The Very Rev Ron W. Griffin

The Vestry and Search Committee are pleased and excited to announce that the vestry has called the Very Rev. Ron W. Griffin to be the next rector of St. Timothy’s. Father Ron and his wife Charlotte come to us from Christ Church in Eureka, CA. Ron and Charlotte’s first Sunday with St. Timothy’s will be December 2nd.

From Father Ron:

August 24, 2012

Dear Friends,

I greet you from Breckenridge, Colorado where Charlotte, Breck our Standard Schnauzer and I are beginning our vacation. We are eager to finally be taking a break visiting with friends and family and excited to discover what the time of Sabbatical will reveal for our next adventure in ministry.

It was Wednesday August 15th that I received a call from your Senior Warden Jonathan Trail as we headed east in the morning haze and smoke from the many forest fires in California. Jonathan asked on behalf of your vestry if I would prayerfully consider becoming your Rector. He was aware we had just begun our vacation followed by an extended Sabbath of Sabbatical. I indicated that I would pray about it and discuss this call and cure with Charlotte as we continued on the 1200 mile journey to Breckenridge.

During the next several days, I spoke with the Rt. Rev Barry Beisner Bishop of Northern California, my Spiritual advisor and guide the Rt. Rev. Jerry Winterrowd retired Bishop of Colorado and took a call from The Rt. Rev. Mary Gray Reeves Bishop of El Camino Real. Each one offered sound advice as Charlotte and I prayerfully discerned closing out one ministry and beginning another. All three Bishops encouraged me that the Sabbatical was important as well; my need for a time of retreat, reflection, and rejuvenation.

After much prayer and conversations with Charlotte and those I count on for wise council, I have accepted the call and cure to be your Rector. We are excited and encouraged in the intersection of our lives together with yours.

As I write to you I am overwhelmed by a powerful sense of needing even more deeply to rely on God to help me, to guide me and inspire me; indeed to help, guide and inspire us all as we make this transition.

I have reflected during these beginning days of vacation on the special relationships that have already begun with your servant leaders. I am grateful you have asked me and have confidence in me to be a spiritual guide and the pastor to your community.

Our first Sunday, December 2 is still several months away as we will be in a time of Sabbatical, yet rest assured we will be praying for you each day, and listening to and aware of the Holy Spirits shaping of our lives and we look forward to our next adventures in ministry together.

Faithfully,
Fr. Ron+
The Very Rev. Ron W. Griffin
Rector Elect
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
Mountain View, California

Now in the final stages of the search process, the work of the search committee is winding down as the work of the vestry is winding up. All applicants have received telephone interviews with teams of 3-6 search committee members. Then candidates were visited in their home parishes. We traveled in teams of three and conducted more extensive interviews of our candidates including having them lead us in a Bible study. We met their families and shared meals together. We attended their church services and heard them preach, and we interviewed their references. All of that information was carefully recorded and brought back to the rest of the committee for a decision about whether to present the candidate to the vestry for their further consideration.

In a rolling process, we are presenting these finalists to the vestry and the vestry is now coordinating visits of candidates to St. Timothy’s. These visits include more interviews, the presentation of a liturgy, meetings with St. Tim’s staff, social gatherings with vestry and search, and a visit with Bishop Mary. The welcome St. Tim’s is famous for is being shared with each candidate as they visit. Please pray for discernment for your vestry as they determine which candidate provides the vision and skills to bring us into the future the Holy Spirit desires for our community.

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (BCP, p.255)

The search committee has had a very busy last couple of weeks screening candidates and scheduling visits.  We are very pleased with the quality and diversity of the candidates we have for the rector position of St. Timothy’s.  Furthermore, the enthusiasm the candidates have expressed for the community we’ve built at St. Tim’s, as well as the preliminary thoughts and visions they’ve shared with us, is very exciting.  We’ve made clear in our parish profile and discussions with candidates that we are a unique church, and we have a pool of candidates that appreciate the challenges and opportunities we present.

The next few weeks will involve many candidate visits, debriefs and discussions.  The search committee asks for your prayers in helping us discern which candidates with which gifts best answer our call.

 Almighty God, we thank you for your steadfast presence with us as we seek a faithful pastor to lead the people of St. Timothy’s church. Guide the deliberations of the Search Committee and Vestry. Open our ears to hear your voice and to listen to one another. Open our eyes to see the path ahead with clarity and discernment and to follow you in all things. Open our hearts to the truth of your will for this congregation. Help us to put aside all selfish desires and grant us energy for the journey, patience with the process, and courage in decision making. Send your Holy Spirit into our midst to bless and strengthen us and to call the shepherd priest you have prepared for us. In the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

Have you glanced at the Search process poster in the sanctuary lately?  If so, you’ll notice that the hikers are really on the move now!  Our search process has hit a new phase.  We are reading and discussing applications and conducting phone interviews.  Committee members are spending many hours reading each applicant’s packet of information which includes a cover letter, resume, essay answers to about 12 questions, and several sermons.  We are encouraged and excited by this wonderful reading!

Our phone interviews have also proven to be an excellent method of getting to know our candidates’ strengths.  We are using a combination of common questions we ask all candidates as well as questions that are unique to each candidate.  And we are of course allowing time for candidates to ask their questions of us.  These phone interviews will help narrow down our pool to about 5 candidates that we will visit in their home parishes over the next month or two.

As you know, the search committee must hold candidate names in strict confidence.  But we do appreciate your continued prayers for the process.  The Holy Spirit is moving in our hearts and in the hearts of each candidate to find the best fit for St. Timothy’s as we journey forward together.

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (BCP, p. 223)

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 19:11

“Passionate and inspiring.” “Respectful of diverse viewpoints.” “Scripturally-proficient and balanced.” “Empowering.” “Active listener.” “Willing to fail.” “Entrepreneurial experience.” “Good sense of humor.” “Excited about working with St. Timothy’s.”

These are some of the qualities the Search Committee is looking for as we think about reading the applications that are currently being prepared and sent to Diocesan offices. For the past couple of weeks, search committee members have been reading mock applications and thinking about how we can prayerfully attend to the Holy Spirit as we read what candidates have to share with us. We will begin reading applications as they are made available to us and are accepting applications until the position of Rector has been filled.

Candidates find out about our search through the Episcopal Church Office of Transitional Ministry and through our advertisement in the Episcopal Digital Network (tweeted by @EDNTweets). In addition, the Rev. Canon Brian Nordwick, our Diocesan deployment officer, is working with other deployment officers across the country to learn about potential candidates. But, as with any posting, personal referral is the most effective way to connect with strong candidates. Please share our search website with potential candidates. You may also submit names directly to Brian, Brian@edecr.org. All the information candidates need to apply is available through our search website, www.sttimsrectorsearch.org, which is also linked to our parish website. All applications are submitted directly to Brian.

Through the rest of spring and early summer, the Search Committee and Vestry will move forward with the search process:

• As applications are received from the Diocese, the Search Committee will evaluate each candidate and select individuals for the next step of the search process: telephone interviews.
• Following telephone interviews, the pool of candidates will once again be narrowed as candidates are selected for visitations to their parish and/or place of work.
• The culmination of the written application, telephone interviews, reference checks, and visits, leads to the final charge of the Search Committee: to recommend to Vestry a finalist group of three to five candidates. At this point the search process is handed from the Search Committee to the Vestry.
• The Vestry will invite each finalist to St. Timothy’s to be interviewed, as the final formal phase of the search process.

A reminder that candidate’s names and information are kept in the strictest of confidence. The Search Committee will not publicly announce the names of people that have applied, participated in interviews, visited, or been recommended to Vestry. Likewise, the Vestry will not make any names public. It is paramount that we respect all the Rector-applicants and their need for privacy.

Almighty God, we thank you for your steadfast presence with us as we seek a faithful pastor to lead the people of St. Timothy’s church. Guide the deliberations of the Search Committee and Vestry. Open our ears to hear your voice and to listen to one another. Open our eyes to see the path ahead with clarity and discernment and to follow you in all things. Open our hearts to the truth of your will for this congregation. Help us to put aside all selfish desires and grant us energy for the journey, patience with the process, and courage in decision making. Send your Holy Spirit into our midst to bless and strengthen us and to call the shepherd priest you have prepared for us. In the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

by Anne

The Search committee is pleased to announce that the St. Timothy’s Rector search website is now live and candidates can begin the application process!  We encourage you to read through our parish profile and learn more about the search process at http://www.sttimsrectorsearch.org/.

Your personal stories breathed life into our profile and you are still an important part of the search process. If you know someone who might be called to serve at St. Timothy’s, please share the search website and invite him or her to apply. You can also share names of potential candidates with anyone on the search committee. We will begin evaluating applications on April 28.  This will be followed by phone interviews in May and visits to candidates’ home parishes in June.

And as always, we need your prayers:

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a rector for this parish, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p. 818)

by Cindy

On February 2nd the Search Committee and Vestry met with Bishop Mary. Her insights, observations, stories, intellect, spirituality, and counsel were very helpful to us as we continue to weave your stories of past experiences and future hopes into our parish profile and transitional ministry profile. We are very grateful for the support of our Bishop, the Rev. Canon Brian Nordwick, and our Search Consultant Matt Cameron and for their information, and wisdom about the search process.

Often at this stage in the search process the question comes up: why can’t we just hire our interim rector? The process itself feels long and unclear and the temptation is to stay with the priest we know. However, interim rectors are never considered for the permanent position. In his guide Search, the Rev. Charles Wilson writes:

If an interim is called, make sure the contract clearly states that the interim is not, under any circumstances, a candidate for the rector’s position…after all, the interim is a known quality; why gamble with completing the search? The temptation can be considerable. This does not imply a negative evaluation of the interim by any means. What we are about is removing obstacles to the congregation’s freedom to pursue its search.

The interim process is an opportunity to open ourselves to all that God has in store for us, which is more than we can imagine on our own. The final section of the profile describes what we most desire in the rector who is called to work with us:

When you imagine St. Timothy’s five years from now, what do you hope to see, experience, and feel? Our stories reflected a longing for a rector whose Teaching and Preaching flows from a deep love of scripture and an ability to make it relevant to our lives in Silicon Valley. As we care for each other and for our community, we seek a rector who can lead us in Reaching Out to the larger community and inviting others to walk with us. Our rector will also be comfortable with the entrepreneurial spirit and energy that fills Silicon Valley, Encouraging us to channel that creativity in the service of God’s people. And we seek a rector who is happy Playing with us, reminding both young and old that God can be found in the fun places as well as the serious places and that play is the substance of community.

Look for our search website and complete parish profile soon. In the meantime please continue to support the search process at St. Timothy’s:

• Continue to serve St. Timothy’s out of your giftedness.
• As you learn of Rectors you enjoy, talk to them about St. Timothy’s and encourage them to visit our search website.
• Please let members of the Rector Search Committee know of people you believe would be an outstanding Rector at St. Timothy’s.
• Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Search Committee and the search process.

We give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and love which you have made known to us in creation, in the calling of Israel to be your people, in your Word spoken through the prophets; and above all in the Word made flesh, Jesus, your Son. For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. In him you have delivered us from evil and made us worthy to stand before you. In him you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life. (BCP, p. 368)

by Cindy

Thank you to everyone who responded to the online survey and shared stories about the future at St. Timothy’s. The Search Committee is considering all that you have shared as we continue work on the Parish Profile and our online profile for the Office of Transitional Ministry (the branch of the Episcopal Church that assists with searching for and calling clergy).

The Parish Profile tells our story to potential candidates. Our profile is based on the description of the earliest gathering of Christians in Acts 2:41-47. Your stories will help rector candidates understand invitation, Christian formation, service, worship, and community at St. Timothy’s. Vestry members, our Search Committee Consultant, the Diocesan deployment officer, and Bishop Mary have all helped to edit the Parish Profile. The entire Parish Profile will be completed this winter. Once the Parish Profile is complete, the Rector Search Committee will launch a web site dedicated to informing and educating Rector candidates of what we are seeking in our Rector.

Along with the Parish Profile, candidates will learn more about St. Timothy’s from our online profile. The national Episcopal Church maintains a database of Episcopal clergy who have also created online ministry profiles.

Our online profile will be matched with the profiles of potential candidates. This is not the only way we will connect with candidates. The Rev. Brian Nordwick, on our behalf as our diocesan deployment officer, and our Bishop Mary will talk with colleagues about the opportunity of St. Timothy’s. You too will be very helpful ….

• Continue to serve St. Timothy’s out of your giftedness.
• As you learn of priests who might feel called to serve as Rector, talk to them about St. Timothy’s and encourage them to visit our search website.
• Please let members of the Rector Search Committee know of people you believe would be an outstanding Rector at St. Timothy’s.
• Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Search Committee and the search process.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

by Bill

As you know, St. Timothy’s is in a period of transition as we complete the process of finding a new rector. Part of the process involves a comprehensive self-study to assess the current state of our parish and to explore our possible future state. We have completed the Appreciative Inquiry Process to start this self-study. The next step is a parish-wide survey that will allow us to collect demographics, further assess where we are today and what we value most, and to gather information about the qualities we want in our next rector.

The results of our self-study are being used to write our parish profile, the document that will introduce our parish to prospective candidates for the position of rector. It will also form the basis for our search committee’s selection of candidates to present to the vestry. It is vitally important that everyone in the parish participate in this survey so that we get as complete picture of St. Timothy’s as possible.

The survey will be available next week via a link on the St. Timothy’s home page. For those who would prefer to complete the survey off-line, a paper version will be available in the narthex. It will take about 30 minutes to complete. Please allow time to complete the survey at a single sitting. Although it is not necessary that you answer all questions, please answer as many as possible. All members of your household should complete separate, individual surveys.

Please complete the survey by January 2, 2012. Thank you for your participation.

The first stage in any search process is to search ourselves. We will gather after each service today and using the appreciative inquiry process, we will tell each other stories. We need to hear from every member of the church in order to get an accurate picture of who we are and who we hope to be. Your input will form the basis of our parish profile which is the document we will use to recruit our next rector.

Forums will be no longer than 90 minutes. Bagels and coffee will be provided after the 7:45 and 9:00 a.m. services and lunch will be provided after the 10:30 a.m. service. Childcare is also available after the 9:00 a.m. service.

See you there!