Dundee Covenant

Today I played with Countryside's worship band for the last time as an official "member."  Oh, sure, I'll swing back now and again when we can do it, and I'll hang out at all the retreats and events until Dundee starts throwing their own shindigs, but it was still bittersweet this morning.  It hit me about halfway through the second service, when we were playing a song my friends and I usually poke a little fun at because of a version we've heard online.  While sort of laughing to myself (and hoping nobody noticed), I suddenly realized nobody at our new church knew our little inside joke.  And suddenly I was very sad (and really hoping nobody noticed). 

Not that it's all bad.  It's really not.  Many of you know that we're involved in planting a new church in a neighboring town out here in Oregon.  Dundee is pretty close to us (by Indiana standards)- only about a 15 minute drive down the road.  (By Oregon standards, that seems to be "you guys are crazy to drive all that way every Sunday!")  But anyway, we've been working pretty hard on this for a few months now.  Andy has been slaving (and I do mean slaving) over building a sound system that is awesome, inexpensive, and portable.  You sound guys can ask him how the heck he did that, because that combination is way not easy, and it was definitely a major feat.  (Actually, it's incredible.  I've been watching what he's doing and listening to the results, and what he did was serious.  And he's not even done yet!)  I've taken on heading up the worship with another friend of mine.  It's been a big change for me- I've been "in the band" for so long now that it's definitely different for me to be sort of "in charge."  Thankfully (for me and for the church) I'm sharing the "in charge" role with an awesome person and we have found we work really well together.  But I have taken the mic and had to dust off those front man skills.  Suffice it to say that the poor members of Dundee Covenant will have to listen to some interesting gaks until I stop being so nervous when I talk.  (Sing... fine.  Talk?  No script?  Yikes.  One time I actually stopped my very insightful mini lesson by saying: "Okay, I'm going to stop talking now."  Very professional.)

For me, one of the absolute best parts of this whole experience has been getting to really dig deep and do this project together with Andy.  We have always shared our love of music, but not always in such concentrated effort.  Little projects come and go, but we both had to throw ourselves headfirst into this, and the only way we're making it through is by holding on to each other and helping each other keep our heads above water.  It's almost as though we're running (starting) a business together- only this business that we're working on is so much bigger than any little moneymaker we could come up with.

Andy and I have both taken a role that we've always been comfortable in, but it goes to a whole new level when we're putting it to work for something that is so important.  It's such a blessing to be able to watch God pick us up and put us to use as His tools.  A beautiful friend told me a story this summer about a very talented Potter creating amazing, priceless works of art using His ancient, rusty, cracked, broken, beat up old tools.  I definitely feel beat up and broken.  God couldn't have picked a more flawed tool to do His work in Dundee.  But I have seen the beginnings of many amazing creations and know that what we're doing is not wasted.  I can't wait to look back on this in five years and see what that picture looks like.  Hopefully more together than this:

This is a slideshow from our first preview service.  We had as much fun as it looks like.

Oh, and we eat.  So come by Dundee Elementary, Sundays at 10:00, hear some good news and have some free food.  (Yes... I bribe people to come to church by offering them food.  Hey, whatever fills the seats...)