The Call Committee met on Thursday, January 23 at the church. 
Committee members shared their progress on obtaining statistical and demographic information that will help us complete our current MSP (Ministry Site Profile). 

Additionally, four ways to elicit feedback from the congregation are in the works:

1. A prompt will be provided each week for 3-4 weeks to which members of the congregation will be asked to respond. Each week’s question(s) will be shared in the Friday eNews in case people would like to ponder their responses ahead of time. On Sunday mornings, paper will be distributed and time will be given for people to write their thoughts. For those who cannot attend in person, responses are welcome at our new call committee email address: iczioncall2025@gmail.com.

2. We will also soon be asking members to complete a short online (Google Forms) survey which will be sent directly to your email address.

3. Watch for a map to be placed on a bulletin board in the church where each family can use a push pin to identify the approximate location of their home. This will help the committee to determine location demographics for the MSP, which asks for the percentage of families each living within 0.5, 1, and 3+ miles from Zion.

4. Finally, we will have in-person opportunities for congregational feedback on Sunday, February 23. Identical content will be presented both before and after worship, and we hope you will be able to attend one of these work sessions. More information about the 23rd will be forthcoming; planning this event will be the goal of our next meeting on Thursday, February 6.

We are hopeful that we can collect all necessary input by the end of March so that we can complete the MSP sometime in April. We will keep you updated on our progress!
As stated above, our new email address is iczioncall2025@gmail.com. You are welcome to contact the committee here with your thoughts throughout the call process. 

Respectfully,

Wendy Berg, Jessica Boyle, Janis Bultman (co-chair), Mike Cilek, Sarah Gunderson, Matt Hafar, Kristi Harper, and Gary Reimer (co-chair)

The Call Committee met on Thursday, January 9 to officially begin the work of calling a new pastor. The committee was then officially installed on Sunday, January 12 during worship.

At the January 9 meeting we brainstormed the logistics of completing the large and somewhat daunting MSP (Ministry Site Profile), which is the first step in the call process: 

• Members of the call committee will work on completing much of the demographic information that will describe both our congregation and the community we serve. 

• In order to complete the core narrative pieces of the MSP, we will soon be formally asking members of the congregation for their valuable input regarding Zion’s current values, mission, and vision. The committee discussed the possibility of using several methods to collect your thoughts, which will include all or some of the following: soliciting written responses during church services, scheduling in-person meetings that will take place both before and after worship, providing large sheets of paper in the church on which people can record their ideas, offering online opportunities for people to give input, and several possible others. 

As action items for our next meeting, we agreed to review the synod’s videos for recommended questions to ask the congregation and to identify more possible ways to collect input.

We plan to meet biweekly on Thursdays for the next couple of months and then adjust the schedule as needed after spring break. Our next meeting will take place on Thursday, January 23 at the church.

Our goal is to be as transparent as possible throughout the process, so please don’t hesitate to contact us with your thoughts, concerns, or questions. And please keep us in your prayers!

You’ll find more more detailed information on the call process here: https://www.seiasynod.org/call-process

You can view a three-minute informational video about the MSP here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/11140959/video/954922465

Respectfully,

Wendy Berg, Jessica Boyle, Janis Bultman (co-chair), Mike Cilek, Sarah Gunderson, Matt Hafar, Kristi Harper, and Gary Reimer (co-chair)

The Call Committee has formed and will be installed during the worship service on Sunday, January 12.  Call Committee members met in mid-December to learn about the call process from Pastor Dan Kuckuck, our synod’s Assistant to the Bishop for Leadership and Congregational Transitions. The Call Committee will meet again on January 9, and will aim to meet biweekly going forward. During the coming weeks and with essential input from the congregation, the committee will work together to identify Zion’s current values, mission and vision. This will help the committee create a Ministry Site Profile (MSP), a snapshot of Zion to share with the congregation, synod, and prospective pastoral candidates. The committee will be communicating more details soon on opportunities for gathering inputs from the congregation.  Please keep the committee in your prayers. 

You’ll find more detailed information on the call process here: https://www.seiasynod.org/call-process

You can view a three-minute informational video about the MSP here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/11140959/video/954922465

Respectfully submitted,

Wendy Berg, Jessica Boyle, Janis Bultman (co-chair), Mike Cilek, Sarah Gunderson, Matt Hafar, Kristi Harper, Gary Reimer (co-chair)

Call Committee Update

The members of the call committee have been updated to include Janis Bultman and Gary Reimer as co-chairs of the committee. 

Jim Lane has stepped down from the committee due to health issues. We appreciate his willingness to serve  and send our prayers for his recovery. 

Call Committee Members: Janis Bultman, Gary Reimer, Matt Hafar, Mike Cilek, Sarah Gunderson, Wendy Berg, Jessica Boyle ,Kristi Harper