When God calls a music minister to serve in one church for many years and that minister responds in obedience, God blesses him, said Skip Lowery, associate pastor in worship music at First Baptist Church, Alexander City, in Tallapoosa Baptist Association.
Lowery went to First, Alexander City, in 1982 as minister of music and youth. Watching children mature to adulthood is one of the main blessings of being in one church for a long time, he said.
“I have seen children birthed and married and have performed some of those ceremonies,” Lowery said. “One of my men was in 10th grade when I came. He’s still very active in my adult choir, and his children are now in children’s choir.”
Randy Grim has served as minister of music for Spring Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association for 22 years. Being in the same church for so long has blessed his whole family.
“Our children are able to grow up in the same community, where strong relationships are formed in and outside the church,” he said
Despite the 20-plus years of service for Lowery and Grim, the average tenure for a Southern Baptist music minister is around 26–28 months, said Keith Hibbs, director of the office of worship leadership and church music for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Still he sees real value in ministering in one place for a long time.
“It takes you about two years on the church field to really get to know everybody in the community, to develop credibility,” Hibbs said.
And he believes that music ministers are more successful when they actually function as ministers who walk alongside families in good times and bad.
“You learn to love people and become a part of their lives instead of just seeing them on Sunday,” Hibbs said.
For any music minister who wants to serve in one place for a long time, strong relationships are key, Hibbs noted. And one of the most important relationships for the music minister is with the senior pastor.
Staying loyal, sharp
Hibbs suggested that music ministers should feel free to speak their minds but yield to the senior pastor instead of competing with him.
“He is the one who in the end is accountable to God for what happens in the local church,” he said. “It’s a question of pastoral authority.”
Lowery has served with three pastors during his 25 years at First, Alexander City.
During those years, he’s learned to submit to the senior pastor, while leading his own ministry area.
“You have to be willing to be the second,” Lowery said. “My pastor knows without a shadow of a doubt that I’m very loyal to him. In his weakness areas, I’m going to try to make him look good. Where he’s strong, I’m going to brag.”
As they serve long tenures with the same congregations, music ministers can work to keep their ministry and skills fresh.
Grim gleans ideas from other effective music ministers and constantly evaluates his own ministry’s effectiveness. He’s also on the lookout for music his church hasn’t been exposed to.
Lowery keeps his skills sharp by singing with one of his church’s ensembles and maintaining his own solo ministry. In 2004, he finished a doctorate of ministry, which helped rejuvenate him spiritually.
For music ministers who want to sharpen their skills or ask questions, Hibbs and his staff are available at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 217.
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