Search Committee
RECEIVING NAMES FOR RECTOR (FULL-TIME) - 10/28/22
St. John's Episcopal Church — Naperville
St. John’s Episcopal Church, located in Naperville, Illinois, is now receiving names for a full-time rector. St. John’s has had a long history in the western suburbs of Chicago since being organized as a parish over 170 years ago. The congregation draws parishioners from multiple communities in the surrounding area, is multigenerational, multi-ethnic, and is theologically and politically diverse. Worship is true to the Episcopal tradition and offers several opportunities for all to be involved in the service. St. John’s is in good financial health, having paid off its mortgage, run a successful capital campaign, and completed major repairs to the physical plant in the past few years.
Naperville is home to many corporate offices, has a vibrant city center with small-town charm, offers an excellent school system and a nationally-ranked college, and is highly rated as a desirable place to live. Like many parishes in these post-Covid times, members of the congregation are trying to figure out how to be faithful disciples expressing the love of God through Jesus Chris in a complex and uncertain world.
The people of St. John’s seek an energetic and collaborative leader experienced in managing change and casting a compelling vision. Strong preaching skills with sermons that are engaging, biblically based, and relevant to everyday life are valued. In addition, their next rector should possess strong pastoral skills by being empathetic, a good listener, and an encourager.
RECTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE - 10/21/22
The official posting of our Rector search is expected soon from the Diocese of Chicago. When the link for candidates becomes available at the Diocesan website, it will allow applications for our open Rector position at St. John’s, Naperville.
Please stay on the lookout for additional updates so that you can spread the word. Your active networking and encouragement for applicants is encouraged once the applicant link becomes available.
Meanwhile, our search committee again thanks everyone who participated in our congregational assessment, small groups, parish meeting, and for all the additional support and prayers for our search. Also, we’d like to especially thank some non-committee contributors including Brian Bohr for work on the search progress chart in the Narthex, Steve Herner for professional formatting of the Parish Profile, and Jill Crisman for great support of the search committee including e-news and our webpage.
ALL PARISH UPDATE RECORDING - RECTOR SEARCH PROCESS
Thank you to everyone who attended our Search Committee and Vestry update on June 26 between worship services. The purpose of this forum was to share highlights of what we learned from the Congregational Assessment Tool, what we heard in small group sessions, how this information is used in our search, and an overview of the search process next steps. We were pleased to be joined by our Diocesan team member who is assisting our work.
For those who missed the meeting and donut holes, you can still
listen to all meeting content including our panel discussion and comments by clicking here.
OUR SEARCH FOR A NEW RECTOR
In January 2022, St. John’s began the process of searching for our next clergy leader following the retirement of Pastor Verna Fair who faithfully served our parish for over a decade. Our search committee is at work with the Diocese of Chicago to conduct the search process, approaching this work as a call from someone higher, not a “hire”.
Before posting a position that allows candidates to apply, there are important steps we’re taking with the congregation’s assistance. Primarily, we ask for your prayers for the committee in our work together.
A core principle and prerequisite to soliciting candidates is to perform a congregational assessment that is related to the mission of our parish and our future leader. Our search committee has initiated a Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT). The CAT allows us to seek input from the congregation on how God is calling us to engage in His mission, our values as a faith community, and what it means to be a disciple of Christ in this place and time.
The link to our CAT is:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STJECNAPERVILLEIL and all information gathered in the survey is anonymous. We are seeking as many replies to the CAT as possible, not just one per “household”. Our search committee is taking this feedback, along with information from small group sessions, to form a parish profile that provides important information concerning our worship, community services, education programs, budget, parish life, and goals.
The posting for our open rector position will be available at
https://episcopalchicago.org/for-clergy/clergy-openings. The completed parish profile will be made available to clergy who may be interested in the call to a position in the parish. This profile will be matched with personal profiles of clergy to identify potential candidates for our vacant position.
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Andy Cooper
Dr. Andy Cooper and family have been members of St. John's for 15 years and he is a former Vestry member and Junior and Senior Warden. He serves as a Sunday school teacher with his wife Stacey, as a stewardship committee member, and spearheaded the recent Capital Campaign. Prior to joining St. John’s, Andy and family attended St. David’s Episcopal Church in Aurora, IL where he also served as Warden and stewardship committee chair, Emanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in Champaign, and Calvary Episcopal Church in Lombard where Andy and Stacey were married 30 years ago. Andy is Sr. Vice President, Global Research and Development for Ecolab and in his free time enjoys exercise and family time.
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Keith Davis
Keith and his family have been members at St. John’s for 40 years. He is a former Vestry member. Keith helped form St. John’s original Healing Team and he has served on numerous committees. He is dedicated to St. John’s continuing to be a Bible based Church. Keith has been an adult leader in BSA for 25 years. He is an avid outdoorsman.
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Dianne Engram
Dianne Engram has been a member of St. John for 40 years. She has served on the Vestry during the terms of two pastors and has been both Junior and Senior Warden. She has participated in Strategic Planning for the parish and attended Diocesan Conventions in person and, most recently, virtually. She is a retired Human Resources Manager for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory where she was also the Chief Compliance Officer and Diversity Chair. Her experience includes developing job descriptions, defining essential functions, determining accommodations, interviewing, and recruitment. She also has extensive background in conflict resolution and mediation. She currently serves on the Executive Boards of the Quad County Urban League and Maywood Fine Arts.
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Lois Garland-Patterson
Dr. Lois Garland-Patterson has been a member of St. John’s since August 2015. In that time she served as a vestry member, including both junior and senior warden positions. Lois currently serves as Co-President of St. John’s chapter of the Daughters of the King. In addition, she has served on several committees: Farmers Market, Building and Grounds, Budget, and Stewardship. Lois had the honor of representing St. John’s at the virtual 2020 Diocesan convention that elected Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark as our 13th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, the first Black and female to hold that position. She also represented St. John’s at the 2021 virtual Diocesan convention. Prior to joining St. John’s, Lois was a Sunday School teacher and taught Confirmation. You will see Lois at 8:00 am services, and every three weeks she will be one of your ushers for that service.
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Suzanne Jeter
Confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1979, Suzanne has been an active member of St. John's since 2007. Daughters of the King, choir, and lector are some of the activities in which Suzanne is involved. Suzanne is a past member of the vestry, and currently is in her second year of Education for Ministry. She is a retired audiologist after working 19 years at Loyola University Medical Center where she cared for patients ranging in age from newborns to 100 years of age. Suzanne enjoys painting landscapes, playing canasta and spending time with her 3 grandchildren. She feels so blessed to be a part of the search for our new rector.
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Beth Mosher
Beth has been a member of St. John’s for about 17 years. In addition to her work on the search committee, Beth serves as a lector, a Sunday school teacher, she formally taught First Communion classes and she just finished a term as a member of the vestry. She and her husband Paul have two teen girls who are both also active at St. John’s in the Youth Group program and they both serve as acolytes and members of the choir. Away from the church, Beth serves as the director of public affairs for AAA and is a hobbyist photographer.
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Irene Peters
Irene is member of St. John’s Episcopal Parish since mid of 2017, currently senior youth member and only child of Chris and Mary. Prior to that, Peter’s family was located in Bangalore India where they were members of St. Mark’s Cathedral. The family moved to US on a job transfer from India. Irene loves singing, swimming, and an avid lover of animals. She is truly humbled to be part of the rector search committee.
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Bob Turner
Bob Turner has been attending St. John’s for 44 years. He is currently a member of the Stewardship Committee, the Outreach Board, the Wednesday Morning Men’s Bible Study, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and the Righteous Brothers. He also serves as treasurer of the board for Grace Place at NIU. He is a big hockey and baseball fan and loves golf and summertime at the cabin in Michigan.
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George Wray
George became a member of St. John’s in 2007 soon after relocating from Cincinnati, OH. In addition to serving on the Rector Search Committee he is an active choir member and occasional soloist and a teacher at Vacation Bible school. After growing up in California his decision to pursue a career in the airline industry came with moves to South and North Dakota, Missouri, Texas, and Ohio. He is a hockey fan and enjoys travel with his significant other of 19 years whenever work schedules permit.
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