Election to Council
The members of the council will be selected and voted into office as follows:

Nomination
Nominations can be made by the entire congregation (all those in church attendance), employees, lay leadership, and current council, with none of these people being able to make more than two (2) nominations. All council nomination applications are required to have the approval signature of a current council member before being given to the applicant. Nomination forms will explain the qualifications and the selection process and must be signed by both the nominee and the nominator. Paid Staff Workers are not permitted to run for voting council openings due to the potential for conflict of authority. Council is not permitted to have multiple immediate family members serving at the same time. Council must have a minimum of two of each sex (male & female) serving on the council at all times if qualified candidates are available and willing to serve and only in the case that a qualified individual is not available nor willing to serve only then may that spot be taken by an individual f the opposite sex. The period and method of nomination will be announced at all current church services. Those nominated will fill out an application and in doing so understand that they are open to deep scrutiny, calls to provide references and a personal interview. The application will be periodically reviewed by the council. These applications will then pass to a Screening Committee.

Screening Committee
Each Screening Committee will comprise two to three (2-3) people each from the staff workers, lay leadership, and current council, and will be chosen by their respective groups. No one on this Committee may also be a nominee for the council. Those on this Committee will be chosen after nominations are made. This Committee will review the applications for adherence to the “Qualities of a councilor” (see below), conduct interviews, and call references as deemed necessary. A nomination must be recommended by a two-thirds vote in the Committee. This Committee will follow through on all challenges or questions of qualification that arise during the process, at the screening level, or when reviewed by staff workers, council, and lay leadership (see below). The Screening Committee must be as objective as possible when reviewing “character” and never exclude a nominee based on personal preference, hearsay, etc. If something is uncovered about the nominee that disqualifies them from the position, the Committee must have a contingency for a quiet removal from the process and the ability to broadcast positive qualifications widely. These applications will then be presented to the staff workers, lay leadership, and current council (the voters) for Final Review. This screening process will take two (2) weeks.

Final Review
During Final Review the voters have the right to question the applications of those nominated. If an issue is uncovered, the questioner, the nominee, and a member of the Screening Committee will meet together to discuss the question in confidence. The final Review will take no longer than two (2) weeks.

Voting
Once the screening process is complete the list of names will come to vote. The voters will be only the staff workers, the lay leadership, and the current council. Three bullet qualifications of the candidates will be provided to aid in informed voting. The vote will be cast by secret ballot in a meeting separate from any regularly scheduled service. During this meeting, questions may be asked of nominees by members of the voting body, after which the vote will be taken.