Ministerial Search Committee
The Ministerial Search Committee was formed to identify a candidate for the congregation to consider as a called minister.
Please read the communications from the Search Committee as they progress through their search.
If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to email the committee at searchcommittee@firstuu.org
Your Search Committee:
Lydia Luz, Co-Chair
Becky Smith, Co-Chair
Steve Braun
Johanna DeYoung
Marilyn Knight
Mary Koch
Ruth Hoffman-Lach
Ministerial Search Committee
August 16 Update
Congregational Survey Closes and Cottage Meetings End on September 8.
The Ministerial Search Committee is grateful for the 100+ people who have completed the Congregational Survey and for those who have attended Cottage Meetings! We appreciate your involvement in the First UU Houston community by sharing your opinions and priorities for a Settled Minister. We need to hear from everyone! We have an ambitious goal to receive a total of 185 completed surveys by September 8.
Please simply click here to take the Survey. You may also get hard copies at the Ministerial Search Committee Table on Sundays in Channing Hall.
In addition, please sign up for one of the remaining Cottage Meetings:
- Cottage Meeting, in-person on Sunday, August 18 at 1pm at the church, room 304
- Cottage Meeting, via Zoom, on Sunday, August 18 at noon (RSVP for the link.)
- Cottage Meeting, via Zoom, on Thursday, August 22 at 6:30pm (RSVP for the link)
- Cottage Meeting, in-person, Sunday, August 25 at 10:30am at the church, room 304
- Cottage Meeting, in-person on Sunday, September 1st at 1pm at the church, room 304
- Cottage Meeting, in-person on Sunday, September 8 at 1pm at the church, room 304
There are less than 4 weeks left to make your voice heard. Don’t delay…..September 8th will be here before you know it!
Ministerial Search Committee
August 8 Update
Your Ministerial Search Committee has been very busy, so busy in fact, we forgot to send a July update.
On July 3, we released the Congregational Survey to help us understand the characteristics and aspirations of our Beloved Community as seen through your eyes. So far, we have received 97 responses. If you still need to complete the Survey, please do so. We want to hear from you. The Survey can be completed online or by hard copy. The link to the Survey is included in every weekly newsletter and can be found above as well.
For a hard copy, stop by the Search Committee table on any Sunday to pick one up. The Survey will remain open until September 8. After that date, no more responses will be accepted. This will give us time to analyze the data, write a report, and present it to the Board at their September Board meeting.
We also began holding cottage meetings in July. These are small focus groups designed to hear from you in a more conversational setting. Cottage meetings are held every Sunday at 1:00 pm at the church and Zoom meetings can be scheduled for 5 to 10 people. Standing groups that meet regularly may also schedule a custom time for a cottage meeting. Everyone is encouraged to attend a cottage meeting even if you have completed the survey. These are two discrete methods of collecting information from members and friends as we complete Phase 1 of the Ministerial Search process. Please sign up for a Cottage meeting at the Search Committee table on Sunday or reach us at SearchCommittee@firstuu.org.
Lastly, in June we began having a member of the Search Committee be available every Sunday after both the first and second service. If you have questions, comments or just want to check-in, please stop by our table in Channing Hall.
Thank you for the honor of serving the congregation in this important endeavor.
Yours in love and peace,
Lydia Luz and Becky Smith, Co-Chairs
Steve Braun, Johanna DeYoung, Ruth Hoffman-Lach, Marilyn Knight and Mary Koch
Ministerial Search Committee
June 6 Update
We are pleased to update you on the progress of the Ministerial Search Committee. We held a team building and organizing retreat on Saturday, May 25 and discovered some new things about each other, ranging from what song we would most likely choose to sing at a karaoke bar to our working styles..
Significant steps taken in the day included creating a timeline for the work during Phase I which comprises canvassing the congregation to determine if the congregation feels Rev. Colin is a good fit for our Settled Minister. It is our goal to hear from as many folks as possible, so we will be providing as many opportunities and avenues for communication as we can. These include:
- A List of Frequently Asked Questions
- Congregational Survey (online and hard copy available July1 -September 8)
- Search Committee members available weekly at a table in Channing Hall on Sundays for conversations
- Opportunities to submit questions to the Search Committee via email at searchcommittee@firstuu.org
- Small group meetings July through September both virtual and in person.
All of these actions are designed to engage the congregation and collect input, ideas, preferences, and feedback.
Thank you for entrusting us with this important work. We covenant to work diligently, without bias and we look forward to engaging with as many of you as possible in the coming months.