Edwards retires from Shades Mountain’s music ministry

Aubrey Edwards will always remember Christmas Eve of 1976 in Birmingham.
   
It was here that a lunch with former Shades Mountain Baptist Church pastor Charles Carter turned into a five-hour meeting that changed his life forever.
   
At the time, Edwards and his family were serving at a church in North Carolina and Shades Mountain was seeking a minister of music. Edwards’ cousin mentioned to Carter during a trip to the Holy Land that a choir singing in the foreign country sounded like the choir Edwards directed in North Carolina. Carter then set the date of Dec. 24, 1976, to meet with Edwards and Edwards became minister of music at Shades Mountain two months later.
   
“At the time we had just built our dream home in North Carolina and felt like we settled in,” said Edwards. “But there was something charismatic about this church and the future of this church.”
   
Now, after 24 years of service to the Vestavia Hills congregation, Edwards retired from full-time music ministry at Shades Mountain Jan. 7.
   
“It’s been an incredible journey,” said the Samford University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate. “I’ve seen God’s hand on every situation. He’s stretched our ministry and our lives into many other facets of ministry.”
   
Shades Mountain Pastor Danny Wood will miss Edwards’ great laugh, smile and tender heart. “He has really given a great part of his life to this church and he will be leaving a legacy. His genuine and tender heart is so evident in all his dealings with the choir and the church members,” said Wood.
   
Edwards first felt the call into the music ministry at an early age. Away from home for the first time, he attended Royal Ambassador camp at Shocco Springs Conference Center in Talladega. It was here he heard C. Oscar Johnson preach the message “Are you building a chicken coop or a skyscraper?” Edwards told his parents he wanted to build a skyscraper, meaning he longed to enter the ministry. Throughout high school, Edwards played a musical instrument and grew up in a church with no music minister. The local glee club director led the choir.
   
When he was a senior, Edwards directed a junior high choir and played organs in area churches. A few months later while attending Samford, he landed his first church job as an organist and assistant youth director at First Baptist Church, Trussville. The next year Edwards accepted the call to First Baptist Church, Gardendale, where he served as minister of music until he graduated.
   
Since Edwards started his ministry at Shades Mountain, he started Starlight and the Birmingham Christmas Pageant.
   
Though no longer occurring, Starlight featured many artists who shared testimonies in front of large crowds. Some who performed at the event included Sandi Patti and Minnie Pearl.
   
The Birmingham Christmas Pageant still takes place annually in the sanctuary, even though it has changed its format in recent years. Edwards said that people from many parts of the country attend the program.
   
In addition to the implementation of these two programs, Edwards has traveled on numerous choir trips.  One trip was to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The choir sang throughout the country and on the final night, they performed at First Baptist Church, Rio, for the youth. At the conclusion of the program, as the choir sang “Blest Be the Tie” in Portuguese, rose petals rained down from the ceiling.
   
“Since they had no money, this was what they did for us,” said Edwards. “They gave us the best they had, which made that so memorable.”
   
Another trip Edwards remembers was to Corpus Christi, Texas, when his choir sang in a town outside of Corpus Christi. The choir sang in a gym before 300 people.
   
“Of those who attended, more than 100 made professions of faith. This night turned the city around,” said Edwards.
   
Although he retired, Edwards calls this point in his life more of a redirection than retirement.
   
“My heart is in missions. I hope to make myself available for consulting and interim work in Alabama,” said Edwards.
   
He hopes to quickly begin assisting bivocational churches for a two- or three-week period for analysis on ways to improve music and worship time.