April 17, 2024 Dear Good People of St. David’s, We are writing today with an update on our Rector Search. With gratitude, we announce that our Discernment Committee has finished its work and identified a final candidate. This person has been presented and approved by the Vestry. We are very proud of the work the committee has done and all they have accomplished since beginning the task last fall. The work of negotiation now falls to the Vestry, and we would like to explain that process to you. Negotiations take time and there are many details on which to work. We cannot anticipate how long it will be before this person starts here at St. David’s, but we can say that it will not be next week. We humbly ask for your grace as we work through all the details involved in a hire of this magnitude. Our goal is to set this person up for success. There is a deliberateness and intentionality to all the work we do here. This is not something we have had to do since the late nineties and this work will take time. Please be patient. While we know it is hard to wait and that this process might have seemed long, in reality, we have been working on God’s timeline and we are right on time. We cannot, and will not, identify the candidate until we have a signed contract. This is for many reasons, but first and foremost, to protect our candidate who has not told their current parish that they will be leaving. This confidentiality phase is routine and necessary. We pray that you can be understanding of this necessity. Once we have a signed contract and agreed upon start date, we will share all the details of our new Rector with you. We very much look forward to introducing our next leader. We are very blessed to have an excellent interim Rector in Devon, who will be with us until our new Rector begins. Devon has been charged by the Vestry, and is working very hard on, a series of systems and processes here at St. David’s. Devon and the Vestry are working to introduce some deliberate systems around personnel and stewardship that will help set up the new Rector for success. Please continue to remember the vestry and our finalist in your prayers, and a prayer of gratitude for the great work of our Discernment Committee. We remain your faithful servants, The Wardens of St. David’s |