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The Ministerial Search Committee is thrilled to announce that Jeremy has accepted our offer to be our candidate for settled ministry! The congregation will vote on May 2 on whether to call him as our congregation's minister.

Jeremy is excited about the possibility of becoming our minister for many reasons, including our potential to grow, and our energy and enthusiasm. Energy and enthusiasm are also among Jeremy's strong suits. We are a great match!

Jeremy, now in his 30's, grew up UU but did not immediately set out to be a minister. After high school he trekked in the Himalayas and then attended a Quaker college in Indiana where he was drawn to religion and philosophy. After he graduated college in 1999 he worked as an event coordinator and then as a documentary filmmaker for a high tech company that made hardware tools for educators.

Finding this work unfulfilling, he decided in 2001 to enroll in seminary at the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in Berkeley. In addition to his Masters of Divinity from PSR, Jeremy also completed a Master of Arts in Liturgics (worship arts).

Following the completion of his studies Jeremy worked for a year and a half at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee as the Event and Outreach Coordinator. Jeremy then did a Ministerial internship with the First UU Society of San Francisco. He says that within his first week at UUSF he knew he was a parish minister! On completion of his ministerial internship in SF, Jeremy returned to New England to complete a four-month clinical pastoral internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He and his wife now live in Cape Cod where she is a United Church of Christ minister.

The search committee believes that you will find him to be warm and engaging both in person and in the pulpit. His rich and varied background will provide many assets for ministry at Mission Peak. When you get to know him as we do, we think you'll be as excited about him as we are.

During Candidating week, April 24-May 2, you will get to meet him and participate in two services led by him. Details for the events that week will soon be available. In the meantime, look for the search committee after services every Sunday. We'll have pictures and information about Jeremy at our table. And you can read the packet of information he sent to the committee by logging on to the Members-Only page and clicking on "Ministerial Packet" at the bottom of the page.

You put great trust in us to choose the best for our congregation, and we are grateful for that trust. We want to hear your excitement and your concerns about our candidate. Please feel free to call any of us or email us at search at mpuuc.org The members of the search committee are: Michealle Havenhill, Holly Ito, Allysson McDonald, Mark Rahman, Doug Rodgers and Steve Wallcave.

Frequently Asked Questions About Candidating
by Steve Wallcave

Who is our Candidate? The Search Committee has selected Jeremy as our choice for settled minister for MPUUC. He is referred to as "the candidate" until the congregation calls him as our settled minister. He requests that we not post his name in publicly searchable places (like Facebook) until he is called, to respect his wife's privacy.

What does "call the minister" mean? The Search Committee has worked long and hard to select our candidate, but of course the congregation has to make the final decision. At the congregational meeting at 11:30 am, May 2, the congregation will vote to affirm (or not) the Search Committee's choice. With an overwhelming yes vote, Jeremy will know that the congregation has truly "called" him to be our minister.

According to the Mission Peak bylaws, the minimum vote required to call a minister is 80% in favor, however we have been advised that most ministers will not accept the call unless the vote is closer to 95% in favor. In other words, a consensus is desired. Assuming we make the call, our candidate will then decide whether to accept the call.

What is Candidating Week, anyway? It's when you'll have an opportunity get to know Jeremy up close and personal, and he'll get to know you, the people who make our church so special. We've told him a great deal about Mission Peak, but this is a time of mutual discovery, a time to get to know the real people. Candidating Week provides many opportunities for interaction. The congregation and the candidate will have time to share what we love about this church, talk about our passions and concerns, and tell our stories. His wife will join him during the week so that she has an opportunity to meet us too. Jeremy will lead worship services on both Sundays, April 25 and May 2, and will attend meetings and gatherings throughout the week. The culmination of Candidating Week is the congregational meeting following the worship service on May 2 to vote on whether to call Jeremy as our settled minister. We'll provide a detailed schedule of events for Candidating Week after we've confirmed our plans with Jeremy.

If you have other questions please feel free to contact the Search Committee by email at search at mpuuc.org or speak to one of us in person. The members of the Committee are: Michealle Havenhill, Holly Ito, Allysson McDonald, Mark Rahman, Doug Rodgers and Steve Wallcave.

March 20, 2010 - A Message From Our Candidate Minister

To the members and friends of Mission Peak,

First of all, let me say how abundantly excited I am to be on this journey with you. I began moving towards ordained UU ministry in the fall of 2001. My path has taken me to so many places I never imagined, through so many ideas that I never thought I would think, it has been hard, and fun and more than I could have asked it to be. That path now has me poised on the door step of beginning my ministry with all of you. When I did my homework about your congregation, I made a lot of phone calls, talked to so many people and listened to what they had to say. From all of this listening, I have developed an image in my mind's eye about you all, which is of a rocket ship, sitting out on the runway, literally twitching with energy, just awaiting the spark that will send it blasting off into the universe, an unstoppable burst of loving spiritual community.

In about 5 weeks, we will all have a chance to spend some time together and get to know each other. To me, that feels like forever. In the meantime, I hope you will take some time to get to know me through the materials that your amazingly dedicated search committee has put together. And I want to conclude this little note by thanking that committee. I don't think they are incredible just because they chose me, really, I mean it. You should be proud to know that your search committee did a wonderful job of representing you to the rest of our movement. They took their responsibilities very seriously, were so beautifully committed to the process, and I think have delivered a final ministerial candidate that can bring that spark that blasts us all off towards our dreams. See you soon!

Peace, Jeremy

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March 18, 2010 - Candidate's Packet Available for Viewing
by Doug Rodgers

The Ministerial Search Committee is excited to announce that we have a ministerial candidate! Jeremy will be here for candidating week, April 24th to May 2nd. The congregation will vote on whether to call him to be our next settled minister after the service on May 2nd.

You can read the packet of information he sent to the committee by logging on to the Members-Only page and clicking on "Ministerial Packet" at the bottom of the page. Feel free to share information about him with other members and friends of MPUUC but, for now, please do not post his name in a public forum (like FaceBook) to protect his wife's privacy.

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March 7, 2010 - Pulpitorial and Update
by Doug Rodgers

"Where do we come from, what are we, where are we going?"

We like to ask the big questions and sometimes we forget that we also have the answers. Well, maybe not the answers, still we have an approach.

Although culturally we are a long way from the Buddhists, spiritually and intellectually we seem to be getting closer all the time. You remember the four noble truths:

Life is pain.
The pain is in your brain.
You can train your brain to control the pain.
Here's how -- you follow the yellow brick road.

Our approach is to use the best advice of the worlds religious and ethical leaders. As the Dalai Lama said recently, the goal is to have a more compassionate world. You can become more compassionate through faith in God, belief in heaven and hell, belief that the good or evil you do will come back to you, or from the reasonable analysis that a more compassionate world is a better, happier place to live.

Although we can't speak directly to someone like the Dalai Lama - who has been all the way to the Emerald City and come back to show us the way - we do have someone who (changing metaphors) can shepherd us along the road. Someone who can help keep us sheep on the path and thwack us with that curved stick every once in a while (gently and lovingly, of course).

It's better to get a thwack now and then rather than be eaten by the wolves. And there are plenty of wolves out there, not the literal kind who are in short supply, but the virtual kind, the ones who sap our strength and make us wonder why we get up in the morning, take our jobs away, or generally afflict us with pain and suffering.

We call our shepherd the minister. And, no, the minister doesn't prevent bad things from happening to us, (oh well!) but she (or he!) can be someone to talk to, someone who can help us see the path when the light is dim.

Although Joy is leaving at the end of this spring season, we have a new minister coming in the fall!

Well, we don't exactly have one signed up yet, since we can't make a firm offer until March 15. But we do have an excellent choice, and a good number 2 backup. Well, the number 2 choice is almost firm, and we do promise to have that ironed out before the 15th. So, we're ready, and we'll have details before you know it.

But shepherds - well, ministers - they need to be fed, and in our society money buys food, so that means money.

And that means you, because we haven't found anywhere else to get it. So once a year we ask you to ante up, make your pledge of financial support.

IF we divided the costs equally among our members, it would be ~$1300 each for the year. BUT we don't, so instead we ask you to give what you can.

It's like the old preacher said, the good news is that we've got the money. The bad news is that it's still in our pockets. So look deep into those pockets of yours. And, if it's dark in there, and your light has become dim, well, maybe it's time to REKINDLE THAT FLAME!

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February 24, 2010 - Pre-Candidating and Candidating
by Allysson McDonald

By the beginning of March, the Ministerial Search Committee will be in the process of choosing among our four pre-candidates. On March 15 we can call a minister to invite him or her to be our candidate for settled ministry at Mission Peak. If the minister agrees, we can then reveal information about our candidate to the congregation and begin planning for a candidating week in late April or early May.

You may have heard that the search committee has been "pre-candidating." We thought you might like to know what that means! Each weekend we fly one of the four pre-candidates to the Bay Area. A committee member picks up the minister on Friday and delivers the minister to a hotel. Later the minister is brought to an area restaurant to meet the whole committee and have some informal time to get acquainted. The next morning we all meet at Steve Wallcave's house, where we hold a formal interview session lasting a couple of hours. We break for lunch (thanks Steve!) and then the minister usually gets to meet with Sally Ahnger and the Rev. Barbara Meyers, as well as see our facility. That evening we have dinner at Doug Rodgers' home (Doug is a good cook!), and time for more informal conversation. We let the ministers have an early evening because they have to be at a "neutral pulpit" - in a nearby UU congregation - early the next morning.

The "neutral pulpit" is an opportunity for the Search Committee to judge the minister's ability to lead worship and to preach. After the service, Allysson usually corners the local worship associate to get his or her impressions of working with the minister, and we all partake in coffee hour while trying not to give away our purpose (easier to do at some congregations than others)! Finally we take the candidate out for lunch in order to find out if he or she has any questions or concerns and to ask any questions we may still have outstanding.

All in all, we will have done this with four different ministers before we decide which is the best match for Mission Peak. Over the first two weeks of March we will review our notes and impressions of each pre-candidate and enter a process of discernment that we hope will lead us to choose the minister that will meet your hopes and dreams of a leader who will take our congregation to the next level. And then we cross our fingers!

That is when you get to do your job! During candidating week - in April or May - the minister will preach twice (once each Sunday) at Mission Peak and there will be plenty of opportunities for you to meet him or her and have conversations about our congregation, the minister, and our future together. After the service at the end of candidating week, when the minister is on his or her way home, we will have a very important congregational meeting to vote on whether or not to accept the candidate as our settled minister. Everyone is encouraged to participate but only those who have been active members for 60 days or longer may vote (per the bylaws). Ministers hope to have 95% of the vote in favor of their ministry so they can be confident that the congregation is ready as a whole to move forward with them rather than there being factions.

Keep us in your thoughts over the next couple of weeks, and keep your ears to the ground after March 15!

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January 26, 2010 - Important Information From the Search Committee
by Allysson McDonald

And the search goes on (and on, and on...). That's kind of how the 6 members of the Ministerial Search Committee feels right now. March 15 seems a long way off! That's the date congregations will be making offers to ministers.

By the time you read this, we will be in the midst of our first pre-candidating weekend. What's that you ask? Its an opportunity for your Search Committee to meet potential ministers in person, have both formal interviews and informal conversations, experience their worship style and preaching in person at a "neutral pulpit" (shhh! it's secret), and for them to meet with our Community Minister and our DRE, see our fair city and our facilities, and to generally get to know one another better. We have FOUR ministers that we are bringing to the bay area to pre-candidate over five weeks! Will our families recognize us come March???

While we are very confident that by the end of the process we will have a fine match for Mission Peak, we have some concerns that we want to pass on to the congregation. First, while we are doing our best to pay a fair salary, the expense of living here in the Bay Area has caused at least one minister to pass us up. And we've heard directly from some and indirectly from others that ministers want and need paid administrative help. Being able to increase our budget enough next year to be able to hire someone, even very part time, will be looked upon with great relief by whomever we hire.

You won't be seeing much of the secretive six over the next month, but know that you are in our hearts and minds as we try to discern who, of these wonderful people, we will offer to you as our candidate for settlement at Mission Peak! Please keep us in your thoughts and hearts also. We look forward to seeing you again in March! And remember, although you may be dying to ask us about who we met and what we thought - and we may be dying to tell you - we really can't.

December 23, 2009 - We're Swamped!
by Allysson McDonald

That's right! We've plowed through 17 ministerial records (applications) from 11 to 21 pages long, narrowed those down to 6 ministers with whom we exchanged packets which were filled with sermons, articles, services, workshops, histories, etc. We then did phone interviews and reference checks to narrow our list to 4! Did you say holidays? What holidays? But we were amazed at the variety, enthusiasm, commitment, and experience of our applicants.

We felt like we had a crash course in Unitarian Universalism, reading about the ministers' theologies, why they became ministers, and reading and listening to their workshops, sermons and services. I'm convinced that of the ones on our short list, any of them would be good ministers. Now just to figure out the BEST match!

In reading through this material, I often think of one or another of you in this congregation, and how you would react. You are always in the back of our minds. We're hoping to find the minister that all of us will be able to connect to in a positive way, and to connect with many newcomers as well!

January will likely be a quieter month for us, as we look forward to meeting with and hearing our 4 pre-candidates preach at neutral pulpits starting at the end of the month. As mentioned last month, we can't reveal who we are talking to or where we will be going to hear them, in order to both protect the ministers who may not have resigned yet, and to protect our congregation from choosing favorites and then having dissonance. We are working very hard to take everything into consideration. In the latter part of March we will inform you of our final candidate for your consideration.

If you have questions about the process or would like to tell us what's important to you about a minister, please contact a member of the committee or send an email to search at mpuuc.org. We appreciate all the support and understanding we hear from you. We wish we could tell you more!

And thanks to the good fairy who left us a kind note and a yummy treat in December!

November 8, 2009 First Posting

The Search Committee has created a Congregational Record document as of the end of October 2009.