It's been WAY too long since I've given you all an update on my life and ministry. In the last year, since my colleague Dmitry's passing, I have given much more of my attention to becoming a better organist and improving the music ministry at my church, Christ Church Anglican in Wayne, PA. Can I just say, I really love my church, and I'm so happy that I have the privilege of serving there as music minister!
Playing preludes and postludes that the congregation actually sits and listens to is great motivation to actually practice during the week. To that end, I created a spreadsheet of the pieces I would like to learn, arranged in order of difficulty, over the next several months. Hopefully, if I deliver on my good intentions, completing that list will enable me to pass the American Guild of Organists' certification testing. I'm shooting for the Colleague level test (equivalent to a BM in organ) for November and the Associate level test (like an MM) for April. In the last several months, I've subbed for a half dozen churches and even applied for a couple of Sunday morning organist jobs. I think I will have an update on that process in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks to a couple of key people joining our church, I created the Chamber Singers of Christ Church Anglican. The CCA Chamber singers are a select, volunteer group of seven highly trained singers who will perform repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th century during our Sunday services. They had their first performance at an evensong service last night. Click here to find recorded excerpts of that.
This summer, I was also able to obtain twenty vestments for our choir free of charge from the dear folks at Operation Pass Along, a ministry that receives donated items from churches that are shutting down and passes them along for just the cost of shipping to new church plants like us. What a wonderful ministry! Now our newly-formed Chamber Singers can both sound AND look good.
This fall, I will also be receiving training to become a Discovery Bible Study leader. The Discovery Bible Study is an approach to the Word that is very obedience-centric. The hope is that by next spring, our church will launch at least three small groups-- one in West Chester, one in Wayne, and one in Philadelphia, using this approach. Jesus said to go out and make DISCIPLES (not just Christians) and that's what we intend to try to do!
Last spring, I also created an online network for clergy wives in our diocese, primarily geared toward sharing prayer requests and staying in touch between Synod and the clergy retreat. The trouble with our diocese (CANA East) being so geographically spread out (from Maine to Florida to the Mississippi river) is that it's hard to build authentic relationships during the year. I'm hoping that this online forum will help to mitigate that sense of isolation.
The last major accomplishment from last year was that our church hosted our diocesan Synod. That's right, we had about 200 people descend on the building for about three days. While the diocese does most of the planning of the actual liturgies and flow of events, most of the logistics (room setup, food, parking, hosting people, etc.) is left up to us. I also coordinated a choir for an evensong and for the ordination service, in addition to getting a brass ensemble together for the final service. This year we also managed to get about 75% of our church involved in helping somehow-- on the kitchen crew, childcare, welcoming people, setup, etc. While it was a significant investment of energy from everyone, the consensus was that it was a glorious weekend, the best Synod our diocese had ever had, and a marvelous opportunity for our church to see the national and global implications of the movement we are a part of.
Playing preludes and postludes that the congregation actually sits and listens to is great motivation to actually practice during the week. To that end, I created a spreadsheet of the pieces I would like to learn, arranged in order of difficulty, over the next several months. Hopefully, if I deliver on my good intentions, completing that list will enable me to pass the American Guild of Organists' certification testing. I'm shooting for the Colleague level test (equivalent to a BM in organ) for November and the Associate level test (like an MM) for April. In the last several months, I've subbed for a half dozen churches and even applied for a couple of Sunday morning organist jobs. I think I will have an update on that process in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks to a couple of key people joining our church, I created the Chamber Singers of Christ Church Anglican. The CCA Chamber singers are a select, volunteer group of seven highly trained singers who will perform repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th century during our Sunday services. They had their first performance at an evensong service last night. Click here to find recorded excerpts of that.
This summer, I was also able to obtain twenty vestments for our choir free of charge from the dear folks at Operation Pass Along, a ministry that receives donated items from churches that are shutting down and passes them along for just the cost of shipping to new church plants like us. What a wonderful ministry! Now our newly-formed Chamber Singers can both sound AND look good.
This fall, I will also be receiving training to become a Discovery Bible Study leader. The Discovery Bible Study is an approach to the Word that is very obedience-centric. The hope is that by next spring, our church will launch at least three small groups-- one in West Chester, one in Wayne, and one in Philadelphia, using this approach. Jesus said to go out and make DISCIPLES (not just Christians) and that's what we intend to try to do!
Last spring, I also created an online network for clergy wives in our diocese, primarily geared toward sharing prayer requests and staying in touch between Synod and the clergy retreat. The trouble with our diocese (CANA East) being so geographically spread out (from Maine to Florida to the Mississippi river) is that it's hard to build authentic relationships during the year. I'm hoping that this online forum will help to mitigate that sense of isolation.
The last major accomplishment from last year was that our church hosted our diocesan Synod. That's right, we had about 200 people descend on the building for about three days. While the diocese does most of the planning of the actual liturgies and flow of events, most of the logistics (room setup, food, parking, hosting people, etc.) is left up to us. I also coordinated a choir for an evensong and for the ordination service, in addition to getting a brass ensemble together for the final service. This year we also managed to get about 75% of our church involved in helping somehow-- on the kitchen crew, childcare, welcoming people, setup, etc. While it was a significant investment of energy from everyone, the consensus was that it was a glorious weekend, the best Synod our diocese had ever had, and a marvelous opportunity for our church to see the national and global implications of the movement we are a part of.
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