Five Stick Friday

I promise as I continue to drone on about my different seasons of time at Dalton Firtst United Methodist, that there is culmination of these ramblings regarding just being absolutely overwhelmed with joy and emotion last Sunday seeing old friends and listening to Dr. Steven Usry usher in a new season for the entire church.

It means a lot to me. Thirteen years ago ( in June actually) I was joining the staff at Dalton FUMC as the Associate Director of Music ( with direct responsibilities for the Contemporary Service downstairs) with regards to all artistic elements. My first year there, I was lucky enough to be partnering with Rev. Billy Beard, and inherited some super musicians to work with. But note I said “artistic elements”. So I had some other ideas in mind that were applicable to modern worship. Drama segments. Media pieces. Different layouts of the congregants for liturgical significant reasons ( church in the round, etc. ). I was excited. I reported to Mr. Peter Infanger, who is as fine of a musician as I’ve known, and was great about letting me take a different style of worship and run with it.

Prior to me going to DFUMC, I had been contacted by Kenny Ott to see if I was interested in a part time position at his current church, which I want to say was in Hiram but my brain is slipping a little. I met with Kenny at a Chic-Fil-A and came away thinking “Man…this guy absolutely GETS the outcry for authentic worship and the mission of sharing the hope of Jesus Christ in the community.” I can’t remember the details, but directly after that meeting, I was invited to Dalton to eat lunch with Robin Lindsey, Peter Infanger, Bryan Morton, and Billy Beard. A polite “airport test” kind of pre-interview and everything went swimmingly. An offer was prepared to come on part time, and I spent 3 days per week in Dalton along with Wednesday evening rehearsals.

I’m going to break a rule and list names with the absolute assurance I’m going to miss one and hate myself for it. But the initial team I met there was Bryan Morton, Lou Ann Knight, Angie Whitener, Melanie Patrick, Erik Morton, Wendy Meyer, Paul Byrum, Micah Riggle, Katie Sanders, Drew Stuckey, Lizzy Gregory, Chelsea Pope, Matt Land, Alys Brown, Jason Ashcraft, Kyle Dinsmore, Amy Anderson, Steven Jones, and a few very talented youth we drafted from time to time in Anthony Pope, Greg McCurry, Josh Parrott, and others.

My philosophy about music ministry has evolved since serving in my first full time role in 2004 at Living Hope Church here in Kennesaw. I used to be a “come one, come all” guy, and honestly, I still am. But between “come one and come all” there is a detailed discussion about what each person brings to the team, natural artistic skills, willingness to develop new artistic skills, and the understanding that some level of auditioning for certain roles was required to have efficient rehearsals and to baseline talent level to continously improve. If you’re not growing as a musical artist, you’re dying. There is no “chocking the tires and taking what I’ve got…” At least not for me.

So…mission number one…in spite of all those wonderful names I listed above, that’s not a LOT of names when you factor in specialized roles and “life” of those dedicated members taking their personal time on vacation, etc. I needed to grow the team to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.

In the summer of 2011, new appointments were made…and imagine my surprise when after interviewing with him at a Chic-Fil-A a year prior, Kenny Ott was appointed to DFUMC as the Associate Pastor, which summarily became titled the “Outreach Pastor” which then evolved to a beloved title of “Pastor Blue Jeans”. Kenny and I picked up strategically where we left off at the interview at Chick-Fil-A a year prior. “How can we get outside the walls? How can we adapt Famber Hall to be more in the modern worship realm than portable staging put up and taken down?” Kenny was instrumental in pushing for visual backdrops, LED lighting, etc. He and I worked well together because we knew when it ( worship) was “good” and on unfortunate occasion we knew when it was “bad”. Because that happens. Even with the best plans and intentions.

Back to growth…one of the philosophies around growth in Music Ministry is “be good enough to have new people WANT to join”. Evidently that mark began to be realized because we began adding new musicians. Catherine (Cole) Czerneski joined the ranks of the singers. The hyper-talented O’Connor Brothers (John and Dave) auditioned one morning after services because they didn’t want to wait and come back for a pre-set audition. I quickly saw why…they are great musicians with a heart for worship. Miller Jones came onto the team as a singer. Jeremy Sansom came on as one of the finest young guitar players I’ve ever seen. Larry Laiksonis joined the team and was an anchor in the sound booth. Paul Byrum introduced me to a fine banjo player and drummer in Ken Hamilton. I regularly recruited in the ultra-talented Matt Land. We were definitely growing and it was a great time to be in ministry. I remember a specific Sunday in April of 2012 when I went home on I-75 thinking “We’re getting it now…the team understands that “space” is important in music, that we don’t all have to sing at the same time…that none of this is about US…it’s about HIM. And “mistakes” are okay when the entire room is engaged in authentic worship. It was an exciting time.

An example from late April of 2012. “Revelation Song”.

One of my most bittersweet memories of leading that team occurred in July of 2011. My mother’s health was failing, and on a Wednesday night, my siblings, a power of attorney, a notary, her caregiver, etc. met at Mom’s home to re-sign her last will. She’d adjusted a few things in it, and David and MaryBeth had worked tirelessly to get the paperwork done, ready to sign, and notarized. I knew when I left her house that I might not see her again. And I went back to rehearsal at DFUMC. As we played “On Mountains High”, a song that had a nice tradeback between Lou Ann on the grand piano and myself on the synthesizer…something just overcame me….”My Mom is leaving…I’m never going to see her again…” and right in the middle of that song, I buckled to one knee, then both knees, and to the floor crying my eyes out.

Here’s when you know you have a ministry instead of a band. The team all immediately surrounded me. They didn’t try to get me to stop grieving in that moment. They grieved with me.

Mom died the following Sunday in the mid-afternoon. Bryan and Janet Morton were delivering the family some food right as she passed. They were so gracious in dealing with three siblings that had literally just lost their mom. As in …she was still in the house. And passed away.

Our second almost immediate visitor was Kenny Ott. Get what’s going on here? I had a “family” not a “band”. I had a “partner in ministry”, not a “boss” ( though Peter was also my partner AND my boss). Through the crushing loss of losing a parent, that’s what I remember. My church was there for me. My team poured love all over me.

And when I asked Lou Ann to play piano for Mom’s memorial, and the O’Connor Brothers to sing with me, they all immediately said yes. Kenny met with the family to learn more about my Mom so that he could best personalize her memorial. Family. Love. THAT was MY church!

We continued to grow the team, produce drama segments ( thanks to Patti Renz, Brad Cline, Mark Orr, Jan and Gracie Bramlett,and others), multimedia pieces. They even out of desparation let me preach one Sunday.

The ministry started taking on an air of “Nothing’s off the table”. Kenny wanted to use the film clip reference around baptism out of the movie “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” We licensed the clip and then faded it seamlessly into the vocalists performing “Down to the River To Pray” acapella.

But like every season, there’s always a beginning and an end. And when I was approached in late 2012 to return to a company that I had founded in 1999 as the lead executive role, my passion for that company along with the financial remuneration made it make too much sense. I met with Kenny…we both decided prayerfully that we could celebrate the success of the development of the ministry, but that also it needed a full time resource budget wise and time wise, and that I wasn’t it. I new in early November I would be leaving at the end of the year. And I intentionally programmed this piece to thank Almighty God for the ride.

My last official Sunday was in the Holiday weekend of 2012 in a joint service in Famber Hall where the “cardboard confessional” was employed. It was a tear-inducer for me…because I knew the chapter was over…but I was so proud of what we’d accomplished as a team, with Kenny at the helm of the modern worship offering, with Peter Infanger encouraging the team to grow when sometimes we had to poach each other’s personnel, and with Robin Lindsey just being Robin Lindsey. How I miss seeing that man regularly. Such a joy to be around. I gifted my Mom’s original books from Emily Bronte to Robin while we were settling Mom’s estate, because somewhere along the line I learned that he would truly appreciate them.

I did come back one Sunday to see the amazing Dana Potvin lead the team, and honestly was so happy and never looked back because I knew they were in great hands and destined for great things.

The purpose for me detailing all this ( as I mentioned in “Season 1 – 1979” ) is personal. Some day in the future I won’t be here…but with the wonders of technology, my children will have this, and will be able to explain to their children who their Daddy was, and why he loved Dalton First United Methodist Church so very fiercely and perhaps to a fault…

And with that … Season 3 ( Service) comes to a close.