Director of Faith Development Update

There are lots of serious things happening that I should probably address, like the continued mass shootings or the guilty verdict yesterday in the Derek Chauvin trail, to name just a few. But on some of them I don’t know what to say anymore, and some I’m not sure what to say yet. And so I will talk about them at a later time.

So, today is a little lighter subject, and that is to bring you up-to-date on where we are in the process for hiring a new director of faith development.  We sent advertisements out to most of the United Methodist seminaries, along with some others that have UMC representation, as well as to the general church and the conference, and placed an ad with one national magazine.

So far we have received three applications, two from outside of New Mexico and one local. We hope to receive more and our application deadline is May 2. But, of those we have, all three have a Master of Divinity degree. One is ordained in the UCC, although was involved in the United Methodist Church before, and another is seeking ordination in the UMC. All are imminently qualified for the position.

I will be talking with all of them this week to get a sense of who they are, to talk about the position and the church and to see if they are someone we should move to the next step. That would be to have them interview with a larger group of members of the church that is being assembled by the Staff Parish Relations Committee. That group will then narrow the pool down to one, and we will invite them to come out to visit Los Alamos and the church hopefully around the middle of May.

During their visit we will set-up times for them to meet with different groups of people. Some of that will be in persona and some online, and then we will ask for more feedback if we think this person is a good fit for what we want them to do as well as whether they are a good fit for the church.

If they are a good fit, we would make them an offer with a potential start in June or July, depending on where they are coming from and their timeline in moving, if they need to. If, for someone reason, either side decides it’s not right, then we would reopen the position and advertise again. We hope that doesn’t have to happen.

If you know of someone who may be interested, please let them know that there is still time to apply. They can find a full job description on ourwebsite, and they should send a cover letter and resume to the office by May 2.

Our next update will be after interviews have been conducted. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please speak with me or with Geniece Courtright, the chair of SPRC.