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March 18, 2008 This is our third Pastoral Search Committee (PSC) newsletter, and we wanted to share what has happened since our January newsletter. The committee has completed several more steps in the search process. These are the steps we must go through during the search process and where we are at right now:
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Status |
Step |
Task |
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Done |
1 |
Survey the Church to find out the type of Pastor desired. |
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Done |
2 |
Share the results of the Church survey with the Church. |
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Done |
3 |
Prepare information packets which contain data and pictures about our Church. |
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Done |
4 |
Use Church survey results to search for prospective candidates. |
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Done |
5 |
Exchange information with the candidates and arrange for interviews if appropriate (packets from step 3 are used in this step). |
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Done |
6 |
Conduct interviews. |
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Done |
7 |
Select the candidate that will be presented to the Church congregation. |
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Done |
8 |
Schedule and prepare for the “Candidate Sunday” and Church vote |
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In Progress |
9 |
Introduce the candidate to our Church family at a potluck dinner. (This will be held the day before the “Candidate Sunday”). |
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In Progress |
10 |
“Candidate Sunday” and Church vote |
As you can see, the committee is now preparing for Candidate Sunday! We are pleased to announce that the Candidate Weekend is set for April 5th and 6th and it will be filled with several activities:
| 12:00 p.m. Saturday => | Candidate and his wife will have lunch with the Deacons |
| 6:30 p.m. Saturday => | Candidate and his wife will have a potluck dinner with the church family |
| (everyone is welcome to come!) | |
| 10:30 a.m. Sunday => | Candidate participates in the worship service by presenting the sermon |
| 11:45 a.m. Sunday => | Church members vote on whether they feel the candidate is a good |
| Pastoral match for our church |
So mark your calendars and plan to join in on this important weekend!
As promised in our last newsletter, we are glad to present you with a brief bio and picture of the candidate and his wife……the bio is provided below, and we hope you will find it to be a good “ice breaker” as you prepare to meet the candidate at the candidate weekend.
The next couple of weeks are going to be really busy as we prepare for the Candidate Weekend, so we could really use extra prayers!
Sincerely,
Your PSC Members
Greetings! We are pleased and excited to be sharing in this pastoral candidacy process with your Christian community. At the request of your hard-working Search committee, we’d like to share a little bit about ourselves to help you come to know us as we look forward to meeting you all very soon.
Currently we live in Champaign, where I (Christian) work on the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit of Provena Hospital and also as a Chaplain intern at Carle Foundation Hospital. Kelly works as the music teacher of Next Generation School and as the music ministry coordinator of our current church, University Baptist Church. We both obtained Bachelors degrees from the University of Illinois, I in Psychology and Kelly in Music Education. Right now, I’m finishing my Masters of Divinity degree at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, IL.
About our lives before college, Kelly grew up in Ottawa, IL, just a little bit north of you all in Chenoa. She has 2 sisters and 1 brother, all younger than her. Kelly spent a lot of time in theater and choir in high school and even played in her own girl rock band! I grew up in McHenry, IL a far northwest suburb of Chicago. I have a younger sister and a younger brother. I spent most of my time in high school at church youth group events, went on a number of mission trips, church camps, and spent my time out of school and church in martial arts, playing trumpet, or hanging out with my friends at home.
Nowadays, I enjoy reading theology and science fiction, working out, playing sports (not that I’m very good at some of them, but I do enjoy a good volleyball match), some action computer games, drinking lots of coffee, and listening to the odd Irish musician from time to time. Kelly spends most of her free time talking with people in person or on the phone. Together we like to take walks, rent movies, play board games, or just spend time with each other or friends.
Kelly and I met and were married at the University Baptist Church and we have been enjoying marriage since June 2006. We are both so very excited for the future of ministry in the local church and have found true blessing from loving God’s people in this way. God has given us many wonderful relationships and formative experiences through our life in the mission and ministry of the church and we look forward to more of that same joy in the future.
I think the best way to give you a better sense of who we are at heart is to share a little bit about our priorities in ministry. As a pastor, I have been formed and shaped in powerful ways through the experience of the Christian community and their reflection of God’s gracious love. I have found my true sense of life, purpose, and hope in sharing regular, ordinary life with God’s people. It is to this that I look forward even though sometimes it brings conflict and difficulty. The daily activities of God’s people learning to be open with each other, to forgive one another, to love and serve one another, and to use the life that comes through that relationship to bring love, hope, and freedom to the lost and broken people that surround our Christian family in the world. As such, we are committed to being honest and authentic in our relationships with others, and to sharing the wonder of God’s Great invitation through Jesus to everyone that we live near and with. As you seek to know a little bit more about us, loving/authentic community and Christian discipleship are two of our main ideals. We want to be people who love more and more and invite others to love more and more with us. Not for meaningless, superficial relationships, but for truly deep and intimate relationships centered in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We are so very excited to meet all of you and to share some time with you. May God bless your community and your time together in ministry to each other and to the people of Chenoa.
In the Hope and Love of Christ,
Christian and Kelly Ricker
