Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile
Mobile Baptist Association
Favorite Verse: Psalm 121
Favorite Hymn: “Blessed Assurance”
Hobbies: Traveling and sewing
Family Status: Married to Billy Ray; four children, Wanda, Iris, Sandra and Amee; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren
Iris Lundy Anderson first began playing the organ for Zion Baptist Church, Mobile, at the age of 15. At 17, she married and left Alabama in the first of several moves that would take her across the United States. During that time, Anderson played the organ for churches in Mississippi, Arizona and Michigan as well as Alabama in the midst of her moves. She was the organist at First Baptist Church, Pascagoula, Miss., for 32 years before returning to Mobile in 2003, where she has continued her music ministry as organist at Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association.
Q: What led you to play the organ in church for so many years?
A: In the beginning, it was because my pastor’s wife wanted someone else to play so she taught me how, but over the years, I’ve seen how God has led me. When I came back to Mobile, I wasn’t looking to play but they found me.
Q: What does the ministry as an organist demand?
A: It demands time most of all. You have to have a family that understands that it takes lots of hours of practice. Organists in a church are not performers but worship leaders, and it takes a lot of time to get the music right.
Q: How has the role as organist impacted your own life?
A: It’s kept me in church, and my family, and I’ve done a lot of Bible studying that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Q: How have family or church members supported you?
A: My family has always been behind me the whole way, even when my children were young. My husband has backed me completely. And that’s something you’ve got to have.
Q: Do you see yourself continuing to play in the future?
A: I ask myself that question every day, and my greatest wish is that I will know when it is the right time to leave.
Q: What difference do you think playing the organ in church has made in the lives of others?
A: I only know what other people have told me. People have said they were able to worship better or were able to reflect on things better because of the music, but I can only know what others have said.
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