A Prayer

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a rector for this parish, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The latest news...

08/26/2009 - From your Senior Warden, Sherry Dunn: With a great deal of joy and thanksgiving I am able to finally announce to you that, through the tireless work of the Search Committee - and the faith the Vestry and the entire congregation placed in it - a new Rector has been called to Christ Church, Tyler. He is The Reverend David A. Luckenbach, and he comes to us from St. Mark's on the Mesa in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

David, his wife Silvia, and their three precious children - William, Jonathan and Katherine "Katie" - have already begun the process of moving to Tyler. While David will be at Rally Day on September 13 to preach, his first official Sunday as Celebrant and Rector of Christ Church will be September 20.

To read the above article in its entirety, clink on the News & Events tab, then the Crucifer tab. This article can be found on the front page of the August 26, 2009 issue.

05/26/2009 - Your search committee continues to work diligently to determine whom God is calling to be the next rector for Christ Church. We are in the process of visiting candidates in their home parishes. Typically, the travel teams have three members. We have been traveling on Saturdays, arriving in the early afternoon. We meet and interview the candidate. The interview is very structured, containing questions we feel are crucial to understanding whether or not the candidate will be a good fit for Christ Church. This discussion takes about three hours and is pretty intense. Following the interview, we tour the candidate's church and, later, take the candidate and their spouse to a nice dinner. We attend church (inconspicuously) the next day, and afterwards return to Tyler. The search committee then meets as a whole the following Monday for a debriefing. The next step is to have the finalist(s) come to Tyler to meet with the entire committee.

We can say that we have some excellent candidates and that the visiting portion is almost complete. We will have a new rector soon. It can be very stressful to serve on a committee charged with finding a rector/priest/pastor for this congregation, but we feel that this is God's parish and His priest will be coming here. Trusting fully in Him is a sure stress reliever.

We want to again recognize and thank Ted and Ann Welty for their ministry among us. They came to us at a critical time and have meant so much to so many. We know that God will continue to bless their ministry. Please continue to pray for Ted and Ann as they begin a new chapter in their ministry, for your search committee, and for all the candidates and their families who are involved in our search process.

In Christ,

Peyton Luckett and Tim Alexander, Search Committee Co-Chairs

04/02/2009 - From your new Senior Warden - I am happy to report that the Search Committee has been hard at work for the past few months and has begun to realize the fruits of its labors. The Diocese of Texas has developed a very helpful tool for parishes to use in their searches - one that is modeled after corporate search procedures, yet fitted to the specific needs of churches - and the committee received training by diocesan staff in its implementation.

After receiving suggestions from many of you (thank you for your valuable input!), the committee submitted names to the diocese. Those potential candidates were vetted by the Bishop's office and, as a result of their response, packets have been sent to several priests.

The result of those early labors by a very committed Search Committee has yielded the following: small groups of committee members will begin visiting some of the candidates in the next few weeks. I cannot tell you where they will be traveling - confidentiality is key to a proper search. But, I will tell you with absolute certainty, that the committee is excited about these prospects and looking forward to in-depth conversations with each of them.

This process is a very deliberate one, and one filled with prayer and discernment. I hope that you will keep the committee in your prayers as they begin their travels on behalf of all of us. I have great hopes for the future of this remarkable church, and I am confident that the right rector will be called to lead us into the future.

Thank you for your caring and your prayers.

Sherry Dunn, Senior Warden

02/26/09 - From the Search Committee - Training has been accomplished and names have been submitted to the Diocese for approval. Some names have been approved, and Christ Church profile information has been mailed out to those candidates. We will begin making follow-up phone calls to that group this week. We are awating approval of other names submitted. Plans are to begin visiting candidates in March.

Please continue to pray for the committee, the search process, our new rector, and his/her family. We are thankful for our clergy and staff, who are taking such good care of us during this interim. It certainly makes our job less stressful.

12/10/08 - As I look at our upcoming New Year, and reflect on all that has happened in the life of Christ Church over the 2008 calendar year, I cannot help but reflect on all that we have accomplished. Although we are faced with an unforeseen challenge with our Rector search, we have been gifted with an opportunity for new life that is only possible with new talents, strengths and skills. The construction of our Grelling-Spence Building will go far in facilitating this opportunity for new life, and we will be rewarded with the growth that we have faithfully planned for so long.

Our Search Committee has now met several times and developed their strategy. As they prayerfully go about their search, I feel confident that they will bring us an awesome new Rector. Part of the search process is to submit names to our Diocese for consideration as potential candidates. I encourage you all to submit any name, or names, that you feel would be a good candidate for our new rector. You can pick up a form at our church office to help with any submission, which will then be turned over to our Search Committee.

Thank you all for all you do, and have a wonderful Christmas season.

Yours, in Christ,

Elam F. Swann III, Senior Warden

11/19/08 - Our search Committee is in full swing now. Peyton Luckett and Tim Alexander have prayerfully selected a diverse and spiritual group from our parish, and they are listed below. Ann Normand, Canon To The Ordinary, visited our church on Tuesday, November 11th and gave them an overview of the entire search process. The following Sunday, November 16th, Mary MacGregor, Director of Leadership Development, came and began the training process. This training process is written and directed by our Diocese and will be very helpful in our search.

As we enter into this phase of our Rector Search, it is exciting to know that there are already a number of Rectors out there that are aware of our situation and have an eye on us. Although we will not have access to any of these names until our training is complete, just knowing that the Diocese is in thoughful prayer for us brings tremendous comfort and assurance. We are now looking ahead, visualizing the next leader for our church.

Please keep the list of our Search Committee below and pray for them as they begin their training. We are a prayerful congregation. We know who we are, as a "community of apostles," and we do "seek to serve Christ in all people by sharing the gospel." This process is moving along at a very healthy pace, not rushed, and not too slow. Let us follow our Lord's lead and trust in where he takes us.

Yours, in Christ,

Elam F. Swann III, Senior Warden

Search Committee - Peyton Luckett, Co-Chair, Tim Alexander Co-Chair, Andrew Roberts, Sherry Dunn, Bill Ferrell, Susan Rossman, Libby Seago, Jimmy Wynne, Lynne Short, Holly Marsh

11/5/08 - After several weeks of consideration and prayer, our Search Committee Co-Chairmen, Tim Alexander and Peyton Luckett, have now chosen their Search Committee. As I think about their list of diverse parishioners chosen for this task, I realize that we are now entering into the second phase of our search process, and feel one step closer to our next leader.

I ask that we all enter into daily prayer for the work this committee has undertaken. As those of you who have served in this capacity in the past are aware, this is a huge commitment and demand on both time and talents. There will be many hours of hard work, and our prayers and support will energize them to do the best job possible.

As I have stated before, only our Lord God knows who our next Rector will be, but that person will be awesome. We have so much to offer, and it excites me to consider just how lucky I know they will feel as they enter our church and see all we are about. You are a great Parish. I feel honored to be a part of you, and I know our next Rector will as well.

Yours, in Christ,

Elam F. Swann III, Senior Warden

 

10/22/08 - Teamwork. Webster's dictionary defines teamwork as "a group of people working together to achieve a common goal". As I watch our church during this interim time, I clearly see teamwork at it's best. I believe that each and every individual member of our church has "teamed up" to do their part in our transitional process. We are all called to contribute to the end that we will achieve our common goal of locating the next Rector to lead us forth, and I see us all contributing to that goal.

To break this down, there are many "players" in our rector search process. Our staff is working harder than ever to insure that we continue on a path of growth and remain in good heath. Our Clergy have taken this opportunity in their church career to give of themselves joyfully and tirelessly in their commitment to all of you. Every person asked to accomplish a needed task has undertaken that task with dedication and devotion, knowing that each part of our process must be completed with excellence to attain the end result that we pursue. All of these people have given of themselves and placed our church first in their lives.

But the real team members that represent the foundation from which we will accomplish our goal is you, our congregation. Your positive support in this process, from the day of Harrison's announcement, has been phenomenal. And that support, including your prayers, your faith in our Vestry, your work on our Parish Profile, and your encouraging comments has energized our "team" and given us the drive that we need to grow over the next several months of this process. I thank God in my prayers for you, our team.

I also thank God for the health of our church, and this "health" is shown by the responses from our recent Parish Profile that you should have received by now. We had responses from 77 families, and as I consider them, I realize that when a church such as ours is going well and pleasing our Lord, the responses will be very different than with a church in need of healing. As I have stated, we are very much a church in good condition. Things are going well. We are building. We are growing. We are sound in our ministries and in our faith, and God has blessed us. Through our survey you have exhibited this with your comments and responses. As the saying goes, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Our church is not in need of repair, and what a joy that is. I thank you, our congregation, for that.

I will see you at church,

Elam F. Swann III, Senior Warden

10/06/08 - Our Parish Profile Survey is concluded. Thank you for your responses to this survey. You can expect a summary of these results in the mail soon.

9/24/08 - We are compiling Parish Profile Survey data, analyzing and summarizing results, and we will mail the information when it is available.