So You Want to Be an Arts Director...

Today was an amazing service at Romeoville. We baptized 4 people - two of whom decided right then and there to get dunked! Later today, I was thinking of back when I did it. It was Mary, Katrina, and I. But what I was really reminded of from that day a number of years ago was the other person that was baptized at the same time. She was Jackie O'Connor - who eventually married my good friend Tracy Teague. The thing is that they have both passed on. However, I was smiling as I was thinking of all that. Someone who was baptized the same day as us is now with Jesus! I dunno, that somehow feels exciting to me.

The last 2-3 days have been filled with adversities with regards to getting ready for this morning's service. The highs and lows of being an arts director were definitely experienced by me. I am so proud and inspired by the band we had today. Everyone did an amazing job considering all that had happened. Here are some things of note:

1. One of our vocalists, Susan, experienced the passing away of her mom and literally had the funeral the day before our practice on Saturday. However, she was still there to continue to do God's work. She needed to do that, considering all that happened. She was an inspiration for all of us.
2. On Thursday we had to shuffle practice around. The artists doing the Beatles Christmas show found themselves with nowhere to rehearse on Friday/Saturday. They ended up rehearsing at the Arts Center big room. It could have worked out for us because everything would have been set up for the us when we arrived (and when they left) at noon on Saturday. However, that was not meant to be. Literally minutes after that was all arranged on Thursday I had a call from Grant (our drummer) who informed me that he had to attend a funeral at noon for the 19 year old daughter of a good friend of his. We scrambled last minute to get our rehearsal at 9am but had to quit at around 11 or so. The practice was good but a little rushed and we really had no time for any vocal rehearsal. I can't imagine how Grant must have been feeling. He was there none the less.
3. We had some bizarre technical issues Sunday morning with sound that delayed our morning rehearsal and kind of got things to a bad start. Thanks to Jeanne for just stopping all of us to pray! We later managed to get going and proceed with a quick rehearsal and cue to cue.
4. The aftemath had the good and the not-so-good. The good is what I am really holding on to. Besides the people getting baptized, there was a larger-than-normal amount of feedback regarding how people were touched by the worship. Wow! After all that God still does his work! It doesn't matter how much we try to screw things up! And then later I hear from unnamed sources that the backing vocals were really bad and that we need to take major action to work on it. Well, I think that as a leader you have to take it in and not react impulsively. Thinking now, I kind of take exception to that. I think it was a great service that had the results that we were ultimately after. You know, there are some weeks where things just don't go smoothly. We have to realize that we are not dealing with professional artists but rather people who are mechanics, office workers, mom's, etc. giving their time and talent to help people find their way back to God. Sometimes those people deal with adversities. But they still serve. They still do their best despite what the enemy puts in their way. Today was such a group that kept going. And, like I said, they did awesome!

I think that maybe this week I am going to do a 7 day log regarding what I do day to day as an Arts Director. It might be boring for you , maybe not. But, it might be fun and interesting to look back a week from today and see what I experienced in my life for those 7 days.