Dear Friends,

The time has come to once again initiate the process of choosing our church leaders. We are writing this letter to invite nominations to vacancies on the Shepherding Team that will occur at the end of the year.

The Shepherding Team is both the spiritual leadership team and the legal Board of Directors of All Souls Church. Under its spiritual leadership role, the Shepherding Team is responsible for the appointment of Pastors, oversight of the doctrinal direction and preaching of the Word, ordination and sacraments, ministry focus, stewardship of Christian community, and spiritual direction and support of the body. Under its Board of Directors role, it is responsible for the property, finances, legal affairs, and employees of the Church.

Clearly, the ST serves an important role in our church. And it is important to note that this group truly leads as a team. Each individual member of the team does not hold authority as an individual. It is the team together that has authority to lead. Given this, there is not an extensive list of qualifications for individual members of the ST. Members of the ST must be members of the church who are at least 21 years old. Members of the ST should also be: mature in the faith, knowledgeable in scripture and doctrine, humble, full of wisdom, fully committed to the mission, vision, and values of All Souls Church, hospitable, self-controlled, holy, upright, and a firm believer in Jesus. These leaders also need to be able to attend one Shepherding Team meeting each month for a three year term.

The terms of Michael Wood, Ray Kielarowski and David Gayk end on December 31, 2012. (Both Michael and Ray are eligible for re-nomination for another term.) There are at least three positions that will need to be filled. Following the procedures outlined in our bylaws, a nominating committee has been appointed to recommend a slate of candidates to fill these positions. The church will then vote on this slate on December 8, 2011.

The members of the nominating committee are: Brad Carter, Joe Morelock, Mike Fitzgerald, Nate Kelly, David Gayk, and Christin York.  If any of these individuals or their family members are nominated, they will resign from the committee to avoid any conflicts of interest.  This committee is now requesting nominations from the congregation. Please prayerfully consider nominating members of our church who you feel would be a good member of our Shepherding Team. You can submit your nominations to the committee by completing a nomination form which can be found here. Alternatively, you can find a nomination form by navigating to www.allsoulsknoxville.com and clicking on "Shepherding Team Nominations" button, or you can request a form by contacting a member of the nominating committee.

PLEASE DO NOT DELAY, SINCE NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY SEPTEMBER 29th. Once nominations are received, the nominating committee will ask nominees to submit written answers to a series of questions and will interview the nominees in person before recommending a slate to the congregation.

Peace,

The Shepherding Team:

Doug Banister

Joe Morelock

Ray Kielarowski

David Gayk

Brad Carter

Laurens Tullock

Michael Wood

Marie Alcorn