UniLu Call Process (Yes, you can read this!)

[Charlie Horn]

Dear Friends:   As is apparent to many of you, what started as a big mistake on my part has snow-balled a bit.  An e-mail intended for the UniLu Call Committee was accidentally sent to the entire UniLu distribution list.  When this was discovered, I immediately sent a follow-up urging all of you to delete the message.  Not realizing my error, Alexa then responded to the e-mail last night, causing all of you to receive the same message again (this time with Alexa's comments).  While I sent another "DELETE THAT MESSAGE" e-mail, it was some time after the original message was sent, so it may well be that some of you read Alexa's comments, along with the original e-mail, not realizing that you weren't the intended audience until it was too late.   I most sincerely apologize for making the mistake, and ask all of you for your forgiveness.   Rather than split the congregation into two segments -- those who have figured out where we are in the call process because they read one or both of the e-mails, and those who are out of the loop because they deleted the e-mails -- I have decided to provide all of you with a brief synopsis of our current status.   As you know, we have interviewed a number of candidates, both from the roster of the ELCA and the roster of the ELM (formerly ECP).  At this time, we have one candidate that we feel very strongly about, and believe we are ready to recommend that candidate to the congregation council.  Said candidate, though, is not from the Philadelphia region, meaning that the candidate and their family would need to relocate.  Recognizing that this will be a big part in the decision of whether or not to consider a call to UniLu, the call committee has decided to give the candidate what amounts to four weeks to make sure they are comfortable with continuing in the process.    Please know that a major factor in the amount of time we are giving the candidate is that Holy Week is coming soon, and we believe that attending to the needs of their current congregation should be the candidate's primary focus at this important time in the church year.  We are not trying to drag out the transition process; our intent is to help ensure that it goes smoothly.  If the candidate desires to continue with the process, we will be making a recommendation to the congregation council shortly after that decision has been made known to us.  Should the candidate decide that they are not able to commit to moving to Philadelphia, the call committee will move forward with considering other candidates.   As I'm sure most of you can appreciate, this is a difficult decision for the candidate, one that could go either way.  Therefore, it is much too soon to think that we are almost ready to vote on calling a new pastor.  I say this not to be discouraging, but simply to state the facts.   I thank all of you for your continued prayers during this extended transition.  The call committee has certainly been blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit during our deliberations, and we are most appreciative of the opportunity to serve the congregation in this very important role.   In Christ's service, Charlie Horn Call Committee Chair