Job Description posted to UCD Website

Are you interested to know what common themes and desires have surfaced to the top from the multitude of inputs from the UCD congregation, staff, and Board? Go to www.unitydallas.org/Pages/Search/attracting.html to read the job description, which includes the 7 key attributes we are looking for in candidates.

As always, if you have an opinion as it relates to the Senior Minister Search, please feel free to email search@unitydallas.org.

First Wave of Applications Received

With our job posting being out just over a week, we are already receiving applications and resumes for the Senior Minister position. Thus begins the process of responding, evaluating, and discussing within the Search Team. We expect even more applications to come in over the next few weeks. It appears that we will have quite a large pool of applicants from which to choose.

Job Opening Emailed to All AUC Ministers

Earlier today our open Senior Minister position was announced in the Association of Unity Churches weekly email to all Unity ministers.

Officially Open for Senior Minster Applicants

At 12:11pm on Monday, February 11th, the Search Team delivered the electronic version of the Minister Employment Packet to the Association of Unity Churches (AUC). This 18 page document, plus attachments, includes everything a potential candidate will need to consider us, such as information about staff, attendance, financials, ministries, goals, location, and most importantly what specifically we are looking for in our next Senior Minister. This is a very comprehensive Packet.

Shortly after delivering the Packet, we received the following message back from the AUC:

What an awesome job! Articulate, warm, detailed, fully aligned with Unity principles... you all are to be commended for your commitment to excellence and Spirit. I know that Unity Church of Dallas is being true to its sacred Journey, and you will draw a leader of integrity and like vision to your team. Blessings of joy and wisdom on this adventure you have undertaken.

Hard copy versions of this Packet have been mailed to the AUC and they will be posting the Job Opening on their website and will be making announcements to all Unity ministers.

We expect to start receiving inquiries and applications later this month.

Official Search Webpage Setup on UCD Website

You can now click the UCD Search link on the homepage of www.unitydallas.org to get the latest information as it relates to our Senior Minister Search; just look for the image link that looks like the image to the right. This new webpage will have a link to this blog and will eventually have Candidate Feedback Surveys and information for potential Senior Minister Candidates. Check the website regularly to stay in the loop.

Search Team holds Town Hall Meetings

On Sunday, Jan. 20 and Tuesday, Jan. 22 the Search Team hosted Town Hall Meetings open to all UCD Members, regular attendees, and staff. These meetings were designed to provide updates on the search process, but most importantly to collect characteristics and attributes that individuals wanted to see in their new Senior Minister.

If you haven’t yet given us your opinions on a new Senior Minister, please email us at search@unitydallas.org.

Click here to download the Power Point presented at the Town Hall Meetings. This requires Microsoft PowerPoint.

Search Team Appoints a Chairman

The Search Team held their second meeting Friday, Jan. 11th. At this meeting John Cole was appointed Chairman of the committee. Additional roles and responsibilities were assigned at this meeting as well.

Search Team Announces Timeline

The Search Team conducted their kick-off meeting this last Sunday, Jan 6th.

High level milestones for the search process were set as follows:

• Jan 20th @ 12:30pm: Congregational Town Hall Meeting at UCD to discuss desired senior minister attributes
• Jan 22nd @ 7:30pm: 2nd Congregational Town Hall Meeting at UCD to discuss desired senior minister attributes
• Feb 8th: Packet completed and delivered to Association of Unity Churches
• Mar 14th: Deadline for receiving applications
• Apr 13th, Apr 20th, May 4th, May 11th: Invite 4 candidates for try-out visits
• Apr 27th: Annual Membership meeting
• May 22nd: Final recommendation to Board of Directors

These milestones will provide a general guide for the Search Team and the rest of the church, but may be adjusted if the Search Team or Board feel a modification is necessary.

Members of the Senior Minister Search Team Announced

In accordance to the UCD by-laws the Board of Directors has assembled a team of five diverse, yet involved Church Members and two Board Members to lead the process of selecting a new Senior Minister for our church:

• Doe Allen - Member
• John Cole - Member
• Tammy Cordes – Board Member
• Debra Emmert – Member
• Christine Powell – Member
• Mark Rummel – Member
• Randy Smith – Board Member

This team’s responsibilities will include:

• Assembling informational and promotional materials about UCD to be used in attracting the highest-caliber candidates to apply for the senior minister position.
• Collecting and assimilating the views and opinions of Church Members and Attendees as it relates to their wishes for a new senior minister. This will be done through multiple means, which may include Town Hall Meetings, Surveys, Email/Notes, and most importantly personal one-on-one discussions with congregants.
• Reviewing all resumes sent in by applicants.
• Conducting follow-up interviews in-person and via phone.
• Selecting candidates to be invited to “audition” at UCD.
• Coordinating the massive volunteer effort to host each invited candidate while they are in town to speak on Sunday, speak on a weekday, attend multiple informal receptions, and more.
• Making a final senior minister recommendation to the Board of Directors who will ultimately make the decision on who will be the next senior minister of UCD.

When Is It Time to Go?

A Message from Rev. Ellen Debenport, Senior Minister

Since I told the church that I’ll be leaving at the end of the year, a number of people have asked me how I came to that decision. The short answer is that I’m following my guidance. But the question is a good one, because life is full of days when we want to quit whatever we’re doing or feel trapped where we are. How do we know when it’s time to go?

We all know people who never finish anything, who quit or give up at the drop of a hat. There are also plenty of us who keep slogging through our jobs, relationships or projects, feeling obligated to stick it out regardless of the price we pay. Somewhere there’s a balance, a time when we’ve done enough, done what is ours to do, and we’re free to move on.

I’m usually one of the stay-too-long people. I have stayed in jobs that were no longer challenging and where I was no longer contributing as I once did. I have stayed in relationships – if only in my mind – long after they were over. (I think of the talk title used by one of our members, Anne Sadovsky: “When the Horse Is Dead, Get Off!”) I finally learned I don’t have to stay until I’m miserable, only until I’m complete.

The process might be different for everyone, but here’s how I know when it’s time to go: It’s when I’m happy. It’s when I could stay and do more, but something else is calling me. It’s when I’m being pulled by a vision rather than pushed by pain. Certainly, sometimes pain pushes us into a better way of life, sometimes against our will. But if given a choice, I’d rather wait for three signs:

• Contentment where I am


• A feeling of completion
  
• A vision of what’s next

Back to my example of leaving church… Overall, I have greatly enjoyed being a church minister. There have been days when I might have quit in frustration, but I stayed to learn what I could about myself and church, and to do better next time. It was a steep learning curve at first, but eventually I felt I had a handle on it, at least more days than not. I could stay now and do the same things for more years, and I might learn more lessons. But I will learn them somewhere else along the way.

I feel complete with church. This is the most intuitive of my three signs, and all I can tell you is that you know when you know that you’re complete. It happened in my marriage, too. My husband and I were actually married twice, because we weren’t complete after the first divorce. We were by the second. Not because things were more horrible -- the second marriage was actually better -- but the time came when we clearly had done all we could do together. And we knew it.

Third, I believe the vision of What’s Next begins to appear as the end of What Is approaches. Sometimes I’ve had to wait for What’s Next. But eventually, the call came and the steps appeared, if only one or two at a time. I could see later that the universe was lining up everything I needed, even as I became more prepared for what was next. The timing turned out to be perfect.

So here’s my invitation: If you are feeling stuck somewhere in your life, love and bless it anyway. Resentment, anger or resistance bind it to you. We can’t quit until we learn to love – people, situations, ideas, committees, volunteer work, anything -– and we will know when the work is complete. A new vision begins to materialize and begins to call. And we are free to go.

Ellen decides to step out in faith!

A Message from Rev. Ellen Debenport, Senior Minister

More than a decade ago, when I applied to Unity’s ministerial school, I told the Admissions Committee that I expected I would lead a church for some years then turn to writing as my primary form of ministry. Writing has always been my love and my strength. Now Spirit is telling me to get on with it! So I am planning to leave as senior minister at the end of December. I don’t have another job waiting. I’m doing what I always tell you to do – stepping out in faith! I’m eager to see what Spirit has in store for me, as well as for our church.

Here’s what I think you can expect...

Click here to read the rest of Ellen's message and to hear her announcement from Sunday, Nov. 18.