An Update from Your Rector Search Committee Leadership
Martin Proctor, Committee Chair
Laurye Messer, Committee Vice Chair
Your Rector Search Committee continues to work hard to seek God’s choice for our next priest. The application window closed on February 28, by which date 16 applicants submitted materials for consideration. Since January, the committee has been meeting candidates via Zoom for informal first interviews. These first interviews are scheduled to end on March 28, and then the committee will meet to discern who will be chosen for the second round of interviews. Easter may pause this phase of the process, but as soon as Easter is over, second interviews will resume.
SECOND INTERVIEWS:
A second interview is a major step. First interviews are casual, “get to know you” meetings and only involve talking with a candidate via Zoom. Second interviews are conducted by a team of three or four committee members. Depending upon the prospective rector’s location, the team will fly or drive to a candidate’s city of residence, and conduct an interview with the candidate at a neutral location. This interview will last three to four hours.
Afterwards, the search team will take the candidate and his or her spouse, if applicable, out to dinner. The following day, the rector search team will attend the candidate’s church to observe the campus, the priest’s preaching style, and the priest’s interaction with his or her congregation.
THIRD INTERVIEWS:
Once second interviews have been completed, your Rector Search Committee will meet again to discern who will be invited for a third interview. Third interviews involve a visit to St. John’s by the prospective priest. It’s an opportunity for the candidate to meet the entire committee in person, and it also allows him or her to see St. John’s and the city of Tallahassee. For the sake of the candidate, all interviews are done with the strictest confidentiality.
TIMELINE:
The committee’s hope is that we will have a priest by the beginning of the summer, but we realize God’s time may not be our time. As your Rector Search Committee navigates through our timeline and the “Discernment Phase,” please continue to pray that we seek God’s guidance and hear His voice so that we have a new priest that fulfills His will for St. John’s. We appreciate everyone who joined us last month for a Coffee Talk with the Rector Search Committee. We also thank you for your prayers, patience, and faith.
We are honored to serve in this very important ministry.
