Worship Leader and Style for 9:30 AM Service

     It has been more than a year since we have had a full-time Pastor for Music and Worship.  Each of our three services is different in style and one of them is different in language.  Benjamin Aguirre has been the worship leader for the 12:30 PM service.  He does this in addition to pastoral ministry responsibilities in the Spanish Language Ministry.  Jared Solis continues to be the worship leader for our 11:00 AM service, which is labeled “contemporary.”  Jared’s other responsibilities on staff include coordinating all of the media elements for each of our Sunday worship services and also overseeing communication elements, such as the bulletin production, graphic design, etc.  During the interim time, when we have not had a Pastor for Music and Worship who oversees all of the worship and music ministries, we have had several people lead our 9:30 AM service, including Chuck Olson, Diann Whisnand, Chad Mason, Jared Solis, Melinda Rodriguez, Jeff Bridwell, and guest worship leader, Andy Muskrat.  We are thankful for the great talent and spirit with which each of these have led our worship experience.  God has blessed us with talented folks who possess a servant heart.

     In regard to filling the full-time position of Pastor for Music and Worship, our Church in Conference voted to table the decision to begin the search until the next regular Church in Conference due to financial reasons.  Whatever the decision of the church might be at the next Church in Conference, given the nature of search processes, it is evident that we will not fill this position any time soon.  In fact, the position may not be filled until 2015, if then.  In the meantime, I have asked that Benjamin Aguirre continue to be the worship leader for the 12:30 service and that Jared Solis continue to be the worship leader for the 11 o’clock service.  So the next decision I need to make is the appointing of a part-time worship leader for the 9:30 AM service.  Your prayers for me as I make this decision are greatly appreciated.

     (It should be noted that the full-time position of Pastor for Music and Worship entails much more than directing the 9:30 AM service.  This position is designed to be the pastoral level position in the church that oversees all worship and music functions in addition to aspects of communication.  This includes coordinating general direction of Sunday services, working closely with each worship leader, overseeing music and worship budget, supervising the music and worship ministry assistant, coordinating weddings and policies, coordinating funerals, leading seasonal musical presentations such as Easter, Christmas, etc., facilitating children's choir, handbells choir, adult choir, and resourcing multiple volunteers in the area of music and worship.  The full-time Pastor for Music and Worship also supervises the media associate making sure all aspects of worship production function appropriately.  In addition the Pastor for Music and Worship was overseeing bulletin and graphic design production.  Thus, having a worship leader for each of our services does not mean that all of the needs are addressed by them anymore than having a preacher for each service would mean that we have pastoral leadership.  Thus, in the meantime, I have given Jared Solis the supervision of the bulletin and graphic design, and since we do not have a Pastor of Administration, I will be the coordinating pastor for the rest of the music and worship areas not covered by worship leaders).
 
     Before making a decision on who should be the part-time worship leader for our 9:30 service, we must revisit the issue of music style for that worship service.  Although we want to avoid the worship wars we fought back in the 90s, we do need to address this issue.  The current label for our 9:30 service is “classic.”  Those that came up with it used this label in the same sense as “coke classic” versus “new coke.”  What they meant by it was a “blended” style of worship that utilizes the great hymns of the faith and combines them with contemporary songs in order to provide a meaningful worship experience for people of all ages who prefer not to worship in an all-rock-style format.  We believe keeping this balance in the 9:30 service will give the service longevity regardless of what generations are included in the congregation.  We don't intend for this to be a fully contemporary service but we do want it to be a vibrant and classy service.  That has been the design of the “classic” service for many years, regardless of the time it met (11:00 AM; 8:15 AM and now 9:30 AM).  However, many have interpreted “classic” to mean “classical” or “traditional.”  Some mistakenly have assumed that our 9:30 service is an all-classical or all-traditional style worship service.  Thus, two issues need to be addressed: (1) Since the "classic" label has proven to be confusing for some folks, consider changing the name from “classic” to something else that conveys more clearly the design of the service; (2) explore and communicate clearly what we mean by “blended” or whatever label we use.

     In order to explore this, I will be inviting various worship leaders throughout the summer.  These are not necessarily candidates who we are considering for part-time worship leaders.  Most of them would not be available for that!  They simply will help us explore with variations of “classic” (“blended”) worship style so that we can have a conversation about it.  During the summer I will be seeking feedback through various means in order to make a determination.  Determining a label and a description of that label for our 9:30 service will help us select the right worship leader.  Please be open-minded, worshipful, and prayerful through this process.  (John 4:23-24).  It is easy to get distracted with issues of worship style and song selection and forget that worship is about God and not about us.  So we must continue to focus on worshipping the FATHER in spirit and in truth.

     On Father's Day Benjamin Aguirre led our 9:30 worship service.  We are grateful for his willingness to do so.  He and his family brought a beautiful special song as we celebrated Father's Day.  The choir had a break and we missed them.  But we are thankful for all the instrumentalists and vocalists who participated and made it a meaningful worship experience.

     Yesterday we had a guest worship leader in the 9:30 service.  Carlos Rangel is originally from Brazil where he graduated from the Baptist Seminary in Rio de Janeiro with a B.A. in church music and a concentration in voice.  Since then he graduated from the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio with a B.A. in Theology and from Baylor University with and M.A. in Divinity with a concentration on worship leadership.  He is currently pursuing an M.A. in Music at Baylor University with a concentration in church music.  He has recently served on the music and worship staff at Park Lake Baptist Church in Waco and Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.  We are grateful for Carlos and his leadership of our worship service.

     Next Sunday, June 29, Dr. Marshall Johnston will be our guest worship leader in the 9:30 service.  Dr. Johnston serves as the Dean of Student Affairs for the South Texas School of Christian Studies which has a Corpus Christi and a McAllen campus.  He has served various churches in Texas as pastor and as worship leader.  We look forward to having him in our midst as God uses him to lead our congregation into His presence through music.

     Calvary is a blessed church!

Benjamín Aguirre accepts the Call

         Benjamín Aguirre has accepted Calvary's call to fill the position of Associate Pastor for Spanish Language Ministries.

         The Church met in Conference last Sunday, June 1st at 6:00 PM in order to act on the recommendation presented by the search committee for Associate Pastor for Spanish Language Ministries.  Iliana Garza, chairperson of said committee, presented Benjamin Aguirre as the committee's candidate for the position.

          The congregation voted by secret ballot, casting 65 ballots with 63 votes in favor and 2 against, resulting in a 97% affirmative vote.  The results were shared with Bro. Benjamin extending the invitation to him, which he gratefully accepted.

         We thank God for Benjamín Aguirre's ministry and availability.  We look forward to what God will continue to do through his life as he develops his pastoral ministry with the rest of the Calvary pastoral staff.  We count on the prayer support of the congregation as we move forward.

         Bro. Benjamín: welcome to this new stage of your ministry and the history of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen.  May God bless you and your family as we serve Him together in the coming years.