November 13, 2022 Call Committee Update

The Call Committee announced on November 13th an unexpected and unanimous decision in Creator's current pastoral call.

None of the candidates from the first slate given to Creator will be recommended to the congregation for a vote.

This has nothing to do with the caliber of the candidates being offered. Each candidate looked attractive both on paper and in person. This decision had to do with the chemistry between the candidates and the congregation as far as the future collaborative mission that will be forged between us and our future pastor. In the end, the committee felt uncertain that this would be successful with any of the first panel candidates.

In planning with the Executive Committee, after being informed of this decision. Creator will proceed from here by asking the synod for a second slate of candidates. Creator will also call a Bridge Pastor, rather than Pulpit Supply, until our future pastor is in place.

Obviously there is concern about the time the process will now take to go through a second slate. Much of the work already done to this point will not need to be replicated.

The evaluation of the second slate will likely proceed more quickly. There are too many unknowns currently to predict when the committee will recommend a candidate but we will move with the deliberate urgency these circumstances require.

For additional questions or concerns please talk to a Call Committee member and we will try to address these as best as we can.

Gary Schulstad, Alison Calsy, Kristen Cushman, Craig Edberg, Susan Nolte and Debi Stromberg