Previous News Items - Continued
Search Committee News
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ:
The people of the Diocese of Alaska have supported the Bishop Search Committee and the Standing Committee faithfully with your prayers, and have been generous with your patience while awaiting our nominations for the VIIIth Bishop of Alaska. Today, I write with difficult news regarding our process. In October, the Search Committee brought two names to the Standing Committee; we intended to nominate both of these persons to the Diocese. However, one of the candidates has withdrawn, leaving us with only one potential nominee. It is important to say that the reasons for this withdrawal have nothing to do with the Diocese of Alaska, nor with information in the candidate’s background check. Unexpected life circumstances made the decision clear, if painful, for the candidate.
Faced with this news, your Standing Committee met by teleconference last night. We affirmed our faith that although this is not the place we imagined for ourselves, it is the place to which God has led us. With you, we commit ourselves and our Diocese into God’s care. We did not attempt to answer every question that faces us, but we did make the following decisions:
1. With only one candidate remaining for consideration, THE STANDING COMMITTEE SUSPENDED PROGRESS TOWARD PRESENTING NOMINEES to the Diocese.
2. Given our inability to construct a timeline that could result in an election of a bishop by January, THE STANDING COMMITTEE WILL POSTPONE THE CONVENTION SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 22-25, 2009 UNTIL OCTOBER 8-11, 2009.
3. The interim between bishops is now lengthened. However, THE STANDING COMMITTEE REMAINS COMMITTED TO ENSURING THE PROVISION OF EPISCOPAL PASTORAL CARE OF OUR CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS. Although we do not have specific details to present, we want to assure the people of the Diocese that we will provide for visiting bishops for confirmations, ordinations, and other needs.
Certainly, many issues and questions remain. In these weeks leading to Advent, we recognize that we will practice hope-full and active waiting in new ways this year.
Together, we will listen for God’s voice and direction.
Together, we will use the gifts God gives us as wise and generous stewards.
Together, we will see where God is leading us.
Please contact me, or any member of the Standing Committee, with any questions, hopes, or issues. As always, I am honored to share this Way with you.
Dawn Allen-Herron+
Standing Committee President
Dawn@AllenHerron.net
907-254-0526 (cell)
907-225-3296 (home/office)
Keep us in prayer
Please continue to keep the Search and Transition Committees in your prayers as we move forward in our quest to call our next Bishop of Alaska.
11/3/08
Feast of Richard Hooker 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
To the saints of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska:
Many of you have communicated with me and other members of the Standing Committee in the past two weeks. We feel the support that your prayers provide us, and we feel the weight of the responsibility of your trust. We continue our work with a commitment to preceding with caution and speed. In short, we share your impatience to “get on with it!” and find ourselves, today, quite surprised to be unable to do that in the way that we planned.
We expected that by today, we would have received and reviewed background information on the two persons who were recommended to us by the Bishop Search Committee. This information is supplied, in episcopal searches, by Oxford Documents. Instead, we have not yet received a full report on either person. As much as we want to make an announcement, and as much as we know you want us to, we will await the full reports before announcing the names of our nominees for the VIIIth Bishop of Alaska. At this point, our best guess is that all documents will be prepared and reviewed by mid-November.
The petition process is affected, too. In our teleconferenced meeting tonight, the Standing Committee decided to postpone the petition nomination process until the announcement of the nominees.
When the stakes are high, and when we care deeply about what is happening, many of us are tempted to read between the lines, behind the story, and into others’ intentions. In this case, the deep truth is so simple that it borders on the boring: it has taken longer to gather the necessary information than we imagined it would.
We built our Search timeline with enough room for unexpected scenarios such as this. There is no reason, at this point, to imagine that we will need to postpone either the election or consecration of our next bishop.
Today, on the feast day of Richard Hooker, we remember that our ancestors in the faith found God faithful in difficult times, particularly in times when the demands of one extreme or another seem overwhelming. Along with our sisters and brothers, today’s collect is both our prayer, and an instruction to us: “… O God of truth and peace….grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Please continue to phone or email me with your hopes, concerns, and questions.
Dawn Allen-Herron+, President
Episcopal Diocese of Alaska Standing Committee
Dawn@AllenHerron.net
(907)254-0526 (cell)
11/2/08
On Sunday, October 19th, the Standing Committee received the report of the Bishop Search Committee. Recognizing that the proverbial ball is now in our court, we want to communicate the following as widely as possible throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska:
1. The Standing Committee gives thanks to God – and to the members of the Bishop Search Committee – for their faithful, diligent, and prayerful work and deliberation. We recognize that each member was supported by family, friends, and the prayers of the members of the Diocese. For each of these, we also give thanks.
2. The Standing Committee firmly supports the discernment process, and the Spirit-led work of the Bishop Search Committee. Their report to us included details of their discernment process, but did not include identifying information about any persons whose names had been submitted to them, except the names that they recommended to us as nominees.
3. The Standing Committee intends to nominate the two persons recommended by the Bishop Search Committee as candidates for the VIIIth Bishop of Alaska, pending our receipt and review of the required background check information. Some will remember that the Search Committee was charged to bring three names forward. Though they worked toward that expectation, the unexpected and difficult result of their discernment was that only two names were submitted to the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee acknowledges that moving forward with two names includes potential difficulties; however, we resolved that our support of the Search Committee’s process leads us to accept their conclusions.
4. The names of the two nominees will be published at the same time, after the Standing Committee has received and reviewed the results of a required background check. We expect that to publish the names on or near November 3, 2008. Until that time, these names will remain confidential. We are working closely with all appropriate persons and agencies to get this information as quickly as possible, and we have a plan in place to ensure that our review happens quickly.
5. The process for Nomination by Petition will be open from November 3-November 28, 2008. This is a change in dates from what was originally published. The change is due to a change in our expected receipt of background information on the Search Committee recommendations. Further information about the Nomination by Petition process will be available on the "Nomination by Petition" link at this site.
The members of the Standing Committee are eager to answer any questions that we can; please contact any of us directly with your concerns, questions, and ideas. I may be contacted by email at Dawn@AllenHerron.net, or by phone at either 907-225-3296 or 907-254-0526. The staff at the Bishop’s office in Fairbanks can provide contact information for other Standing Committee members.
Such a Grand Adventure we share! Along with you, I am eager to see the landscape of God’s unfolding Adventure for the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska.
Rev. Dawn Allen-Herron
Standing Committee President
10/24/08
In September, as a final step of the discernment process, committee members went to visit the finalists in their home environments. These visits were very informative and enlightening. The weekend of October 3-5, the Search Committee met in Anchorage for it’s final working retreat of our Search process. We met at a bed and breakfast in the lower hillside of Anchorage, eliminating outside distractions, enabling us to fully focus on our task at hand. Our time together was spent discussing the candidate visits, and prayerfully creating our final slate to present to the Standing Committee on October 19th. We also finalized the Petition Process, which will open October 20, through our webpage. Our final item of business was to create a DRAFT schedule for the candidate “Fly-abouts” in January. We have created a schedule, which will allow them to get a good taste of each of our four deaneries (in the heart of winter)!
We are in the homestretch folks! By the Grace of God, we have persevered as a Diocese. In a short three months, we will be sheep in a shepherd’s fold. Until then, please continue to keep your Search and Transition Committees in your prayers.
In September, members of our committee will be making on-site visits to our final nominees to witness their ministry first-hand.
October will find our committee meeting one final time to prepare our presentation to the Standing Committee of our final candidate names. God willing, we are hoping to have our number down to three candidates.
So much to accomplish in such little time! In less than six months, we will be celebrating the election of the 8th Bishop of Alaska.
10/15/08
In July, all but one member of the Search Committee gathered together to discern the remaining Bishop candidates to decide who would be asked to continue in the process with us. An entire weekend was spent praying and discerning together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We prayerfully discussed each candidate individually, providing time for each member to speak about each candidate and the information that had been submitted. Once a decision was made about a candidate, we prayed over that candidate and took a five-minute break. Other than a break for lunch, we continued this process for each of the candidates, well into the evening. By the end of July, all candidates were notified whether or not they were being asked to continue in the discernment process with us.
The next step for the committee is to meet again mid-August in Anchorage to hold telephone interviews with the remaining candidates.
8/01/08
It is hard to believe we have been on this journey for an entire year now. It was this time last June when the Search, Transition and Standing Committees met in Wasilla for the first time. In search of our new Bishop, the committees defined the work ahead, and each member individually committed to seeing the work accomplished. The Search Committee immediately settled down to business, and business it has been. Hectic at some times, frustrating at others, each step has truly been a rewarding experience. We are proud of our Diocesan Profile and excited about the variety of candidates who have offered themselves to enter into discernment with our Diocese. Thank you for all the information and conversation that helped us build the profile. And thank you for your prayerful nominations of candidates.
Most recently, we notified each of the nominees whether or not they were remaining in the discernment process with us. As we continue studying the information provided by each of the candidates, we are also beginning reference checks. Because we find it imperative that the voice of each of our members be included in this stage of discernment, in the middle of June, one of our members will fly to the Arctic Coast to meet with two of our members to go over candidate packets in person. Then, the entire Search Committee will meet in Anchorage July 18 – 20 to discuss the nominees and the next phase of our process. Our consultant and chaplain will both be present at our gathering. By the end of August, our committee will have prayerfully determined the candidates whom we will be contacting to affirm our continued discernment. In early fall we will begin visiting candidates. The final candidates that we present to the Standing Committee, and through them to you will be requested to make a personal videotape answering some predetermined questions, which will eventually be shared with each congregation in the Diocese.
It is as we enter this next stage that you may wonder about our progress. Although we cannot convey much information, rest assured we are busy at work. Just think, by this time next year, we will have our newly installed Bishop, walking amongst us!
6/12/08
Shirley L. Lee resigned as Co-Chair of the Bishop Search Committee in early May to accept a position in the Diocesan Office. In her new position Shirley has dual roles: Youth Ministry Coordinator and Communication Specialist.
The Search Committee is extremely grateful for Shirley's participation in the search process this past year and will miss her leadership skills as Co-Chair.
The nominations are in! As of midnight, April 30th, we closed nominations for the 8th Bishop of Alaska. It looks like we have many fine candidates, from both inside and outside Alaska. Now comes the arduous task of perusing each of the applicant packets. The Search Committee will be spending many hours filtering through material. Unfortunately, you will hear little from us during this stage. Our next major deadline is June 1st, when we will be notifying candidates if they are still under consideration for the position. We have much work ahead of us this summer and fall to be ready to announce the three finalists to the Diocese by November. Do not take our silence as a sign of slow progress; know that the Holy Spirit is working mightily amongst us! By this time next year, we will have welcomed our new Bishop into our Alaskan family.
5/10/08
What an exciting time we enter into; our Diocesan Profile finished, our web-page fully functional and our hearts open to entering the process to follow God’s Will in finding our next Bishop.
In the short time June until February, the Search Committee has done some phenomenal work. Coming together as strangers, we soon became family. By holding many local gatherings and talking circles within communities across our State, we have identified many of the hopes, dreams and desires of our Diocese. We were able to compile them into one incredible Profile, beautifully expressing the blessings and challenges of our Diocese, offering a candid peek at our true essence. (A printed copy of this Profile will be mailed out to each of the Episcopal congregations within our Diocese.) Our faithful friend and consultant, Betsy Greenman, of the Diocese of Olympia, has been invaluable as our consultant, guiding us through the process and serving as deployment officer for the National Church as we move forward in opening our Call to the wider communion.
It is now that we move into the next phase of our Search. We open our hearts and minds to listen carefully to whom God has called to lead us. The nomination and application processes are now open through April 30th, both locally and nationally. Interested persons are encouraged to enter into this discernment process with us to explore God’s Call. Forms for nomination and application can be found at the top of this webpage.
2/3/08
The Search Committee has spent the past month fine-tuning our Diocesan Profile for our Bishop Search. The Committee has presented the final draft to the Standing Committee for approval in January. We are officially opening the position on February 8! Applicants will have until April 30th to submit completed paperwork if they wish to be considered as the next Bishop of Alaska.
1/22/08
The Search Committee has been hard at work compiling information for our new Bishop’s Profile so we can move forward in our search process. Before convention, we met with the clergy to solicit their input toward the profile. During convention we were able to break out by Deanery to hold conversations centered on our five Profile Questions. Two different Search Committee members facilitated discussions in each Deanery, other than their own. The following day, each Deanery was able to report back to the entire Convention about their responses. This process was hugely informative to the Search Committee. Our final report to Convention was a summary of our work thus far, and we were able to provide an updated Timeline for representatives to take back to their congregations.
