New Church’s Wor­ship Team Application:

Please tell us about your sal­va­tion experience.

On Octo­ber 27, 1988, at a mid­week prayer meet­ing, I sud­den­ly felt con­vict­ed. I knew I was a good kid, but there was a bur­den in my heart to ask God for for­give­ness, and I could­n’t stop cry­ing. My dad saw, and min­is­tered to me and a few friends who were expe­ri­enc­ing the same, and led us in prayer. I imme­di­ate­ly felt dif­fer­ent, a light­ness and a joy I had­n’t felt before.

I was filled with the Spir­it in June 1992, and water bap­tized in Decem­ber 1993. As a PK, I was always involved in church, tak­ing the lead and cre­at­ing min­istry oppor­tu­ni­ties because I want­ed to, not just because I was the pas­tor’s daugh­ter. I lived to hon­or God and hon­or my par­ents, and I knew I had a dif­fer­ent purpose/calling than those around me, dif­fer­ent pri­or­i­ties than oth­ers my age. 

My fresh­man year in col­lege, I decid­ed to study the book of Romans. That is when my rela­tion­ship with God tru­ly became my own and not just the faith of my fathers. It’s been quite a jour­ney ever since, and I have no clue what God holds for me around the cor­ner. I just hope it tru­ly is exceed­ing­ly abun­dant­ly far above all I could ask or think.

Why do you feel called to wor­ship ministry?

This is real­ly hard for me to answer, because wor­ship and min­istry have been my life, as sep­a­rate and com­bined enti­ties. It’s hard to extri­cate one from the oth­er. As a PK, min­istry is all I have known. And though we are all cre­at­ed to wor­ship, it goes beyond that for me. Wor­ship has been a part of every defin­ing moment of my life, both the good and the bad (and now, the devastating). 

One of my most vivid mem­o­ries is of 9‑yo me wor­ship­ping God by myself in my bed­room. As I knelt on the floor in the mid­dle of the room, I knew with­out a doubt I was being seen and heard by the Mak­er of the uni­verse. I knew every song, every word, every tear, was valu­able to Him. He was there, nev­er to leave. 

I start­ed lead­ing wor­ship in my dad’s church when I was 15. Being female in an eth­nic-spe­cif­ic church, I was nev­er called the “leader.” I nev­er sought the spot­light or thought of myself as a soloist any­way. It was all about being a part of the team (cre­at­ing sets, teach­ing parts, coor­di­nat­ing every­thing off-stage), though some­thing in me just came alive dur­ing ser­vices. I was also recruit­ed to be a part of a trav­el­ing wor­ship min­istry then, so I had some vocal tal­ent. I knew the pow­er of wor­ship, and I was just hap­py to serve in any way. 

I con­tin­ued lead­ing wor­ship in a col­lege min­istry my friends and I start­ed. Wor­ship min­istry was such an inte­gral part of my life, that it was one of my non-nego­tiables on my check­list to God for a hus­band. I want­ed some­one I would lead wor­ship with. God led me to a wor­ship­per, and showed me his heart of gold. It was dur­ing times of wor­ship that God spoke to each of us about the oth­er. After being best friends for five years, we got married. 

My hus­band and I led wor­ship at our church for 10 years. We built a team that pri­or­i­tized char­ac­ter, not just tal­ent, and even­tu­al­ly stepped down as the demands of fam­i­ly and busi­ness grew. It’s been three years, and I have keen­ly felt the void. It’s like an inte­gral part of me is miss­ing. It’s been in moments of lead­ing wor­ship where I’ve felt every­thing with­in me res­onat­ing I’m doing exact­ly what I was called to do. I was made for this; this is where I belong.

I’m now in the dark­est time of my life, kneel­ing in wor­ship in the same bed­room I had as a 9‑yo, know­ing with­out a doubt I am being seen and heard by the Mak­er of the uni­verse. I know every song, every word, every tear, is valu­able to Him. He is here, nev­er to leave… even if my hus­band has. 

I don’t know if this is the right time. Maybe I should wait until my world makes sense again or I get my vocal range back, but some­how I’m com­pelled to try. I’ve always been the leader, my train­ing sole­ly tri­al by fire. I’ve nev­er had a sin­gle class, so I’d love to be able to learn and be men­tored by peo­ple who have tru­ly honed their craft. I’m not cer­tain of any­thing right now, oth­er than know­ing wor­ship is my life­line, and hop­ing it will be my min­istry again.