My life for the last six months has been very interesting. I've had the opportunity of a lifetime, and now that season is over.
What was it? I was an intern at Grace Fellowship Church, and in the first "class" of four in Aaron Keyes' Worship School. You can see on his website a better treatment of what he wanted the school to be, but I'll give you a brief run-down:
Aaron's heart is to train worship pastors, and not just song leaders. His emphasis on the Bible and using the Bible in worship is, sad as it is, unheard of in our modern culture of worship leaders. His dream for the school is for a few worship leaders who are already talented and gifted at what they do to spend six months living with him and his family, doing "life-on-life" discipleship, not just attending classes, but growing and learning from each other and from Aaron, to become more than just worship leaders, but Pastors.
So, back at the end of August, three other guys and I moved into Aaron's house. The idea was for his basement to be finished so that when we moved in, we would have a fully-functioning living space downstairs. That didn't happen. It actually took almost the entire first month we were there to get it finished.
In the meantime, we had the opportunity to travel with Aaron and his band, as well as get started leading worship for several different ministries around Grace Fellowship and the Snellville area.
To start off, the second day we were all together, we drove to Destin, Florida for Northpoint Singles Ministry's Labor Day Retreat. This was a great time for the four of us to get to know each other, and get to know Aaron a little bit, as well as to serve Aaron by helping his band with set-up for their worship sets. The beach was great, even though it was hot. In preparation for this retreat, Aaron had us read The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, who was the speaker for this event. This book really has had a strong impact in how I view myself. The premise is that we will see ourselves correctly when we view God correctly, and that God loves us...a lot.
The next week, we got started leading worship straight away. Some of the ministries we would be involved with were the Celebrate Recovery ministry, the LUG middle school ministry, the TrueNorth and BigNorth high school ministries, a Wednesday night ladies' prayer group hosted by Megan Keyes, and the Sunday morning worship services at Grace. In addition to these ministries at Grace, we also led worship for FCA at Brookwood High School, and a student worship service at Grayson UMC in Grayson, GA.
Aaron's first talk with us the morning after we arrived was about God's calling on our lives, and that we are to live a life worthy of the calling we have received, and that it is important to find out who God wants us to be and what He wants us to do, and to do that. That is really the theme of the entire school. Everything else flows from that. From teachings on business and time management, to discussions about fasting and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to sessions about songwriting, it all flowed from the idea that we are wanting to live our lives as leaders, understanding the pressure and gravity of that, yet walking in the freedom of the knowledge of God's grace and power to work in us so that He can work through us.
In addition to our firs trip to Destin, we also got to travel with Aaron to Sharp-top Cove, to serve Aaron and his band at a High School camp for Providence Christian School. we took two trips to Nashville, one without Aaron and one with Aaron. On these trips we met with songwriters, worship leaders, and producers like Miriam Webster, John Hartley, Chris McClarney, Kees Krayenoord, and a few others. These were priceless times of impartation of wisdom and just really cool hanging out times. We went on several trips to be a part of Grace's College Campus ministry, called Transition. Being able to help and serve, but also to worship alongside hundreds of other college students was amazing.
Every time we went out, I felt like it helped our small family of worship leaders to grow closer together.
Aaron had us not only leading worship, but studying worship by reading and meditating on the Psalms, the Gospels, and some other non-biblical books about worship and spiritual growth. We read four books together during the six-month term: The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning; Exploring Worship by Bob Sorge; The Life You Always Wanted by John Ortberg; and Reaching Out by Henri J.M. Nouwen. For Exploring Worship, we wrote a one-page paper on each chapter. We wrote a simple abstract for the book The Life You Always Wanted. We just discussed the other books verbally with each other and with Aaron.
The first three months of the internship was mostly inward and theoretical in our focus and education. We talked about growing as a leader and a worshiper, and we talked a whole lot about growing as a man of God. This was our main stress for the first half of the term.
The second half was more focused on the hands-on part of leading worship. We spent time working on what we say during worship services, and practically getting better at playing and speaking at the same time. We worked on songwriting and building set-lists. It was in this time that we got more into leading worship together.
We ended the internship with a Sunday Morning event at Grace that they called Intern Sunday. The four of us led worship with Aaron, doing an acoustic set where each of us led a different song. This really was the climax of our time together, and we all loved it. We were so blessed by the different opportunities we had to lead worship at Grace, including this last service together. It also warms my heart knowing how God used us to bless others there as well.
Now what? Well, the worship school was dismissed two and a half weeks ago, and I'm praying for a job. I've been talking with a church in the Atlanta area about a position, leading worship for their second campus. It's exciting to think that I'll have a chance to put into practice what I've spent this time learing and growing in.
Thanks for reading.
