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PASTOR
The Spirit is Alive! As I stood at the front of the sanctuary and looked out at all of your faces on Candidating Sunday, I could just feel presence of the Holy Spirit during our worship together. During the first couple of weeks of ministry with you, I witnessed a congregation that works together and worships together. Through the Thanksgiving service, Chain of Lights celebration, Advent season, Children’s Christmas service, and Christmas Eve services, I could feel the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us. The energy in this church is wonderful. I truly believe that God has a very special and exciting ministry planned for us.
I know that many of you are concerned about our budget and the oil problem. These are serious concerns and we all must admit that it is never comfortable to face such large challenges. The temptation is to turn away from such uncomfortable situation, yet as God’s faithful children, we are all called upon to put our faith into action. When the Israelites were faced with unbelievable hardship, slavery, pain, and unbearable suffering, God sent them Moses to lead them and guide them to the Promised Land. When Joseph wanted to run and abandon Mary, God sent an angel. We are people of faith! As people of faith, we have been given the tools to overcome oil problems and deficit budgets. We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit! Through the Spirit all things are possible! The solutions to our current problems may not be clear to us at this moment; they may seem beyond our reach. Yet don’t forget, people of God… that through God all things are possible. The Holy Spirit is with us! We have not been abandoned! God will show us the way out of our difficult situation, if only we believe, pray, work together, seek the guidance of the Holy One, and open our hearts and lives to the work of Heaven.
The future may not be easy, but I guarantee you that it is bright! I have felt the Holy presence of the Spirit, during our worship together. I have heard the Holy, speaking through the music of this church. I have seen the presence of Jesus in the eyes of our eager children and I know with every fiber of my being that God will not abandon us! God will lead us through this wilderness for we are meant to do God’s work in this community and beyond. All we have to do is pray, believe, open our hearts and minds to the presence of the Creator, allows God to lead us, and work side by side with each other as God’s faithful children. We can’t do this alone. But we can overcome these obstacles together and with the love and wisdom of our Creator.
Have faith people of God! Open your heart to God and allow the Spirit to move within our church. Come, Holy Spirit, Come! Your people are ready!
Peace:
Victoria
MODERATOR – CHURCH COUNCIL
This has been a challenging year for your Church Council and your Church family. There were the expectant hopes of calling a settled pastor and hiring a Choir Director/Organist. Discussions continued concerning our inability to fully fund the programs that we have come to expect from our church. Operations and maintenance issues became a central focus of Council activity.
Here are some of the issues and activities that were discussed:
Staffing:
§ Officers: At the conclusion of the annual meeting, two officer positions remained vacant: Treasurer and Clerk. I regret to inform the congregation that the Treasurer’s position remained unfilled for the whole year. The Moderator filled the position in as “Acting Treasurer”. At a Special Meeting of the Congregation held on May 6, 2007, Tracy Cardin was elected Clerk.
§ Choir Director/Organist: The Music Committee, in exercising due diligence, conducted a thorough search to find the right candidate for our church. In the spring, the committee made its’ selection and in July 2007, Erik Johnson agreed to join the First Church family. His ministry has expanded our horizons and lifted our spirits.
§ Settled Pastor: The Search Committee completed its goal and voted to recommend that a “Call” be extended to the Reverend Victoria Snow. At a special meeting of the Congregation held on October 14, 2007, the Congregation voted to extend the call and Rev. Snow accepted. This represents a milestone in the life of the church and is a culmination of the hopes and prayers of the entire congregation and the extraordinary effort made by the members of the Search Committee. Rev. Snow has been impressive in her first few months with us and has exhibited a spirituality and an insurmountable will that will help our church to continue to grow.
§ Bookkeeper: The accounting function of the office continued to be troublesome, especially with the lack of an elected Treasurer. Upon the recommendation of the Finance Committee and Personnel Committee, the Council agreed to allow the Administrative Assistant to work additional hours to handle routine bookkeeping matters. Ms. Rochon had received some training on the church software that would be helpful and she also took some additional training on spreadsheets and the accounting module in CDM. In hindsight, this was an excellent recommendation and the workflow has improved dramatically.
Building Issues:
§ Asbestos Management: The Church continues to deal with asbestos issues throughout the building. At this time, the Finance Committee continues to monitor the situation. Air quality tests are routinely conducted and all staff and vendors are trained in compliance with federal, state and local regulations.
§ Stained Glass Restoration: The stained glass restoration project was completed in the spring and a celebration was held on June 24, 2007 at which the church was able to thank our benefactor and to celebrate the beauty of the windows and pay tribute to the craftsmanship and hopes of our ancestors.
§ Underground Fuel Storage Tank: During the latter half of the year, The Finance Committee and the Council have been dealing with water contamination issues and the associated ramifications. The Finance Committee has been keeping the council well informed. An informational meeting was held for the congregation, and the Finance Committee is making periodic updates at both the council meetings and the Sunday Worship Service. The issue of the contaminated soil will remain the focus of the council during 2008.
Mission/Outreach:
§ Home Visitation Program: The Deacons, under the guidance of Rev. McCarthy, instituted a formal program of home visitations for the sick and elderly.
§ Books for New Orleans: The Mission Committee conducted a very successful book drive for the children of New Orleans.
§ Good Samaritan: The church continues to support those members of our church and community who find themselves in emergency needs for food, fuel, housing, and prescriptions, etc.
§ Youth Activities: The Church continues to support our younger members who are actively involved in mission and outreach activities in Ohio, Worcester, and Boston, whether it is through youth groups, confirmation or other CE activities.
§ Food Pantry: The Church continues its strong support for local food pantries as they struggle with the growing needs of our friends and neighbors.
There were many other “quiet” programs and activities that our Church supports that go un-noticed except to those who are involved, whether they are the giver or the recipient. Our church continues to be a “presence” in our community.
Stewardship:
§ Stewardship Seminar: In April 2007, our church hosted a UCC seminar about stewardship that was open to the whole conference. Bill Green and Andy Gustafson provided a wealth of information to all who attended.
§ Stewardship Fund Development Plan: After much work by the Stewardship Committee, the Council adopted the Stewardship Fund Development Plan in August 2007. This plan would become the blueprint for the future fund-raising efforts for the church.
§ Stewardship Goal for 2008: In October the Council established a pledge goal for 2008 of $234,000. Members of the Stewardship Committee would begin making presentations at worship, making telephone calls and writing and sending letters. Members of the Church Council assisted in this effort.
§ Proposed budget adopted in October established a goal of $234,000 Review of membership
Communications:
§ Church Website: Early in the year, the Council discussed the establishment of a new website. This was accomplished through the efforts of Alison Specter, Co-Chair, Stewardship Committee.
§ The Spire: The Spire continues to be one of the main forms of communication for announcing our activities to the Church family and the community around us.
As you can see, your Church family has been very active. Nothing that we have accomplished together could have been done without the efforts and prayers of every member of our church family. I would like to thank each and every member who agreed to participate in a leadership position with the Church. Additionally, I want to thank everyone for the “behind the scenes” efforts that make First Church the great family that it is.
Finally, I want to extend a deep and heartfelt thank you to Pastor Barry McCarthy. His guidance, warmth and spiritual presence served as a healing salve as our church struggled with our identity, our hopes and our direction during the period of interim ministers. His humor, pleasantness and caring manner helped guide us and re-established a healthy relationship between the pastor and the congregation.
If I may quote a line from one of my favorite Introits, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” Each day, my faith and belief in the work of the Holy Spirit is strengthened and confirmed. It is my prayer that the Spirit fills each of you with Grace and Blessings.
Paul O. Schaefer
PASTORAL SEARCH COMMITTEE
The committee met for almost every week for 15 months following formation in the spring of 2006. We spent several weeks developing our church profile. We developed a list of leadership expectations, sermon style sought andchurch goalsusing the information from the Hartford Survey. A checklist was developed to rate each profile and a list of questions was compiled to ask each candidate.
Wemet with representatives from the UCC, conducted a mock interview andthenread and studied 93 profiles of candidates (each profile is approximately 25 pages).We rated each candidate using the checklist we had developed and then contacted our top candidates. We have had interviews with nine candidates; from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Washington DC, Pennsylvania and Texas. Several interviews were first done by telephone and then followed up with an interview here at the church. Each interview started with a tour of the building and a tour of the community by two or more committee members. We then had dinner with the candidates and conducted our interview.
We first interviewed Rev. Victoria Snow in March 2007, and went to hear her preach on several different Sundays as committee members were available. She remainedat the top of ourlist of candidates as we conducted several other interviews. We met with her again in early August. At a committee meeting later in August, we listed the following strengths that we had seen in Victoria's profile and in the two interviews we had with her:
Þ Warm and caringÞ Calm
Þ Prayerful
Þ Sermon Style - Preaches with no notes
Þ Works well with committees
Þ Strong belief in ecumenism / Þ Confident
Þ Personable
Þ Doesn't use pulpit for political purposes
Þ Easy to work with
Þ Down to earth
Þ Professional
We then voted to submit her name to the congregationtobe our new Pastor. She was voted in during the special meeting held on October 7, 2007.
Victoria comes to us after serving as a CE Director in Gardner, Associate Pastor at Pilgrim Church in Duxbury, Pastor of Oakham Congregational Church and Interim Pastor at West Brookfield Congregational Church.
She graduated from Conant High School in Jaffrey, NH, Mount Wachusett Community College with an Associate Degree in Human Services, Keene State College with a BS in Elementary Education and Andover Newton Theological School with a Master's of Divinity. Victoria has three daughters, ages three, five and ten.
We as a committee are excited about the arrival of Victoria as our Pastor. In her words, we look forward to “sharing God's love with others, helping the faithful discover and affirm their talents, and sharing the JOY of God with all people."
It was a pleasure to serve on this committee
Yours in Christ,
Scott Paul, ChairAndrew Smith, Vice Chair
Johanne Walker, Recording Secretary
Kelleigh Gilfoy, Corresponding Secretary
Barbara Bordeaux-Woods / Cheryl Alderman
Nancy Johnson
Donna Booth
Greg Shaw
Cheryl Schaefer
CLERK
SPECIAL CHURCH MEETING – May 6, 2007
Meeting called to order by Paul Schaefer at 11:20a.m. Motion made to suspend roll call and pass around sign in sheets. Seconded. Discussion: none. Motion called. All in favor. Motion passed.
Motion made to elect Tracy Cardin as Clerk of the Congregation. Seconded. Discussion: None. All in favor. Motion Passed.
Motion made to adjourn the meeting. Seconded. Discussion: none. Motion called. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 11:30a.m.
Respectfully submitted.
Paul Schaefer
SPECIAL CHURCH MEETING – October 14, 2007
Meeting called to order by Paul Schaefer at 11:30a.m. Motion made to suspend roll call and pass around sign in sheets. Seconded. Discussion: none. Motion called. All in favor. Motion passed.