If you are involved in a rector search, start with this book. It is comprehensive and the only book about Episcopal church transitions written from a lay leader’s perspective.

The Foreword by the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, is a call to spiritual leadership and discernment.

The author, a decade into the subject:

A young mom said to our search committee, “You are finding the person who will confirm my children and possibly marry them.” An older friend said, “You are seeking the pastor who will see me out of here.”

Your church’s rector search could be the most consequential volunteer role of your life. Every leadership transition resets an institution’s trajectory, either up or down. Your church’s transition will make it more of everything it can be, or less.

I co-led our church’s transition in 2015-16, then through 2018, talked with hundreds of clergy and lay leaders, absorbed lessons from others’ transitions, distilled the advice, and organized it so every church can adapt it to unique situations. Since then…

• Our church is flourishing and and growing significantly, shining the light of Christ in our city and beyond. The rector we called in 2016 is celebrating ten years with us.

• I have heard many gratifying stories of other churches that seized their moments of transition to reset their trajectories.

• The book is still on point, except the instruction on teleconference interviews, which the COVID pandemic taught us all.

• Former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who suggested I write the book, has entered heaven.

• I keep meeting inspiring lay and clergy leaders who make me hopeful about the Church and the world.

I hope Rector Transitions helps you give your best to make the most of your church’s opportunity.