How the Mission Reshapes Our Pastoral Staff

Jenny Buckley
Council President

Getting Ready for the Annual Meeting: Part 2 of 5

Structure and Pastoral Staffing 

With the departures of Pastors Diane and Mary, many people have been asking, when are we calling a new pastor and who that will be? First, let me remind you that a Pastoral Call Committee is in place and working hard as it goes about the task of calling a new pastor. As the committee does its work, the question that the council, leadership teams, and staff have been discussing is, “How can we support the vision and mission with our pastors, staff, and programs?”

As explained last week, the mission of Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) is, “we exist as a community to discover, grow, and live into our individual relationships with Jesus Christ.” The four core ministries of worship, learn, connect, and care have been identified to support this mission.

Council and staff are beginning the process of evaluating everything we do as a church to determine where we are aligned with our mission and where there are currently gaps. Our resources, whether they be time, manpower, or money, will be best spent when they are invested in the priorities identified by our church.

Another area of discussion has been the pastoral staff model that our mission suggests. Council and staff agree that in order to implement our mission with fidelity, we need five full-time pastors at SOTV. In this structure, there would be a senior pastor that carries the vision and mission forward and then there would be one pastor assigned to each of the four core ministries of our mission.

This means that in addition to the senior pastor, we would have a pastor of worship, a pastor of learning, a pastor of connect (fellowship and service), and a pastor of care. Of course, all SOTV pastors would continue to collaborate in all areas of our mission. However, by aligning one pastor with each of the four core pillars of our mission, we will ensure that our resources are being used in the best ways and we are living our vision and mission with integrity.

Currently, we have three full-time pastors and a part-time interim pastor. Our priority is to call the Pastor of Connect first while also investigating the process for calling a Pastor of Worship.

Next week, I’ll explain the call process and update you on the work of the call committee. As always, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact me via the council e-mail: council@sotv.org. 

Blessings,
Jenny Buckley-Church Council President

Choosing Initiatives for Our Vision

By Kari Slotten
Project Manager: Vision Implementation

For the last several months, members of staff, council, and leadership teams have been expanding upon our vision of "Welcome, Transform, Send" by developing a revised mission statement with corresponding initiatives. Below is an update on this progress. You will have an opportunity to give your feedback at one of three upcoming Congregation Dialogues: Saturday, March 7 at 5:00 pm in the Atrium and
Sunday, March 8 at 11:00 am or 12:00 pm in the Chapel.

I’d especially like to hear your feedback on proposed initiatives by March 15, 2015. Council will vote on these at its March 19 meeting. You can contact me at (952) 985-7356 or kari.slotten@sotv.org. 

In February, Council approved our updated Vision and Mission. The Vision is aspirational, and reads as follows:

VISION:  We invite all people to experience the Welcome, Transformation, and Sending of Jesus Christ.

Welcome: We invite people in all stages of their faith journey to experience Jesus through our ministries in Christian community.
Transform: We are changed as we experience Jesus through our relationships and ministries.
Send: We are inspired to apply our faith daily by loving others and sharing the Good News of Jesus.

We will also have revolving focus years of “welcome, transform, and send,” when each component in turn receives special emphasis and targeted initiatives.

The Mission highlights why we exist, and will help us choose initiatives as we live into our Vision.  Our Mission reads as follows:

MISSION:  In community, we discover, grow, and live into our individual relationships with Jesus Christ.  Four core ministries support faith formation:

Worship: We praise God, and are spiritually fed, through God’s Word, music, prayer, and sacraments.   
Learn: We grow our Biblical knowledge, enrich our understanding, and apply our faith to daily life.
Connect: We develop and strengthen relationships in our congregation, local community, and global community through invitation and service.
Care: We offer compassion, companionship, and faith affirmation throughout life’s journey.

These statements come through congregational surveys and discussions, and many discussions with Council, Staff, and Leadership Teams.

Now, the goal is to choose initiatives.  

These are ways to focus our efforts within each area of our Mission, so that we’re working toward common goals.  After discussion with Staff, Council, and Leadership Teams, we’ve drafted some initiatives to share with you.

Recommended WORSHIP initiatives focus on growing worship:

• Explore new ways to promote worship and SOTV, especially Saturday
• Explore new ways to make worship more engaging to all ages

Recommended LEARN initiatives focus on creating goals and identifying gaps:

• Develop goals and strategies for cradle to grave learning
• Offer a variety of experiences to learn in different ways
• Examine Children, Youth, and Family programs and structure
• Identify and address perceived gaps
• Offer progressive courses

Recommended CONNECT initiatives focus on relationships: note this is a new pastoral role, and is under development.

• Within the congregation:
  • Evaluate current fellowship offerings, and explore opportunities to use them for reaching out to the community too
  • Explore ways to foster connections and relationships around SOTV, centering on “invitation” and “service”

• Within our community:
  • Work with civic, non-profit, and business leaders to better understand unmet needs in our surrounding area
  • Identify and strengthen partnership opportunities

Recommended CARE initiatives focus on promoting our offerings:

• Increase awareness and utilization (as needed) of care and support offerings
• Prayer chain
• Care available from lay leaders, parish nurses, and pastors
• Support groups
• Develop intentional connection to Worship, Learn, and Connect

Several initiatives that impact all areas are already in some form of development:

• Website – Especially important in connecting with visitors, and regulars wanting to register for events and classes. Website, database, and social media initiatives fall under the Engagement Team.
• Database – Consistent information that can be accessed by all staff as appropriate is important. Seeking improvement in maintaining current information and interests, promoting events in relevant ways, fostering connection and caring, facilitate volunteer registrations, among other things. The Engagement Team has recently begun work on assessing our database needs.
• Membership – Would like to explore rationale for membership, and promote ways that commitment (through membership or otherwise) can deepen faith and foster connection. Focus on responsibilities (like partners) vs. expectations (like membership). Consider task force, sermon series, etc.
• Simplifying communications and processes – Emphasize visitor-friendly resources, simpler bulletin/newsletter handout, common information for staff and volunteers to guide others, opportunities for cross-promoting worship and programs

What do you think about these initiatives?  Would you like more information?  Does something sound exciting and you’d like to get involved?  You can contact me at (952) 985-7356 or kari.slotten@sotv.org.

Implementing Our Vision: New Worship Leader Identified

Last summer, we introduced Our Vision for ministry: Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) will invite all people to experience the Welcome, Transformation and Sending of Jesus Christ. Last fall, we published specific plans of how we would invest in worship to achieve Our Vision, including the creation of a new full-time Worship Leader position.

The job of the full-time Worship Leader is to plan and lead our band-led worship, and also help evaluate our worship options in terms of structure, style, visuals, music and overall experience. While we worked over the past year to identify a candidate for this position, Brian Bremer served as a part-time interim leader. We are very grateful to Brian for his work, leadership, and dedication to the ministry of SOTV. Brian’s collaboration with staff and volunteers enabled a successful transition of band-led worship from the Great Hall to the Sanctuary. We are thankful to Brian for his work as the interim leader.

Brian will continue to lead the band through the 11:00 a.m. worship service on Sunday, July 28, 2013. Following the 11:00 service, Brian will be available to greet you in the Great Hall. Please join us and express your appreciation! We look forward to continued worship and fellowship with Brian and his family.

Our year-long search was a significant, wide, and prayerful process which included input from a large group of people. We are pleased to announce Shawn Vaughan will join our team as the new Worship Leader effective August 1, 2013. Shawn will lead 11:00 a.m. worship beginning Sunday, August 4, 2013.

Shawn comes to SOTV with many years of worship and band leadership across a variety of venues. His training and education includes a degree from McNally Smith College of Music, in addition to a passion for ministry and excellence in worship. Shawn will report to Mark Ertl, Director of Music and Worship, and collaborate with the pastoral staff. In addition, he will provide leadership to the band and other musicians. We are excited to experience Shawn using his skills and gifts to create meaningful and inspirational worship. Please join us and warmly welcome Shawn!

Growing Into Our Vision

In December 2012, Growing Into Our Vision was created and published in the Winter 2013 News for the Flock, as well as a standalone publication.

It explains in great detail how and why the Vision was created, and many of the steps that Shepherd of the Valley will take in the months and years to come as we seek to live out Our Vision. In particular:

• The Great Commission: What Jesus Asks of Us
• Welcoming All People
• Worship is Our Center
• The Path to Common Ground
• Expanding Beyond Our Walls

Download a PDF of Growing Into Our Vision

Sharing the Vision: A Three-Week Worship Series

Throughout 2011 & 2012, Pastor Chris Smith and a Vision Team worked prayerfully and diligently on a Vision for Shepherd of the Valley.

During the fall of 2012, Pastor Chris presented the main aspects of the Vision over the course of three weeks at all worship services:

Welcome - Transform - Send

These sermons can be viewed in their entirety below. Audio-only versions can be heard here. (Smartphones are not supported at this time.)

Annual Congregational Meeting: Being Grateful

On Sunday, June 24, 2012, 115 people attended the annual congregational meeting, almost 4x more than last year! Surely the food we served was a draw but there are also exciting things afoot at SOTV. The room was buzzing as we shared our new vision for ministry adopted by the council in April:

Shepherd of the Valley invites and welcomes all people to experience and be transformed by the love of Christ and be sent out to share that love with others. 

It’s a simple, compelling vision. Jesus is calling us to keep reaching out with his love. You’ll hear more about our vision this fall. I believe you will find SOTV’s vision as energizing to you as it is to me. Thank you to the whole congregation for another year of great ministry.

Thank you to everyone who attended the congregational meeting and helped approved a new budget including new investments to realize our vision. Thanks are also due to church council leaders who have worked hard to develop our shared vision, especially Kari Slotten, who concluded many years of service as a Council Member, Council Vice President and President. We also thank Todd Sipe as he concludes his work as Council President and will continue to serve a term as a past president.

The work of the council is important and demanding and I am grateful to these leaders for carrying our vision for the whole congregation. Most of all, I give thanks to our Lord Jesus, who calls us, claims us and send us out by his everlasting love.

See you in church,
Pastor Chris Smith