What a wonderful time we had at Shrine Mont! Thank you to Nellie Thompson, who handled all the details and made sure that—once again—we were able to have this wonderful time together.
We had our last vestry meeting with Rev. Anna last Wednesday, and although we were sad to be saying good-bye, I believe that every one of us was impressed at how strong the vestry is and how much we have grown over the past year. We feel ready to move on to this next phase, in which we will be accepting applications for the half-time rector position. Please keep us—and the entire Good Shepherd community—in your prayers.
Here are is an overview of what we talked about at the vestry meeting:
- Canon Robert Phillips will be leading a vestry retreat on Saturday, November 11. It will be a prayerful way to enter into this discernment process. It’s our first vestry retreat since before the pandemic, and we are very much looking forward to it.
- We have created project managers for different elements of the recruitment and transition process. Kudos to JasCiel for her incredible organizational skills!
- During this time of transition without a rector or interim rector, vestry meetings will be led on a rotating basis by different members of the vestry. The wardens will continue to set the agenda, along with that month’s leader. I am so grateful that we will be sharing the leadership!
- Lynn Hutcheson, our wonderful parish administrator, will be retiring at the end of December. We talked at the vestry meeting about our gratitude for her ministry. We also began a conversation about how we might rethink the position to take into account changes in our needs for administration vs. other needs (care for building and grounds, etc.). More to follow.
- The Stewardship campaign will be beginning soon. Get ready to mark those pledge cards to support another year of Good Shepherd’s ministry. And if you’d like to help out, please talk to Liz Cocke or Vanvisa Sivali. One of us may be getting in touch with you as well!
I know that the whole congregation joins me in gratitude for Rev. Anna’s leadership over the past 15 months. We will miss her very much, but/and we are ready now to move on and see how God is leading us into a powerful new time of ministry, love and connection.
That’s all for now. Thank you for your support and prayers!
