An Announcement From Music Director Mike Vasich

June 5, 2022

To the First Christian Church community:

I am sharing the news with you that I have made the difficult decision to take a new position as the music director for First Unitarian Society beginning August 15, 2022.  Although I have decided to make this switch, I want to let you all know how much I have appreciated my time working at First Christian. I have truly enjoyed being a part of this extremely generous, loving, and open-minded congregation. First Christian has been a wonderful fit musically, and I want to thank this community for welcoming me in as a pianist, and then trusting me to become music director after Adam left in 2020. With the help and flexibility of Laurie, Dan, Deb, Mike and Kirsten Cackoski, Melinda Cackoski Nickerson, our section leaders, and with all of your support, we made the transition to online-only church and then back to in-person. This was a major undertaking, and I am very thankful for our amazing team for making these last two difficult years successful.

Please know that this has been a tough decision for me, and ultimately, I decided to apply to First Unitarian Society as my family and I have been members at First Universalist for almost ten years, and Molly, Misha, and Sula have been going to a different church than me every Sunday. The opportunity to be able to share in the same faith community together was one that I could not pass up.  Further, with Molly and I both leaving our current teaching positions in Minneapolis Public Schools, we needed to find new work options for the Fall, and I subsequently stumbled across the position at First Unitarian.

I am absolutely going to miss the FCC community, and I hope to keep in touch after I transition to my new position mid-August. Until then, I am looking forward to a fun and music-filled summer at FCC. Thank you again for the support and the kindness you have showed me; I will never forget it.

Sincerely,

Mike Vasich