“Can you send us anybody?”
That was the question Robert Reed’s father-in-law, Steve Townson, asked him a few months ago — and set something new in motion.
Townson, pastor of Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Bryant, needed someone to lead worship there.
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“It’s a very small congregation, and they don’t have anyone to lead the music,” said Reed, bivocational music minister at Nazareth Baptist Church in Rainsville. “He told me, ‘Sometimes I might try to get a hymnal and lead something a cappella.’”
That’s when he asked Reed if he could send him anybody to help — even if it was just for a month at a time.
“We’ve got a lot of talented people in our church, but many of them are at Nazareth for this season — maybe their kids are in the youth group, or their spouse teaches a Sunday School class,” Reed said. “But it got me thinking, ‘What if that person could go to another church that’s struggling to have somebody lead worship and just serve there for a month and come back?’”
He talked to Keith Wren, director of missions for DeKalb Baptist Association, of which Nazareth is a part, as well as Chris Guinn, director of missions for Sand Mountain Baptist Association, which serves Poplar Springs Baptist.
“Both of them said my father-in-law’s church is not the only one; both had 6 to 8 churches in their association with no music leadership whatsoever,” Reed said. “I thought, ‘Well, I don’t know a lot of the other worship leaders and musicians at a lot of the other churches, but what if we could network and create some kind of schedule of musicians who could take their talents and abilities and go serve at another church, even if it’s just for a short time?’”
Good for everyone
Reed said he thought it could be good for everyone — it would help the churches have music in their worship services, and it would help musicians share their gifts and gain experience.
That was the beginnings of the idea for the Sand Mountain Worship Collective, which met for the first time July 19. Reed hosted a worship circle at his house that night and invited area singers and musicians to come and bring their instruments.
About 30 people from six churches played worship music and talked, and at the end, Reed had several people say they were interested in serving here and there at churches in the area.
“From here, we can start working on helping some churches on a rotating basis,” Reed said.
He added that even though short-term help is the setup, he could also foresee some people going to serve for a few weeks, then think “I love this” and consider staying.
Mentoring
Reed also wants the Sand Mountain Worship Collective to involve mentoring in areas such as choosing songs to match a sermon and selecting singable keys.
“I’ve been convicted lately that I’ve been doing music ministry for 30 years and I haven’t taken anyone under my wing and discipled them to do what I do,” he said.
Wren said he’s excited about the collective and what it might do to meet a “huge need” in his area.
“I was talking with one of the pastors yesterday at a church I had visited a few months ago, and they don’t have anybody who knows how to play any instrument, and they don’t have a music pastor,” he said. “He was wondering what do they do? Without a music program, it’s kind of hard — music kind of sets the stage for the preaching.”
Townson said he’s been praying and his church has been praying for God to send someone their way, and he’s excited to see what happens with Sand Mountain Worship Collective.
“I know it would help us, and I know of other churches that are in the same situation,” he said. “And if this could go statewide, I’m sure there’s many other churches who might have the same need.”
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