Transition Process and Timeline

Transition Process Update - June 10th: Meet the Candidate, June 18th: Special Congregation Meeting to Vote on Calling a Pastor
     
Dear Siblings in Christ,

We have good news to share with you.  The Call Committee has recommended a candidate to be our new pastor and the Council has invited the candidate to St. Louis to meet with our congregation.  The date for the meet and greet with the candidate is Saturday, June 10th from 1- 3 pm in Bethel’s Fellowship Hall.  Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.  During the meet and greet, the candidate and spouse will have an opportunity to mix and mingle with all of us and you will have a chance to ask them questions.

The next important date is a special congregation meeting on Sunday, June 18th following worship at 11:30 am in the Fellowship Hall.  At this meeting, the congregation will vote on two resolutions:

1. whether or not to extend a call to the candidate and
2. the candidate’s compensation package

All ballots need to be submitted during the meeting as no absentee ballots are allowed.  We will have the option for members to attend the special congregation meeting via zoom and we are still working through the process of voting for those online.

A few days before the meet and greet, we will share with you the name of the candidate and a brief bio.  Please note that the candidate’s current congregation will not know about this visit.  It is extremely important that the candidate’s name and information remain among our members and that none of us talk with anyone who could be associated with the candidate in hopes of learning more about them.  Once we hold our special congregation meeting and assuming both resolutions are passed, our President and Secretary will sign a Letter of Call and send it to the Bishop. The Bishop will extend the call to the candidate at which point, the candidate has up to thirty days to respond. If the candidate accepts our call, the candidate’s current congregation will be notified at that time.  It could be the middle to end of July that the candidate’s congregation is notified so keeping the candidate’s information confidential is of the utmost importance.

While it has taken two years to get to this point, we are very excited and all look forward to meeting the candidate.  Please mark your calendars with these upcoming dates as it is very important for as many members to attend as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Williamson (jennifer.williamson@mac.com or 630-363-5066).

Sincerely,
The Congregation Council