Category Archives: Anchor Church

Acts of Kindness for Our Neighborhood

Some of the workers. My pastor, Tim Hallman, is third from the right. Pastor Bob Bruce of Emmanuel (with whom I roomed for one fun-filled summer in college) is second from the left.

Something happened at my church on April 22 that left me glowing all day. Just really touched me.

On that day, about 30 people descended on Third Street, where Anchor Community Church is located, and relandscaped five homes. We’re located in a neighborhood which used to be real nice, but has become a lower-income area with lots of rental properties. It’s not a run-down place, but it’s not a suburban subdivision, either.

Anyway, people from Emmanuel Community Church, a UB church located in the suburbs on the “rich” side of town, came to our neighborhood in their grubbies and worked alongside Anchor people to make these five homes look great. They spread a gob of fresh mulch, planted new plants, raked up leaves, and swept the street of debris. It was a demonstration of love by the body of Christ. And I tell you–they made those five homes sparkle!

Pam and I didn’t participate. Shame on us. Actually, that was the first Saturday after April 15, which is always a sacred day for us. It’s the first Saturday of the year that Pam, a CPA, doesn’t have to work. The first Saturday of 2006 on which she could actually sleep in. But we did pop over to the church (15 minutes from our home) to see what was happening and take pictures. I tell you, it blessed my heart. To see these people from Emmanuel working their buns off alongside Anchor people. Even now, as I type, my eyes are getting watery.

Tom Clounie, an elder at Emmanuel, started his own landscaping business in the 1980s and it has become a really big, really respected firm. My pastor selected the homes and talked to the owners, but Tom brought in his trucks and equipment and landscaping materials (and even a few paid workers, I was told) and supervised the whole thing very efficiently. Good job, Tom.

I thanked Tom, and told him it was neat seeing all his trucks on Third Street, that the neighborhood people couldn’t miss the fact that something big was happening. Tom said, “They are God’s trucks. I have them on loan.”

With all the equipment, nobody in the neighborhood could miss the fact that something big was happening.

Sweeping up after completing one of the homes.

Pastor Tim Hallman of Anchor (left) with Chris Moore, one of the staff ministers at Emmanuel.

One of the homes after the landscaping was finished. Notice the fresh mulch and the new plants around the front of the house.

Tom Clounie using a tractor to remove old mulch, leaves, and debris.

Another one of the homes after the work was done.

And finally, a well-deserved meal back at Anchor.

Share Button
Comments Off on Acts of Kindness for Our Neighborhood

Tonight’s Worship Team Gig at Seekers

Anchor Worship Team

From right: Jody Davison, Chris Kuntz, Tim Bauman, Terry Leatherman. Joe Leatherman is hiding amidst the drums. My keyboards were parked behind Jody.

Tonight, the Anchor worship team hosted the evening at the Seekers Coffeehouse in Fort Wayne, one of those coffeehouses around which a new church is starting. They have a very nice concert area, and every Thursday, a different worship team hosts the program. We did it last September, and then tonight. The schedule is to play for an hour, then have an open-mic situation where three other acts can do 15 minutes worth of stuff. But as it turned out, nobody else showed up tonight, so it was just us. Sweet.

We winged it. With all the Easter stuff, we just didn’t get a chance to practice before tonight’s gig. But everything went great. We have a big repertoire of songs, and have done them enough that we shouldn’t require a lot of practice. However, Joe, our 13-year-old drummer, hadn’t done a number of those songs before, so that was an issue. But he did more than fine. Joe is the son of Terry Leatherman, one of our guitarists. Joe’s really good, already.

Chris, our leader, did the “Cartoon Song” (I’m not sure that’s what it’s actually called) on his acoustic guitar. The song features a lot of voices from cartoon characters, and he did them great. Brought down the house. We’ll need to have him do it some Sunday morning. It was just him and Joe.

A couple months ago, I downloaded a bunch of versions of “Mustang Sally” from iTunes, versions by Buddy Guy, The Commitments, the Sugar Beats, Chris Raymond, Joe Cruz, and some other guys I hadn’t heard of. I burned them all onto a single CD and gave a copy to both Tim and Terry, our guitarists. Knew they’d enjoy it. I later suggested that they write Christian lyrics to it…and both of them did. So tonight, we did their versions of Mustang Sally. We hadn’t practiced this at all, and they didn’t have chord charts for it. Terry told me it was A, D, and E, and that’s all I needed. I play two keyboards, a full 88-key Roland and a short Alesis, which I use primarily as a bass (since we don’t have a bass player). I quickly settled into a nice, slow blues groove with the bass, and then threw in some high organ highlights on the lower keyboard. Just made it up as I went. It was wonderfully fun.

Share Button
1 Comment

Easter Debrief

Today was a fun day at Anchor. We’ve had two services since September, but for Easter decided to hold just one combined service. It was a bit risky, considering this is always the biggest attendance of the year, but we managed to squeeze everyone in okay. And I do mean squeeze. There was not much room to spare.

We moved the worship team off the platform, with the drummer and one guitarist on the left side, and me and the other guitarist on the right side, and the singers in the middle. Occasionally I was able to hear the guys on the far side. Actually, things went well. With one large service, there was plenty of energy to spare from the congregation, and we did a superb batch of songs. They really got into it.

The reason we abdicated the platform is that we built a big tomb there. We held communion, and people went inside the tomb, by family, where Pastor Tim gave them the elements. It was pretty neat.

Days like this are always nice.

OrangeShirts_300.jpgDuring the sunrise service at 7 am, Tom Ayers told me that my shirt was his favorite color. But he recanted when we were in better light, and he realized my shirt was not actually orange, but what his wife described as “melon.” His own son, Matt, was wearing a truly orange shirt. And Mark Solak, one of the other elders, also arrived wearing legitimate orange. Mark was also wearing a tie and non-bluejeans, so he really outdid himself. Mark said he felt like an Easter Egg. Anyway, I had Tom take our picture. That’s me in the middle, Mark on the left, and Matt on the right. Shield your eyes from the glare. (Looking at the photo, I must agree with Tom that true orange is better.)

The day ended with Pam and I sitting in our car, with our two cats, out in front of our house waiting for the NIPSCO guy to come. Pam smelled something odd in the basement, and I did too, though not as strongly as Pam did. We both thought we might have a gas leak. So I called, and we were instructed to “evacuate the building.” The NIPSCO guy waved his magic wand around and didn’t find a trace of gas or CO2, so we once again have peace of mind. Still don’t know what that smell is, but at least it’s not gonna blow the house up.

Share Button
Comments Off on Easter Debrief

Waving of the Palms

Palm Sunday 2006
Today was Palm Sunday, of course. Someone acquired a whole bunch of palm fronds, which we laid around the sanctuary and stuck in chairs. When we sang “Hosanna,” we invited (or drafted) people to come join the worship team in waving the palms in the air, and people throughout the pews also waving them. This was especially cool during the more crowded second service. As I stood at the keyboard, I looked at my camera sitting on the front pew, and wished I could pick it up and snap a shot or two. But alas, I couldn’t.

But during our closing song, Chris Kuntz, our worship leader, invited people to wave the palms again as we sang “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” (the contemporary, Maranatha version). I dropped out during the second verse to grab my camera and snapped a half-dozen photos. Some turned out nice.

It was just cool to watch. Real cool.

I muffed “All Hail” during the first service. The song has a key change after the bridge, as you go into the third verse. But I started the song in the ending key. The guitarists, of course, recognized it. Tim was standing right in front of me. As we sang the first verse, I said to Tim “I started in the wrong key,” and he nodded. I looked at Terry, the other guitarist, standing on the other side of the sanctuary. He just rolled his eyes.

As we entered the bridge, I muttered to Tim, “Here comes a train wreck.” Because I had no idea what key this was supposed to transition into. Fortunately Chris, who until now I didn’t realize had perfect pitch, realized we were singing in the wrong key, and he didn’t make a key change. As the song concluded, I wiped my brow. “Phew! Disaster averted!”

Share Button
Comments Off on Waving of the Palms

Obsessive TV Watching in the Pews

It’s interesting how much, at church, we talk about TV shows. Today I talked with Jon about “Battlestar Galactica”‘s finale, which took a highly unexpected twist and leaves us wondering where the show will head next. Joe and Jon and Rob and I talked about “Lost,” which is also popular among the worship team members (at practice on Thursday night, we often debrief about the previous night’s episode). There was some talk about “American Idol,” and, of course, about the NCAA playoffs (go UCLA!). I talked with Terry and Joe and Tim about “24.” Terry and Joe (father and son) are watching the first four seasons on DVD, having never watched them live; they are now well into the 4th season. Meanwhile, Tim and I are engrossed in season 5.

I have this idea for “24.” Jack Bauer has amazing bladder control. In five years, he has never once stopped, amidst that day’s frenetic issues with assassins and terrorists and otherwise deeply evil guys, to relieve himself. And yet–hey, everyone has to go to the bathroom now and then. Even a superman like Jack, who no doubt received top-level CIA training in Advanced Bladder Control. So in an upcoming episode, with some catastrophe looming, I’d like to see Jack say, “Hey, guys, you take care of this one. I really need to go to the bathroom.” Then he picks up a novel, something you wouldn’t expect from Jack–a chick book by Anne Tyler or Sue Miller, or anything from the Oprah Book Club–and heads into the men’s room. And in the final shot, where they show four plot threads in split-screen view, one of the shots would be of the men’s room door.

I think that’d be great.

Back to our congregational obsession with TV. Is that good, bad, or what? I don’t know. Less redeeming than talking about what we discovered in our personal devotions, obviously. It probably wasn’t all that different for my parents’ generation, the first TV generation. They just had only three channels’ worth of shows to talk about (which means there was a greater chance of common viewing habits). It is kinda fun to talk about, to compare notes on that week’s shows. But is it healthy? Beats me.

Share Button
Comments Off on Obsessive TV Watching in the Pews

God is Good, Let US Thank Him For Our Food

This past Sunday, part of my pastor’s message dealt with prayer. He mentioned (not as a central point) that when people pray at mealtimes, they always pray the same prayer. Isn’t that true! I’m certainly that way. I have a basic Meal Prayer Template, and I don’t stray far from it. Mix up a few words here and there, but basically say the same thing.

What are the ramifications of that? Does it mean we’re praying on automatic pilot? Is a rote, meaningless prayer worse than no prayer at all? Or is prayer never meaningless? I don’t know. Don’t want to make a whole lot out of it. But I did laugh out loud when Tim said we all pray the same prayer over and over.

But I must confess–when I go out for lunch by myself (as I will within the hour), I rarely say a prayer over my meal as I’m sitting there at Wendy’s or Long John’s or Bob Evans. I used to, but somewhere along the line (some years ago), I stopped. I don’t remember why. Maybe it got to be just too automatic, ritualistic, dutiful, or whatever. When Pam and I eat out, we always hold a hand across the table and pray. But I don’t when it’s just me. Does that make me unspiritual? Less committed? Well, whatever the case, I’m not inclined to start again. I feel like I’m “removing the ancient landmarks” that scripture warns against.

Share Button
Comments Off on God is Good, Let US Thank Him For Our Food

The Chains of Yesterday’s Successes

The Anchor church board meets every two months on a Monday night, and last night was one of them. We have a small board–the pastor, three elders, treasurer, several others. It’s pretty much a business and policy group, as opposed to a visioning type of group. I think a lot of church boards are that way.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Tim led us in a brief leadership study using some writings of Henry and Richard Blackaby. It was good stuff. We’re trying to “re-engineer” Anchor into a church focused much more strongly on outreach. The last seven years, since we started, have been a flurry of activity. New programs and activities have arisen, but not usually around any central plan. But now we’re standing back, taking a deep breath, and saying, “What should we do during the next seven years?”

Let me comment on some sentences from the Blackabys.

  • “Because an opportunity presents itself, the leader assumes it must be God’s will to move forward. But mistaking an open door for an invitation is an undiscerning approach to leadership.” We’ve been guilty of some of this, I suppose. Doors open, and we plunge through. But there will always be doors. You have to be intentional about which ones you decide to walk through (while leaving room for God to open a door that you never in your wildest dreams imagined in your strategic plan).
  • “The easiest course of action is often the one taken previously, especially if it was successful….Yesterday’s successes always linger on long beyond their productive life.” Our annual carnival and Halloween maze have been successful events. Does that mean we must continue doing them every year? No. But once something becomes “institutionalized,” it’s real hard saying no to it.
  • “Churches are remiss to assume that because God once worked mightily in a particular way, he will contiue to work in exactly that way.” We recently discontinued our separately-incorporated youth ministry. There were financial reasons, but also practical ones. We’ll still do youth ministry, obviously. We just won’t do it like we did in the past, despite its successes. I’m glad we were able to make that decision, painful though it was (especially since it goes against the “original vision,” which can get unduly idolized).

It was an interesting discussion, and fodder for good reflection as we look ahead.

Share Button
Comments Off on The Chains of Yesterday’s Successes

The Joy of the Little Guy

I’m rooting for the Cuban baseball team to win the World Baseball Classic. Not the country of Cuba. Certainly not Father Fidel. It’s the players on Cuba’s baseball team that excite me. They are tremendous players, and may be the Cuban version of “professional athletes,” but they lack all of the benefits (and huge salaries) of pro players in the USA. In quality, they measure up to our pros. In attitude, they are more like college players–exuberant, smiling, thrilled to be there. Watching them is like watching any of the NCAA college teams in March Madness.

Okay, I guess this qualifies me as a communist sympathizer. Go dig up Joe McCarthy and smear me.

I enjoy watching the worship teams from small churches. A local Alliance church played at our church a few years ago, and it was clear that those guys were a close team who loved playing music together. Likewise for a UB church I visited in Kokomo, Ind. I saw them play, watched them interact with each other, and they reminded me of the Anchor team. A bunch of guys engaged in a common mission around something they love doing, and are gifted to do. There is a group from Huntertown which plays at the Seekers coffeehouse frequently, and I sensed the same thing with them.

I don’t see that when I watch polished teams from big churches led by professionals. I don’t sense the team-ness, the cohesion, that I see in little-church teams. The commaraderie we have as a team at Anchor goes lightyears beyond what I experienced for years at a much larger church. It was still fun there. But it was nothing like what we share on the Anchor team.

Go Cuba. Go Anchor. Go little guys.

Share Button
Comments Off on The Joy of the Little Guy

What Motivates People?

A couple weeks ago, I attended a luncheon at Taylor University-Fort Wayne designed for local ministers and laypersons. I attended with my pastor, Tim Hallman, and my fellow elder, Russ Baker.

The speaker was Dr. Eugene Habecker, president of Taylor University. I knew him well when he was president of Huntington College. We served on a variety of committees together, and I interviewed him and his wife several times. Great folks. Nice to have them back in the area.

He spoke on leadership, and said many memorable things. I’ll mention one. He said, “Everybody is motivated to do something.” A role of leadership, he said, is to “unlock” whatever that will motivate a person.

Even the most tried-and-true pew-sitter in your congregation can be motivated. You just need to find what it is that really turns their crank. This is part of the emphasis behind spiritual gifts tests. You learn what someone is spiritually gifted to do, and then put them in a role which makes use of that gift. It then become fulfilling to them. When I was fresh out of college, I spent a year teaching Wednesday night kids in grades 4-6. I did okay, and I guess I was motivated to try my best. But that’s not where I belonged.

There are people at Anchor, as in any church, who are minimally involved. What does it take to turn them into active laypersons? Is it just a matter of matching their gifts with a particular role? It’s probably not that simple. But whatever the answer is, we (like all churches) need to figure it out. Because it doesn’t help us to have capable people sitting on the sidelines, watching a few people kill themselves with over-involvement.

What motivates me? Hmmmm. Nobody needs to twist my arm to play in the worship team. I’ve done many things in churches, and many of those things have been enjoyable and rewarding. I’m not sure a spiritual gifts test has ever really determined, to my satisfaction, what I should be doing in a church. I just want my church to move forward, and I WILL work my butt off to help make it happen. I guess I do enjoy jumping into gaps, plugging holes, spotting things that need to be done and helping get them accomplished. That sounds a bit like a savior complex. Is that a bad thing?

Share Button
Comments Off on What Motivates People?

Mustang Sally Comes to Church

The guitarists on the worship team, Tim and Terry, are 70’s rock-and-rollers, like me, but they also have a real interest in the blues. Sometimes at practice, we’ll just jam with a blues progression. It’s fun, and you can do all kinds of things instrumentally.

A couple weeks ago, in a moment of whimsy, I downloaded a bunch of versions of “Mustang Sally” from the iTunes store. Probably ten versions. Then I burned them all onto CDs and gave them to Tim and Terry. Just for their listening pleasure. The next week at practice, Terry was playing some cords, and I immediately recognized “Mustang Sally.” Before long, we were all jamming to that particular cord progression.

Last Thursday at practice, we were batting around various ideas. I suggested that one of them rewrite the words of “Mustang Sally” to give the song a Christian slant. Both Tim and Terry are very talented at doing stuff like that (in addition to writing original music). Then yesterday, as we prepared to practice in preparation for the first church service, Terry told me he had written new words to “Mustang Sally.” In the place where you sing the title words, he now had “I found Jesus.” He worked in a verse telling about his salvation experience.

Then Tim arrived. He said he had written a Christian version of “Mustang Sally,” too. He, too, used the words “I found Jesus.”

We’re gonna have to do BOTH versions one of these days, maybe as a prelude or offertory. We’re gonna jam the blues, and it’s gonna be a blast. And people will love it. I’m delighted that we can get away with stuff like this at Anchor. At most churches, Mustang Sally would be barred at the door.

Share Button
Comments Off on Mustang Sally Comes to Church

Receive Posts by Email

If you subscribe to my Feedburner feed, you'll automatically receive new posts by email. Very convenient.

Categories

Facebook

Monthly Archives