Haven’t reported much back yet on this, since there’s No Official Word. The candidate met last Thursday night with the Vestry to get a better feel for us, ask us questions about the congregation and parish and our direction and where we see things going and how we expect to be working with the new rector and all that.
It’s funny, because on the one hand, one expect, it being a Religious Office, for there to be a Heavenly Choir, and Flock of Angels, and a Shaft of Godly Light suffusing everyone and making this all a Clear, Divinely-Inspired Mission.
On the other hand, God helps those that help themselves, and good, solid business/recruiting practices are and should be a natural part of this sort of thing. We are, in essence, hiring a new CEO from out of state, with the intent of bringing them in for a five year contract. The candidate, in turn, is looking at a position that will likely be the climax of their career, involving a move out of state, and all that entails. A major business decision for all concerned, and something that just holding hands and singing Kumbayah and trusting to the Lord would be … neglectful of the duty given us.
But the religion and faith bits are an important part of it as well. Lose sight of that, and we might as well be just a business. And we’re not.
It’s an uneasy balance, the sacred and the secular, in church matters. Get out of that balance, and things are liable to go seriously wrong.