A Life in Line

Today, I visited a church in a coffee shop. Well, sort of. The coffee shop isn’t open yet, but it will be within the next couple of months. The church is called Knoxville Life Church and it’s only about a year old. It originally met in the Regal Cinemas downtown Knoxville, but now they meet in a space in the Old City which they are transforming into a coffee shop.

There were about 50 people there. The music was quite laid back — just two guitarists, one of them singing. The pastor, Sean Alsobrooks, talked about something called Advent Conspiracy, which apparently is taking off all over the country. It is basically trying to get the focus of Christmas off the consumerism and back on Christ and serving others. I like it, and I plan to attend again next week.

They plan to open the coffee shop and let it be a place for people to come and relax, have a cup of coffee, read a book, study, chit chat, or whatever they want to do. It will be called Remedy Coffeehouse. It sounds like it will be a great place once it’s open. I can’t wait to visit it.

It might come as a surprise to some of you who follow this blog, especially since in my previous posts I sound so excited about Faith Promise and getting in the band, that I have decided that Faith Promise is not the right church for me. This realization came sometime between when I tried out for the band and now.

I began attending Faith Promise because I was put in contact with some family of some friends from Newnan. When I got here, I knew no one (and still don’t know many people), so I attended the church they went to. It was fine for a while, but I slowly started to realize it wasn’t what I wanted in a church, but I had already started the process of getting hooked up with the band and going through their membership classes. I haven’t become a member of the church yet, but I have actually played in the band one week so far. So, I found myself at a crossroads. Do I continue to play since I’m already somewhat committed or do I let them know I’m out? After consulting with family and friends, I decided the right thing to do would be to be honest and break it off now.

I never gave any other church a chance, so my new task is to visit churches and not make a decision about which church to join until I feel like I’ve visited enough churches to make a qualified decision.

I just found out today that I have been accepted to be in the band at Faith Promise Church. I’ll be playing on a two-week rotation, with my first week being November 9. I’m very excited about it. After church today, I went to another membership class there and there were representatives from each ministry there for everyone to talk to. I spoke with a lady who worked in the worship ministry and when she saw my name, she said, “Oh! Chris Eaker! I’ve heard about you! We have been needing a good keyboard player for a long time!” That was cool.

I had my audition last night for playing in the band at Faith Promise Church where I have been visiting. I really believe I did great. I could tell that they were impressed, but they did not give me an answer last night. They said I would hear from them later this week. But I could just tell that they liked what they heard.

It’s quite a time commitment though. The church currently has three weekend services and will be adding a fourth soon. There is a Saturday evening service and two Sunday morning services. During the two Sunday morning services in the main sanctuary, there is a concurrent service in another auditorium called Satellite I. Each service has a live band playing. The sermon is live in the main sanctuary and simulcast in the satellite sanctuary. It’s complicated. There are four bands and two bands play each weekend, one in the main sanctuary and the other in the satellite sanctuary. Then the other two bands play the next weekend. So on the weekends that I am scheduled to play (every other weekend), I would be playing at three services (four when they add the fourth service). Rehearsals are Tuesdays at 6 and they last until around 9 or 10 at the latest. Oh and once a month, they have a Wednesday night service the band that is scheduled to play that weekend plays at the Wednesday night service. So every other month or so I will be playing four times in a week. It’s alot of time, but it’s something I enjoy so much that I don’t think it will be a burden.

This evening I get to try out for the band at Faith Promise Church. So for the past week, I’ve been practicing the songs they want me to play. I’ll be playing along with the CD during the audition. These are the four songs:

1. Hosanna by Hillsong
2. Salvation is Here by Hillsong
3. Say So by Israel Houghton
4. Glory in the Highest by Chris Tomlin

We only have to play through about the first 30 seconds of each one, so I’m not too worried about it. I’ve pretty much got them memorized. I’ll probably keep my music up there with me just in case I go blank. I’ll post something on here tomorrow to let everyone know how I did.

The name of this blog – A Life in Line – is a reference to getting my life in line with the life I want. This will take many forms: my career, my relationships, my spiritual life, my finances, and my health. This post deals with my spiritual life.

Some friends of mine from SonRise, Shane and Lisa Hale, put me in contact with some of their family who lived in Knoxville. Their names are Ron and Temple Ann Duncan. I was in correspondence with them prior to arriving in Knoxville, and when I arrived, I accompanied them to their church here called Faith Promise Church. It’s a very contemporary, upbeat church that reminded me alot of SonRise. The church service was great. The music was great, the sermon was great, and the people were very friendly. Before the service, Ron was explaining to me how the church put a high priority on getting its members involved in a ministry in some way or another. Little did he know the sermon was about that very thing – serving others in the church. The sermon reference from the passage in John 13:12-15 where Jesus explains why he washed the disciples’ feet:

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

He asked if anyone here have had their feet washed this evening. Confused, most people said no. He said everyone of you have had your feet washed this evening. The people in the parking lot directing traffic were washing your feet. The people who were registering your children in the nursery were washing your feet. These musicians on stage leading us in worship were washing our feet. The people running the sound are washing your feet. Everyone who is serving here is washing your feet. And since Jesus said that we should follow his example, we should all serve in some way and wash someone else’s feet. It was great sermon. He then asked us to fill out a little card and put it in the box on the way out if we would like to be involved in a ministry at Faith Promise. I decided to fill one out and see about participating in the band. There was a dinner and informational session this evening at the church for people wanting to serve. They called it Volunteer Link (Clever, huh? You can’t get away from references to University of Tennessee here.). I attended and again, I felt God reaffirming to me that Faith Promise is where I need to be. Every time I told someone I played the keyboard and wanted to be in the band, they would reply with something like “Great! We’ve been looking for someone like you!” They said they have 60,000 guitarists, but no keyboardists. It was just what I needed to hear to know that’s where I am supposed to be. I am excited about the possibilities. There will be try-outs in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to get started.