I got a call from Shel from Mercy Church today and they are interested in hiring us for the worship position that we interviewed for over the weekend. It would be about quarter time for a two month trial period after which we would assess whether to continue on or not. I tried to say "yes" but Shel wants me to talk about it with Amy and pray about it. We've been praying for four months, so I suppose a few days more won't hurt.
It's nice to feel like maybe we're at the start of something we've been praying for.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Two Days of Mercy
Amy and I spent the weekend with our new friends at Mercy Church in Sioux Falls to lead worship and discuss the possibility of partnering in ministry. Mercy is a one year old church plant led by Pastor Shel Boese that is affiliated with the Christian Missionary Alliance. The church has grown from a core group of about 15 to about 75-100 in weekly attendance and is a greatly diverse group of people.
I actually came to know a bit about the church from my friend Tory Larson who worked with Shel's mom in Yankton. The more I talked with Tory, the more interested I became in what Mercy was doing. When I saw a part time worship position listed with them this summer, I was definitely interested in starting a conversation to see where it might lead.
Over the past four months I've traded emails with Shel, I visited Mercy for a service, Amy visited Mercy for a service and I had coffee with Shel in August to talk a bit. All of that initial getting to know you led to this past weekend where we had a chance to immerse ourselves in the community for a weekend and interview for the position.
Saturday kicked off with us sending the kids to Yankton with Jim and Marilyn so that Amy and I could head to the church to rehearse with the team. The church actually meets in another church's building and still has some of the tension of needing to set up and tear down a lot so as to coexist with the host congregation, so set up took a bit of time and over the course of about an hour we got to meet team members and get set up. It was nice to be able to hang out with Larry, Bobbie, Nick, Greg and Cory before rehearsal a little and see how they function in getting things set up. Amy and I tried to stay out of the way in order to not complicate matters and after getting some levels set, we were ready to dig in.
Leading a rehearsal with musicians that are used to working together is always a bit tricky since they have already developed their own musical language, but I love to make rehearsals a collaborative effort and was really blessed by the ideas, energy and creativity that the team brought to the table. They are really great musicians and were a joy to play with. We worked through the songs for Sunday's service in pretty short order and I felt solid about where we were at as a team. After rehearsal, Amy and I headed to Chili's with Shel for a late lunch and more conversation.
One of the concerns that I had for the weekend was whether my voice would hold or not. I had picked up a cold earlier in the week and by Saturday I definitely didn't have much strength or endurance. I played it safe in spots in the rehearsal hoping to not overtax things. When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt even worse. Even so, I felt peaceful about everything. In the days leading up, I came to the conclusion that if God was in this, nothing was going to stop it. So, voice or not, we were going to rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal whether or not we were meant to partner together.
We got to the church at 10:00 to set up and sound check for the 10:45 service and again tried to not complicate the set up process too much. It wasn't until we started that I got an idea of how I was going to sound. We started a few songs to set some levels in a truer sound check than we're used to on a Sunday morning. We've always been a little spoiled in that we've been able to use sound checks as last second rehearsals with teams at Hanfield and New Hope. Here we didn't have the time, but we didn't need it either.
Shel provided a welcome and we read a Psalm together as a Call to Worship before Nick started his U2-esque intro to "I am Free". It took no time at all to see that this is a worshipping congregation! They sang and responded enthusiastically throughout the morning and were an active part of every part of the service. Next, we introduced "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman which the church hadn't done before. We sang of God's faithfulness together and by the end of the song, we were deep into worship. At that point, we were supposed to have another Lectionary reading, but Shel signaled that we should just keep going, so we went on to "Come, Thou Fount" with Amy's signature Irish flute introduction giving way to a roaring full band sound. After "Come, Thou Fount" we transitioned into a time of free worship where people could respond to God in spontaneous song. I prayed in song for God to give us a vision of him like that of Isaiah which led into pieces of "Holy, Holy, Holy" before finally landing on "Better is One Day". At that point, Shel transitioned us into a time of spontaneous worship followed by prayer and offering before Shel's message. Shel spoke on Christian decision making and it was really good stuff. We were definitely able to relate a lot of what he said to the journey that we've been on over the last two years and it felt like more confirmation from the Lord that we're on the right track. We closed with a ministry time with prayer counselors available and sang "You Never Let Go" again.
Overall, we had a great time! Musically, things went really well and ministry-wise I felt like things went better than we could have hoped. God moved powerfully through the course of the service and we were just blessed to be a part of it. We got to talk to several folks afterward and it was nice to get to know a little more of the heart and character of the community through conversation.
We headed home for lunch and then back again at 2:00 for a sit down interview with members of the vision team and Shel. It was nice that we were able to do that together because Amy and I definitely are a team in ministry. I was blessed by how she brought clarity to some of my more wordy responses and we had fun playing off of each other in trying to express our hearts.
We headed home feeling good about how the weekend went. Shel and the vision team were going to meet for awhile after we left and then Shel was going to need to talk to other team members that were unable to make the interview session. He said he'll give us a call sometime this week to let us know where we go from here.
God has taught us to hold things loosely over the last two years, so if He calls the whole thing off, we'll accept that and move on. But we would really love to be a part of what Mercy is doing in Sioux Falls and both feel like we're being released into something for the first time since we moved here. Regardless of where this leads, we are grateful for the opportunity that we had this weekend to share in ministry with a great community of believers.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Busy Weekend
We rolled into town last night at about 8:30 after a weekend at Mom and Dad's for the Artisans Road Trip. They hosted a display of Dad's drawings, paintings, photos and other artwork in the "Crib Gallery", (their old, converted corn crib) on Saturday and Sunday. We took the opportunity to lead worship with our friend Amy Scheaffer (Amy Lu) in Sheldon since we were only 30 miles away.
In order to get us out the door in good shape, I left work early on Friday only to discover that Xander had come home with pink eye. He was unwilling/unable to open his eyes by the time we rolled out of town, but kept a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. When we got to the farm, we plopped Xander on the couch and let him listen to the TV for awhile. Rena and her girls got there a little later and by the time we all went to bed, the house was pretty much full.
Saturday morning we were set to rehearse with the worship team in Sheldon and got Xander and Maia settled in before we left. Rehearsal went well considering we threw a few new things at the team and had only worked previously with Amy Lu and that was years ago and in a completely different setting.
We got back to the farm, ate too much food and hung out with friends and family in the house and in the crib while the few patrons that braved the cool temps perused the art. Grandpa and Grandma Svaleson had come up from Fort Dodge and it was good to catch up with them some. Thankfully, Xander had opened his eyes while we were gone and was very active the rest of the weekend playing with Lexi. The show wrapped up around 5:00 and we continued with the feasting and family time into the night.
Sunday morning was a near repeat of Saturday in getting Maia and Xander up and dressed before driving to Sheldon. We had fun leading worship in a different environment and the team did a great job of remembering the things we had worked on the previous day. Their congregation is a young one in terms of how long the church has been around, but there was some great worship and we were blessed to be allowed to be a part of it.
We headed back to the farm for more food and family where Xander and Lexi continued to wear each other out while Maia fed the sheep, watched movies, napped and did other things that Maia does. The temps were a bit more favorable, as was the wind direction, and there were quite a few more folks at the show than the previous day. Jim and Marilyn arrived early in the afternoon, said "hi" to the kiddos, took Amy to Peterson to see another part of the Road Trip and then came back to hang out for most of the afternoon.
The show seemed to be winding down and we started trekking food back to the house at about 4:30 when my Uncle Marv and Aunt Shirley rolled in just before 5:00. They weren't the last visitors to arrive though as another car pulled up a short time later.
We had a good visit with Marv and Shirley over supper and were back on the road to Sioux Falls before 7:00. Xander fell asleep almost immediately and Maia was wired all the way home. We all got to bed in the hopes of recovering and reorienting ourselves to our routines. A birthday party in Mitchell for Chase and leading/interviewing at Mercy Church this weekend should keep us on our toes though. Normality will have to wait for another time.
In order to get us out the door in good shape, I left work early on Friday only to discover that Xander had come home with pink eye. He was unwilling/unable to open his eyes by the time we rolled out of town, but kept a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. When we got to the farm, we plopped Xander on the couch and let him listen to the TV for awhile. Rena and her girls got there a little later and by the time we all went to bed, the house was pretty much full.
Saturday morning we were set to rehearse with the worship team in Sheldon and got Xander and Maia settled in before we left. Rehearsal went well considering we threw a few new things at the team and had only worked previously with Amy Lu and that was years ago and in a completely different setting.
We got back to the farm, ate too much food and hung out with friends and family in the house and in the crib while the few patrons that braved the cool temps perused the art. Grandpa and Grandma Svaleson had come up from Fort Dodge and it was good to catch up with them some. Thankfully, Xander had opened his eyes while we were gone and was very active the rest of the weekend playing with Lexi. The show wrapped up around 5:00 and we continued with the feasting and family time into the night.
Sunday morning was a near repeat of Saturday in getting Maia and Xander up and dressed before driving to Sheldon. We had fun leading worship in a different environment and the team did a great job of remembering the things we had worked on the previous day. Their congregation is a young one in terms of how long the church has been around, but there was some great worship and we were blessed to be allowed to be a part of it.
We headed back to the farm for more food and family where Xander and Lexi continued to wear each other out while Maia fed the sheep, watched movies, napped and did other things that Maia does. The temps were a bit more favorable, as was the wind direction, and there were quite a few more folks at the show than the previous day. Jim and Marilyn arrived early in the afternoon, said "hi" to the kiddos, took Amy to Peterson to see another part of the Road Trip and then came back to hang out for most of the afternoon.
The show seemed to be winding down and we started trekking food back to the house at about 4:30 when my Uncle Marv and Aunt Shirley rolled in just before 5:00. They weren't the last visitors to arrive though as another car pulled up a short time later.
We had a good visit with Marv and Shirley over supper and were back on the road to Sioux Falls before 7:00. Xander fell asleep almost immediately and Maia was wired all the way home. We all got to bed in the hopes of recovering and reorienting ourselves to our routines. A birthday party in Mitchell for Chase and leading/interviewing at Mercy Church this weekend should keep us on our toes though. Normality will have to wait for another time.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Church Job Search Update
After several months of sporadic conversation, we are finally scheduled to go lead worship at Mercy Church in a few weeks. We will lead a rehearsal and a service and have an interview session with their search team all in the same weekend. They've been taking their time with the hiring process since the person they hired last year didn't even make it six months. They're a bit gun shy after that experience and want to make sure that they don't make a rushed decision.
It would only be part time (probably 10 hours a week or less), but would be a nice place to get back into ministry. They are a Christian Missionary Alliance Church which means they are a bit more to the Pentecostal end of the spectrum than Hanfield was, but this is still South Dakota, so it promises to be a more stoic Pentecostal setting.
After having visited over the summer, it seems like a place where we would have a bit of freedom in terms of our personal worship styles. As much as I loved Hanfield, I almost always felt like I was holding back. It was a good thing because I learned a lot about a worship leader's need to be submissive to the needs of a congregation, but there were a lot of occasions where I really wanted to lead without feeling like a filtered version of myself. While I recognize that submission and humility are a part of leadership, Mercy seems like a place that would be a more natural fit for my personality.
As usual, I'm trying not to get ahead of things. God has called us off from several ministry opportunities in the last year and this one could turn out to be another place where God has other plans. It's still fun to dream a bit.
It would only be part time (probably 10 hours a week or less), but would be a nice place to get back into ministry. They are a Christian Missionary Alliance Church which means they are a bit more to the Pentecostal end of the spectrum than Hanfield was, but this is still South Dakota, so it promises to be a more stoic Pentecostal setting.
After having visited over the summer, it seems like a place where we would have a bit of freedom in terms of our personal worship styles. As much as I loved Hanfield, I almost always felt like I was holding back. It was a good thing because I learned a lot about a worship leader's need to be submissive to the needs of a congregation, but there were a lot of occasions where I really wanted to lead without feeling like a filtered version of myself. While I recognize that submission and humility are a part of leadership, Mercy seems like a place that would be a more natural fit for my personality.
As usual, I'm trying not to get ahead of things. God has called us off from several ministry opportunities in the last year and this one could turn out to be another place where God has other plans. It's still fun to dream a bit.
I Know There's a Trumpet Lying Around Here Somewhere
In a strange turn of events, I get to be a trumpet teacher again. USF has one student wanting to take lessons and after thoroughly exhausting all other avenues, I will be the Adjunct Professor of Trumpet. I've known about the possibility for a few weeks and have been trying to get myself back into a routine so that I don't completely embarrass myself. I had stopped playing altogether after having my wisdom teeth out earlier this year and developing a "sinus hole" that meant I couldn't even blow my nose for the better part of a month.
I spent a little time digging out all my old books and came across several that I had forgotten years ago. I still have at least one to find that we could probably spend the duration of the student's college career focusing on, but otherwise feel almost ready to start.
Now to figure out a schedule...
I spent a little time digging out all my old books and came across several that I had forgotten years ago. I still have at least one to find that we could probably spend the duration of the student's college career focusing on, but otherwise feel almost ready to start.
Now to figure out a schedule...
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