With Scott Benhase’s departure to become the Bishop of Georgia, we began a transition process that will culminate with the call of a new Rector. We’ve compiled a timeline to help the parish understand what’s happened so far and what comes next. We’ll update this as the process moves forward. Please check this page for current postings about our progress on the Rector search.
Change can be challenging. The good news is that the Parish has a strong and talented staff, a robust lay ministry and an active and caring congregation. And having undertaken the search process in 2005-06, we're in a strong position to take advantage of the experience of many in the Parish who were involved in the last search for a rector.
Who is responsible for selecting our next Rector?
Vestry members are the elected representatives of the parish and are charged with the responsibility for calling our next Rector with the approval of the Bishop. If you have questions or comments for the Vestry, please seek out a Vestry member, Senior Warden Jim Sottile or Junior Warden Deborah Potter.
Who identifies candidates from whom the Vestry will call our next rector?
The Vestry has appointed a Search Committee to develop and implement a plan for the search for a new Rector and a Search consultant, Carol Wzorek, to advise on the process. If you have questions or comments for the Search Committee, please e-mail the Committee at rectorsearch@st-albans-parish.org.
The Search Committee's work includes conducting a self-study of the parish and preparing a parish profile, both of which have now been completed, conducting a national search for suitable candidates for Rector, discerning which candidates are best suited to serve St. Alban's, and presenting three suitable candidates to the Vestry.
What’s Happened so Far
2011
February 22 - The Search Committee invited 38 candidates to continue in the rector search process. We asked each of those candidates to answer written questions and provide us with sermons and various written materials by March 8.
January 31 - 63 candidates for rector submitted materials by this date, the deadline for applications set by the Search Committee.
2010
December 9 – Parish profile posted on web site in text-only form. The Search Committee is working with a graphic designer on a version of the profile incorporating photos, graphs and charts that will be posted as soon as it is available.
November 24 – Profile approved by Bishop Chane.
November 19 – Profile submitted to Bishop Chane for review and approval.
November 16 –Profile approved by the Vestry.
September – November – Parish profile drafted. The profile describes the parish, our hopes for the future, the challenges we face and what we seek in a new rector. It is the principal document candidates look to in deciding whether to apply to become our next rector.
September 26 - Focus groups completed. To expand the parish-wide information gathering, trained leaders conducted focus groups of 10 – 15 participants. More than 160 parishioners participated in 16 focus groups between mid-July and mid-September. Groups were scheduled at a variety of times to accommodate various schedules. 26 volunteers served as group leaders and recorders. Two of the focus groups were devoted to our Spanish-speaking parishioners.
Cay Hartley took all of the notes, summaries and comments from the focus groups and sorted them allowing us to clarify and identify people’s priorities, opinions and concerns. This information, along with the survey results, helped give shape and direction to the Parish profile described above. From Cay’s careful analysis, six areas could be readily identified as very important from the focus groups:
Interpersonal/people skills
Financial management
Community
Leadership
Building up a congregation
Outreach program
The search committee is grateful for the time parishioners gave and the efforts they put forth during this part of the process. The profile could not have provided the rich portrait of the parish as it exists today and our hopes for the future without these valuable contributions from so many parishioners.
August 4 - Search committee releases results of parish survey.
The search committee is encouraged by, and grateful for, the response to the parish survey, particularly because it provided such a clear sense of our common interests and concerns. More than 230 people either followed an e-mail link to respond to the survey on line, or submitted a completed hard-copy version of the survey. About 2/3 of respondents were female, and about half were over age 60. 86% identified themselves as pledging regularly, and 80% attend services almost weekly. An impressive 72% had attained a formal education level of “masters or above.”
In identifying the most important strengths in a new rector, respondents’ top-five selections were (in descending order): preaching/public speaking; pastoral skills; spiritual development, commitment to outreach as a central parish mission; and communicating an understanding of the Bible and Christian theology. The following skills/attributes stood out as especially important: building and strengthening a sense of community; commitment to open communion; commitment to outreach as a central parish mission; supporting a strong music program; and creating/supporting children’s/young adult programs.
These and other survey results helped the search committee define the questions to be discussed in the focus-group phase of the search process.
To see a compilation of survey results, click here:
Complete Survey Results
June 15 – Search Committee meets and approves schedule for focus groups to be held in July, August and September.
June 10 – Parish survey available on-line.
June 1 – Search Committee meets and approves parish survey.
May 18 – Vestry approves Charge to Search Committee setting forth the respective responsibilities of the Vestry and Search Committee.
April 24 – First meeting of the Search Committee.
March 16 – The Vestry approves the Search Committee consisting of Diane Adams, Kate Bouvé, Erinn Gray, Kevin Hassett, Kammie Hedges, Chris Holmes, Kim Hurst, Rich Jensen, Kiki McLean, Ann Morrison and Jim Nix.
March 1 - John Lawrence starts his service as interim rector.
January 23 – Scott’s ordination and consecration in Savannah. Scott became the 10th Bishop of Georgia, replacing Bishop Henry I. Louttit, who served since 1995.
January 1 - With Scott's departure, The Rev. Timothy Boggs, our Associate Rector, assumes Scott's responsibilities pending the arrival of our interim rector while the other staff continue to serve the parish in their current positions.
2009
December 18 – The Parish holds a going-away party for Scott.
December 15 – At its regularly scheduled monthly meeting, the Vestry decides to call The Rev. Canon John Lawrence, current interim rector of St. Patrick's parish in Washington, D.C., as interim rector. The call to John Lawrence follows an extensive interview process that started with the Wardens and expanded to include the Vestry, Scott and the staff, all of whom met with John before the Vestry's December 15 meeting.
November 17 – Senior Warden Kate Bouvé reports to the Vestry that three candidates have been identified as suitable candidates for interim rector. The wardens will interview the candidates and make a recommendation to the Vestry at its December meeting.
October 23-24 – At the Parish’s annual planning workshop, parishioners compile a list of qualities to be sought in candidates for the position of interim rector. Armed with information on what the Parish is looking for in an interim rector, the diocese will identify candidates that it believes would be best suited for the parish. The wardens and Vestry may also identify other candidates subject to approval of such candidates by the diocese.
October 21 – The regular monthly meeting of the Vestry is attended by Bishop Chane and two of his aides -- Paul Cooney, Canon to the Ordinary, and The Rev. Mary Sulerud, Canon for Deployment. A number of parishioners take the opportunity to share their views on the transition process with the Bishop. The Vestry begins discussions about the process of selecting an interim rector. As set forth in the diocese’s Parish Transition Process, the wardens, in consultation with the Vestry, will arrange for an interim rector to serve the parish during the period of the search. The Bishop and Mary Sulerud advise that the diocese will propose candidates to serve as interim rector but that the decision on who will serve as interim rector will be made by the Vestry.
October 8 -- The wardens meet with The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, the Bishop of Washington. The Bishop makes clear that he believes it is in the best interest of St. Alban’s to conduct a broad national search for a new rector that will identify the best possible candidates from around the country. An interim rector is to be appointed to serve after Scott’s departure in January and until a new rector takes over.
September 15 – At its regular monthly meeting, the Vestry begins the process of discernment – listening, learning and praying – about the transition. Scott, the wardens and the Vestry agree that transparency and openness are essential to the search.
September 12 – The Rev. Scott Benhase is elected Bishop of Georgia.
WHAT’S THIS INTERIM STUFF ALL ABOUT?
Word got around fast when Scott was elected Bishop of Georgia. “Scott’s leaving! What’s next? Why is he leaving? What happens to us? Why is the bishop sticking his oar into this?” Some may remember those were the same questions that were asked at St. Alban’s five years ago; and twenty-five years ago when Ted Eastman was elected Bishop of Maryland; and, thirty-five years ago when Felix Kloman left. It happens.
William Bridges (Google him!), a well-known organization consultant, has written many books about transitions and how organizations and individuals deal with it. In churches, we have a special kind of organization with special stresses when leadership changes. Our parishes are not just organizations. They have overlays of tradition and meaning that are not quite the same, say, as a local Pizza Hut Restaurant. Both are organizations, but there are also differences. Both undergo change, but there are differences. The major business of a parish has to do with helping people relate to God and each other, and to engage them in activities, collectively and individually, that we call ministry.
Churches designate specially trained people to be leaders they call priests or pastors. That work can make deep personal and emotional connections between those leaders and the people in congregations. When one leaves, people feel a sense of loss. Some people feel it acutely, because of the depth of relationship they found in that leader. For some, there is an acute sense of anxiety about the future. When Pizza Hut managers change, nobody cares much as long as the pizza doesn’t! Bridges reminds us that our anxiety about transition is not unique. Everybody is thrown off stride by transition; but we have found that transition of a pastor touches deep feelings, many of which we are not even aware. It’s like other transitions, but there are other dynamics involved.
Through history churches came to identify the church with the PERSON who was in leadership. The ministry of the CHURCH often got focused in the person of the leader: the pastor came to BE the ministry, at least emotionally. Ordinary members came to feel that the ministry that belonged to everybody had been out-sourced to the pastor. In those days, when a pastor left a congregation we even talked about the parish as a “vacant parish.” It was bad theology and bad organizational dynamics. We wiped out the idea of the ministry of the laity completely! In more recent years we’ve begun saying it better. We talk about the parish going through an “interim period.” Those words are saying we know the ministry is what goes on all the time through all the people, but that for a time we are undergoing a change of the clergy leader. Our language is a bit better, but our emotions don’t always get as clear.
My sense from the beginning was that there were three types of congregations that really needed the services of an interim pastor:
- Congregations after a long pastorate;
- Congregations having just gone through a particularly conflicted period; and,
- Congregations that were large and complex, with multiple clergy on staff.
We also learned some recurring truths, like:
- If a pre-transition conflict wasn’t worked through, then the next pastor would most likely get caught up in its dynamics;
- If factions went into a transition dead set against a particular candidate, then a true call from the whole congregation was difficult; and,
- If a member of the previous pastor’s staff was appointed to be the interim, then it was hard for the congregation to make a transition.
We also learned that there were basic tasks that needed attention during an interim. We came to call them the “developmental tasks” of the interim period. They are:
- Helping the congregation come to terms with its past;
- Investigating and defining a new identity, separate from the previous pastor;
- Making space for lay leadership changes, allowing some to take needed sabbaticals from leadership and encouraging new people to step forward;
- Rediscovering the connections to their bishop;
- Make a new corporate commitment to a direction and a pastor
I continue to enjoy being a part of a remarkable ministry at St. Alban's Parish. I recognize that there will be extra pressures of all kinds that our staff will be working under during the interim, but I also expect to continue growing under their leadership. From top to bottom they are excellent. Even if overloaded! I’m looking forward to our wardens and vestry bringing us an interim rector who will help us all grow toward a better ministry and our next phase of life.
I’m appreciative of the Bishop’s role so far. He’s been willing to show us tough love when we might have wanted more love and less tough. We’re going to need more from him as we go through this interim. Our ministry needs structures that hold us accountable. Just as we, individually, need a parish that strengthens each of us in our individual ministries, even at times when it has to say tough things to us. I hope this interim period will help us toward greater accountability in ministry, and I hope we can also explore not only how we can be accountable to the bishop, but how he can be accountable to us.
The Reverend Loren B. Mead, Priest Associate