The Epic, Pt. 82

As the year 2009 ended, so did the six month trial contract for the new Minister of Music. The next proper step would be for the music council to make a recommendation to the accountability council about whether to make the contract permanent. The accountability council would then make its own recommendation to the business meeting, where the decision would be finalized.

Some of us wondered how the music council could come to a fair and unbiased recommendation about the Minister of Music since he was now its chair. This was a particularly significant point because there was actually reason to question whether the performance of the Minister of Music was adequate to merit continuation in the position. One significant deficiency in his performance was in regard to the choir. The church had been promised when he was hired that he would be growing and training the choir above and beyond what it had ever been before and that they would be part of the worship service every week. What had actually happened was that there was virtually no effort to recruit and work with the musical talent within the congregation. The choir had sung only once a month, and when it did the Minister of Music had brought in hired singers to supplement deficiencies in the ranks rather than developing the talents of church members to fill in the gaps.

As it turned out, the question of how the music council could make a fair recommendation was resolved by their simply not making one at all. When the year ended the music council, accountability council, and the pastoral staff simply continued on as if the Minister of Music’s contract was already permanent. Aside from this being a procedural oversight, it ran contrary to the promises made at the time the Minister of Music was hired regarding review of his performance. As we described in the Epic, Pt. 57, Pastor DeSilva had been in such a rush to hire the Minister of Music that he had resisted all attempts to give the church a chance to evaluate his qualifications first. At the time he had attempted to assuage concerns about this by promising thorough evaluation of his performance at the end of the trial period. But, now that the trial period was over he was making no move to make good on those promises.

The Minister of Music was finally summoned to meet with the accountability council a few months into 2010, but he came out of it again without either a receiving a contract or being let go. Despite pressure to address it, the chair of the accountability council has yet to allow this matter to be revisited. In the meantime the Minister of Music continues to draw a substantial salary without any contract for the work and with no improvement in his performance.

Next: Delegated

Religious