search Committee chair Dottie Cox, Finance Committee chair Bob Gettings, former Board chair Rebecca Allen, church administrator Laurie Morrison and Rev. Ticknor, JPD executive officer Richard Speck outlined the several steps required of a congregation seeking highly-qualified interim and permanent ministers. He also helped us to identify special skills and prior experience we need in an interim minister. Illuminated by our discussion with Dr. Speck was the recognition that we, as a growing spiritual community, need guidance to deal effectively with our growth. With membership topping 150 and an additional 50-60 non-member "friends of the congregation," we are longer an extended family. In just a few short years, an increasing number of church-sponsored programs and projects -- some of which minister to our internal needs as others reach outside our walls on behalf of service and justice -- have made our church a complex organization. Simultaneously, we're outgrowing our physical space in just six years. Hence, your Board has decided to seek out an interim minister with proven skills to help congregations learn to manage growth and complexity effectively and to set a course for their future. We are convinced that it is in our best interests to draw on these skills for two years before hiring a permanent minister; by then, we will have identified the skills and talents we want in our next permanent minister.
Given that our interim minister will be with us for two years (August 1, 2010 through July 31, 2012), election of a search committee by the congregation will be postponed until spring of 1211, when that team will begin the important year-long task of securing our next permanent minister. (Your Board has decided that the search committee will include 7 adults and one youth member.) This delay offers more time for us to savor the final six months of Henry's tenure as our minister and Nancy's as designated "energizer bunny" and to thank them for the exemplary vision, caring and creativity they've brought to UUCSV. It also allows us to know more fully our interim minister, identify a preferred direction for our future and prepare for it.
My Board colleagues and I recognize that transitions such these raise anxieties, concerns, questions and doubts -- for all of us. Also, transitions trigger enormous creativity and energy, as was the case seven years ago when UUCSV, simultaneously, built its new building and recruited Henry Ticknor. We invite you to participate in helping to shape our church's next-phase future, by voicing your concerns and your suggestions as well as engaging in one or more of the many volunteer opportunities that will occur in the weeks and months ahead.
Oakley Winters,
UUCSV Board of Directors