Rev. Bill Sinkford Called as
Next Senior Minister of
First Unitarian Church

On Sunday, May 2, the members of First Unitarian Church, Portland, voted overwhelmingly to call Rev. Bill Sinkford as Senior Minister. Sinkford, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, was called to service by our congregation this morning with over 99.7% of the votes cast in favor of his ministry. The vote was the culmination of a week of gatherings and meetings where our church family and Bill had a chance to get to know each other.















Left: Marilyn Scott, Church Board of Trustees Moderator, announces ballot results (99.7% in favor of calling Rev. Sinkford as next Senior Minister).
Right: Rev. Bill Sinkford accepts enthusiastic applause from congregants (below).














Left: Marilyn Scott, Board Moderator; Rev. Bill Sinkford, Maria Sinkford, and Paul Pitkin, Chair of the Search Committee. (Photos by Helena Hessle)

''I am thrilled to accept the call to the pulpit of the First Unitarian Church. The opportunity to serve this congregation is the fulfillment of my calling to ministry. I've enjoyed a week of meeting members and leaders of the church. We share a vision of nurturing the human spirit and continuing the history of work for justice and civic leadership of this church here in Portland. I hope and pray that my ministry here and our ministry together will bless us all. My wife, Maria, and I look forward with eager anticipation to joining this community.''
—Rev. William Sinkford

Paul Pitkin, chair of the Ministerial Search Committee, was delighted with the result. “Bill is a match made in heaven for our church, and we’re thrilled that the congregation felt Bill’s call to be here at First Unitarian. I have very high expectations for our shared ministry, both for the excitement and hope it brings to our church and for the tremendous opportunity it gives us to put our values to work in the larger community.  The Search Committee offers its congratulations to Bill, and we look forward with great excitement to our future together.”

Bill Sinkford will be on site beginning August 1 and will first preach on Homecoming Sunday in September. 

Hear Rev. Sinkford speak out on a variety of issues.
Read about his meeting with the Dalai Lama. 
Read his statement at the outbreak of war.
Read his blog about the UU pilgrimage to Africa.
Read Bill’s thoughts on
Church, Community Leadership, Justice, Pastoral Care, and Worship

As UUA president, Bill was responsible for administering staff and programs that serve more than 1,000 member congregations. He also acted as minister-at-large for the Association, and is no stranger to First Church. He has preached here several times in recent years, including a visit during the construction of the Buchan Building. He worked closely with Mark Slegers on the Sunday Worship service at the Portland General Assembly and has worked with our members on international and environmental issues.

Bill’s commitment to liberal religion dates to his teenage years, when he was an active member of the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as the president of Liberal Religious Youth, the continental Unitarian Universalist (UU) youth organization. In later years he returned to Cincinnati and served at the church in many lay positions, from Buildings and Grounds to the Board of Trustees, as well as teaching and eventually chairing the RE committee. It was there that he heard his call to ministry.

Bill received his B.A. from Harvard in 1968 and his Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1995. He also holds honorary doctorates from Tufts University and Meadville/Lombard Theological School.

In 1992, when Bill entered Starr King he was preparing himself for parish ministry. As he was completing his second year of course work and anticipating an internship at the Mt Diablo, CA church, he was asked to come to Boston to serve on the UUA staff. After much reflection, he said yes and began his years of service to our denomination in Boston, deferring but never losing his goal of ministering to a congregation. As he has written, “My dream is to fulfill my original calling to parish ministry. I want to preach to congregants whose stories I know, whose children I’ve dedicated and whose elders I have memorialized.”

He was the first African American to lead any traditionally white denomination, and was named one of the ten most influential Black religious leaders in the US in both 2005 and 2006. His blog about the UU pilgrimage to Africa can be read here.

He and his wife Maria have four adult children, and one grandchild, William Rider Sinkford, born in July 2008.

March 21, 2010

Ministerial Candidate Announced

Dear fellow congregants and friends of First Unitarian Church,

As you may already know, Sunday, March 21, 2010 marks the introduction to a new chapter in the life of our church.  Your Ministerial Search Committee is very proud to present to you the ministerial candidate you will vote on to call as our new Senior Minister. 

Our Committee members, Ameena Amdahl-Mason, Greg Belisle, Bill Cunninghame; Linda Fitzgerald; Carolyn Gillen, Paul Pitkin, Chris Tanner, John Thompson and  Vic Vore have worked diligently to get to this point.  To give you an idea of the wholehearted dedication and energy the committee brought to the task of finding a new Senior Minister, we’d like to let you know that we’ve kept track of some figures.  This committee has contributed nearly 4,000 hours of time during the last 10 months.  That translates into approximately 440 hours per committee member, or 11 weeks of full-time work.  We have read or listened to literally hundreds of sermons given by scores of ministers, and we’ve learned more about Unitarian Universalism in its many forms than you can possibly imagine.  It has truly been a labor of love.

Even more important to the success of this search process was the huge contribution made by all of you.  We received countless contributions and comments from congregants, the church staff, the Board, and our ministers.  Without exception you shared with us in the most thoughtful way your dreams, hopes and aspirations for this church.  We took what you had to say to heart, and your responses were the touchstone of our work.  Those responses were shared with the ministers who had sought us out, and they were instrumental in helping us convey to the applicants just what an amazing place this church is, and what a special congregation we have. 

We can now share some of our process with you.  Most of the summer and fall last year was spent seeking out ministers of note within our denomination and extending invitations to the very best.  We read through more than thirty submitted applications and exchanged volumes of information with many of those ministers, all leading us to the selection of our three finalists.  The last few months found us forging connections with each of our finalists over the phone, in Skype video conferences, via email, and finally in person.  We made dozens of phone calls to carefully check references.  We had three magnificent ministers from which to choose, and each one was fully committed to bringing their very best to the table.  They earned their places as our finalists, but among them one person stood out.  That person not only had impeccable, prodigious credentials as a leader and administrator plus an outstanding record of public witness for justice, but also, as we discovered to our great delight, a warm pastoral presence, genuine personal humility, and a huge, open heart. 

As we entered into deliberation we came back to our primary source of wisdom as we contemplated our final decision – the words of this congregation.  We gathered together as a committee and read a section of the comments we’d received from you so that we knew we were thinking for the congregation, not for ourselves.  The following descriptions we received from you came in response to our question: “What attributes do you see in a minister who can help us get to where we want to be in ten years?”

• Open (both personally and theologically), a sense of humor
• Outgoing, warm, approachable, kind, compassionate, a good listener
• Spiritually grounded, wise
• An activist - someone committed to social justice and diversity
• Intelligent/well-educated
• Self-confident, secure, centered, not threatened by others
• A voice for our congregation in the community
• One who is collaborative, collegial, and has a transparent work ethic
• A leader, one who is visionary, inspirational, forward-thinking, passionate, bold
• A good speaker and sermonizer
• One who participates in the congregation’s activities
• One whose life models UU principles, who “walks the talk”
• Administrative and fundraising skills
• Attentive to youth & children’s issues
• One who is able to bridge divides both in the wider community & in our congregation

We are happy to report that such a minister exists, a person who would be honored and delighted to serve as our Senior Minister if called by this congregation.  Our job has been to bring the finest possible candidate to you.  The final discernment and vote to call this minister will be yours.  Our committee’s choice is unanimous. 

The candidate we present to you is the Rev. Bill Sinkford. 

Most of you may already know that from 2001 to 2009 Rev. Sinkford served our denomination with great distinction as President of the UUA.  Bill was the first African-American to lead our predominantly white denomination, a welcome milestone for our faith.  His tenure as UUA President is marked by many accomplishments, and for those of you who would like to learn the details of Bill’s presidency, you may view his final report given at General Assembly last year (Begin viewing at 36:00). 

There’s much more to Rev. Sinkford than just his exemplary service as the head of our denomination.  Bill demonstrated leadership from an early age.  In his teens he was active in the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnatti, OH, and he served as president of Liberal Religious Youth, the continental UU youth movement of the time.  As a high school senior he was recognized as one of the first U.S. Presidential Scholars, and he went on to receive his undergraduate degree in social relations with honors from Harvard.   Bill enjoyed considerable success both in the corporate world and in running his own business prior to hearing his own call to ministry.  Heeding that call, Bill earned his Masters of Divinity degree from the Starr King School for Ministry. 

Beyond this impressive resume, it’s important for you to know that the chance to be your minister is the realization of a dream for Bill.  Before Bill had even graduated from Starr King he was called to serve on the UUA senior staff by his predecessor as UUA President, John Buehrens, and that was immediately followed by his own tenure as President.  Bill enjoyed his time with the UUA greatly, but his real call was to serve a congregation.  As Bill stated in his Ministerial Record, “My dream is to fulfill my original calling to parish ministry.  I want to preach to congregants whose stories I know, whose children I’ve dedicated and whose elders I have memorialized.”  Bill also shared with us his passion for the making of justice in his ministry and his desire that the work of justice be central to the mission of the congregation he is called to serve.  First Unitarian is the church that realizes Bill’s dreams and aspirations, and in Bill we find a minister whose passions are in alliance with the causes that are at the heart of our congregational spirit. 

The Ministerial Search Committee rejoices in sharing this wonderful news with you, and to say that we’re excited about the future is a gross understatement.  But please remember that this point is a beginning, not an end.  There are many steps that lie ahead of us in the near future, and we ask all of you to do your part.  Rev. Sinkford and his lovely wife Maria will be arriving in Portland for Candidating Week on April 24th.  There will be many opportunities for all of you to meet him so that you can discern for yourselves Bill’s desire and qualifications to be our Senior Minister and to discover the man behind the reputation. 

Announcements about upcoming congregational conversations with the Search Committee and the Board as well as activities during Candidating Week will be posted in orders of service, on the Search Committee bulletin board in the narthex, in your weekly eNewsletters every Thursday, and most importantly on this website.  Please make an effort to attend at least one of the events, especially the final vote to call Bill as our minister which will take place on Sunday, May 2nd.  Even more important, remember that you must be a voting member in order to participate in the Vote to Call on May 2nd.  Learn more about how to become a voting member , and please note that Sunday, April 4, is your last day to sign the membership book to become a voting member of the church prior to the ballot to call the senior minister.  

We offer congratulations to you as we enter an exciting new era in the life of our church!

Sincerely,
The Ministerial Search Committee

Ministerial Search Committee (MSC)

Front Row (from left): Greg Belisle, Chris Tanner, Vic Vore Middle Row: Linda Fitzgerald, Ameena Amdahl-Mason, Bill Cunninghame Back Row: John Thompson, Carolyn Gillen, Paul Pitkin.

The Congregational Information Packet
One of the most important and extensive tasks accomplished by the Search Committee was the creation of an informational packet that for First Church took the form of a secure website (vs. a hard bound document).  The packet was shared with a select group of ministers as part of our search process.  It contains information such as Search committee introductions, results from the congregational surveys, pictures of the church facility, activities and groups, history of the congregation, current operating budget, recent newsletters as well as Orders of Worship.  By request, we're making the congregational packet available for viewing by interested congregants.  Confidential information has been removed to honor our promise to protect private comments shared with us by church members.  You may view our congregational packet site here.