The Search Process

November 2014 – April 2015

Church Council and Rev. Joel Miller worked to assemble the Ministerial Search Committee (MSC). At a special meeting in April, the congregation accepted the 7-member slate.

June 2015

Our Ministerial Search Representative, Rev. Craig Schwalenberg, met with the congregation on Friday evening, June 5. The next day, the MSC spent the day with Rev. Craig at a “search retreat.”
We began meeting weekly – starting with an hour; very quickly we decided that we needed 2 hours for each meeting to cover our agenda.
We were given the UUA’s Ministerial Settlement Handbook and the Research Guide for Ministerial Search Committees. These continue to be resources for us in the process.

July and August 2015

In our continuing weekly meetings, the MSC developed our own covenant as well as a covenant with the congregation.
Much of our time was spent planning for the Cottage Meetings and the Congregational Survey.

September and October 2015

Information-gathering was a large part of our lives: we held 17 Cottage Meetings (with 117 participants) and got 153 responses to our Congregational Survey, which we offered online and in a paper version.
We set up neutral pulpit arrangements with nearby congregations. These will be the churches we visit to hear our pre-candidates in early 2016.
Church Council selected a negotiating team to recommend ministerial compensation package and draft agreement. The negotiating team is comprised of two council members and one MSC member.
Rev. Joel led a church service in which all MSC members participated. The service was based on the ministerial search and we shared some of the data from Cottage Meetings.

October and November 2015

We worked on the Congregational Record (CR) and got feedback on it from Joel Miller and from our Ministerial Settlement Representative, Craig Schwalenberg.
We began the process of compiling and analyzing the results of the Cottage Meeting and the Congregational Survey.
The Negotiating team presented their recommended compensation package and draft agreement to Church Council
November 30: The UUA Transitions unveiled our Congregational Record online for all ministers in search to be able to view. This was the “opening day” for CRs to go online. The accompanying part, submitting the online “Application for Minister,” was also completed.

December 2015

Our current Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) met with members of the last MSC. We shared a potluck dinner and lots of conversation!
A second very special dinner, this one with Rev. Joel and Rev. Keith Kron, Director of the UUA’s Transitions Office, was productive and helpful to us in planning the Ministerial Packet.
We hosted the Beyond Categorical Thinking workshop, led by Rev. Keith Kron.
Ministerial Packet preparation continued through December so that we get our packet online by January 3.

January 2016

Our Ministerial Packet went live online. Those ministers who were interested in us were able to view UU Canton’s Ministerial Packet. In turn, we read the packets from those ministers.
Search committee members identified those ministers who appeared to be a good fit and scheduled Skype interviews with five prospective pre-candidates.
Based on the the Skype interviews, we selected four pre-candidates to travel to the north country for interviews.

February and March 2016

Pre-candidating weekends! We spent an extended weekend with each of our 4 “pre-candidates.” After a Friday evening dinner with the pre-candidate, we spent Saturday morning and afternoon interviewing the pre-candidate and showing him/her our church and area. On late Saturday afternoon, we traveled with the pre-candidate to a town or city with a UU church, where arrangements had been made to have our pre-candidate be the guest preacher for that Sunday. We had more conversations on the drive and at dinner on Saturday. On Sunday morning, we heard the pre-candidate preach in the “neutral pulpit.” Following the service, we had the opportunity to participate in the church’s conversations and we heard their comments on the morning’s service. We met one last time for lunch and a final interview before taking the pre-candidate to the airport. Not surprisingly, small-group discussions about the pre-candidate continued in each car on the drive home.
We received summaries about each candidate from the UUA Transitions Office.
We interviewed previous employers, references provided by the candidate, and references we had developed through the interview process.
By the end of March, the search committee gathered all the information from the previous three months and spent time reflecting on our first choice candidate for our congregation.

April 2016

April 7: we made an offer to our first choice candidate, contingent upon satisfactory criminal background check and references. JAMES GALASINSKI happily agreed to be our candidate!
The Negotiating Team finalized the ministerial agreement, including compensation, with the candidate.
Church Council and the candidate executed the ministry agreement, subject to extension of call by our congregation and acceptance by the candidate.
We concluded additional background checks and reference interviews.
The Search Committee and Church Council announced the candidacy of James Galasinski.

May 2016

7th -15th: Candidating Week: James Galasinski and his family will spend this time with us, preaching 2 Sundays (May 8 & May 15), meeting with Church Council and church committees, meeting members of the congregation in scheduled social events, and visiting the area.
15th: Our Congregation will vote on whether to extend the call to the candidate; If the vote is positive, “candidate James” may then accept our offer.
The Ministerial Search Committee will submit the Notice of Call to the UUA Transitions Office.

August – September 2016