United Church of Warsaw

My second year with you has been very good. Soon after our annual meeting I will be leaving you to begin serving another church as their interim minister. February 18 will be my last Sunday with you. You have been a wonderful congregation to serve. We have accomplished a lot during these two years, including:

• Crafting a vision statement which the pastoral search committee used to find a minister who will help you move in the directions you envision for yourself
• Developing new leadership within the church
• Experiencing healing from past wounds and a renewed sense of community as a church
• Balancing the budget two years in a row and becoming debt-free
• Installing a new sound system and acquiring a new outdoor nativity set
• Entering a partnership for community ministry with the Community Action program and receiving a $68,000 faith-based initiative grant
• Sponsoring two community concerts with about 250 people present
• Welcoming new members and confirming eight teens as full members of the church

I see people laughing, talking, smiling, and enjoying being together, whether at community dinners, Sunday worship and coffee hour, board meetings, or other activities. I see people taking on new responsibilities around the church and in leadership positions that they never did before. I hear people expressing a growing desire to deepen their spiritual lives and to reach out into the community to invite people to participate in the life of this congregation. All of these are wonderful signs of a healthy, growing congregation. That is your future.

In the years to come, I expect to hear good things about what God is doing with the United Church of Warsaw. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to be your interim pastor for these two years. May God richly bless you.

January 20, 2007

Dear Members of the United Church:

The pastoral nominating committee of The United Church of Warsaw is pleased to nominate Rev. Kim Cran for the position of Minister of our church. Rev. Cran is an ordained United Church of Christ minister with over 24 years of experience in ministry. Her journey started in religious education and youth ministry and has culminated in pastoring churches in California, Northern New York, and Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She is presently the senior Pastor of Blairdaff and Chapel of Garioch, two rural Scottish churches with a combined membership of approximately 400 members.

Kim, as she prefers to be addressed, is a native of Kenmore, New York. She has several family members who live in the Kenmore-Tonawanda area. In 1999 she met Bill Cran, a Scottish citizen, and they were married in 2000. She moved to Scotland and was called by The Presbyterian Church of Scotland to minister to her current churches. Bill’s mother recently died, and with few relatives left in Scotland they decided to relocate back to the United States.

Our committee received Kim’s Pastoral profile in August. Her profile caught our attention because her experiences, education, and talents seemed to parallel the mission statement and goals of our church, which were established by the congregation. As we continued the process of reviewing pastoral profiles we kept coming back to this one which seemed to have everything we were seeking. Some of the facts that made an impression on us are:

“In her six plus years as senior Pastor the Chapel of Garioch has been the only church in the Presbytery to demonstrate growth in membership and worship attendance. The greatest increase in attendance has been with young families. They have added an infant/toddler program and two youth programs in the last three years to address this growth.”

Some quotes from lay member references:

“She is a gifted preacher, an enthusiastic teacher, a caring and compassionate counselor, with an ability to relate to all age groups.”

“Kim is a strong Christian with a deep faith. She has a warm personality, she is kind, she is a friend to all, and she is energetic, talented and full of ideas.”

“Kim’s preaching is always fresh and seeks to speak to the needs of her people. Her services are always inclusive and her ability to relate to children and young people is of a very high order.”

We had an opportunity to meet with Kim in October when she returned to the “states” to be with her very ill father. We met at church for an informal “potluck” dinner and interview. This interview and dozens of emails, both asking and answering questions, convinced us that we should look seriously at Kim to become our candidate. Kim and husband Bill returned to the United States again the first week in January. We interviewed her again on January 6th and then heard her preach on Sunday January 7th, at Lakeville United Church of Christ. Later that day we invited her to be our candidate for Pastor of the United Church of Warsaw. We were very excited when, after two days of prayer and contemplation, she accepted our offer.

Kim will conduct the worship service in our church on February 4th. The congregation will meet immediately after worship to vote on her candidacy. To enable church members to meet Kim there will be an informal reception on Friday, Feb 2nd at 7 pm, and a ham dinner and reception on Saturday, Feb 3rd at 5pm. Both events will be held in Fellowship hall. We encourage everyone to attend one or both of these events to meet Kim and Bill, and to greet them and get to know them.

We, the members of your pastoral nominating committee, unanimously support Rev. Kim Cran to be the next minister of our church. We have steadfastly remained loyal to the mission statement and vision plan of The United Church of Warsaw. We believe that Rev. Cran is the minister God is calling to help us realize our vision.

Respectfully, your Pastoral Nominating Committee,

Sue Bottone, Gary Burley, Bob Cummins, Sr., Brad Davies,

Nora Fisher, Leslie Kunze, Howard Miller

Other committees made up of board members and officers and appointed annually:

Session –

Scholarship: 2 members of Session

Responsible for Greeters

Benevolence –

White Gift: 3 members of Benevolence

Food Pantry: 3 members of Benevolence

Mission Interpretation: 4 members

of Benevolence

Responsible for Fellowship Hour

Trustees –

Budget: One member from each board,

one from Personnel,

plus the treasurer,

financial secretary, and pastor

Finance and investment: The treasurer

and at least 2 trustees

Building and grounds: 5 members of

the trustee board

Manse: 3 members of the trustee board

Responsible for Ushers

and Counting the offering