The position of Pastor for Music and Worship at Calvary has been vacant since the spring of 2013. Since then Jared Solis has continued to lead the 11 AM (contemporary) worship service in addition to this media/communications responsibilities, and Benjamin Aguirre has continued to lead the 12:30 PM (Spanish language) worship service in addition to this pastoral responsibilities in the Spanish Language Ministry. The biggest gaps the Pastor for Music and Worship vacancy has left are (1) the leading of the 9:30 AM (classic) worship service; (2) the directing of our choir; (3) the overall music & worship coordination (budget, seasonal programs, funerals, weddings, management of worship center resources, overall vision for music & worship ministry, development of programs, and some communication functions).
During this time, I have asked various individuals to lead our 9:30 service. They all have done an excellent job. Our instrumentalists and other music and worship team members have been gracious and flexible during that time. I also asked Chuck Olson to be our choir director. Chuck has taken this role with passion and has developed and grown the choir in a very encouraging manner. (Chuck will continue to occupy this role indefinitely). I have personally taken on the role of coordinating the general music & worship aspects mentioned above.
This past March the personnel committee, recognizing the importance of the music & worship ministry and seeing the need, recommended to the Church in Conference that a search would be set in motion to fill this vacancy. The idea is that the search is a process that takes several months and the committee was hopeful that budget giving would be higher by the time a recommendation would be brought to the congregation. However, the Church in Conference tabled this motion out of the concern for the church's financial situation. During the summer I continued to have guest worship leaders for the 9:30 service.
As mentioned in the previous post, during our Town Hall meeting in August, we determined that the financial situation at Calvary would prevent us from moving forward with the search of a Full-Time Pastor for Music and Worship as the position existed in the past and as the profile had been developed by the study committee. The personnel committee agreed with this assessment and decided to "withdraw the motion" that had been tabled in March at the next Church in Conference.
The personnel committee did withdraw the motion at the Church in Conference on September 21. (Although the Church in Conference did not meet quorum, our Parliamentarian, Gene Vaughan, informs me that according to Robert's Rules of Order a tabled motion that is not acted on by the congregation within 90 days dies automatically). Additionally the personnel committee has approved the hiring of a Part-Time worship leader for the 9:30 service and approved actions that will allow me to delegate the general coordinating responsibilities to other staff. (More about this in a later post).
The implications of all these developments are that the position of Pastor for Music and Worship as it has existed at Calvary is no longer the way this ministry's needs will be staffed. Several individuals will fill various roles on a part-time basis. These roles are a worship leader for each of our services (9:30, 11 & 12:30) and a choir director. The term "part-time" means that individuals will either fill these roles as a part-time staff member or it will be one of the multiple assignments given to a full-time staff member. This format helps to meet the needs of our Sunday worship services. The general coordinating of the music and worship ministry, which is discussed above, needs to be either carried out by me or by a person to whom I delegate it.
Simply said, the needs of our music and worship ministry will be met in a different format than what we have used in the past. I ask you to continue to pray with me that our congregational worship will glorify God and empower His people to be on mission with Him. Worship is essential for the church and it is the ultimate purpose of all we do. May all nations bow down before the King!
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