We are the new toy.
This is a church of around 200some, give or take. And we are professional musicians, having already led at several different venues in a multitude of styles. We are wined and dined, Pastor Real definitely wants us leading. As I had noted from the very first time we darkened the door of the UPC in my hometown, if you are a musician, you WILL be recruited. They kind of need you for that smidge of inspiring music before the talky bit.
This is the Honeymoon period for us, before all the shiny wears off and they start backing in that inevitable truckload of complaints about the music to dump in the lap of the senior pastor.
Beep, beep beep, dump.
They don’t like the music because whatever. But at the moment we are having a great time, because Pastor Real is, mercifully for us, not full of shit. We are in leadership almost immediately, then DH becomes music director, then is ordained as the Pastor of worship.
This is an Evangelical Free church, and although DH and I share the position responsibilities, I can’t be the pastor of anything because my plumbing is all wrong (I have always been curious about trans folk who go from male to female. It really has to be a rude awakening how many doors are abruptly slammed in their faces once they are women. I understand George Sand completely. Yeah, look it up.) Once again, my vagina is preventing my victory.
This should have been a huge red flag, but Pastor Real runs this church independently and doesn’t give a flying flock what the EV-Free thinks, so I am able to lead all sorts of cool things, though I never do have a title other than Pastor’s wife. You really should carefully read the doctrinal statements of a church before you get involved. Just about nobody does this, but there can be all sorts of weird shit in there that people don’t know about, hidden behind a veneer of a cool looking denim-clad pastor with a hipster haircut and dark framed glasses. Oh, but they will haul this statement out eventually. Because in eight years this is going to bite me in the ass. Hard. And it was in the doctrinal statement the whole damn time, right there in black and white.
But these are the glory days for us, and we are hitting our collective stride at last. We are both strong leaders, he is on the elder board (no ladies, of course) and we both lead teams, I enjoy being up front more and am the main worship leader.
I loved being a worship leader. It was deeply fulfilling to me to see tired souls come in absolutely spent from the everything we all have to deal with in this life…pick them up and help them connect with God and plug into the positive energy of the Creator, to be regenerated from within and have a bit more strength to face life. At the time, I truly believed I was assisting these world-weary humans to experience the greatest, most life changing power with whom you can possibly commune. Maybe I really was, who’s to know?
I knew the Bible well, and would explain the meaning of the words that were being sung, so that it would become more than words, a swell of deep meaning buoyed up by lush chords, melodies, voices and instruments. We were creating a musical gift for the Creator of the Universe, and as far as I was concerned, it had better be the very best gift we could possibly bring, calling on the most skilled musicians, vocalists, audio and video technicians, whomever was involved. I wanted to do whatever I could to make it amazing.
We design meetings calling together the heads of the various teams, combining input from them all to make things exciting and relevant. I am determined that people use all that damn talent we are given that usually remains untapped. We brainstorm up some pretty wild ideas, some are really cool, some are more crazy, but we become solidified in the community as the church that is doing some pretty amazing shit. We grow to 500 in a community of 5000. This church is vibrant and lively, and rapidly growing.
We lead drama teams, worship teams, study groups, small groups, decorating committees, young adult groups, youth worship team, and anything else that is needed or dreamt up. We keep adding more opportunities for people to get involved. I love building new teams for the many new people, and have a blast heading them up.
Most people don’t realize how much they can accomplish. I have a knack for seeing the good, the giftedness in people (this will eventually get me in big trouble with men), and I simply identify it, and place people where they can shine. It is sooo exciting for me to see people discovering their unused talents and using them at last.
This is probably the thing I miss the most, I absolutely loved identifying skills that people often don’t see or simply underrate in themselves, and putting them in a place where they can blossom. It helps everything move forward, but it also gives the person excelling in that area a meaning and a purpose, as well as a great boost in self-esteem, really everybody wins. I mean, can you imagine the world we would live in if everyone was able to discover their gifts, because we all have them, and were able to work with a passion, with a zest for life, with a purpose?
So, enough bragging about the good times. Here we are in this church, having a pretty great time, but there is an undercurrent.
This is what is referred to as a “turnaround” church, it used to be more conservative and has a sizeable group of pious folk who had come over from a strict Baptist church, one I had visited that had rather condemning Scripture verses glaring down from the walls, do this, don’t do that, make sure your hemline isn’t too short and you don’t wear tank tops in the summer and such. Hallelujah and all praises to the cap sleeve and the mouth that never utters a cuss word or imbibes alcohol.
These people… are going to be an issue.
Worship Leader Gone Wild 