Hello Dunstanland!
It is great to be back in the blogosphere, and my hope is that this will be an effective way of connecting with all of you more regularly to let you know about what the Spirit is up to in our parish. I'm switching from my monthly article in the Banner (old school!), to an at-least-weekly post on Hammer & Tongs. This also gives you an opportunity to respond to what you've read, although I can't guarantee that I will respond to all notes posted on the blog. Additionally, we'll be operating under a Christian paradigm when it comes to posting responses: inappropriate, nasty, or ad hominem remarks will be removed. So, with that prolegoumena out of the way, let's get started!

It is entirely appropriate that my first blog has to do with the Strategic Plan, which was launched by your vestry on September 15th. One of the biggest areas of challenge that was identified by our leaders was communication. As our parish grows larger, communication will become a greater challenge, and there was strong consensus that we needed to branch out into the new methods of disseminating information such as blogging, Facebook, and tweeting. So, this blog is a direct response to one of our strategic mandates.

I'll address communication, per se, and why it is a key (and sometimes conflictual) issue in a future writing. But first, I would like to communicate some basic elements of the strategic plan and the process for its implementation by posing and answering some FAQS.

1. What is the strategic plan?
The strategic plan is made up of a vision document which is contained on one sheet of paper and a much longer set of specific goals for our ministries that lives on a spreadsheet stretching over ten pages. The vision document is headed by our parish's mission statement: "Making high commitment, sacramental Christian in community." This mission statement received a 90% approval rating on our recent parish web survey. Given that the participants of the survey have been attending St. Dunstan's for an average of 17 years, this tells me that we have very broadly-based support for our mission both among long-time members, and among the new members, who literally sign on to the mission statement and the personal commitments to Christian disciplines that it implies when they go through the Exploration class. Our mission statement is well-known and is a genuine rubric by which all our efforts, plans, and programs may be measured.

The core values section states some qualities that are a part of St. Dunstan's DNA -- things like Anglican worship, effective pastoral care, Biblical Christian formation, and shared leadership between clergy and lay leaders. These core values were first articulated in 2004 by the parish leadership in the search process that called me as Leading Pastor. The vision areas set out some key areas of ministry in which we want to move forward, and they were developed by our consultant, Reb Scarborough, after he went through the results of the six mission center planning sessions that were conducted in April, May, and June. The vision document is not holy writ. It was not delivered from Mt. Sinai on stone tablets. It can be worked on. Nevertheless, it should remain fairly stable over time so that it can serve effectively as a touchstone for our specific efforts under the strategic plan.

The goals document is in a very preliminary, "working document," state. It needs significant "defragging" to get it to the point where it is both clear and accurately reflective of the actual work being done and being planned by the ministers of the parish.

2. Who will do that work?
On September 15th, in addition to unanimously approving both the vision and goal documents, the vestry commissioned the Strategic Planning Team for the work of coordinating the ministry initiatives undertaken as part of the plan and making sure that the Strategic Plan is communicated to the parish and successfully executed. The Strategic Planning Team is directly accountable to the vestry. Those who have been members of the parish for awhile will remember the Parish Life Committee: the SPT has been commissioned and will operate on a similar basis.

3. Who is on the Strategic Planning Team?
The chair is Brian Matusek, who is a member of the vestry. The chair will always be a vestry member in order to ensure accountability and transparency. Two other vestry members are Cindy Carr and Matt Horak. Three members "at large" are: Ron Bahr, Paul Egner, and Traci Schluter. All the members of the SPT are experienced and dedicated leaders from various sections of our parish community. All have a demonstrated ability to see the big picture and put the parish first. I am also a member of the SPT, serving as chaplain and a continuous presence as members of the vestry roll on and off.

The SPT will model the life of ministry that we seek to spread through the parish. Our meetings will be times of fellowship, prayer, and Bible study. We will seek to do ministry in community.

The essential task of the SPT is to serve as a kind of "Dispatch of Business" committee. That is to say, in a legislature all sorts of resolutions and bills are submitted. A committee is formed for the purpose of sorting which bills and actions should go where: agriculture bills to the Ag Committee, budget bills to the Appropriations Committee, etc. Similarly, the SPT will do the important work of sorting and prioritizing the goals laid out by the parish leadership and the various mission centers. Some goals are very similar and need to be consolidated. Others may not meet our vision criteria and may be dropped. Others have actually been completed, and need to be celebrated! Some goals are harder than others and require more resources -- they may be moved down the chain until those resources can be gathered. You get the idea.

4. What about the work we did at the mission center sessions last spring and summer? Will they count?
By all means! The SPT will be going through those results and sorting them also. Again, some have already been or are being addressed naturally as our ministry leaders were inspired by the comments and ideas expressed in their areas of specialty. All the meetings will receive careful review by the SPT. However, the mission center sessions were not a means to make demands to be met forthwith. Think of them as open-ended, wild hare encouragement sessions, in which a lot of pasta was thrown at the wall: some noodles will stick, others won't, others have already been eaten.

Okay, I think that's quite enough for now! See what happens when I don't have space limitations! If you have questions about the Strategic Plan or anything else, please let me know: post them on the blog, or send them to me at rprice@saintdunstans.org. I'd love to hear from you.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
Rob+