As our congregation looks for our next minister, you will be able to find all the current information here. We will be posting everything as it is happening
so be sure to check back often and keep up to date.

Message from K Turner Board President

CONGREGANT SURVEY

November Heartline board letter.

Selection Committee Progress Report  

On September 8, 2002, Reverend Diane announced that she had accepted the position of Director of the Partnership Program for the United Church of Religious Science as of September 30, 2002. Her last Sunday with us was September 29, 2002.

Reverend Linda McNamar is our interim minister and we have extended a three month Letter of Call to her.

Also at the Board meeting of September 15, 2002, the Board appointed a Selection Committee to work with us and Home Office. Jack DuBois will chair the committee which includes Bette Rae Brown, Ray Bunch, Janyne Cresap, Jennifer Spear, Lorraine Taylor, Marsha Williams, Volunteer/Alternate Tracy Simmons and ex officio, Reverends Linda MacNamar and Dawn Kelton.

The committee¹s charge is to serve as the congregation¹s representatives in recommending a final ministerial candidate to the Board of Trustees. The first thing the committee must do is to determine what we are looking for in our new minister. Part of this will be done via a survey which we will distribute and collect on Sunday, October 6, 2002. The survey is designed to solicit your ideas on the role of our minister and the qualities required to fulfill that role.

Your responses will help guide the committee as they go through the Co-Creation Process Workshop which will be held on Saturday, October 12, 2002. The purpose of the workshop is NOT to find a new minister, but to create a mental equivalent of the new minister which is in alignment with the highest aspirations of this spiritual community. Each of you is invited to participate in the Workshop which will be conducted by Reverend Linda.

The Selection Committee together with the people participating in the Co-Creation Workshop will develop a Church Profile for Home Office. This is a biographical sketch of our church which will be distributed to all UCRS ministers and graduating ministerial students sometime, we hope, in November. Interested ministers then request that Home Office send their resume to the committee for review. I have been assured that many ministers will be interested in candidating for our church. We are healthy, financially and spiritually, and are; therefore, attractive to ministers in and out of church ministries.

The Selection Committee will screen all ministerial applicants. Those candidates who appear to meet our needs will be invited here for a weekend. During that weekend the candidate will meet with as many individuals and groups as possible. The candidate will give the Sunday sermon and a class and/or workshop if possible. After the Sunday sermon, they will be available during the social time to meet with members of the congregation. We urge you to be present as often as possible during this important process which we hope to conclude before the end of the year.

After each session with candidates you will be asked to complete an evaluation sheet. This information will be reviewed by the Selection Committee members and summarized for the Board when the committee makes its recommendation to the Board. The Board is responsible for making the final decision and extending the Letter of Call.

Candidate visits will be well publicized, and it is important that everyone participate in the process. Please make a commitment to be involved in these activities until the selection process is completed. This will include regularly attending church, thinking about what you desire from our minister, providing the Selection Committee with feedback, continuing your financial support, participating in church activities and holding the committee and our spiritual community in your prayers and treatments.

We have every right to be proud of being members of the spiritual community that provided the nourishment and support for Diane to step into a larger role in the movement. We created that space.

This is a time of transition and a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as an even stronger spiritual community. Let us join together in knowing that we are divinely guided and that we share a common goal in finding the right spiritual leader to minister to us all.

Please feel free to contact me by e-mail katurner talk to me at church or call me at home .

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CENTER FOR CREATIVE AND CONSCIOUS LIVING
4552 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 104
Cypress, CA 90630

CONGREGANT SURVEY

Please return to the attention of Jack DuBois, Chair of the Minister
Selection Committee.

The Selection Committee, representing each of you as the congregation of
this spiritual community, requests your input to ensure that we find the
best possible minister for our Church. This survey was distributed to those
attending church on October 6, 2002 and a request was made to post these
questions on the website for anyone who had web access and wished to provide
further input.

1. What, in your opinion, is the role of the minister in our church?

2. What traits, qualities and characteristics would you like to see in our
next minister?

3. What do you consider the most important aspects of a Sunday service?

4. What direction would you like the Church to take in the future? (Consider
classes, size, physical space as well as Sunday service.

The information you provide will be held in the strictest confidence and
will be used exclusively by the Selection Committee and Board of Trustees.
We would appreciate your name and phone number so we can contact you for
additional information if necessary.

______________________________
Print Name (optional)

______________________________
Phone number (optional)

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Dear Members of our Spiritual Community,

Our Sunday service on October 6, 2002, was devoted to literally and symbolically "releasing" Reverend Diane and creating the mental equivalent of our next minister. Everyone present answered a four-question survey regarding our church and what we want in our next minister.

On October 12, 2002 we completed the second internal step in the minister selection process; that is, we had a Co-Creation Workshop conducted by Dr. Linda McNamar. The major purposes of the workshop were to 1) develop a vision for our church and 2) identify the qualities we wanted in our next minister through a facilitated consensus process.

The VISION we finalized is: "We are an involved spiritual community revealing our teaching to the world through

• a local community presence and participation,
• spiritually inspiring sacred services with broad appeal to a diversity of people,
• a well developed and strongly supported youth and family ministry, and
• creative and innovative educational opportunities beyond certificated classes."

The MINISTER we described is: "Our minister is an articulate spiritual leader who motivates, inspires and empowers people to live their lives from spiritual Truth."

Both the Vision and the Minister statement were presented to the entire congregation on October 13, 2002. Early on October 14, our Church Profile including information about the community of Cypress was e-mailed to the United Church Home Office for publication to all UCRS licensed ministers. All interested ministers will submit their materials to Home Office which will send them on to Jack DuBois for the Minister Selection Committee. We have set a deadline for applications of November 15, 2002, because we would like to have our next minister approved and in service by January 1, 2003.

The Minister Selection Committee is responsible for maintaining a confidential process - which means don't ask them questions they should not answer - as well as for screening all ministerial applicants. The Committee will select three to five candidates to spend a weekend with us. Based on our feedback regarding the candidates the committee will select one minister to recommend to the Board of Trustees for approval. The Board is responsible for making the final decision and extending the Letter of Call.

Again, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that everyone participate in this process. Please make a commitment to be involved including regularly attending church, thinking about what you desire from our minister, providing the members of the Minister Selection Committee with feedback, continuing your financial support, participating in church activities, and holding the committee and our spiritual community in your prayers and treatments.

You will find a list of board members elsewhere in this Newsletter and in the Sunday bulletins. Please feel free to contact us at any time. We need to know what you think. We usually meet on the third Sunday of the month, join us!

Love and light, K

To date we have notified two applicants that we do not consider their qualifications adequate to our needs. We have requested two applicants, Rev. David Phears and Rev. Patricia King, to make presentations at our service and to provide a workshop following the service. Rev. Phears will be with us on December 1st and Rev. King will make her presentation on December 8. We expect to invite additional applicants for consideration by the congregation as our work continues.

The importance of member attendance and participation at both services and the workshops following is critical to our efforts to identify our perfect Spiritual Leader. We are aware that this is an unusually busy time of year for all of us, but please make every effort to be present on both December 1 and 8!

Selection Committee Members: Ray Bunch, Janyne Cresap, Lorraine Taylor, Tracy Simmons, Jennifer Spear, Marsha Williams Bette Rae Brown, Rev. Dawn Kelton, Rev. Linda McNamar, Jack DuBois