Emersonville: Mount Vernon Baptist Church

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some pictures of Mount Vernon Baptist Church and knowing a little about what I do here.

My title is Associate Pastor of Music and Youth. On the Music Side I do what a Minister of Music typically does. I plan the worship services. There are two. There is an 8:30 with a little over a hundred people, mainly the older crowd. It meets in our historic sanctuary. Our 11:00 which is a more diverse group of all ages meets in our sanctinasium (our gym retrofitted to be a worship space). This service runs about three hundred. For the moment the two services are the same. We are about to start construction of a new sanctuary which will hopefully be completed by this time next year. I also oversee all of the artistic ministries in the church, recruit volunteers for various artistic ministries, and direct and/or oversee musical ensembles, and musicians. I also do pastoral care and some visitation. This takes up about two thirds of my time.

On the Youth side I share responsibilities with a lay leader named Todd. He has been working with the Youth for a long time and does a great job as a lay leader. We meet once a week and I "mentor" him (me a mentor, who'd have thought). He is about to start seminary with a full time job and two kids. You have to respect that. The Youth group at Mount Vernon has been growing and is doing well. I am impressed with the kids in the youth group, both with their biblical/theological knowledge and with their actions. Todd takes care of the bible studies and we plan most of the youth fellowship events and trips together. What I am doing in the youth group is expanding it into a more well rounded program. Before I came the youth activities consisted almost entirely of bible studies and fun stuff. We are currently working on implementing a Sunday night youth service with an all youth praise team which I will plan and Todd will preach a short message at. We are doing monthly local mission/service/outreach projects. Also, I am hoping to start some small group bible studies by the end of the year. We are also planning retreats, disciple now, camp, missions trips, and all the other stuff youth ministries do. I also handle the pastoral care for the youth group. This consists of attending sporting and artistic events, going for lunch at schools and just being available to hang out and talk.

As you can guess, I stay very busy. However, Trish and I still get lots of time together and I have a very flexible schedule. Having Fridays off also rules. I love my job. I am doing what I have wanted to do since the 10th grade. Trish and I both feel that we are doing God's will and all of our needs and then some are being met. We are very blessed. Here are some pictures of our church