Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church Welcomes
Lóre Stevens for Candidating Week April 20-28, 2024

Spend a week together in fun and fellowship with ministerial candidate, Lóre Stevens. Then, on April 28, the ORUUC congregation will vote to call Lóre as our next settled minister. 

About our candidate

After three intense and successful pre-candidating weekends in February and March, the Search Team unanimously voted to make Lóre Stevens our first choice of ministerial candidate, and it turns out she chose us too. That means that in a sea of hundreds of searching churches, and considerably fewer searching candidates, we managed to find (and choose) each other. 

Lóre (rhymes with story) is originally from Powell, TN. She is of Mexican and European heritage and part of the LGBTQ+ community. After gaining two degrees from Eastern Michigan University, she worked part-time as First UU Nashville’s Membership Coordinator, followed by a full-time role at the Nashville Public Library. After carefully deciding on ministry, Lóre graduated from Harvard Divinity School (HDS) in 2022. One faculty advisor said Lóre was one of the most gifted students they had ever had. She was the winner of the UU Office at the United Nations’ Greeley Sermon Award, she has received the UU History & Heritage Society’s Research Prize (for a paper on the UUA’s evolving responses to ministerial misconduct), and received the Hopkins Award for Demonstrated Ministerial Promise given by the HDS faculty.

Lóre also brings experience with Unitarian Universalism on the national level, having served on the board of the Church of the Larger Fellowship and worked for both the UUA New England Region and UU Service Committee. After her internship at First Universalist Minneapolis, Lóre wished to return to East Tennessee, where she is currently the contract minister for Foothills UU Fellowship in Maryville. She will be ordained May 18th at First UU Nashville. More personally, Lóre considers herself an atheist mystic, with a passion for transcending gaps: between spirituality and science, between races, between humanity and the natural world. She lives with her younger brother, Zachary, and two cats, Tezzy and Twinkle. She enjoys science fiction, illustrated journaling, and volunteering at the local cat shelter.

The Ministerial Search Team feels that Lóre is a living representation of what congregants wished for ORUUC in the survey and cottage meetings last fall: A caring community where diversity is welcomed; an outward-looking community working to embody a just world; a liberal community that celebrates the earth and the interdependent web of all existence. We hope you will enjoy getting to know her this week!

What is Candidating Week?

For the last year, the ORUUC Ministerial Search Team has engaged in an intensive campaign to find our next settled minister, and we have made a choice! But the work is not done yet. Candidating week is the opportunity to get to know our ministerial candidate and show our candidate what a Welcoming Congregation we are. All members and friends are invited to participate in this exciting week of activities. At the end of the week, members will vote to call our settled minister.

To help the week run smoothly, please consider the following:

• DO attend at least one event during the week outside of Sunday Services.

• DO ask the candidate all your questions.

• DO show the candidate that we are a Welcoming Congregation. 

• DO be sensitive to this intense, tiring, and overwhelming week for our candidate; please be considerate. 

• DO share your time with the candidate and invite others into the conversation.

• DO bring any questions or concerns to the Ministerial Search Team. Please email churchsearch2324@gmail.com. 

• DO attend the congregational meeting after the service on April 28 to cast your vote.

Candidating Week schedule: SEE BELOW!

A schedule chock FULL of candidating week events is available now! Thank you for your patience as we put the final touches on plenty of events to which everyone is invited!

Voting on April 28, 2024

Candidating Week will end with a congregational meeting and vote immediately after the service on April 28 at 11:30 to vote on calling Lóre as our settled minister.  Please make every effort to attend this meeting since we need a quorum of 25% of all members.   As we take the next big step in the history of Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, it is critical to hear from every voice and for all to participate in this process.  

85% of voting members must vote YES to Lóre as our next settled minister. 

Note: According to ORUUC bylaws, special elections are IN PERSON voting ONLY with NO proxies allowed. 

This means that members must be PHYSICALLY PRESENT at church in order to cast your vote. 

We will be broadcasting the vote on Zoom, but no virtual votes will be taken or counted.

If you need transportation or assistance getting to church to vote, please contact the Ministerial Search Team at churchsearch2324@gmail.com.  

Questions?

Please contact the Ministerial Search Team with any questions or concerns, churchsearch2324@gmail.com. 

Thank you for your participation in this important occasion as we build our future with Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

In faithful partnership, 

Your Ministerial Search Team

Patton Fishel, Carol Beene, Beth Meyer, Sarah Gunter, Dave Dunkirk, Michael Bjerke, and Christy White