How did we end up here? (Part 4)
I thought God wanted me to be a worship leader. Why would He have me lead worship full-time for 3 years in Tennessee, then give me an opportunity in Iowa to completely provide for my family by leading worship only to land back in Nashville 8 months later as a handyman/blackberry procurement administrator (yes, that’s my official title)?
That’s one of the questions I’m still trying to figure out. It has been kind of cool to not know what’s coming next. We’ve been back in Tennessee for 5 Sundays. The very first Sunday we went to Clearview Baptist in Franklin and had lunch with Michael Smith (with an H, not a W 
) and his wife Melissa. They were great friends when we were in Nashville before. Michael is the Worship Pastor at Clearview and Melissa is a school psychologist (just like Vanessa – they actually shared an office last year). They both are great at balancing ministry, family, and work. They’re basically the picture of what we’d like to be as a couple when our daughter reaches college age. It was really encouraging just to talk to them and learn about their tough experiences in previous ministries.
Then the next week I got to lead with Allen Morrell at Journey Pointe Church in Murfreesboro. I spent a lot of time at Journey Pointe when I was previously in Tennessee through joint college and worship ministry events, so even though it had never been a church I attended it still felt like I had returned home. For anyone who’s ever had the privelege of being a part of a service that Allen Morrell led you know that just being a part of the service was a blessing.
On the 14th of February I led at New Vision Baptist Church’s Smyrna campus. Before we moved to Iowa I had the opportunity of getting to know Robbie Russell, who now directs the worship ministry at New Vision. They had a last minute opening at their satellite campus and I had a last minute opening on my schedule, so Robbie gave me a call and asked me to fill in. It was awesome to jump in with this group of musicians and get to plug in with their efforts at this new campus.
The following Sunday I had the privilege of leading at the Pointe in White House, TN. Vanessa grew up in and graduated high school in White House. I proposed to her in the city park in White House. It was really cool to get to go back to our “old stomping grounds.” It was also awesome to get to spend some great time with family. My cousin played electric guitar with me that weekend and we spent some quality time with my aunt and uncle and then with Vanessa’s parents.
On the 28th of February I got to lead with Allen Morrell at River Oaks Community Church in Murfreesboro. For anyone looking to see how all the parts of a team can work together for one greater purpose you should check out ROCC’s tech team. Holy cow! And again, it was another opportunity to lead with Allen, which is always great. River Oaks is another church that I never got to attend when I lived in the ‘boro before, but it still felt like home because of all of the connections that had been made with people there over the years.
I still don’t know what’s next. I don’t know exactly what God’s trying to teach me through this. He’s probably trying to teach me to be more patient. He’s probalby trying to teach me not to force things. He’s probably trying to teach me that my identity is not in being a worship leader, but is actually in Him. He’s probably trying to teach to trust Him completely. He’s probably trying to teach me some combination of all of these things.
Whatever it is He’s trying to teach me, He’s definitely gotten my attention.
