Special Announcement
February 1, 2023
Dear Pilgrims,
We are writing today with some exciting news! At its meeting last evening, Pilgrim’s Church Council approved Carla and the Human Resources Committee’s recommendation to hire M. Hakes (they/them) as our full-time Director of Faith Formation, starting in March of this year!
You will recall that back in June, our congregation voted to go ahead with this bold step—to hire a person to focus on our ministry to children, youth, and families; teach confirmation; provide support for our congregation’s children; plan and carry out excellent programs; support our volunteer church school teachers and youth group advisors; and generally bring theological and pastoral leadership to all of Pilgrim’s faith formation work.
We had a number of excellent applicants. Carla pre-screened our applicants by meeting with each of them personally. Then our interview team—Camilla Beaster, August Capps, Katie Hanlon, Julie Johnson, Steve Therrien, and Carla—prepared questions and conducted in-person interviews. We are so happy to report that M. Hakes emerged as our unanimous first choice!
Many of you will remember that M. served as Coordinator of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries at Pilgrim from 2017-2019, which was then a half-time position. Since that time, M. has worked in campus ministry at the College of St. Scholastica. In many ways, their heart has remained at Pilgrim, and our hearts are ready to welcome them back.
We are still working out a few transition details—start date, office space, benefits—but very soon, our staff will finally be at its full strength. We look forward to welcoming M. back to Pilgrim and to full participation in Pilgrim’s ministry.
With love to you all,
Carla Bailey, Pastor
Karl Beaster, Moderator