So here's part 2 in what will probably turn out to be a 97 part series about me. Actually, I'm hoping to finish up today, so future blogs will be focused more on the Ignite service and worship.
Note: I'm currently reading Eric Clapton's autobiography, and it's making my life look pretty dull. So if you read anything in my blog today that makes me sound particularly British, or refers to heroine addiction and falling in love with the wife of one of the Beatles, it's probably just some of the Clapton book bleeding over. Probably.
Music and Church
The music at Spiro FUMC consisted mainly of hymns accompanied by piano, or specials accompanied by CD. Most years there weren't enough high school aged students to form a youth group. As a result of this, I had a pretty narrow view of what a worship service could be like. In fact, the only Christian music that I remember being aware of was Carmen. However, as word got out that I was a pretty decent guitar player, I started getting asked to play music at different events. One of these events was a three night revival that was going to take place at Spiro First Baptist Church. My friend Kyle Harris had been asked by Jon Blankenship and Gary Sebo to play guitar at the service, and I guess he was a little uncomfortable with doing the gig by himself so he asked me to play with them. The CD that they gave me to learn contained songs that were very different from the church music I was used to hearing (I believe it was mostly songs by Third Day and DC Talk). I was instantly hooked, and got the feeling that this was the type of music that I needed to be playing. I had to put that idea on hold for the moment, because shortly after playing the revival, it was time for me to move off to Fayetteville to begin my first year of college. I was nervous about starting school for all the typical reasons, and also because the only person that I knew up there was my roommate, Marty Darneal. Luckily for me, my mom had discovered that I had a couple of cousins, Kimberly and Lindsay, who worked for the UA Wesley Foundation (an on-campus Methodist ministry). She had given them my phone number, and they, along with other members of the Wesley staff, were constantly calling me to invite me to events. Finally, in a move that was completely uncharacteristic of me, I decided to go by myself to a worship service and meet some people. When I walked in the chapel and saw a full drum set, a Gibson Les Paul guitar, and several amplifiers, the musician in me knew that I had made a good decision. The worship, led by David Williams, was great that night, and Gregg Taylor (the director) gave an amazing sermon. I remember deciding that night that I needed to be a part of whatever it was that was going on at the Wesley Foundation. This marked a period where I began to really grow spiritually. Though still very shy, I had become involved in a small group for freshmen, and felt like I was beginning to make some friends. After talking with David, the worship leader, one day, I was invited to come by and practice with the band. The band practiced on Tuesdays, a couple hours before Breakaway, which was the name of the Tuesday night worship service. I sat in on guitar for a couple of songs, and before I knew it, I was being asked to play guitar that night during the service. I instantly told them no, and that I wasn't good enough and didn't know the songs very well, but the band insisted. I was scared to death, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. After that night, I became the permanent lead guitar player in the band. I learned so much from David in that year about what it meant to worship and to be a worshiper of God.
At the end of that school year, I was also provided with the opportunity to travel to Peru on a missions trip to play music at some colleges and schools in the city of Trujillo. I had never been out of the country (or on an airplane for that matter), so the thought of this tripped really scared me; however, I felt so strongly on the inside about this that I knew I had to go. Shortly before I left for Peru, my good friend from high school, Jacob Jones, called me and told me about a new church service he wanted to start during the summer. Even though all of my friends had gone to different schools, it seemed like most of us had a great experience with an on-campus ministry during our freshman year (Jacob was involved with the BSU, now BCM, at Carl Albert State College in Poteau). We were all excited about this, and Jacob told me that he wanted to start something like that during the summer at his church in Fort Smith, Cavanaugh Missionary Baptist. I told him that I thought it was a great idea, and mentioned that I had been playing guitar in the worship band at Wesley. Hearing that, Jacob asked if I would be interested in putting a band together and possibly leading worship for this new summer service, which was going to be called Overflow. Still lacking confidence, I told him that there was no way I could sing in front of people, but that I would work on putting a band together. I immediately recruited Corey "Fish" Grant to play in the band. He and I went to school together, and both played guitar in a cover band with two other friends of ours, Sean Salsman and Nick Coleman. Even though Fish was a guitar player, I think I volunteered him to play bass. The only thing left to put in place was a singer and drummer. I had to turn those responsibilities over to Jacob and Fish because, a.) I didn't know anybody and b.) it was time for me to leave for Peru.
Peru was an amazing experience. It challenge me in so many ways, and I felt like I grew up a lot during that trip. It was also the first time that I was introduced to the writings of C.S. Lewis, when somebody loaned me a copy of Mere Christianity. I returned from the trip energized and ready to get started with the Overflow service. Jacob had found a worship leader while I was away. Josh Snyder had led worship at the BSU and agreed to help us out with our service. He was also bringing with him a drummer, Darin Davis, who none of us (including Snyder) had ever met. Even though we had never played together, the first practice went amazingly well. I think that we all felt like something special was in the making. We played every Overflow service that summer, and it was an incredible experience. The commencement of the school year marked the end of Overflow, but the band decided to stay together. We adopted the name Pottersfield and began playing at youth rallies, and leading worship at the BSU on Wednesday nights. This was a very busy time for me, as I was playing at Wesley on Tuesdays and then making the hour and a half drive from Fayetteville to Poteau on Wednesdays to play at the BSU. Playing in Pottersfield was a great experience. At each gig, I was meeting new people and gaining more and more confidence.
At the end of my sophomore year of college, David let me know that he thought I should take over as worship leader at Wesley. Again, feeling insecure, I told him that I couldn't get up and sing in front of my peers. He didn't relent, and caught me off guard by asking me to sing in front of the band at one of our practices. I guess I didn't want to look like a chicken in front of them, so I started singing "Here I am to Worship" and the response was great. Nervous and shaking, I ended up leading that song at Breakaway that night. I was still insecure about taking over as worship leader, but David and Gregg ensured me that I could do it, and that I had their support. I agreed to start leading worship in the fall, at the beginning of my Junior year. I learned a lot about leadership that year, but one of the main things I learned was that I might not be ready to be a leader. I generally have a tendency to stay in my comfort zone, which, in music, meant just being a guitar player. I stepped down from the position at the end of the semester and stayed on with the band as strictly a guitar player.
Even though that first experience didn't pan out, I still had a heart for leading worship. Over the summer I led for some youth groups (Brandon Dyer's youth group from Noble First Baptist, and Rick Snyder's group from Fort Gibson) at Falls Creek, a church camp in central Oklahoma. After graduating from the UofA, I moved back home to Spiro, and began leading worship for a youth group at a church in town called Harvest Hill. I was soon asked by the pastor and his wife (Andy and Jeanette Jones) to lead worship for the main church service on Sunday mornings. Around this same time, I started attending a Sunday night service with Fish called Fuel at Grand Avenue Baptist Church. Fish had began going to Fuel after hearing about it from Jacob Jones, who was working with the college ministry at Grand. He was now playing bass in the worship band, and told me that I should come check it out. I came one Sunday night and thought it was great. The band (Fish, Andy Krumm, Dyan Pyle, Jarrod Thrift, and Jerry Barnett) sounded incredible. After I had been to a few services, Andy asked if I wanted to sit in with the band at one of their practices. I did, and immediately joined the band as a guitar player. Fuel was a great experience, and it was there where I first met an amazing person, Brittany Molder, who would eventually become my girlfriend.
Fuel came to an end in the Spring of 2007. Sometime in the summer of '07 I got a call from Kyle Barlow at Grand, who asked if I would meet with him and Jeff Crawford (lead pastor), about a new service that was going to be starting in the fall. I agreed to meet with them, assuming that they might want me to play guitar with the worship band or something along those lines, but was shocked when Jeff told me that he had me in mind to lead worship for the service. I told him (my usual response) that I didn't feel confident enough to do it, but he and Kyle assured me that they believed in me. So after praying about it for a while, I told them yes.
Ignite has been a tremendous blessing. I love being a part of it, and can't wait to see what God has in store for this service.
Thanks for bearing with me through all this autobiographical stuff, now I think I can finally start talking about some exciting things (basically anything other than me).
Later,
Scott
