February 9th
Good Afternoon Meadowbrooke! |
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I hope that your week has been a good one so far. This week I have had the chance to meet with the staff and elders to create action steps to respond to the feedback we have received from the surveys. We are planning a congregational meeting in mid-April to share with you the tangible steps we are taking to improve upon areas needing the most improvement. To be honest, we were not surprised by the results of the survey and had recently started implementing ways to improve. One such area pertains to our Sunday worship services.
As you are aware, when we hired Thomas to serve as our worship and discipleship pastor, the elders and I understood that there would be a bit of a learning curve due to his age and lack of experience in a pastoral role… especially when it comes to the dynamics of rebuilding a worship team and leading in congregational worship. There are so many great things that Thomas has been able to bring to Meadowbrooke so far; since coming on staff, he has completed a total over-hall of our sound system, wiring, and digital presence. Under his leadership, our youth ministry continues to grow, and the lives of our teens continue to be impacted (Sunday night in the youth building is a happening place; you should check it out sometime).
However, the one area that needs improvement and scored lowest on the surveys was the music portion of our worship service. In my opinion, this has little to do with Thomas’ competency as a musician and more to do with age and experience as a worship leader/pastor. In fact, the elders and I hired Thomas because in doing so, we believed that with time and experience, bringing him on staff would be an investment for our church family.
The elders and I believe that it would benefit Thomas to receive some coaching related to leading congregational worship, developing, and training up a worship team; this is something that my friend Ryan has agreed to do. Ryan has over 20 years of experience as a musician and in leading worship, he is an accomplished song writer, has formed and trained up worship teams, and served with me as our worship pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship (a church I served at as the founding pastor in Colorado). This is something that Thomas has not only welcomed but is looking forward to receiving from Ryan.
Ryan, Thomas, and I met for lunch this past Tuesday to discuss what the coaching will include. I thought it would be good for you to know what the coaching will involve so that you can be praying over the ways God will use this time to shape Thomas and the worship culture of Meadowbrooke:
Our vision as a Church is this: “We exist to develop followers of Jesus who prayerfully engage their communities with the gospel.” Inherent in any growing disciple of Jesus is the recognized need and room to develop in ways that we can serve Him more effectively. I believe this is the point of Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
There are other areas we need to develop in as church beside the music part of our worship service, but I felt the need to share the above with you because of the changes you will be experiencing and seeing in the weeks to come.
Ironically, I am preaching on Ephesians 1:13-14 this Sunday which is about the role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation and sanctification. I hope to see you Sunday morning in our 9:00 and 10:30am worship services.
Grace, Pastor Keith |
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