The Diocesan Transition Committee has finalized the format for the 10th Bishop candidate walk about meetings in August. Meetings will be held at Saint Thomas, Savannah on August 26, Saint Paul’s Albany on August 27 and Good Shepherd, Augusta, on August 28. All meetings will begin at 6 p.m. Priority seating will be given to voting clergy and delegates to the electing convention, between 5:15 pm and 5:45 pm each evening. Other members of the Diocese are welcome to attend up to the capacity of the venue. The election convention is slated for September 12 in Dublin.
Each of the six candidates will be afforded a brief opening and closing statement and will answer questions for about 20 minutes each. Questions must be submitted by email to The Reverend James Parker at parker.j@comcast.net or by postal mail to 402 East 46th Street, Savannah, GA 31406.
There will also be an opportunity to submit written questions just prior to each meeting.
A brief reception, following each meeting, will be hosted by convocation churches. Candidates will be available during the reception to meet and greet attendees.
All attendees –especially voting clergy and delegates are urged to read each candidate’s biography, listen to their video presentations and read their responses to questions posted on the Diocesan website before attending the meetings.
Petition forms available now.
Please note: As there will be no nominations from the convention floor, this petition process is the final opportunity for nominating a candidate for bishop.
Within days, the Search Committee will announce the official slate of candidates for the 10th Bishop of Georgia. Each of these individuals will have undergone a rigorous and lengthy process of mutual discernment including written essays, telephone and face-to-face interviews, reference checks, and background checks. In addition to the individuals listed on that slate, members of the Diocese of Georgia now have the right to nominate candidates to the process by petition.
With due respect to those who might find the petition process unduly difficult, the Standing Committee has been obliged to create a procedure that is fair to all nominees. A nominee presented through a less-than-rigorous petition process is at a disadvantage for being little known outside a circle of supporters. The signatures of six ordained and six lay nominators from the four corners of the diocese provide assurance of diocesan-wide knowledge of and respect for the nominee, in effect a substitute “search committee” endorsement The petition process thus becomes an opportunity for nominees by petition to be presented as fully qualified among those on the slate who have undergone the careful scrutiny and intensive interviews involved in the formal search process. Rules and Forms for Nominating by Petition are now available via the link above.
The rules for nominating a candidate by petition are as follows:
- Nominations by Petition may be made between Tuesday, June 9 and Tuesday, June 23, 2009. All nominations must be RECEIVED by 5:00 p.m. on June 23.
- The nomination forms will be posted at www.georgiabishopsearch.org on Tuesday, June 9, 2009.
- All nominees presented through the Petitioning Process must obtain signatures of a lay person and an ordained person from each of the convocations of the Diocese of Georgia. The lay and ordained persons from each convocation shall not be from the same parish.
- Completed forms, together with the nominee’s resume, CDO profile, and answers to questions specified in the nomination packet, must be returned to:
Mr. Charles N. Hough, Jr., Clerk
The Standing Committee
2331 Pineridge Lane
Albany, GA 31707
Mr. Hough may also be contacted by email at charlie.hough@hotmail.com or by telephone at (229) 446-8100 and (229) 343-8448.
- Any candidate presented by this process must undergo a Background Check and Psychological Examination prior to being placed on the ballot.
- Any candidate completing the above requirements and whose Background Check and Psychological Examination reveal no impediment, may participate in the Walkabouts scheduled for August 26-28.
Questions concerning this process should be addressed to the Rev. Joy H. Fisher, President of the Standing Committee. She may be contacted by email at attyfisher@aol.com or by telephone at (478) 731-8183.
Download: Diocesan Profile (with Nomination Forms)
Download: Nomination Forms only
The Diocesan Profile is now available for download. This 40-page PDF document offers an in-depth introduction to our diocese, a profile of our next bishop, and guidelines and forms for nominating candidates. You may also download the Nomination Forms without the profile.
For optimal viewing of the Diocesan Profile, we recommend downloading it using a high-speed Internet connection, after which you may view, save, and/or print it from your computer. For those with slow Internet connections, a Text-Only Version of the Diocesan Profile is also available.
The Search Committee continues to make good progress on our profile. The drafting of a text is now complete, and our graphic artist is finishing design work. The profile is a very important statement on behalf of our diocese and we have been careful that it is an accurate representation of all that we have learned over the last months. We expect to post it here for the Second Sunday of Advent.
The Search Committee is currently working with an independent graphic design firm to finalize a Diocesan Profile, which will be made available in digital PDF format here by December 1. This profile will serve to inform candidates and other interested persons about the mission, ministry, history, demographics, and geography of the Diocese of Georgia as well as the strengths, challenges, hopes, and dreams identified in our Town Hall Meetings and Diocesan Survey. Nominations will be opened in conjunction with the publication of the Diocesan Profile.
Download: Results of the Diocesan Survey
Thank you to those many members of the Diocese of Georgia who participated in the September 21-30 Diocesan Survey. The Search Committee has received your responses, which were tabulated and organized by the same independent group that administered the survey. Those responses are available for download by clicking on the link above.
With these responses in hand, the Committee now turns its attention to developing a Diocesan Profile to convey the needs and character of our Diocese and the hopes we share for our next bishop. We expect that profile to be complete by mid to late November.
Thank you to those many members of the Diocese of Georgia who participated in the September 21-30 Diocesan Survey. The Search Committee is looking forward to receiving your responses, which are being tabulated and organized by the same independent group that administered the survey. Those responses will be especially useful as the Committee now turns its attention to developing a Diocesan Profile to convey the needs and character of our Diocese and the hopes we share for our next bishop.
Click the link below for a printable poster advertising the Sept. 21-28 Diocesan Survey. This poster is in PDF format and is suitable for display on parish bulletin boards and announcement walls.
Download: Survey Week Poster
Please participate in the search for the 10th Bishop of Georgia by completing a survey during the week of September 21-28.
You can do this in one of three ways:
- Go to www.georgiabishopsearch.org and click on the Survey button. Complete the questions and submit your survey on-line.
- Call toll free 1-866-373-7783 and complete your survey by telephone. An interviewer from the A.L. Burruss Institute at Kennesaw State University telephone survey lab will be available to answer your call Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. You may also leave a message to request an appointment for an alternate time at this number. Please indicate that you are calling to participate in the Episcopal Church survey.
- Ask your Rector for a paper copy of the survey. Answer the questions and return the survey to your Rector who will submit your responses.
Don’t miss this opportunity for your voice to be heard. Your input will be very important to creating a Diocesan profile, introducing ourselves and our hopes for the next decade to the larger church and to prospective nominees.
