Gloria Dei

The call process is moving to its final phase.  We are grateful for all of your prayers and support, and ask for those prayers to continue as the Call Committee and candidates discern what God has in store for Gloria Dei.

The committee completed the first round of interviews with the six candidates right before Christmas.  We then released three of the candidates and coordinated the second round of interviews to occur in late January and February. This means that as you read this, the committee is in the midst of the second-round interviews. 

Throughout this process we have continuously kept the pastoral needs identified in the Ministry Site Profile at the forefront of our process.  That document was again the focal point in helping us identify second-round questions for the candidates.  We crafted questions that we believe will give us a deeper understanding of how this person might lead our congregation, both spiritually and from an administrative standpoint. In addition to interviewing each candidate, committee members are also going to be seeing them preach in their current congregation. 

What’s next?

After the committee completes the second round of interviews, we will meet to discuss each candidate, prayerfully consider their gifts and the needs of Gloria Dei, and then ultimately choose one candidate.  The Call Committee will then notify that candidate and, provided they say yes, release the others.  While we strongly believe the final candidates would not be participating in the second round unless they were very likely to accept this call, like other job searches, candidates can decline.  We don’t anticipate this happening, but it is a possibility.  Once the candidate accepts our invitation, the name and our rationale for choosing that person will be presented to the Church Council.  The council then votes to pass the name on to the congregation for the official congregational vote. 

All of us on the committee continue to be excited about the possibility of having one of these final candidates be the next senior pastor of Gloria Dei.  At the same time, we realize that once the call is accepted, the candidate has to provide notification to their current congregation, say goodbye, and then potentially relocate and get settled before they can actually start their work at Gloria Dei.  Therefore, there will be some time in between when the actual Call Committee decision is made and when the new pastor starts.

Given all of this, we return to where this update started—requesting your prayers. 

In particular, we ask you to join us in praying for:

God to continue to guide our process.

Clear thinking and pure hearts as we discern.

Our candidates and their decision-making process.

Safe travels for candidates and committee members.

Congregation members who have questions about the Call Committee or this process are welcome to contact me at 651-442-3038 or drrajadavid@gmail.com  As a reminder, the other members of the committee are Susan Davis-Ali, Dan Erlandson, Carolina Espejel-Schutt, Ruth Halvorson, Dan Smith, and Deanna Thompson.  Claire Hoyum, president of the Congregation Council, serves as a non-voting, ex-officio member.

Raja M. David

Gloria Dei Call Committee Chair