After having broken our committee into three traveling teams, our next step is to plan a visit to the home churches of each candidate, which will require some travel and coordination.  In each case, the candidate is very pleased to receive our St. Francis delegates into his/her church setting, and we expect to complete those visits before our next meeting to be held on Sunday after worship services, July 5^th. 

Our plan is to bring back first hand reports of our encounters with each candidate and his/her family.  Unless we see a reason to alter our plan, we will then arrange to visit with each candidate as an entire search committee in Chattanooga so the candidates can get a deeper feel for St. Francis and we can get more insight into the fit of each candidate in our congregation.  These on-campus visits will not be during a worship service, but will more likely include just a social encounter and a visit to Chattanooga, where applicable.

Then our committee will retreat into what we are calling a discernment retreat to determine which candidate we wish to call to St. Francis.  If all goes as planned, we hope to have a name to recommend to the vestry by August 1.  There are still lots of ifs, though, and we will continue to proceed with focus and commitment.  We continue to ask for your prayerful support, not only for the search committee, but also for these candidates as together we discern God’s will for St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

For the search committee,

Curtis Baggett

Chairman