A New Year in a New State

Well, the year has begun, and we are back home and in the groove of things once again. After we moved here last year, we immediately started attending a church that we loved from the minute we walked in the door. A wonderful Pastor named Brian was such an encouragement to us, and it was partly because of his encouragement and love that we held on and didn't move back to where we had come from. He truly prayed for us and really cared in our time of need. Awesome.

After a hand and back injury healed, I tried out for and joined the worship team as anyone who knows me would expect. This church is large, and is about the same size (around 1250) as New Life Church was in Illinois, which is the last worship team that I played with. The two churches are actually very similar right down to even using some of the same materials and ministry philosphies. I was actually shocked at how we could move 800 miles away and find such a similar church to the one we loved.The church is called Foothills Community Church and you can see a link to their website over in the column section here. Check it out!

You guys know, I am a worship leader at heart, and it did not take long for me to start leading songs at Foothills. It seems that even when I feel I'm not yet ready, the Lord opens those doors and has me back out front leading in short time at least in some capacity. So...they hired me as a part-time worship leader for their "Classic" service which is their early service. That means a mixture of old hymns and choruses, with a few new songs thrown in sometimes. I know...I know... I can hear you already..."Bill is doing hymns? No way!" Well it isn't really my preference, but that's what the church needed, so I stepped up. We also mix in some newer songs too :) It's been a few months now, and I can see that I'm still a contemporary worship lover at heart. We'll see if it works out. I'd probably be happier just playing and singing some in the other contemporary services and letting someone else handle the hymns. Like I said, we'll see. I really am happy to not be out front and just play and sing backup sometimes.

So we are back. Mom is recovering well, and now I am preparing a worship set for this Sunday, in which I will be leading all 4 services. yes...you read it right...4 services! For the last part of 2006 and this first part of 2007, I have been basically leading all the services. Not sure if that will continue or for how long. We are open to whatever the Lord wants.