April will mark the turning point in our transition process. We will completely finalize the two documents that will describe our church to prospective rectors: our Portfolio for the Office of Transition Ministry (OTM) website will be sent to Canon Alvarez at the Diocese, and our Parish Profile will be added to our own website. The OTM Portfolio has already been approved by the Vestry and the Parish Profile is currently under Vestry review. Praise God!

We have been blessed with the help of parishioners outside the Discernment Committee to create the Parish Profile. Claude Coulson wrote a description of our Rectory and buildings. Lee Braidwood provided the financials. Len Fedullo and Kelly Lynd created a gallery of wonderful photographs. The Vestry wrote and adopted a Mission Statement for Good Shepherd. The Discernment Committee tackled the rest of the writing, which included open discussions about the challenges our parish faces and the goals we have for the future. Finally, Jeff Bathurst is putting everything together as our Parish Profile designer/editor. Jeff is creating a beautiful “picture” of Good Shepherd in an engaging and professional format. We will soon share it with the whole congregation!

Our fabulous new website is live! The website is a collaborative work in progress, as such it will never be finished. All of us are now part of this collaboration: our Webmaster, Website Committee, and Parish Administrator will depend on input from the entire parish to keep it updated and fresh. Many thanks to the hardworking website team: Maureen Wynkoop (Webmaster), Rich Harrington (Chair), Sue Dixon, Len Fedullo, Tom Rigg, Chelsea Richmond, and Deb Prieto.

We have reached the end of the self-description phase of our transition. We have been blessed with great teamwork, open discussion, and welcome support from the parish. All of this is testimony to God’s presence among us at Good Shepherd! We are about to enter the next phase of the search when we will begin to consider who God has called for our next rector. Thanks to all for your help and prayers, and thanks be to God!

The Good Shepherd Discernment Committee
Mark Nicolle, Chairman
Roger Baker, Aimee Burgin, Pat Braidwood, Len Clark, Becky Goff, Stuart Lynd, Elizabeth Nelson, Deb Prieto, Chelsea Richmond, Tom Rigg, Chris Southwick, Jeff Snodgrass, Wayne Szalma, Diane Wall, Jim Wynkoop