Letter from the Candidate

Dear Members and Friends of the UUCB community,

I am deeply honored to be the candidate for your Lead Minister position. How excited am I about UUCB? Let me count the ways!

First and foremost, you all are a fantastic congregation! Your history of supporting long and successful ministries, your passion for justice in the wider community, your care for each other, the children in your congregation, and the ways you show your love and commitment to UUCB are so evident. Throughout the search process – from the very first reading of your Ministerial Record prepared by your Ministerial Search Committee (MSC), through all of my research calls, to my visit to Bloomington and time with the MSC, I have felt excited about this ministry. I have been deeply moved by the depth of care, the breadth of ministry, the quality of leadership, and the health and strength of the UUCB community.

To say it plainly, you captured my heart!

Second, I am excited by the meaning and importance of the ministry of UUCB. As a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and a born and raised Midwesterner, I know how much our UU congregations matter - especially in small towns, in the middle of the country and in conservative states. They are life-saving and so needed.

Third, I want to share how clearly I feel called back to congregational ministry. The UUA President receives a sabbatical after their term. During this time I worked with an executive coach as part of my own discernment about my next professional chapter. Through this intentional process what was most clear is that I am a pastor at heart. And while I am grateful to have served as UUA President, I missed the local and proximate work of congregational ministry - of growing with and growing to love a community of people, and working together to make our values real in the world.

Fourth, Indiana is close to my heart! Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, every year my family celebrated the Gray Family Reunion in Indiana, usually southern Indiana. My Dad grew up in Cincinnati and my parents met at the University of Cincinnati. Each year, the Cincinnati and St. Louis family would gather halfway in between, usually in Terre Haute, Evansville, New Harmony, even once at Brown County State park (one of the best reunions!).

Fifth, my husband, the Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray, began a new job last September working for his denomination, whose headquarters are located in Indianapolis. Together, we are so excited for the opportunity to be in Indiana, and what it offers each of us personally and professionally.

And finally, I take the meaning of calling seriously. Throughout my ministerial career, I have listened to my heart. During my weekend in Bloomington, not only was I captured by the beauty of the area, I felt moved and inspired by the ways I could grow as a minister and the ways that we could grow together.

I am grateful for the trust your Ministerial Search Committee has placed in me. I am honored by the invitation to be your candidate. I can’t wait to meet more of you during Candidating Week and begin to dream together of what a shared ministry of joy and compassion, of courage and of meaning will look like!

See you very soon!
Yours,
Susan