Home  ›  Blog  ›  From the Search Committee – June 26, 2020

From the Search Committee – June 26, 2020

Dear Saint Paul’s Family,

The Transition Handbook for the Diocese of Georgia begins with these words “discerning the call of a new priest to serve as rector or vicar is an act of prayer. Consciousness that one is doing a holy thing for the good of the whole congregation and the sacrifice of personal agenda are the two essential qualities in all those involved in the decision”. When we accepted our positions as co-chairs for the search committee for rector of Saint Paul’s church, our first responsibility was to pull together a team that would represent the breadth of our parish. We appreciate that our church family is made up of people at different stages of life with different ministry focuses, life experiences, and priorities and also understand that we will be a richer team with different perspectives and  voices represented. Our team will be doing the critically important work of self-evaluation and increasing our understanding of how we can move forward in a way that honors the strengths of our congregation and helps us grow into the community we are working to become. This work will require listening, thoughtfulness, empathy, respect, honesty, and a deep commitment to discerning God’s will for our church family. After prayerful consideration, we were able to select a committee of parishioners whom we feel will fulfill the needs of our parish at this point and time. We are deeply grateful to the following parishioners for their commitment to Saint Paul’s and their willingness to serve:

Ramzi Assad
Julie Badger
Hava Chandler
Melissa Heckathorn
Meg Horton
John Robertson
Wright Montgomery

The Canon to the Ordinary will serve as a guide for our committee during the search process. Our diocese is currently in transition with Frank Logue, our former Canon of the Ordinary, recently ordained and consecrated as our 11th Bishop of Georgia. Loren Lasch has been called as his replacement and will be the new Canon. She begins serving our diocese on July 1, 2020. At that time, we will begin our work together.

Please know that we consider communication with the parish an essential part of this process. We will work to keep everyone informed about progress through updates included in our weekly Postings, on our website, and announcements at church. We want to keep you informed so we can all journey through this process together. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, or need additional information.

We are so excited about beginning this important work together. We ask for you to keep this committee and all of our church family in your prayers as we move through this discernment process. We pray for God’s guidance as we set out on this journey together:

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your whole Church, and so guide us in this parish during our time of self-study and search that we shall grow in our commitment to one another and to the cause of your Christ, and may come to choose a faithful pastor to join us in our ministries in our parish, community, and diocese; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

In Christ,
Brad Sandbach and Kim Butler
Co-Chairs for the Saint Paul’s Church Search Committee