Renovation News
Excavating below the chapel floor to prepare the ground for the footings of the new steel structure that will support the chancel floor has been completed. It took longer than expected due to the depth required to excavate below both the 1890 and 1845 foundations - 9 feet in one instance! In addition, the 1845 foundation was obstructing the location of two of the eight footings. That work is now complete and the foundations are scheduled to be poured in the next two weeks.
The gold marble, both the center diamond design and the rectangular frame, from the chancel floor has been removed. The diamond design has been stabilized and will be used in the center of the new chancel. The contractor is working to stabilize the rest of the gold material to be used in the new floor as well. The white marble in the chancel and nave front is being removed.
The progress of the project is being recorded on a photo blog at
www.stpaulsrenovation.org
. Please feel free to sign up on that site to receive a notice when new information is posted so you don't miss a thing!
Search Committee News
On July 11 the search committee and junior and senior wardens engaged in a conference call with Robin Strain, Senior Consultant with
Holy Cow! Consulting
for a question and answer session to help us determine how this firm and the tool they developed would aid us in our search. Based on that call and additional research by this committee, we decided to engage Holy Cow! Consulting to administer the parish survey, which we will kick off
September 9, Homecoming Sunday
.
On July 25 we met with Sarah Foote, our new Director of Communications, to discuss the new and improved website for St. Paul’s and how the search committee’s progress can be tracked. Sarah indicated that once the new website is launched in late August, there will be a separate page where parishioners can go to track
the rector transition progress.
Our search will consist of several phases, all of which will involve the members of the parish.
The first phase of the search process is
listening
. We feel that this phase is foundational to the rest of the search. Starting this upcoming Sunday, August 5 and continuing on August 12 and 19, we will be seeking your thoughts on St. Paul’s by developing a
Word Cloud
. You are invited to give two or three words in response to three questions to describe your thoughts or feelings about St. Paul’s, which will result in a parish-wide Word Cloud illustration.
Then, in September, we will ask all of you to participate in an assessment which will provide a clear picture of
who we are as a church and what is most important for our future
. Also, during September and October, we plan to meet with all parishioners either individually or in groups to gather information that you feel is important to the search process and may not have been covered in the assessment.
On behalf of the search committee, we ask that each of you
take time over the next few months to share your thoughts and wisdom with us
. We are grateful for your wisdom, your support, and, above all, your prayers.
