SEARCH by Michelle Huneven: Gender Equity Advocates Network Book Club

It's a novel, but it reads like real life. From the honest spiritual knocking of our own hearts to the very concrete good and bad of the search process, this Search shines a bright light on the ways in which American religious institutions (and specifically houses of worship) find their leaders. A million questions will be opened up for you--and you'll laugh and find kinship with the characters as you see yourself and your own work and experience in their stories. Join us on November 18 as we do some searching of our own: 9am PT/12pm ET via Zoom (RSVP here). If you care about gender equity in hiring, if you're a part of a spiritual community, if you care about American religious institutions and non-profits, and if you love a good, gossipy and fun novel, this book is for you.

What can we learn from this?  We'll consider not just the power of this book but the actual concrete implications for our work: how the committee is formed, what their process looks like, and what we might learn from other non-profit settings that are engaged in deliberate, focused searches over long periods of time. How might we use this in our own work? 

Available EVERYWHERE: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Kindle, Audible, Libby or your favorite local library.

Recommended by Rabbi Ilana Garber, Cohort 4

“Delectable. . . Huneven treats us to a savory plot that blends spiritual yearnings with earthly pleasures. Forks out!” —Oprah Daily  From critically acclaimed, award-winning author Michelle Huneven, a sharp and funny novel of a congregational search committee, told as a memoir with recipes.  Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Just as she’s finishing the book tour for her latest bestseller, Dana is asked to join the church search committee for a new minister. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she agrees, and resolves to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes, about the experience. That memoir, Search, follows the travails of the committee and their candidates—and becomes its own media sensation.  Dana had good material to work with: the committee is a wide-ranging mix of Unitarian Universalist congregants, and their candidates range from a baker and microbrew master/pastor to a reverend who identifies as both a witch and an environmental warrior. Ultimately, the committee faces a stark choice between two very different paths forward for the congregation. Although she may have been ambivalent about joining the committee, Dana finds that she cares deeply about the fate of this institution and she will fight the entire committee, if necessary, to win the day for her side. This wry and wise tale will speak to anyone who has ever gone searching, and James Beard Award–winning author Michelle Huneven’s food writing and recipes add flavor to the delightful journey. Source: Publisher

This event is free for all Gender Equity Advocates. We invite those who would like to join who are not yet Gender Equity Advocates to make a contribution to the Gender Equity in Hiring Project.