Bishop Search Status: From a committee member’s perspective…

It seems like yesterday when I made my first journey to the Church of the Good Samaritan in Knoxville to meet my fellow committee members searching for the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee. In the last weeks before Christmas 2009 as we study the timeline of the process that we are about to start, its benchmarks appear like goals in a distant future – the announcement of the slate by the Standing Committee in November 2010, and the election in February 2011. The ordination of the new Bishop appears even further out, in June2011. Today, the markers on our timeline are not distant anymore. Instead, as a committee,- and as a diocese, we are right in the middle of the search process.

July 2010: The Diocesan Profile is posted

One of the first key tasks was to gather and distribute information. The committee created a website and published articles through Facebook. We were present at the diocesan convention in Knoxville and we conducted several regional and focus group meetings to listen to our shared hopes and dreams for the new bishop. Many shared comments through the online survey. All this work culminated in the creation of a diocesan profile. I cannot begin to count the many hours committee members worked to write text, organize pictures, check facts, and yes, debate the proper use of the comma. I thought I knew a lot about our diocese, but our work on the profile has given me a renewed appreciation for the rich diversity of our community and the countless activities in which we engage each other, the church, and society at large. All our work on the profile has certainly been worth it! The document was downloaded from our website thousands of times and the profile has been read not only by people in our diocese, but also by people throughout the Episcopal Church and the broader Anglican Communion.

The second key task started in June with the gathering of names. Using the online form of the search committee website, people submitted the names of many Episcopal priests eligible for election. For nearly two months, every day new names streamed in to the committee; names of women and men, each of whom would make a great bishop. Every single person whose name was submitted received a phone call from the committee. Can you imagine sitting at your desk one afternoon and getting an unexpected call: “Hi, Jane Doe thinks you would make a great fourth bishop for East Tennessee. Check out our profile, say your prayers and tell us if you would like to join the discernment.” It is thus not surprising that all of them entered into a personal time of prayer and discernment. Some withdrew their names from consideration early on, while many others took the next step and submitted essays and resumes. Today, those people who choose to discern with us will remain in the search process as the committee moves to the next step.

So what is next? We are making our way through the files, giving each name equal consideration. Committee members have also become liaisons to the different people who are being considered, keeping them informed about the process and answering their questions. The next step involves interviewing, screening, calling references and visiting. Most importantly, we refer back to the diocesan profile as our guide - for it is in this document, created from comments, survey results, and group meetings - that our collective vision for the diocese becomes most clear: This is what we are looking for in a bishop for us all.

The next three months are a delicate phase in the search process -- for the committee, for the people whose names are being considered and their families, and for the diocese itself. We are all involved in a mutual process of discernment, of getting to know each other, of seeing if a person is possibly the ‘right fit’ for us. This involves sharing personal thoughts and asking difficult questions. To create an environment of trust in which these conversations can flourish we will need to maintain strict confidentiality. It is natural that people in the diocese will ask search committee members, “I submitted this name, how is she doing in the process, or, how did his interview go?” We cannot tell you. However, you can help us. Keep the members of the search and transition committees in your prayers. Pray for those who entered into this discernment process with us. Pray for their families and ours. Pray for this diocese and the countless people that are supporting the process in ways that are too often unseen. Pray also for the Bishop and Annie vonRosenberg.

By the time the next East Tennessee Episcopalian will reach your mailbox, the Standing Committee will have announced its slate of nominees and the work of the Search Committee will be complete. Until that day, be assured that somewhere in this diocese sixteen people are making their way through an ever-growing pile of files. It has been a great honor and privilege for me to serve with them and to get to know them. I know that I speak for each committee member when I say that our work became possible because of the tremendous talents of Lynn Schmissrauter who chairs our meetings and guides our individual and collective efforts.

“Thank You!” to everyone who has contributed their time, thoughts, and feelings to the search process.

Erik Broeren, Committee Member