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.