What has happened so far:

• The CVUUS congregation approved a Search Team at its June 2025 Annual Meeting. The Team includes Becky Strum, Ben Long, Priscilla Bremser, Andrea Sambrook, Dorothy Mammen, Hannah Sessions, and Elio Farley (L. to R. on the bus below).
• The Search Team had a retreat in August. We drafted a covenant for our work together (see it here), got familiar with details of the search process, and decided who would have which roles over the course of the search.

• The Team decided to meet on Monday evenings, mostly via Zoom. Recognizing that our work in the fall centered around gathering input from CVUUS members and friends, we chose to refer to this period as our “Listening Tour.”
• We distributed an online survey, using a template from the UUA Transitions office. Read the survey results here.
• On September 21, we led the worship service, which you can watch here.
• We hosted 18 Cottage Meetings, mostly in October, to hear from small groups about their hopes for what a new minister might mean for CVUUS. A total of 83 individuals took part. See an overview of those conversations here.
• On Saturday November 8, 44 congregants attended the Breaking Barriers, Building Beliefs workshop led by Rev. Eric Kaminetzky from the UUA. Rev. Kamintezky preached at CVUUS the next day. Those who were unable to attend the B4 Workshop on November 8 are invited to join members from other congregations for a 2.5 hour version on Dec.13 at 9am PT/12pm ET.  Follow this link to Register. Promotional materials are available HERE.
• We submitted our congregational profile to the portal on the UUA website in time for the December 1 deadline!
• We submitted the final version of the CVUUS Congregational Profile to the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Transitions Team in December. This document will be available to potential applicants who have registered with the UUA search system.

What’s yet to come:

• After all of the team’s visible activity in the fall, we go quiet as we consider applications and then interview candidates.
• Ideally, we find a match!
• Our candidate comes for a week, giving sermons both April 18 and April 25, and acting as our minister in between (in consultation with our interim ministers).
• On Sunday, April 25, after the worship service, the candidate leaves and the congregation takes a vote: do we want to call this person to be the next settled minister at CVUUS? Most candidates will only accept an offer if the vote has been at least 95% in favor.
• Our new minster joins us on August 1, 2026.

If you are a minister in search, you can apply through the UUA Transitions Office here.