I (Amy) am starting a new job. Granted, I've already got a full-time job as a mom & wife 24 hours a day/7 days a week/ 365 days a year with no pay and no benefits. (but it's fabulously rewarding) :) And I've still got the little paid part-time jobs of playing in the Lynchburg Symphony, occasional weddings/gigs, and addressing envelopes for a mail company here in town. But starting this week, I'm now the new music/worship leader at our church plant!
Here's a little background for any of you who are interested in our current church situation...
The PCA church here in
Lynchburg, Redeemer Pres, was planted in 2004 (before we got here, obviously) and from its beginning, it has always carried a vision to be a church-planting movement.
(Statistics show that church plants are one of the best ways to reach out into communities rather than growing into massive mega-churches.)
Thankfully, through the faithful preaching of the Word, God saw fit to grow Redeemer quickly, and this past year just a few months after we moved here, it was time to think about planting a church in the town next door to
Lynchburg,
Forest.
Upon moving here, Marc & I were originally attending the Lynchburg church (where there are over 100 Liberty students attending each week!! Praise God!), but upon hearing of a Forest church plant, we decided to take the leap & commit to love, serve, and grow this new church. Those of you who know us from Lubbock, you know what a glutton for punishment we must be for church plants! :) he he Not to mention, the Forest church is half the distance from our house, too. We also hope to see some college students commit & serve the church as well.
And so this past year, our church then became a temporary multi-site church, where one congregation would meet in Forest at 9:00am, another congregation would meet in Lynchburg at 11:00am, and the pastors & worship director would travel to both churches to conduct the same Sunday morning service. This has been a temporary solution until the new church plant in Forest can call a pastor and become completely self-sustaining with its own group of elders, etc. Currenly our church plant has about 60-80 people, and we're now looking for & praying for a pastor to come & help get it "off the ground." (Starting in August, Marc has agreed to preach there 3 Sundays a month until we get a pastor... whew! Big commitment for our family in addition to his work with RUF!)
So there's lots of exciting changes going on at both churches, and since the Lynchburg church is in the process of acquiring a property that will necessitate them going to 2 services each Sunday, I am going to fill in the role of leading music at the Forest church plant each week! What that means (for right now) is that though the worship leader at the Lynchburg church will still be selecting our hymns/songs & writing our services, I will be responsible for scheduling, rehearsing with musicians every Tuesday night, organizing the music library/folders, rehearsing everybody again before the service on Sunday, & in general, being the person in charge. Quite an undertaking.
And I'm really excited & happy to take it all on, but what a responsibility. I mean, I've done this before at our church in Lubbock for almost 7 years, and I know I am certainly capable and qualified & trained, but it's a whole different ball game when...
- you're in a different state (this ain't West Texas)
- you're in a different church (& YOU'RE the new kid in town)
- you're in a different phase of life with a toddler to care for (& a husband who travels quite a bit or is going to be the fill-in preacher each week... & don't have family around for help with childcare)
- you're in a different ministry context with some different songs than what you're used to
So I pray that God would take these insecurities away & not allow me to fall so easily into my usual idol of caring too much what other people think of me. My job, afterall, is not to bring any attention to myself or the musicians on stage. (it's not a performance for men) Our job as a worship team is simply to invite, engage, and lead the congregation to worship in spirit and in truth as one body to bring glory to the ONLY audience our service is designed for, the Lord Himself.
Nevertheless, say a prayer for me this Sunday morning! :) Thanks!
