Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
~Hebrews 12:1-3
This entire chapter in the book of Hebrews has been one of my favourites for a long time. It’s an easy-to-understand, yet not always easy-to-do, scripture. A call to throw off the things that hinder, run the race well with our eyes fixed on Jesus, and by considering all that he did for us, not grow weary or lose heart. This past year saw us pressing into all these things. We are constantly looking at how we do things: what are our priorities, what do we need to do differently and what do we need to add.
I am surrounded by great people and so I want to brag on them a bit. Last Easter, I hit a wall and burnt out. I did not see it coming and was legitimately caught off guard by my complete lack of enthusiasm and vision for our Worship Ministry. Fortunately, the success of our ministry does not depend solely on one leader’s vision or energy! Once I summoned up the courage to confess where I was at, the body took over. Immediate concern from those I report to and those I lead, coupled with a plan that would allow me to recover, resulted in our Worship Ministry carrying on and not just surviving but flourishing. We were able to bring a dear friend on staff for a season whose love for Jesus and heart for worship is infectious. We all love you, Erin! Ashley, our Worship Admin. Assistant, went above and beyond her usual "above and beyondness" and the Service Planning Team picked up anything I left on the table while I was away. I am so grateful for the way I was cared for personally. Those around me demonstrated the love of God to me, which positioned me to receive what I needed from God himself as I recovered.
As I look back over this past year, I see that a lot of very busy people gave a lot of time to keep us as a church family worshipping in song together. We have seen 20+ new people join our worship family! These new worshippers have injected life into our team and encouraged us old-timers to not grow weary. Our Celebrate Recovery worship teams have grown from an average of 1 or 2 people per week to 4 or 5 per week and we are fielding two completely different teams of about 6 musicians each for morning and evening services. Wally and Eric continue to give good leadership to our Tech teams and serve us as musicians and singers so well. I know it is a tiring and often thankless job that our technicians do, yet we are so grateful for them. Let me encourage you to acknowledge what they do from time to time - not just when something goes wrong or you don’t like how it sounds! We received some great feedback on our Christmas Eve Services and our 2024 Easter week with 30 baptisms on Palm Sunday, God Story (which was so good this year), Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. Holy week was an awesome time of remembering our faithful and loving God, expressed ultimately in all that Jesus has done for us.
Of course, any time we can include our kids and youth in what we do, it’s a blessing. Three times this past year we had 80-90 children on stage in both morning services and 15 or so in the evening which is always so much fun. Ashley and Ken Lehman having been working with our Senior High youth worship team weekly, and once a month 80 plus Junior High kids storm the Worship Room for a time of worship with our worship family. We have started to lead our 56er kids once or twice a month now too and what a joy to see them engaging more and more each time.
This coming year promises to be an exciting one as we continue our search for a new Worship Pastor, look for ways we can prepare our hearts for an “outpouring of the Holy Spirit” (as Pastor Dan always says) and continue to grow as musicians, singers, and worship leaders. This year more than ever, we want to get rid of the junk, run well, keep our eyes on Jesus and grow deeper to get stronger so we don’t grow weary!
Many blessings,
Dave
