The Epic, Pt. 1

At the April 2007 Takoma Park Church Board Meeting our Senior Pastor, Alan DeSilva, floated the idea of needing a "music minister." He said that if we were to cut the 20 minutes or so of announcements we typically had at the beginning of the main Sabbath service, a blessing in and of itself, and use this period for a time of congregational singing, it would set a better "tone" to enter into a spirit of worship. "I read a report that churches that have more congregational singing not only have healthier churches, but they have more members."

One of the elders exclaimed, "Wait a minute. What about our [choir director]? Why can't she do this?" Another elder, wife of the elder that spoke first, brought up the issue of parking around our church, saying that she has friends that won't come here because of the lack of parking.

One of the church officers said, "Maybe it's not about singing or the announcements. It could be about the sermons, the preaching, or any number of things , but unless you have some way to quantifiably measure what the problem is, it really doesn't make sense to just 'jump' at answers."

Then one of the members made the remark that changed history. She said that if this was a company, and the company was having a problem, they would call in a consultant. Many of the people who heard this were in favor of the idea. At first blush, our pastor was not. However, we late learned that because he wanted to hire a friend for the music minister position he wanted to create, our pastor said he would look into a "consultant" and get back to us by the next board meeting.

Later that week, our pastor said that he had started to look into a consultant and admitted that while he was against it at first he now thought it was a good idea. "This is going to give me a chance to make some changes around here I've wanted to make for some time." We discovered some time much later that our pastor had spoken to the new Potomac President Bill Miller the day after the board meeting, and it was Miller who suggested Paul Borden.

At the May Board Meeting, our Pastor heralded that he had not only found a consultant but indeed he had found THE consultant. This "deliverer" was a published author and had consulted at a myriad of churches with wondrous results. And although he has a "very busy" schedule, if we act right now, we could get him to pay us a visit. All this for only $6000!

Many board members had concerns about this selection, most of which centered around what we would be getting for $6000 dollars.

Religious