The Rev. John F. Koepke III, Chair	Southern Ohio V, 2006
Canon Roberta Fairman, Vice-Chair	New Hampshire I, 2006
The Rt. Rev. Richard S.O. Chang	Hawaii VIII, 2006
Canon Alice Clayton	East Tennessee IV, 2009, resigned
The Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs Jr.	Michigan V, 2009
The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori	Nevada VIII, 2009
The Rev. Canon David W. Kent	Kansas VII, 2006
Canon Jill Mathis	Pennsylvania III, 2009
Ms. Emily Peach	Missouri V, 2009
The Rt. Rev. F. Neff Powell	Southwestern Virginia III, 2006
The Rev. Janice M. Robinson	Washington III, 2006, resigned
The Rev. Canon Matthew Stockard	East Carolina IV, 2009
The Rev. Rebecca L. McClain, Executive Director
Ms. Pamela Ramsden, Associate Director

The work of the Board for Church Deployment centers on the conviction that effective transitions in leadership will lead to faithful transformations in vision and ministry. During the past triennium, the Board successfully met its stated objective to “Oversee the leadership transition after the retirement of the current Executive Director of the Church Deployment Office.” This objective launched a significant process of reflection and change for the Board.

When Jim Wilson announced his plans to retire, the Board began to work on the transition. It initiated a search for the next Executive Director in collaboration with the Office of the Presiding Bishop. Before that work began, the Board adjusted its focus from principally overseeing and supporting the ongoing work of the Church Deployment Office (CDO) to looking carefully at the changing landscape of the Episcopal Church and its implications for the ministry of transition. Key elements of its future work were identified to guide and shape the ministry of the Board and the CDO.

Most important was the commitment to shift the deployment process toward a more systems and strategic approach, to become more creative and adaptive in addressing needs and opportunities in the ministry of transition and to fashion partnerships and relationships not only with those engaged in transitions (Diocesan Deployment Officers, Interim Ministers, consultants) but with those engaged in identification, formation and training of ministers (i.e. Commissions on Ministry, seminaries, diaconal training). The Rev. Robert Gallagher served as the Board’s consultant.

The Board then began an active discernment and search process for the CDO’s Executive Director. It recommended that Pamela Ramsden, the current Associate Director, lead the Church Deployment Office in the interim, in collaboration with the retiring Executive Director, Interim Assistant Director—the Rev. Nancy Miller—and office staff to facilitate a clear and thoughtful transition. The Board developed a position description and appointed a Search Committee (consisting of several Board members, the Chair, and the Rev. Canon Carl Gerdau from the Office of the Presiding Bishop) chaired by the Rt. Rev. Neff Powell. The Search Committee identified the Very Rev. Rebecca McClain, Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, as its nominee for the Board’s consideration. She met with the Board at its November 2004 meeting in St. Louis, and was subsequently recommended to the Presiding Bishop for appointment as the next Executive Director of CDO. She began her ministry in March 2005.

Throughout the transition, momentum continued and collegial relations prospered. Eighty DDOs and bishops attended the 5th National Deployment Conference in San Diego in April 2004; CDO continued its collaboration with the Church Pension Group on the sharing of clergy data through a Common Reference Database; Ramsden researched diocesan Human Resource manuals as a project of the Employment Policies and Procedures Task Force; semi-annual training for DDOs and Assistants took place; a national committee initiated a revision of the Ministry Skill/Experience Manual; each seminary was invited to host onsite Profile workshops facilitated by CDO Directors; the CDO On Line system was continuously enhanced and provided valuable research statistics to various ministry areas; CDO offered staff support for Profile updating at the 7th Triennial Black Clergy Conference in 2005; the Board participated in Anti-Racism training in 2004; meetings were held with members of the ELCA’s Call Review Task Force; all while the same high level of services were provided under a budget reduced after Convention 2003.

At the end of 2005 the 6th National Deployment Conference was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. A strategic plan emerged out of reflection, self-study, and conversation with 87 deployment officers, directors, and board members. The gathering marked the beginning of a new era in the Church Deployment Office with an emphasis on the ministry of transition in the twenty-first century. We are called to flourish and transitions offer a great opportunity to remember the past, consider the present moment, and dream about the future. We are also deeply committed to the development of effective leadership in the church through the process of discernment and call and seek to create an environment where we can fully employ the best of technology and the healthiest network of trained experts in the field.

This summary report contains the basic structure of a strategic plan including core values, a working core purpose statement, targets and goals. These goals reflect the challenges for 2006 and the next triennium. The core ideology and targets reflect longer term hopes and dreams. This is not a plan to put on a shelf but an opportunity to act, linking the best that technology can offer us with the networks and relationships that are already in place. Together we will discover the resources we need to accomplish what we have been called to do.

The shift from a culture of solidity to one of resilience calls us to seek stability from within, discovering the strength that comes from the heart of Jesus, that mysterious and sacred place where we learn to see as God sees. As a community of hope and faith, we are poised more than most to meet this new day as leaders standing firm on a foundation of love. Despite the swirling storms of change, we stand fast, rooted, grounded and connected through the invisible bonds of love. Our world longs for leaders who serve, bless and unify. That is our charge today.

At this particular time we have a great opportunity to expand and widen the network of the ministry of transition and to recover a vision of leadership in the church and the world. Our partners include Fresh Start, collaborative working relationships with the Offices of Ministry Development, Ethnic Congregational Development, and Congregational Development, and joint ventures with CREDO, the Episcopal Church Foundation, the Church Pension Group (CPG), and ELCA. We will also link with denominational partners and consultants as we become lifelong adaptive learners.

The language of emerging/emergent church is a current cliché but one that suits this dynamic cultural shift. We, too, must manifest the signs of an emerging/emergent organization. Facile, open and capable of decisive action in the midst of chaos is a new discipline for a community inclined to ponderous deliberation. This will call us to be more generous and creative with each other, providing a nurturing environment where it is safe to try new things and to make mistakes. Dynamic stability is our watchword.

This report is just a beginning. The Board has started a work that you are invited to take and shape for your particular time and place. The goals and objectives represent a small beginning to a glorious dream. In the words of board member Bishop Chang, “The transition is over, the transformation now begins.”

Respectfully submitted,

The Rev. John F. Koepke III, Chair, CDO Board

The Rev. Rebecca L. McClain, Executive Director

Ms. Pamela Ramsden, Associate Director

	OUR TARGETS	OUR GOALS (MATCHED TO THEIR TARGETS)
Leadership Development	We will empower every Baptized person to live as a leader in light of the baptismal covenant.	Through collaboration inside and outside of the Episcopal Church we will provide excellent training for those leaders of the church engaged in the ministry of transition.
Making the Case & Prophetic Energizing	We will relentlessly communicate the opportunities for transforming ministries of the church and mobilize our God-given human and financial resources to that end.	We will proclaim the opportunities contained within the present realities cultivating collaborative relationships and developing necessary resources to manage our own time of transition.
Relationships & Networking Alliances	We will enthusiastically engage and support new and existing networks, relationships and alliances to strengthen the transformational ministry of the church.	We will be a catalyst for the development of dynamic, flexible hubs that foster mutual responsibility and interdependence.
Research & Development	We will use the best of available information and new research to develop and disseminate the best practices in ministry development. We will encourage the development of innovative models of ministry to address the changing needs of our diverse contexts and support the church in the integration of this information.	We will discover and share best practices of the ministry of transition.

The Board for Church Deployment