For more than seven years, we begged, borrowed and stole singers for our 11 AM worship service. I used every contact I had, including my musician son, Taylor.
One day last fall, Taylor was scheduled to play some Bob Dylan for us. The keyboardist in his rock/blues band asked to come along. After the service, the keyboardist, Andy Welchel, ran out to his car and brought me his resume.
"I'd like to work here," he said.
"Oh, no," I told him. "I'm afraid you don't know what you're asking. We don't
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Andy Welchel
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hire anyone who hasn't been around us for awhile."
Andy was persistent, so I suggested that he return for four worship services and four lunches, that he speak with homeless people and live among us for awhile. Then he could decide if he really wanted to work here.
At the end of four weeks, he still sought the post as part-time music director -- a post that, technically, didn't exist. He'd been a church musician for decades, he assured me, as well as a rock musician and an accounting professor.
So I called his references.
The pastor of a Methodist church in Virginia nearly cried when I mentioned his name. "I'd give anything to have him back," she said.
The Baptist pastor in Myrtle Beach added, "If I were building a music program, that's who I'd hire."
Andy joined us in October, and had a choir -- Voices of Mercy -- in place within a
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| Voices of Mercy |
month. The Triune Gospel Band followed soon afterward.
August would be a good month for you to hear his work. On Saturday, August 17, our choir and band will open for Christian artist Chris August in the parking lot of Buncombe Street UMC. The music starts at 5:30 PM.
There's plenty going on inside our walls, too.
On August 4, soloist Bryce McClendon, a vocal performance student at Furman University, will join us.
On August 11, the Voices of Mercy will lead worship.
On August 18, guitarist Taylor Moore and singer Joshua Jones will lead Robbie Robertson's "The Weight" to help me illustrate a sermon of the same title.
On August 25, soloist Bethany Barton of First Baptist Taylors will join us for the island-flavored "Shut De Do." The Triune Gospel Band will lead worship.
Besides the guests, Triune singers and musicians will perform at every service.
"God had already blessed Triune with great musicians," Andy said, when I thanked him recently. "All I do is encourage them to bring their own talent, creativity and style to the table. I am truly in awe of all our singers and instrumentalists."
If you've been thinking of visiting us, August's the time to do it!
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Save your Wednesdays! Celebrate Recovery kicks off September 11 at 6:30 PM and will run every Wednesday evening at Triune. Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-based support group for whatever hurt, habit and hang-up is infecting your life.
Whether your issue is gambling, pornography, substance abuse, past trauma, sexual addiction or something else, Celebrate Recovery will approach it unflinchingly. Carl Smith is our program coordinator, and he's been training small group leaders all summer.
On September 11, come to the only downtown meeting of Celebrate Recovery.
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Also in September, we will be launching Support Circles, an exciting initiative to assist individuals and families who sincerely want to get out of poverty. We adapted and customized our program after reading this simple statement: A person in poverty often doesn't know a single person with a good job.
Can you imagine?
Our participants will be "encircled" by four trained volunteers from the community who agree to walk alongside him or her for at least one year. The idea is to equip and empower participants to do the following: identify needed life changes, tackle obstacles and set goals for the future.
And who are these trained volunteers? You, of course -- Triune supporters and members of our 60 partner churches who want to go deeper with a hurting brother or sister. An informational meeting will be held Thursday, September 5, at 6:30 PM in the Triune sanctuary.
If you'd like more information before then, contact our Support Circles director, Karen Eller, at 233-8020, ext. 170, or email her at karen@triunemercy.org.
Blessings,
