After lengthy discussion, the convention approved a resolution that adopted a search plan that includes:

Forming a search committee engaged in discernment;

Building on the work of the previous search committee (known as the Episcopal Ministry Discernment Team);

Communicating effectively with the wider church;

Exploring the possibility of working with a search consultant;

Using a broad process to collect the names of potential candidates;

Intending to present multiple candidates to the electing convention;

Using the petition process for adding names to the slate.

More on Northern Michigan here.

UPDATE
Doug LeBlanc reports in The Living Church:

Both in her verbal report to the diocesan convention and in an interview with The Living Church, standing committee president Linda Piper said that poor communication harmed the consents process for Fr. Thew Forrester.

“Somehow we did not communicate clearly our process, and we’re working to change that,” she told The Living Church. “In our congregations there is a ministry discernment process. We based our process on a discernment process that we’ve used at the congregational level for 20 years.”

In her report to the diocesan convention, Ms. Piper acknowledged widespread feelings of anger and grief regarding the previous election.

“I don’t believe that any of us were prepared for the shock and disappointment, the anger and the sorrow, that came as a result of the failure of the consent process,” she said. “We weren’t ready for trial by internet. We never imagined that what we know to be true and right for us would cause such a reaction from the wider church.”

After a healthy discussion (much passion, but no heat), the amendment to strike the petition process was voted down. Then, after a few changes in the wording, the resolution was passed.

It's a good resolution, in that it should silence the critics of "the process" that were shouting so loud during the last election. To those critics...perhaps you might want to learn a little bit about Mutual Ministry before deciding to challenge what these folks are doing?

Regardless of who Northern Michigan's next candidate is, no doubt there will still be those who love a good witch hunt expending hours googling up every statement, sermon or liturgy that person ever made public...

Read the Press Release below:

DIOCESE OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN BEGINS BISHOP SEARCH PROCESS
Annual Convention Discusses Past Year, Passes New Resolution

MARQUETTE, Mi., November 2, 2009—The Diocese of Northern Michigan approved a new process for selecting its next bishop at its recently concluded convention at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Escanaba, Mi.

After lengthy discussion, the convention approved a resolution that adopted a search plan that includes:

Forming a search committee engaged in discernment;

Building on the work of the previous search committee (known as the Episcopal Ministry Discernment Team);

Communicating effectively with the wider church;

Exploring the possibility of working with a search consultant;

Using a broad process to collect the names of potential candidates;

Intending to present multiple candidates to the electing convention;

Using the petition process for adding names to the slate.

The search committee will be comprised of two members selected by each of the diocese’s four geographic regions; one member from the Diocesan Council; and one from the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee may also appoint up to three members to ensure that the search committee is representative of the diocese. The search committee will likely begin its work in February 2010.

Persell and Voorhees were among five visitors from across the Church who attended the convention to offer support to the diocese, which has been without a bishop since the Rt. Rev. James Kelsey was killed in an automobile accident while returning from a visitation in June 2007.

The diocese’s previous search for a bishop ended in July when the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, a priest of the diocese, did not receive the necessary consents from the wider Church.

Bishop Tom Ray, who preceded Bishop Kelsey, now serves as Northern Michigan’s assisting bishop. “Bishop Ray has been our rock through all of this,” said Linda Piper, chair of the diocese’s Standing Committee.

On the first night of the convention, the Very Rev. Ernesto Medina, Dean for Urban Mission at Trinity Cathedral in Omaha and clergy deputy from the Diocese of Nebraska, led the convention in a process he developed called “Authority of Generations.” Convention attendees, in small groups, told stories and sang hymns that answered the question, “Where have you experienced God in the past year?” In summarizing the stories told, Medina said, “Fear and painful losses lead to calmness, and to God being present in the transitions of our life. Through our loss we find God’s spirit speaking through us.”

Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett, Mary Wolfe Professor Emerita of Historical Theology at Episcopal Divinity School, was the convention’s chaplain.

The Diocese of Northern Michigan, founded in 1895, comprises 27 congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For more information about the diocese, please visit the diocesan website.