Fellowship Evangelical Free Church, Knoxville, TN

Recently I returned from a visit with a potential Worship Pastor candidate in (of all places) Texas. We had an outstanding visit together, connecting our hearts with one another and seeking God’s leading for the future. In the end the Lord lead us to not continue the process at this time. We were both disappointed, but God did not seem to offer him a release at this point from his current ministry. And so our search for a Worship Pastor continues, under the sure guidance of our gracious God.

Back at Fellowship, when our leadership community reflected on Easter we all sensed that we had seen “a true picture of where we are headed as a church” in terms of worship ministries. This past Sunday was, for me and I know many others, another one of those moments. The sound, the instruments, the selection of songs, the quality of music, the engagement of the body, the diversity of the leading of the songs, and the overall feel of the morning was representative of what we can become-that is a cause for celebration.

I want to celebrate with Jacob Winn, our Worship Leader, as this reflected his desire to make new steps forward. I want to thank him for his development of his team. I also want to celebrate Scott, our new Tech Director. He is very knowledgable and great to work with, already giving great attention to the sound in the room. I want to ask for prayers, particularly for the much needed piano players for the future. The guy we had on Sunday was a friend of Jacob’s and we cannot get him too often at FEFC. (His dad is a pastor on staff at Central Baptist.) So, we will need more piano players who can play well with the band if Jacob is going to provide this instrument more regularly.

I write all of this to you because we are committed as a leadership community to continue to move forward and not stand still just because we have yet to hire a Worship Pastor. God has honored that commitment and also Jacob’s heart in this process. Please pray for continued favor. We are currently approaching a person who potentially could commit once a month to leading on Sunday morning for the next nine months; this would supplement the worship ministry. Jacob would be able to lead approximately one-half of the Sundays, lay teams to lead one-fourth of the Sundays, and the regular guest leader one-fourth of the Sundays. This would free Jacob to develop other areas of worship ministries, including lay teams. Also, Jacob is only going to lead once a month in Crossroad in order to free up more time. I have also authorized Jacob to hire a part-time assistant to help with the expansion of the ministry and its leadership teams.

The Worship Pastor Search Team will continue on their journey and we should be praying for them. The great news for all of us, is that God is moving us ahead and the worship ministry is maturing in the directions we have all been praying for. I believe, as you know, that this is directly resulting from humility and unity among our leadership community. Please continue to give feedback to Jacob and to me-we are totally trusting the present and the future to God’s hands. He is proving faithful.

On the Journey,

Rick Dunn, Lead Pastor