Last year we discovered a Facebook page that tracks which UU churches call which UU ministers. The information is posted only after it is public, meaning a search committee has announced a candidate to the congregation or the congregation has voted whether to call the candidate as their next minister. Established and maintained by a UU minister, the Facebook page provides an observatory for watching the orbits of ministers and congregations.

A couple days ago, the author of the page posted

Congregations start your engines....!

Indeed. Today your search committee will get our first look at the ministers who are interested in exploring ministry at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua. Each will submit a detailed Ministerial Record (MR) that summarizes her or his credentials and provides insight into what she or he hopes to find in a church, answering complementary questions to the ones we addressed in our Congregational Record (CR).

Last year, we received our list on a Thursday night, spent Friday and Saturday individually reviewing the MRs, then met most of Sunday discussing our perceptions and deciding which ministers to contact for substantive conversations.

Again this year, we will start by reviewing the MRs individually, then meet Sunday for as long as it takes to reach consensus on which ministers to initially contact.

We approach this task with great humility, for we discovered last year that the MRs don't fully reflect the candidates. They provide a one dimensional view of a three dimensional landscape.

You won't see us in church Sunday. We'll be deliberating. Please light a candle for us.

— Gary Lerude