Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
You, the congregation of UPC, elected us to serve as a Pastor
Nominating Committee on December 10, 2006. We were given the task to
develop criteria, search out potential candidates and nominate the
person we believe God has chosen to be the next Senior Pastor for
UPC. We have diligently pursued our charge, honored by your
selection and humbled by the task.
We sought the input of the congregation through surveys, open
forums, and informal conversations. We surveyed the staff, met
individually with senior staff and corporately with all staff. We
have maintained an open website, carefully reviewed all
correspondence, and conversed with godly leaders across the country.
All of our actions were bathed in the prayers of committee members,
the congregation and friends of UPC.
We have carefully considered the candidacy of each person put
forward; more than one hundred fifty individuals. Over the course of
the last twenty months we have visited hundreds of web sites,
listened to hundreds of sermons, spoken with dozens of references
and numerous candidates. Our weekly formal meetings were
supplemented with dozens of smaller group work sessions and
literally thousands of emails. We also visited the churches of
several potential candidates. We met with some candidates at their
churches and invited others to meet with us in Seattle. To protect
the privacy of candidates we have maintained a “cone of silence,”
keeping all names confidential.
As God directed our attention to one person in particular we
increased the frequency of our conversations, spoke with additional
references and hosted him (and his wife) for an extended
three-and-a-half day visit to Seattle. During that long weekend he
was interviewed by the Seattle Presbytery. Our time together was
filled with in-depth conversations, casual talks, shared meals,
corporate worship and prayer. Our candidate gave a devotion, led us
in a bible study, and preached at two services in a neighboring
church. Throughout the process our convictions grew. After a week of
prayer and reflection, we were even more convinced that God had been
orchestrating our work and leading us to the person of his choosing.
With great joy, we hereby unanimously nominate The Reverend George
Hinman to be the new Senior Pastor of University Presbyterian
Church.
We have created a brochure to introduce the Hinman family. Now that
we have made the nomination, each of us will delight in breaking
open the “cone of silence” and speaking with you about George, his
family, and our process. We will make ourselves available after each
service until the candidating services on September 21.
With great appreciation for your patience, we sincerely thank you
the Congregation of UPC for the honor and privilege it has been to
serve on this committee.
Faithfully yours,
The Senior Pastor Nominating Committee
Madeleine Brenner, Chair
Peter Andersen
Tom Burley
Pam Burnett
Spencer Chan
Gretchen Harrell
Lee Huntsman
Sharon Lindblom
Marla Malone
Ryan Maxwell
Margaret Mesaros
Carl Pearson
Jerry Rude
