I love my church, part 352

Okay, so you're sick of reading about my church and how much I love it.

Too bad.

I really feel pangs of regret when I hear people talking about having been a part of FCC for the whole ten years, or some significant part of those ten years... I wonder what things might've been like if I'd gone there sooner, etc... but I also know that my appreciation for FCC would probably be much less had I not traveled the road I have.

When I come to play at the wedding on Saturday, Slim the SoundGuy has already been down on stage straightening up my cords so that I don't have to trip over them or stand on them. I noticed immediately, because we had had to move the keyboard over and the cords were all shoved back behind, right where I had to stand, and I was intending to clear a pathway when I got there. Slim had already done it.

This morning when I arrived at 6:30 AM, he had already spent time re-assembling the drums and putting my keyboards back in their normal positions. And I noticed something very, very small -- he had put the pedal cords back into the proper outlets. On both keyboards, there's a "Pedal" outlet and a "Foot Switch" outlet. Most people (me included, at first) assume "Pedal" is the correct one, but actually it's the "Foot Switch" one on both of them. If anyone else reassembles the keyboard, it's always in the incorrect outlet, but hey -- as if it's any big deal -- I just switch it out and don't give it another thought. Slim had put them back into the Switch outlet. He remembered.

I have my own wedge monitor propped up at exactly the right angle, on the right side where I hear better, and if I ask him to take the drums out of it and turn up the acoustic guitar a scoche, he does it. If we take it on the road, he sets it up exactly that way, without asking me. I have gotten SO spoiled.

Having known many, many pastors and preachers through the years, my BS-detector is well-tuned whenever I'm around one. I've pretty much microscoped Rob Jones and Alan Stanley for the past year, having learned well that church staff members aren't to be trusted. I kept expecting to hear an insincere note, to see a false step, something that would give away whatever sneaky, smarmy stuff was hidden.

And I'm telling you -- I haven't found it yet.

While I don't always agree with decisions, I have the utmost respect for these gentlemen because they are authentic, sincere and decent individuals.

I'll probably never be able to completely overcome my skepticism, but I've found that a healthy dose of don't-believe-everything-you-see-or-hear is a good thing. If I trust someone's motives and know someone's heart, I'm inclined to support them even if I don't always understand what they're doing.

Church this morning was simply awesome. The place was packed during BOTH services and the participation in worship was just outstanding. Jeff stopped singing and we just played for a while just so we could all hear the congregation singing Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name"; it was a very moving experience.

Yep. I still love my church, after almost a year. You can go back to November of last year in the archives to read about when I first discovered FCC.