The Search Committee was pleased to recommend the name of one final candidate to the Vestry. The Vestry is now in discernment for making a call.
January - February 2011
This month, the committee is meeting with selected candidates and their spouses in Williamsburg for interviews and tours of the area.
December 2010
This month, the committee continued visits to home parishes of selected candidates. Teams of three spent two days with candidates and their spouses. These visits will lead to the committee's discernment about which candidates will visit Bruton Parish, the next step in the process.
October 2010
The Search Committee is no longer receiving names for consideration. In this phase of the process, the committee continues to conduct telephone interviews and plan future visits to home parishes of selected candidates.
September 2010
The Search Committee’s work in September consists of speaking by telephone to candidates identified after initial screening. These phone interviews are arranged by our chair, Isabel Burch, and last for about an hour. At the same time, the committee continues to review information submitted by candidates, such as Church Deployment Office profiles and resumes. We are approaching the time when we will no longer be receiving names for consideration. If you wish to submit a name, please do so as soon as possible by sending an e-mail to searchcommittee@brutonparish.org or to Isabel W. Burch, Chair, Bruton Parish Search Committee, P.O. Box 184, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23187-0184. Thank you for keeping us and this important process in your prayers.
August 2010
The Search Committee members are reviewing application materials of clergy from around the country. These materials consist of Church Deployment Office profiles, résumés, cover letters, and letters of recommendation. The Parish Profile serves as our guide to judge the "fit" between a person's stated qualifications and the qualifications we seek in our next rector. The committee's work in August will be planning telephone interviews with identified candidates. These conversations will allow for exchange of information, and help us determine whom we would like to meet in person. We are approaching the time when we will no longer be receiving names for consideration. If you wish to submit a name, please do so as soon as possible by sending an email to searchcommittee@brutonparish.org or to Isabel W. Burch, Chair, Bruton Parish Search Committee, P.O. Box 184, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23187-0184. Thank you for keeping us and this important process in your prayers.
June 2010
With the completion of the Profile, we are now receiving expressions of interest. All initial communications with prospective candidates will be treated with total confidentiality. If you would like to be considered by our Rector Search Committee, please send us a letter with contact information, a current resume and Church Deployment Office Profile. The above may be submitted either by email to searchcommittee@brutonparish.org or by U.S. mail addressed to Isabel Ware Burch, Chair, Rector Search Committee, Bruton Parish Church, P.O. Box 184, Williamsburg, VA23187-0184.
April 2010
The Search Committee will be posting the recently completed Parish Profile on the Bruton Parish Website by the end of April. We have worked hard to reflect the information which was gathered in the Parish Surveys as well as during the Listening Groups. In addition, the Search Committee has attempted to describe the many facets of Bruton Parish including both its strengths and the challenges which we face. We feel that this Parish Profile will help interested candidates to learn more about Bruton and the area in which we live as well as provide information for our parishioners too. Compiling this Parish Profile has helped the Search Committee to have a clearer understanding of life in the parish and the skills and characteristics needed in the next rector. With the Parish Profile written and on our website, the Search Committee will complete the Parish CDO form which will be posted on the Positions Open Bulletin of the Church Deployment Office. At this point we expect to begin receiving names of candidates, who meet the criteria described in the Parish Profile, from various sources including diocesan deployment officers, bishops, parishioners, the candidates themselves and others.
Many churches are now publishing their Profiles electronically, and the Search Committee has decided to use this format for several reasons. It will allow us to use links to various websites as well as include more photography. It will be easy to download and print if you choose to do so. Using this electronic form also provides great cost savings for Bruton and is environmentally friendly.
If, after reading the Parish Profile, you would like to submit the name of a candidate, you may now do so in writing to Isabel Burch, Search Committee Chair. Please send your letter to her attention at BrutonParishChurch, PO Box 184, Williamsburg, VA23187-0184 or to searchcommittee@brutonparish.org. We ask that you also note in your letter whether or not the candidate is aware that his or her name is being submitted.
The Search Committee asks that you continue to keep us and all of Bruton Parish in your prayers as we move forward in our search for the 35th rector of our church.
February 2010
The Bruton Parish Search Committee is in the process of writing the Parish Profile which will provide an overview of BrutonParishChurch, both for prospective Rector candidates, as well as for the members of our parish and others who may be interested in learning more about our active congregation. The committee is incorporating information that was gathered through the Parish Survey as well as the Listening Groups, along with descriptions of the many things which make Bruton Parish such a special place. The thoughtful answers to the essay questions on the Survey are providing us with valuable information for the Profile, but it is not possible to include them in the Survey Summary due to space constraints. Approximately 400 surveys were completed (from a parish of some 1800 souls). Please bear in mind as you read the results that the data in the Survey Summary reflects only the thoughts of those who completed the Parish Survey. If you have any questions, please contact a member of the Search Committee: Isabel Burch, Chair; Bill Carr; Margaret Driscoll; Marty Easton; Barbara Gaffield; Channing Hall; Marty Jones; Russ Sheldon; Scott Spence; and Earl White.
November 2009
Over the summer and during the month of September, the Search Committee developed the Parish Survey which was completed by approximately 400 parishioners in October. We are now tabulating the information and compiling the many thoughtful answers which we received to the questions. When this work is completed, the Search Committee is planning to have a few Listening Groups where we will meet with groups of parishioners in an attempt to gather information in addition to that which we have already received on the surveys, as well as from the Lenten meetings held earlier this year.
Our next step will be to write a profile of BrutonParishChurch based on the information we have gathered and submitted for Vestry review and approval. This Profile, which will be available on the church website, will be an important document for prospective candidates to learn more about our parish and to inform the parish about itself.
After the completion of the Parish Profile, we will begin to accept names of potential candidates who match our profile. The candidates’ names will be submitted by interested clergy and/or their bishops, deployment officers of dioceses, a national computer search, as well as from members of this congregation. We expect that there will be many names given to the Search Committee.
After we have received names, the committee will begin to look for the candidates whom we feel are best suited to be our rector. Interviews and reference checks will take place and then the committee will narrow the list to a group which will be visited by teams of Search Committee members. From these visits, the Search Committee will choose approximately three to six candidates who will be brought here for a visit to Bruton Parish.
Finally, the Search Committee will submit to the Vestry the name of the candidate whom we agree is best qualified for the position of Rector of Bruton Parish Church and our reasons for nominating him or her. The Vestry will then decide if they want to issue a call to that person. After the call is made and all negotiations are completed, the Vestry will announce the name of our new rector and the expected arrival date.
It is difficult at this point to give an exact time line for when the process will be completed and a new rector installed at Bruton. The Search Committee meets every Monday evening – and sometimes even more frequently – and we are hard at work. We understand the importance of our work for the Vestry and the parish, and we ask for your prayers as we move forward in this search process.
