Happy New Year, Epiphany brothers and sisters! It’s been nice to hear how people spent their holiday time. On behalf of our Council, thank you for the prayers over the past few months; please keep them coming! In our December update, I shared details from two Community Conversations held in October to gather associate pastor themes. It was invaluable feedback that you can review here. Today’s update provides more information about the Ministry Site Profile, the Call Committee formation status, and other items. I plan to create short videos outlining the same content.

One of the initial steps in the pastor call process is the creation of a church Ministry Site Profile, or “MSP” for short. The MSP is created by our Council in collaboration with the Call Committee and used by the synod to match Epiphany with rostered minister candidates expressing the qualities and characteristics we seek. It covers who we are (demographics), our core mission, the leadership qualities and characteristics we are seeking, and a summary of our current focus. Our Council formed a task force in December to begin the MSP updates, and the entire Council is currently refining it. The Council does the majority of the work and then hands the work over to the Call Committee to review and make edits as they see fit. We are on track to provide a draft to our Call Committee in February for a final refinement before submitting it to the Southern Ohio Synod for publication!

Several of you may be wondering what the function of a Call Committee is and how it gets created. The Call Committee is the Epiphany lay members who will interview pastor candidates and provide a final recommendation to Council and, ultimately, the Congregation. Council is responsible for creating this committee through a unique and faith-filled process. A Council task force plans to reach out to members in early February; enough time for our task force and Council to finalize the list. A balanced representation across worship styles, campuses, and other demographics are essential. In the summer of 2021, you may recall then-President Carlin Heimann sharing how we made seven calls and received seven “yes!” responses when forming the senior pastor Call Committee. I am confident God will provide us with exactly what we need to call our next associate pastor, and we look forward to providing more updates soon.

Are we getting a next-door neighbor at Far Hills?

Attorney Mark Chilson is working at the request of the Council to safeguard Epiphany’s interests and mission regarding a proposal by a developer to build a Sheetz gas station and store complex in the current Elsa’s site. Council is committed to being a good community neighbor, which includes making other public services aware of the proposal and evaluating the potential risks and benefits of any development near our Far Hills property.

This article is part of a dedicated webpage for future Council updates. For any questions concerning these updates, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at President@epiphanydayton.org.

Your Brother in Christ,

Anthony Brown

Epiphany Council President