The Wardens and Rector discuss issues dealing with every aspect of church life on a regular basis. We generally meet once a month, specifically to plan the agenda for the Vestry meeting, but also are in contact by e-mail to give feedback on various issues.

A large part of this year’s work focused on dealing with the controversy that surfaced at the 2009 Annual Meeting and working with the Vestry to decide how to effect healing and promote more open communication. The discussion began at the February Vestry meeting and was continued at a special additional Vestry meeting. Early in March, Bishop Jeffrey Lee sent a list of organizational consultants to the Senior Warden. He indicated that any one of them would be helpful to the Church of the Transfiguration as we worked on conflict and vision. The Senior Warden contacted four consultants and conducted telephone interviews, explaining the events surrounding the conflict and gathering information about the background, skills, and experience of the consultant, as well as the typical fees for their services.

The Senior Warden recommended Deacon Lou Ness as her preferred choice based on Deacon Ness’s training and experience with this kind of consulting. Deacon Ness visited with the Vestry on June 9, explained her approach in some detail, and answered questions. At that time, the Vestry passed a motion to engage Lou Ness to work with us, and defined the goals of our work together. The goals are (1) listening to our membership describe their hopes and concerns for the congregation, (2) learning about our organization’s modes of communicating and making decisions, (3) establishing values and goals for the organization and our accountabilities to one another.

The Vestry further authorized Step Two of the Coaching Process, including questionnaires and empowering a committee of the Vestry consisting of the Rector, Wardens, and all available Vestry members to complete the assessment process. (Step One of the Process is a meeting with the consultant and the Vestry, and deciding if we want to work together.) The agreed upon cost for this part of the process was $100.

During July, the Junior Warden and Senior Warden together developed a ten question survey for the parish, working with suggestions from Lou Ness. The survey, along with a letter from the Vestry, was mailed to all parishioners on August 5, with a request to return the completed questionnaire by August 21.

The next step of the information gathering process was for Deacon Ness to conduct face to face interviews with the Rector, Senior Warden, Deacon, and 15 parishioners. A letter to this effect was sent to the parish on August 13 requesting volunteers. The interviews were conducted on Saturday, September 26 at the church. Various members of the Vestry acted as hosts in the building and chatted with interviewees as they arrived for their appointment.

Deacon Ness shared the information gathered in the face to face interviews at an open meeting with the parish on Sunday, October 2, during an extended coffee hour.

On October 10, the Vestry voted to accept the coaching plan as presented by Deacon Ness. The plan outlines the following: A meeting of the parish to debrief the 2009 Annual Meeting and give people an opportunity to process what happened for them in that meeting, and 8 coaching sessions of two hours each, for a total of 16 hours of coaching with two coaches in attendance at each meeting. The hourly fee for each coach is $120 per hour. Mileage is charged at the state rate of $0.55 per mile. The total cost for the coaching stated in the contract is $4320.00 plus the mileage.

The meeting to Debrief the 2009 Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, November 8 after the 10 a.m. Worship Service.

The Vestry set the following dates for the coaching sessions: November 19, December 2, December 17, January 7, January 20, February 3, February 18, and March 3. All meetings are held in Leach Hall from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The January 7 meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled in March.

The parish was informed about decisions of the Vestry and information about the coaching process with written information in the Sunday worship bulletins, the Transcripts, the two letters sent to all parishioners, and by mass e-mail and voice mail messages.