Introducing our Bridge Conference Minister: Julia Gaughan
On behalf of the KO Board, I am thrilled to announce that we have selected Julia Gaughan to be the Bridge Conference Minister for our conference. This decision was facilitated by the hard work of the Interim Search Committee composed of chair Gage Church and members Bobbie Henderson, Janet George, Sheridan Irick, and Tracy Scott. We owe them our gratitude for conducting a thorough interview process on a very short timeline. This is an important step as we continue down the path toward selecting a settled conference minister. You are welcome to reach out to me with any questions you may have. ~ Jackie Kropp, KO Board President
Here is more from our Search Committee:
On behalf of the entire search committee, I want to express how delighted and honored we were to put forward Julia Gaughan as our recommended candidate to be the K-O Conference’s Bridge Minister. When we began our journey, we were looking for an interim conference minister (more about the difference below). We worked with a representative from the UCC national setting and interviewed a few candidates. When we learned that we could call Julia as an ongoing bridge minister, we quickly shifted gears and began to explore that option. Julia already was serving as a short-term bridge minister between our departed settled minister and the interim minister-to-come. We discerned that we already had the right person with the right skills, energy and vision for the needs of our conference during this in-between time.
An “interim conference minister” is called to be a temporary leader who specializes in helping a conference work through any issues attached to (or separate from) the departure of the previous settled minister. This person works the soil so the new settled minister can quickly take root and flourish. An interim can be in place for any length of time, as agreed upon by the Board of Directors. An interim cannot be a candidate for the settled minister position.
A “bridge conference minister,” in many respects does the same thing as an interim. Again, the bridge minister serves for a length of time as agreed upon by the Board. One major difference is that a bridge minister may apply to be a candidate for the settled minister position, meaning that Julia may put her hat in the ring if she so wishes. It will be up to the yet-to-be-formed search committee to decide how they want to handle that situation, should it arise.
Again, we are proud of our work that led us – in a roundabout way – to Julia. Thank you for your trust and support. We extend to Julia all of our support and prayers.
Gage Church, search committee convener