April 21, 2023
It’s been a busy month! The Good Sam Profile Committee had our first meeting mid-March. Since then, we’ve drafted a research plan and identified the many things we want to learn about: from church financials, to parish history, to community needs, to (of course, of course!) parishioner feedback.

If you haven’t heard much from us to this point, it’s because we’ve mostly just been laying the groundwork for research. We’ve collected financial reports, done homework on our city and county, and combed through materials on our church’s history. We’ve also been working together to organize our interview plan, so that once we start bugging you all for your thoughts, we’ll be able to do so in a consistent, coordinated way.

On that head, we’re going to start bugging you all for your thoughts. We now have an interview guide for collecting general parish-member feedback, which means we’re ready to begin scheduling one-on-ones with anyone who’d like to speak with us. Soon to follow – but not quite yet – we will also be reaching out to staff, ministry leaders, and other specific perspectives with additional questions, to collect their thoughts as well.

This is just the beginning. The work is many-layered and vast, and we will be reaching out more and more as the season rolls on with invitations for folks to engage in the process. In the meantime, I am thrilled to say that the Committee itself is proving to be a fantastic team, whose members bring varied skills and perspectives, a growing spirit of trust and camaraderie, and earnest engagement in the work. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with any of us if you have questions (or would like to schedule a one-on-one). You can reach committee chair Elisabeth McCumber at elisabeth.mccumber@gmail.com.