While in many ways the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to be apart, it also brought together a group of worship leaders in Marshall County.
What is now known as the Marshall County Worship Leader Collective traces its roots back to 2016 when Don Blakeney lost his job as a worship pastor. Blakeney started working at a Lifeway Christian Store and got to know many covocational pastors.
“This period in my life opened my eyes to all that covocational pastors go through in ministry,” said Blakeney, who was working on his doctorate at Liberty University. “It became an issue I couldn’t get out of my head.”
Blakeney decided to title his doctoral dissertation “The Rise of the Part-time Worship Leader in the Midsize Southern Baptist Church.”
What did worship pastors need?
“What came out of that was a lot of research and a pretty in-depth survey from covocational worship pastors about the lack of training and resources available to them,” he said. “It appeared as though the convention and the leading theological schools had dropped the ball on supporting covocational pastors in general, but specifically worship pastors. I found that the majority of worship pastors who qualified for my survey felt abandoned and disheartened. It became clear that the solution to this issue lies in the local churches. Sharing resources, knowledge and support was key.”
In April 2018, Blakeney became the full-time worship pastor of First Baptist Church Albertville.
“I have been incredibly blessed with education and training that allows me to do my job effectively,” he said. “Many worship pastors in smaller churches haven’t been given the same opportunities, so as a full-time worship pastor and with the support of my church, I have built mentoring into my ministry.”
For the last three-plus years, Blakeney and other worship pastors from Marshall County have met together weekly on Thursday mornings to build relationships and share resources.
“Members of the group know that they can reach out to any one of us, and we will jump in as needed, whether with resources, ideas, prayer or just a listening ear,” he said.
Rallying together
When COVID hit in 2020, the worship leaders relied on each other even more to adapt and change as the situation demanded.
“During COVID, we all needed to collectively come together for the greater good of the gospel,” Blakeney said. “If we were going to see the gospel change and transform our community, then we had to work together to achieve that and see what each of us was going to do in services.”
The group has grown from three full-time worship pastors to seven full-time worship pastors. They are Blakeney, Brad Johnson from Gilliam Springs Baptist Church in Arab, Jason McCullars from Beulah Baptist Church in Boaz, Joshua Malone from Creek Path Baptist Church in Guntersville, Ken Patterson from First Baptist Church Guntersville, Lee Fleming from Solitude Baptist Church in Albertville and Ryan Hitchcock from First Baptist Church Boaz.
‘Same staff … different offices’
“I feel like we’re all on the same staff, just got different offices,” said Fleming. “This group is not about our individual churches; it’s about the Kingdom.”
An example of the spirit of cooperation among the worship pastors is how they will recommend that someone who is looking for a church home visit one of the other churches if they think it would be a better fit.
There’s a wide range of experience and backgrounds in the group, and Malone, a 21-year-old worship pastor, appreciates the wisdom of his fellow pastors with more experience.
“I get to hear years of experience throughout their marriage, their church life, their family life — all of it before I even get there and while I’m doing it now,” he said. “It’s been a real treat and a blessing to be under such wise care and beautiful-hearted men who care about the Lord, care about their churches and care about their families.”
Time together
The pastors spend the bulk of their time together on Thursday mornings working through various book studies, praying over needs or sharing ideas.
Johnson is thankful for the prayer support he and his family have received from the group.
“One specific thing that I continued to ask guys in the group to pray for was the salvation of my daughter, who’s 8 years old,” he said. “These guys patiently and faithfully prayed with me for more than a year. We’re still praying for her in different ways, but she put her faith in Christ about two months ago, and I’ve gotten to baptize her in the last month.
“One of the first things I did just after baptizing her was to text this group and just say, ‘Thank you guys for praying for my daughter.’ I needed to share that text with this group and just share that moment because of their faithful shepherding of me and praying over me and praying over my family.”
‘Blazing a trail’
Mike Foreman, associational mission strategist for Marshall Baptist Association, commends the group for “blazing a trail for other ministry leaders to follow.”
“When God called me to the Marshall Baptist Association in September 2021, I had the dream of strengthening the association through the collaborative efforts of our churches,” he said. “The worship pastors who are meeting weekly are blazing that trail for other ministry leaders to follow. As a result, we are now having talks about how we can come alongside covocational and lay worship leaders to encourage and equip them as they serve their churches. I am grateful to serve alongside such Kingdom-minded leaders.”
Blakeney has simple advice for worship pastors or other ministry leaders who would like to form a group like the Marshall County Worship Leader Collective.
“Get off the horse and do it. Someone’s got to take the initiative; someone’s got to lead.”
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