UUCB Ministerial Transition Information

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April 25, 2016: MSC UPDATE - THANKS & CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thank you to all members of UUCB who attended the Special Congregational Meeting on Sunday, April 24th.The gathered members enthusiastically voted YES to call the Reverend Scott McNeill as our new Associate Minister. The vote was 98% positive. There were 254 members present, which greatly exceeded our required quorum of 158. It was an incredible showing of support and engagement in the process of calling a new Associate Minister!

Congratulations to Reverend Scott McNeil! We are looking forward to having you with us.

Reverend Scott's ministry will begin later this summer. Keep your eye on the Prologue and the church webpage for details.

Your Ministerial Search Committee,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Monroe-Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

Your Ministerial Search Committee:
(top row) Barb Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley
(second row) Michelle Monroe-Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, Stuart Yoak

Full Bios

Previous Updates

April 10, 2016: MINISTERIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

We are pleased to announce WE HAVE A CANDIDATE for Associate Minister. It is Reverend Scott McNeill.

Scott is originally from North Carolina. He grew up in the Baptist church and became a Unitarian Universalist at the end of high school. He holds a BA in Race and Gender Studies from UNC-Asheville and received his Master of Divinity degree from Meadville/Lombard. He identifies himself as a 'Holy Humanist'.

For four years, Scott served as minister of the Second Unitarian Church of Omaha, Nebraska, and for the past two years he has served as the minister of the Bull Run UUs in Manassas, VA.

He’s married to the Reverend Sarah Gettie McNeill, who grew up in Solsberry, Indiana, and is also a UU minister.They have an exuberant 3 year old son named Elijah and are expecting another boy at the end of the summer.

We found Rev. Scott to be genuine and very personable. Everyone we talked to spoke very highly of him. He has a good sense of humor and a passion for social justice. He is excited about the possibility of working as part of a ministerial team and brings many skills that complement those of Reverend Macklin.

We encourage you to visit Reverend Scott's webpage --www.revscottmcneill.com-- to find a personal message from Reverend Scott to this congregation, audio clips of past sermons, and his thoughts on different aspects of ministry.

Reverend Scott will be in the pulpit for both services on Sunday, April 17th and on April 24th. Meetings are scheduled throughout the week with many groups from the congregation. A schedule of the Candidating Week's events is available in the commons, is listed on the Events page of the MSC website, and can be found on the church's Facebook page.

There are FIVE Activities that are open to any congregational member or friend. We hope you can plan to attend one (or more!).

Lunch on Sunday, April 17th from 12:30-1:30 PM - Fellowship Hall - RSVP to office@uubloomington.org if you plan on attending or call 812-332-3695

Thursday, April 21 11:30 AM-1:00 PM - Brown Bag lunch hosted by Women's Alliance - Fellowship Hall (bring your own lunch)

Thursday, April 21 5:30-7:00 PM - Fellowship Hall potluck hosted by the Choir (bring a dish to share)

Friday, April 22 6:00-7:30 PM - Religious Education Pizza party - Fellowship Hall - Childcare will be available - RSVP to office@uubloomington.org if you plan on attending or call 812-332-3695

Saturday, April 23 9:00-11:00 AM - Coffee in the Church Library

At 1:00 PM on Sunday, April 24th there will be a congregational meeting to vote whether to call Reverend Scott. All church members are encouraged to attend. There is no absentee or early voting. You must be present to vote.

We need at least 156 members present and Rev. McNeill will want at least 95% confidence vote in order to accept this call. The final decision is up to you. We hope that you will join us.

Your Ministerial Search Committee,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Monroe-Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

March 27, 2016: MINISTERIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

We have interviewed a number of candidates and have narrowed the pool to those we are most interested in. We have hosted some here in Bloomington. They have visited the church and met with Reverend Macklin and the search committee. We have heard them preach in neutral pulpits and we have narrowed the field even further.

We are prepared to make an offer April 7 to the candidate of our choice. The UUA's ministerial search protocol has a timeline to keep the process congenial, and so congregations are not able to make offers until that date.

If all goes as we hope, we will announce the candidate at Sunday service on April 10th. The candidate will then visit this congregation for what is known as Candidating Week April 17-24th, -mark your calendars-which will include a number of opportunities to meet and greet the candidate and to hear the candidate preach. During that week, we will hold meetings and social gatherings so you can interact, ask questions, and feel comfortable with our choice. We will post and send out a schedule of activities for that week after April 10th. The candidate is expected to preach in this pulpit Sunday April 17 and 24th.

Following 2nd service on April 24 there will be a congregational meeting to vote to call this candidate as our associate minister. We need at least 170 members from the congregation to attend and to vote and more than a 90% acceptance vote to call the minister.

We value the trust and confidence you have placed in us to make this momentous decision. We have reviewed a significant number of applications, checked references, interviewed candidates for countless hours, and discussed the candidates in depth with each other and Rev. Macklin. At every stage, we have held in mind the hopes, dreams, and concerns of our congregation. In the end, it is this affirmation of the congregation that matters. You the members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington will make the final decision and we hop you will be as enthusiastic as we are about the candidate for our Associate Minister.

If you have questions about the process you may contact one of the search committee members and stay tuned to the Prologue, church emails, and the church Facebook page and web page for updates.

Your Ministerial Search Committee,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Monroe-Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

January 8, 2016: MINISTERIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

The Search Committee has released the "Packet" to candidates for the Associate Minister position and you for viewing at http://uucbmsc.wix.com/packet

You may view the Packet website from this link, but you cannot search for the site in Google or any other search engine. You must use the direct web address to access the site. We hope this easily navigates you to different topics of interest and gives you a feeling for the spirit of our congregation. Click on the topics on the very top green bar to go to the different areas. Some topics have drop downs but the main information will be found by clicking on the topic name. The drop downs are additional items of interest associated with these topics. Many of the links on the pages take you outside of the Packet website for more info. We hope you feel this website captures our church and our work. We appreciate all you do to make UUCB so special.

Your Ministerial Search Committee,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Monroe-Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

December 13, 2015: MINISTERIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE - SURVEY RESULTS

The Ministerial Search Committee conducted a congregational survey in September and October. Along with the discussions we had in a series of cottage meetings, the survey responses will continue to guide our search for an associate minister. Our hope in sharing the survey results is that they will give you a clearer idea of our congregation. Many thanks to the more than 250 people who responded to the survey.

The SURVEY RESULTS are in a .pdf format and do not include the answers to the open-ended question nor write-in responses to questions that allowed “other (specify)” as an answer. While members of the committee read those answers, the survey tool we used does not make them easy to extract into a summary. At any rate, a survey’s virtue is not its depth but its breadth.

Highlights of the survey:

• 85% of respondents said their affiliation with the congregation was either important or very important to their individual identities.

In addition to Unitarian Universalism, the following traditions are important to the respondents:

• Buddhism

• Science

• Christianity

• Humanism

• Earth-centered traditions

Asked to rank the importance of various reasons for attending church, people chose a wide range of reasons. Most common were:

• Community/fellowship

• Minister

• Music/choir

• Celebrating common values

• Intellectual stimulation

• Social justice

The most-desired qualities of our next associate minister are:

• Ability to deliver inspiring and provocative sermons

• Pastoral skills

• Sense of humor

• Ability to collaborate

• Intellectual depth and rigor

Respondents said they would be most comfortable calling an associate minister who is:

• Politically liberal

• Male

• A member of a marginalized group

Who took the survey?

• 257 people

• 82% of them are members

• 18% of them are friends

• 60% have been associated with the congregation for 3-15 years

• 62% are 60 or older

• 27% have children in Religious Education

• 99% are white

• 67% have master’s degrees or more advanced degrees

With Gratitude for your support and input,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

November 16, 2015: MINISTERIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

Thank you all for your participation in the 16 Cottage Meetings and for the 283 completed surveys. The Search Committee is very appreciative of all the voices we hear as we gather information to build a profile of UUCB and learn what is important to you. We completed the UUA Congregational Record and Position Application and submitted them on November 10th to the UUA Transition Office. The UUA will release this information after Thanksgiving weekend for candidates in search to see.

With Gratitude for your support and input,

Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

October 5th, 2015: Ministerial Search Committee Reminders & Next Steps

Two Reminders:

(1) Please complete the SURVEY at http://surveymonkey.com/r/GR8MINISTER before October 19th, and

(2) The last chance to attend an OPEN COTTAGE MEETING is Sunday, October 11th from 10:30-11:10AM in the church library.

Thank you all for your participation in the Cottage Meetings and for completing the survey. The Search Committee is very appreciative of all the voices we hear as we gather information to build a profile of UUCB and learn what is important to you.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

In early November we submit the UUA Congregational Record and Position Application to the UUA Transitions Office to review. They will release this information around Thanksgiving for Ministerial Candidates in search to see. In December we will post a packet that showcases us so candidates can discern their interest in UUCB.

With gratitude for your support,

Your Ministerial Search Committee: Barbara Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak

September 21st, 2015: Ministerial Search Committee Message

COTTAGE MEETINGS - 5 held and 10 more scheduled by October 13th. Open Cottage Meetings will be held on October 4th and 11th, between services, at 10:30am in the Library. Everyone is invited. We ask four questions and listen to your responses. Get your voice heard! If you have not participated in a Cottage Meeting by then, or want to attend again, please plan on joining us. If you are not able to attend a scheduled Cottage Meeting, you can send your responses to the four questions to the Search Committee email: uucbmsc@gmail.com on or before October 13th. To see a list of scheduled cottage meetings click on the Events link in the upper left corner of this page, or use this link: http://search.uubloomington.org/home/events.

Here are the four Cottage Meeting questions:

1. What are the main things you would like our congregation to accomplish in the next 3 to 5 years?

2. What are the qualities you would most like to see in our Associate Minister?

3. What would you like our prospective Associate Minister to know about our congregation?

4. Are there any special issues you would like the Ministerial Search Committee to consider?

SURVEY - Available October 2-18 to complete. More information to come.

Abby, Amy, Barb, Craig, Mary, Michelle, & Stuart

September 6th, 2015: Ministerial Search Committee Report

We have been busy meeting together and in sub-committees, working on different tasks simultaneously. We are gathering information to compile for the Congregational Record, one of several postings ministerial candidates will access. Also, we have contacted different groups and scheduled Cottage Meetings where we will ask four questions of the group and practice deep listening for 20-30 minutes. We have already started these. October 4th & 11th there will be open Cottage Meetings between services. All members and friends of the congregation are welcome to attend the open meetings. The schedule of Cottage Meetings can be viewed on the 'Events' page of the Search Committee website. Additionally, there will be a survey made available for everyone to complete - more to come on this later. The Search Committee members have yellow name tags so you can find us at church and there are a variety of ways, including an email address: uucbmsc@gmail.com, to contact us. Select the 'Contact the MSC' link on the Search Committee website for more ways to reach us.

We want to hear from you!

Abby, Amy, Barb, Craig, Mary, Michelle, & Stuart

August 22nd, 2015: Ministerial Search Committee Update -- Communicating and Connecting!

This is the first update on the progress of the Ministerial Search Committee. Look for future updates in Prologues, UU Friday Updates, Orders of Service, and the Church Website. Let us know if there are additional ways you want us to communicate. The Committee now has a mailbox in the Church Office with envelopes available so that you may leave confidential comments, information, and requests for us. A later communication will advise how to visually identify us when we are at church and we will also provide a confidential email address to use for communicating with the Committee.

Last week we met with the UUA Transitions Director, the Reverend Keith Kron, and we later met to focus on our timetable. September and October we will be hearing your voices. There will be opportunities to attend Cottage Meetings, complete a survey, and additional ways to connect with the Committee. Our job will be to LISTEN and then distill what you have shared. At the same time, we will be gathering facts as part of building our Congregational Record which will be posted for search candidates to see.

With gratitude for the opportunity to serve,

Amy Taylor - Chair, Abby Gitlitz, Barb Backler, Craig Coley, Mary Boutain, Michelle Cook, Stuart Yoak

August 2nd, 2015: Ministerial Search Committee kick-off retreat

The Ministerial Search Committee will have their kick-off retreat in August, hosting Rev. Keith Kron, the UUA director of transitions, to facilitate. Please continue to support this committee as they start this important work for our congregation.

Sunday June 7th, 2015
At the congregational meeting on June 7th, the congregation voted to endorse the MSC slate proposed by the Board and with that endorsement, the Board officially launched the Ministerial Search Committee!

Monday May 4th, 2015
The Board has finalized the Ministerial Search Committee based on the nominations we received from the congregation. The seven-member Ministerial Search Committee selected by the board from your nominations will be put forth for a vote of endorsement at the congregational meeting on June 7. After the congregational meeting in June, the committee will quickly get to work, in cooperation with our UUA Ministerial Settlement Representative, to begin the search process for an associate minister for our congregation, which will take a full year. The members of the Ministerial Search Committee selected are Barb Backler, Mary Boutain, Craig Coley, Michelle Cook, Abby Gitlitz, Amy Taylor, and Stuart Yoak.

Monday April 20th, 2015
The board is finalizing the Ministerial Search Committee based on the hundreds of nominations we received from the congregation. The process has involved weighing the nominations, the skills of the nominees, their makeup as a committee, representation from the congregation as a whole, and contacting our choices to confirm their willingness to serve in this time and labor-intensive task. We were heartened to see that while not everyone nominated is able to serve, many trusted by the congregation are willing to add this commitment to their already busy lives.

The seven-member Ministerial Search Committee selected by the board from your nominations will be put forth for a vote of endorsement at the congregational meeting on June 7. The board will announce the Ministerial Search Committee members in the May 4 Prologue so you can learn more about them. And we will post the same information on the Ministerial Transition website (this web page). After the congregational meeting in June, the committee will quickly get to work, in cooperation with our UUA Ministerial Settlement Representative, to begin the search process for an associate minister for our congregation, which will take a full year.

For more information on the Ministerial Search process, please see the slides from January 25th Town Hall.

Nominations for the Ministerial Search Committee (March 16th, 2015)

We thank everyone who submitted nominations for the Ministerial Search Committee. We also appreciated the comments from those who chose not to nominate because they trust the process and the congregation. In the coming weeks the board will be considering the hundreds of nominations that were submitted as we assemble a slate for a vote by members at the congregational meeting in June. It is impressive to see how many individuals have the confidence and trust of so many members and friends of our congregation! The challenge to the board, of course, will be to assemble a slate who meet the criteria established for the committee as a whole (see http://search.uubloomington.org/) as well as who agree to serve if elected. If you have any questions about the search committee process, please do not hesitate to contact a board member at any time. --Kathleen Sideli, President, Board of Directors

Nomination Process for the Ministerial Search Committee for Our New Associate Minister

Balloting open: February 1-28, 2015

Who can nominate: UUCB members and pledging friends

Who to nominate: Up to 3 UUCB people you trust do a good job representing the entire congregation

Who is eligible: UUCB members, but not current Board or Staff members

Where are ballots: Paper ballots at church

Online at Ministerial Transition website (http://search.uubloomington.org)

Where to submit: Place in boxes in the hall outside the meeting room or in Room 204 (Workroom) or

Mail to: Ministerial Search, UUCB, 2120 N Fee Lane, Bloomington, IN 47408 or

Submit online at Ministerial Transition website (http://search.uubloomington.org ) or

Email to Board Treasurer Arzetta Hults-Losensky at zetta@bluemarble.net or

Call Board Treasurer Arzetta Hults-Losensky at (812) 824-1394

Your name needed: So that we can call those who have not made nominations

What happens next: Board assesses nomination list to form a slate for election at June Congregational meeting.

Town Hall Meeting Participants Ask Questions, Get Answers

In preparation for February, Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) nomination month, the Board of Directors hosted a Town Hall Meeting on January 25th. 67 congregants attended. Von Welch, Vice President, presented an overview of creation and function of the MSC. Many valuable questions were asked, discussed, and answered. Slides from January 25th Town Hall.

Town Hall Meeting on Ministerial Search -- Sunday, January 25th

On January 25th, after second service at 12:45pm, there will be a Town Hall Meeting, open to all friends and members, to learn more about forming our Ministerial Search Committee for finding our next Minister. Childcare will be provided.

Background

In the summer of 2014, Reverend Bill Breeden retired as minister at the UUCB. Since departure, Reverend Doug Wadkins has joined our current ministerial team of Senior Minister Mary Ann Macklin and Minister of Religious Education Emily Manvel Leite. Reverend Wadkins is serving as an interim minister while we search for another called minister to join the team. This website exists to convey the latest information on our ministerial transition.

The Board will form a Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) using a process based on input from the UUA and the experiences of other congregations. In the spring the board will build a slate of nominees for election at the June congregational meeting so that the committee can begin its work in June of 2015. Each member of the congregation should consider the job description for the MSC and give thought to nominating trusted and reliable members to this important committee whose work will impact the future of our church.

The MSC will present one candidate to the congregation to be considered for a call as our new associate minister in the spring of 2016. Our congregation's decision to call will take place after the candidate spends a week with our congregation, meeting with staff, committees, members, etc. and preaching in our pulpit twice. By our bylaws, the vote my congregation members to call requires at least an 80% approval, but common practice in the UUA currently is for ministers to accept a call only if they get 90% approval.

If called by the congregation, the new associate minister will join our ministerial team in the summer of 2016 under the leadership of our senior minister, Reverend Mary Ann Macklin.

Transition-Town-Hall-Jan2015.pdf

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Von Welch,

Jan 26, 2015, 5:22 PM

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