Pilgrims Progress Pilgrim United Church of Christ An Open and Affirming Congregation

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1 November 4, 2015 Pilgrims Progress Pilgrim United Church of Christ An Open and Affirming Congregation Joining in Ministry By Lance Perry What a blessing it has been already to be welcomed to the Pilgrim community. You can be proud of the hospitality that has been extended on your behalf! Foster s Market is already one of my favorite places in Durham (thank you to Leonard and Mary Anna for bringing the food)! As we begin this journey together, I look forward to getting to know you and want to share a few things about me for starters. First, I was raised in Ohio by parents reared in Quaker and Disciples of Christ traditions. Early on, my parents moved to a small town and joined a Baptist church from which I gained a great appreciation for both the scriptures and a strong church community. I graduated from both Carson-Newman University and Southeastern Seminary in the 1980s, then Union Theological Seminary in Virginia in the 1990s. Both my college and seminary training invited me to a broader and more tolerant theological approach. During seminary I began looking for a tradition that was more in line with my theology and eventually joined the Disciples of Christ in Since then, I have served rural, county seat, small town, and small city congregations in North Carolina, Indiana, and Kentucky. In 2014, after 25 years of ordained ministry, I felt it was time to step away from installed ministry and entered Intentional Interim Ministry training through the Center for Congregational Health in Winston- Salem. I recently served a 16 month Intentional Interim at First Christian Church, Washington, NC. Intentional Interim Ministry is just that - an intentional process. My ministry will be to not only serve as pastor to the congregation but also as process coach with church leaders to engage the congregation in a spiritual discernment process. Pastor to the congregation means that I will be available in all usual aspects of pastoral ministry including being a resource for all committees and groups. Process coach means that I will not be offering my vision for your future, but inviting you to creatively reflect together and discern God s vision for you as a community of faith. Church leaders will customize the process since they know the congregation well and understand what best practices will engage the most people in helpful and enjoyable ways. On Sunday, November 15, during the Fellowship Hour, I will be sharing more details of Intentional Interim Ministry. I hope you will plan to attend so that you can be fully informed and engaged. As we begin this journey together I look forward to hearing your stories, having good conversation about your identity and vision, and of course having fun along the way! 1

2 Dear Pilgrim Family, From the turquoise swirls on my beautiful stole to the varied dance moves in the Fellowship Hall, I treasure each and every circle of love and joy that you have shared with me. The original Wheaton, rich with vivid colors and images of community gathered around a table, topped off the incredible good-bye. Thank you for your thoughtful words, cards, and prayers. Your congregational monetary gift, individual items from North Carolina, colorful socks, jewelry, coffee cards, and personalized remembrances are symbols of your generous hearts I carry with me. The surprise for Milton was amazing! Thank you for the clear ways you love him. He is grateful for his incredible sound system and the individual gifts that match him perfectly.. I deeply appreciate the ways you welcomed my family. You worked diligently to help us care for my dad. I will always remember the million little things you did to love me through the worst time of my life. Thank you for the encouragement you offered my mother during grief and during this journey north! The gloves and kind words, along with the Auxiliary celebration, were wonderful. I will always keep you near in spirit and heart. I will take joy in calling you Pilgrims. I will pray for you to know that you are each wonderfully and uniquely created in the image of God and worthy to be loved! Peace and much love, Ginger Attention Pilgrim SOUPER Stars: We need lots of soup for Advent Fest, held after worship on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29th. All kinds of soup are welcome -- familiar favorites and original creations, vegetarian and meatatarian and vegan! If you can bring one, please let Rev. Mandy know. Women's Retreat February at Caswell Beach More information & registration forms on the table beside Rev. Mandy's office 2

3 Rev. Mandy s hours and compensation were raised to 40 hours per week by the unanimous vote of church council on Oct 26. During the interim time, Rev. Mandy needs to maintain relationships with many community groups and she will help with Pilgrim s administrative duties and visit homebound members. Also, church council recognizes Rev. Mandy s many gifts and the extra hours she already spends on Pilgrim s behalf. This change will be temporary for four months, to give the congregation time to discuss our vision for the future. The Board of Deacons discussed hosting of Fellowship Hour, and wants the congregation to know that assistance is available to those who cannot afford the cost, and also that anyone who does not want to participate can contact Chris Schroeder or Karen Webbink. Ginger told the deacons that the Farewell Dance Party on Oct 3 was one of her favorite Pilgrim events, and the deacons also discussed Ginger s exit interview. Ann Deupree will be keeping track of visitations to homebound Pilgrims. The Board of Christian Education is planning special events for Advent, and will advertise these soon. They are planning Lenten events and summer Bible school, as well as adult education opportunities. Elzie Laube will be the chair this year. The trustees will be considering the need for a new church desktop computer and a new laptop for Rev. Lance Perry. The Board of Christian Service will continue its work on benevolences in preparation for our budget committee meetings, starting in November. ~ Susan Barco, council secretary Duke Presbyterian Campus Ministry+ Duke PCM+ celebrates a new semester filled with spiritual growth, fellowship, and partnership within the Durham community! Our ministry and presence on Duke s campus has continued to grow, and we are so thankful to have welcomed in a wonderful group of new students. Because of your support, 24 students went on a joy-filled weekend retreat to Montreat, NC, worked alongside several supporting churches to complete service projects in Durham, and continue to gather weekly for both Sunday night worship and Wednesday night Bible study. Duke PCM+ remains incredibly grateful to all of its supporters! Your financial generosity, continual prayers, and provision of Sunday night meals enable the ministry to support and equip students to live out their faith. If you feel called to become involved in Duke PCM+, please contact Rev. Katie Aumann at keo3@duke.edu or Pilgrim Book Club will meet Wednesday, November 11th, at 2:00 pm in the Dowdy Room. The November book is: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. For December we will b e r e a d - ing Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo. All are w e l c o m e! C o m e a n d bring a friend. 3

4 ACCEPTING CHANGE Mark Webbink, Moderator Often times God demonstrates His faithfulness in adversity by providing for us what we need to survive. He does not change our painful circumstances. He sustains us through them. Charles Stanley Our time of transition has started. On November 1 we welcomed Rev. Dr. Lance Perry (or simply, Lance) to the pulpit as our interim minister. Thanks to everyone for helping make Lance feel welcome. Lance is an intentional interim who is very focused on helping churches go through the process of finding a new settled minister. The process of searching for a new settled minister doesn t start with simply naming a search committee. Rather, we will go through a period of self-analysis together. What is working for Pilgrim? What is not? What attributes are important in our next settled minister? What are our priorities? Lance refers to this as a transition period, and he will present a process to us for our consideration during the fellowship hour on November 15. Please try to attend that presentation if at all possible because working through this time of transition will require the participation of everyone in the church if it is to be successful. This transition process will carry us into next year, and at the conclusion of that process we will select a pulpit committee responsible for conducting the search for a settled senior pastor. Nominees for the pulpit committee, including the person to chair the committee, are put forward to a congregational meeting by the Nominating Committee, and additional persons may be nominated from the floor. The congregation will then vote to select the committee. Pilgrim s bylaws call for a pulpit committee of nine persons, two of whom are to be from the Board of Deacons. It is our hope that the transition process will help identify pulpit committee candidates representative of all aspects of our congregation. The first task of the pulpit committee will be to complete a profile of Pilgrim that is then submitted to the Southern Conference office. The preparation of that profile will certainly be facilitated by the transition process. Once the conference office receives the profile, it is posted under Call Opportunities on the conference web site, and interested persons are invited to submit their applications to the conference office (not directly to Pilgrim). Those applications are then forwarded to the pulpit committee, and the winnowing process begins in earnest. The committee may choose to interview several candidates and may go to hear those candidates preach. Ultimately, the committee will recommend a single candidate who is then invited to Pilgrim to preach a trial sermon. If the congregation is receptive to that candidate, Pilgrim then issues a letter of call. Past experience has shown this is not a fast process. It may take a year or more to find the right candidate, but the deliberate pace of the process and the active involvement of all of us will help assure a successful result. Meanwhile, the life of our congregation goes on. Sunday, November 8, will be Stewardship Sunday where we will all be asked to commit our time and talent to Pilgrim. Jonathan Earnest has graciously agreed to head the stewardship campaign this year, and we can look forward to a meaningful (and entertaining) call to support Pilgrim. The budget committee is also beginning its undertakings for The budget committee will be chaired by Melanie Dunshee of the Board of Trustees. Please provide any budget recommendations to her or one of the other committee members (Tom Heath - Treasurer, Deanne Morgan Christian Service, Nancy Ruth Best - Deacons, and a Christian Ed representative yet to be named). Finally, I want to issue a call to those interested to step in and help fill the now vacant shoes left by Ginger with many of the community organizations that Pilgrim supports. While Mandy will 4

5 attempt to maintain connections with some of these organizations, she can use some help. This is a great way to represent Pilgrim to the Durham community, so please contact Mandy if you are interested. The Sequel Change doesn't always wait for us to take the initiative. Sometimes it simply arrives at our doorstep. As mentioned above, with Ginger's departure there are a lot of engagements she undertook that now need to handled by someone else, especially with respect to community involvement as well as helping our own members discern future plans. Despite the willingness of others to lend a hand, it is inevitable that many of these obligations will fall to Mandy, our ministerial bridge from past to future. Mandy has already been working beyond the 30 hours a week for which she is paid. At the October 26 Church Council meeting it was unanimously agreed to change Mandy to full time with a corresponding change in her annual salary. Because of the longer term financial ramifications of this change on Pilgrim's budget and because the Church Council believes such a change should only be made permanent with the support and approval of the entire congregation, the change in Mandy's status is only effective until the end of February Members will have three opportunities to weigh in on a permanent change in Mandy's status. The first will be during our upcoming Stewardship Campaign. For Pilgrim to afford a permanent change in Mandy's status without an impact on other aspects of the church budget (e.g., benevolences or capital improvements), we will need to raise cumulative pledge income by 6% over That is eminently doable, and that is the goal of the Stewardship Committee. Six percent is an average increase, so to the extent some members can do more it will help make up for those members on fixed or strained incomes. The second opportunity will be during the congregation's period of discernment led by Lance. Here we will have an opportunity to discuss our priorities and our needs at Pilgrim, one aspect of which will be the role of the Minister of Christian Education. Finally, the congregation will have a final say on the subject at our annual meeting in February when the 2016 budget is presented for discussion and approval. I cannot close without acknowledging and appreciating the calm maturity with which Mandy has responded to all of the changes we now face. She didn't ask for them, but she has stepped up to the plate with grace, confidence, and willingness to help lead Pilgrim forward. May we do the same in support of her. KITCHEN CLEAN UP!!! The Fellowship Committee will be cleaning the kitchen in November. The storage cabinet contains numerous items that the Fellowship Committee does not recognize and whose ownership we have been unable to ascertain. If you or others you know are storing aluminum cooking pans, plastic bottles, party favors, or other items in the kitchen, please retrieve them or let Karen Webbink or Chris Schroeder know that you need to continue to store these items there. Otherwise they may be removed and may be thrown away if we cannot relocate them. There are also some food containers and related items left over from potlucks or church affairs. If you have left something in the kitchen, please reclaim it before clean up day. Chris Schroeder on behalf of the Fellowship Committee 5

6 3011 Academy Road Durham, NC Worship Service - 10:30 am Church Office Hours Mon. Thur. 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Office and Staff Information: Telephone: (919) pilgrimucc@frontier.com Web: The Rev. Dr. Lance Perry, our Interim Pastor has a schedule of being in the office and out for visitation Sunday through Thursday. His general office hours will be Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. until noon. He can be reached at pilgrimucclance@gmail.com For pastoral emergencies in late hours or on Friday or Saturday you call call him on his cell at The Rev. Mandy Mizelle, Minister of Christian Education, is in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sunday mornings. Mandy can be reached at the office or agmizelle@gmail.com. The Rev. Betty Morton, Pilgrim s Spiritual Growth Coach (fee-based), can be reached at bmorton7@nc.rr.com or Mr. Marty Powell staffs the Pilgrim office. He can be contacted at the Pilgrim office phone and . Mr. Roman Testroet, our Music Director, is at Pilgrim on Sundays. He also comes in on Wednesday evenings except for summer when the choir is off. He can be contacted at Roman.Testroet@gmail.com Ministerial Interns: Laura Johnson and Kyle Kentopp. Members-in-discernment Ms. Nancy Chew and Ms. Marselline Musiko are seeking ordination / commissioning in the UCC. All staff have mailboxes in the office (Marty s is his desk!) or can be reached at Upcoming Pilgrim Birthdays! November 10 Bob Wheat James Smalley 14 Gail Heath Phoebe Larrimans 17 Abigail Bagnell 19 Joline Ezzell Susanna King 21 Gloria Sanchez-Lane 25 Emily Schroeder 28 Dan Barco 29 Janet Clarke-McLean Deborah Pasteur 30 DeWitt Myers December 1 Anna Frybarger Gigi Freeman Wake me when they cut the cake! 6