The complete December draft minutes are now available here. This document also included reports from the president, vicepresident, treasurer, assistant minister, and director of administration and finance.

These are the draft minutes, and as such may contain mistakes or inaccuracies.

***

PRESIDENT’S REPORT DECEMBER 2019

Season’s Greetings to one and all.

Although the Board had hoped to make a decision on choosing a minister for August 2020, we are committed to learning as much about our options as possible and taking the necessary time to gather information from every available source. Earlier this month, we had a virtual meeting with ​Keith Kron, the Ministerial Transitions Director of the UUA. Here is a summary of the meeting:

**Keith is supporting the recommendation from the Southern Regional Staff that TJMC have an interim minister for the next year. He discussed all the ways an interim can help a congregation prepare for a longer term minister (either developmental or settled) and how the interim selection process has changed since TJMC last had an interim (approximately eight years ago).

**It seemed like Keith was recommending a one-year (not two) interim followed by a developmental minister. The core of his message seems to be that we need congregational buy-in and engagement in order to name the goals for a developmental minister. We would use the interim time to do that work.

**Our interim minister would not be able to become our developmental minister. They are necessarily two different people.

**The TJMC Board would select the interim. Again, the process is very different from the last time we had an interim. In the old selection process, the Transitions Director would select 4 names to go to congregations based only on verbal information (at best) from regional staff. Now there is a free market system where up to 8 interims can have their name sent to a congregation. The 8 are selected based on accredited interim status and length of time in ministry. But any minister in good standing can apply for any interim congregation. Keith meets with the candidates and interim congregations and describes what he knows about the interim needs. Additionally each congregation now gets to list what it feels it needs to work on during the interim time. There is much more information given to potential applicants. Keith believes TJMC-UU would be attractive to candidates because we are a larger congregation (over 300) and in a great part of the country.

**Keith said both interim and developmental ministers can be experienced ministers at the end of their careers who want one last assignment before retirement. We replied that TJMC has experience with this particular minister profile and many congregants felt those ministries at TJMC were not especially successful or satisfying.

**There are regular interim ministers and there are accredited interim ministers. The accredited interim has done at least 3 years (usually more) of interim ministry, been evaluated by UUA regional staff, the interim ministry chapter leadership itself and Keith’s office to become accredited. Not everyone wanting to do interim work has gone through the accreditation process, though some candidates would be actively working toward it.

**We mentioned our fear that some congregants, especially those who have been most dissatisfied, would check out during the interim year and wait for something “real” to start happening again before becoming engaged. We need to make sure everyone in the congregation commits to the interim year.

**We also discussed widespread distrust of the UUA and Southern Region offices. Several members of the Board and many people in the congregation recall our experience with the past three interim ministers with much dissatisfaction. One Board member offered the critique that our previous interims had done very little and non-leadership congregants felt like nothing was happening. We are skeptical of the process and therefore reluctant to hire another interim. We stressed that we absolutely must have a great interim experience this time around.

The Board will continue our discussion of TJMC’s future ministry at the December Board Meeting. We are doing our best to make progress and new information is coming to light every day. We appreciate time is a factor in making a choice but we want to be as thorough and deliberate as possible in this work.

Stewardship and the Pledge Drive is a top priority for the Board this year. Our congregation passedthe 2019-20budgetandwenowlooktothefutureandimprovingourfinancialsituation. We will be having a Pledge Drive to finance the 2020-2021 budget. Danny Gray has agreed to chair the Pledge Drive Committee but more volunteers are always needed and welcomed. The
Pledge Drive will take place from Sunday, February 16 to Sunday, March 15. some of the key events:

Feb. 16 – Kick Off Sermon + PJs and Pancakes in Social Hall
Feb. 23 – Testimonials during worship
March 1 – Soup Sunday with intentional guided conversations about stewardship March 8 – Testimonials during worship
March 15 – Wrap up with Potluck Lunch

Also at the December Board meeting, the Task Force to Explore Ordaining Leia Durland-Jones will give us an update on their progress and I expect happy news with regard to the renovations of the church building from the Glenn Short Sanctuary Capital Endowment Fund Committee.

Although the world may slow down with the colder weather and shorter daylight hours of December, this is a busy time at church. I am grateful for the dedicated staff and many volunteers that make our church a warm and welcoming place and I look forward to sharing this wonderful time of the year with our church family.
Happy Holidays and See you at Church!! Lorie