hoping to get involved with the worship team though.”
Mark perked up. “Oh?” he said, “Do you sing?”
“No,” she said, “I play drums.”
Mark smiled. “Well,” he said somewhat surprised, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl drummer. How long have you been playing?”
“Since high school,” she said, “I played with a band in college, but it was short-lived. We jammed a lot together but only played a couple of actual gigs… you know, like, in front of people.” she laughed.
“Well that’s pretty cool.” Mark commented. “Does your boyfriend play anything?”
“Umm… no,” she said, “He likes music but doesn’t play anything. I think he’s hoping to get involved in another ministry though, maybe greeting?”
“We could always use more greeters.” Mark said. “I’m sorry, what was your name?”
“I’m Lexi, and my boyfriend over there is Darren.” Lexi said as she pointed to a group of people handing out bags.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Lexi,” Mark began, “would you be interested in trying out for the praise band sometime?”
“Sure!” Lexi beamed. “Is there any particular music you want me to play?”
“Hmmm…” Mark thought for a moment. “It should probably be something the rest of the band is working on as well so they can play along with you. Let me get you the music to the Christmas special we’re doing, and you can tryout with that, okay?”
Lexi couldn’t hide her enthusiasm. “That sounds great! Thank you! I can’t wait!”
“Great,” Mark said, “I’ll stop by the church office after we’re done here and make you a copy of the Christmas special music.”
As they finished handing out bags, Mark was encouraged by how noticeably more enthusiastic Lexi was than before their conversation. She would fit in well personality-wise with the praise team if she passed the audition. Mark pondered the Williams brothers for a moment. How would Brian feel about taking turns on the drums? How would Brad click with a new drummer? Mark was getting ahead of himself. These things would have to be addressed eventually, but not right now.
Mark prayed with the group before dispersing, then headed to the church to make some copies. He pulled into the church parking lot and drove right up to the front door. Since it was after hours, he wouldn’t be in anyone’s way if he just parked under the drop-off awning. He hopped out of his car and headed into the church, going directly to his office. Mark frowned as he passed his desk, still piled up with CDs and handwritten notes about songs he wanted to listen to… sometime.
Mark got out his phone and pulled up the Christmas Special set list. He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a massive 3-ring binder chock full of papers. As he laid the phone down beside the binder, Mark began flipping through the pages looking for the songs listed on his phone. Once he had several papers pulled from the binder, he headed down the hall to where the copier was and laid the papers in the input tray. Suddenly his phone rang. Mark looked down at the phone to see who it was... Cody Lane?
“Hello?” Mark answered.
“Hey Mark, it’s Cody.” came the reply.
“You’re not backing out of our lunch are you?” Mark asked.
“No, no, nothing like that.” Cody said. “I think I just got some cookies and a scarf from your church.”
“The Night of Outreach?” Mark commented as he started pressing buttons on the copier (2-SIDED, COLLATED, STAPLED). “That’s great, who gave you a bag?”
“A girl named Kat Driggers, she said she knows you.” Cody replied.
“Yeah, I know Kat,” Mark started, “she’s one of the vocalists on our praise team. Very talented young lady.”
Cody went on, “Yeah, she seems really nice. Listen… do you have any Christian guitar music I can borrow?”
Marks finger froze above the copier right as he was about to type ‘1’ under ‘number of copies’. “Ahhh... Sure,” he said somewhat awkwardly. “You know somebody who wants to play some Christian guitar music?”
“Haha, yeah.” Cody laughed. “Well, I just feel like God is pulling at me, you know? After talking with Kat tonight, I started thinking about guitar again and how much I missed playing. Then when I got in my car, I heard this really cool song, and it was a Christian song. When did Christian music get cool?”
“Yes, well…” Mark nodded his head, “we’ve come a long way since the last time you played. You want me to grab you some sheet music and chord charts? I can bring them to lunch.”
“That would be great, thanks Mark.” Cody said, somewhat relieved. “I may never play in front of people again, but I feel like God gave me the gift of music, and if I’m going to play at all… well… you know.”
Mark typed in ‘2’ under ‘number of copies’ and pressed the start button on the copier. “Where are you going to get a guitar?” he asked.
“I know a couple of guys who don’t play anymore but still have their guitars,” Cody began, “I’m pretty sure one of them would let me borrow theirs until I figure out if this is going to work or not.”
“Great,” Mark said as the copier spat out neatly compiled pieces of sheet music with chord charts. “I’ll bring these to lunch and we can talk more about you coming to church then.”
“Yeah, well… let’s start small, shall we?” quipped Cody. “Listen, I won’t keep you, but thanks for staying on me about this stuff. I think you’re the only one who hasn’t given up on me by now.”
“God never gave up on you Cody, and I’m not ready to either. I’ll see you later.”
Mark hung up and gathered his papers together. He went back to his office and started putting the originals back in the binder. Suddenly he stopped as a painful look came across his face and he closed his eyes. As a tear began rolling down his cheek, he said, “Thank you God.” Mark sniffled and continued, “I know that it’s not me who’s bringing Cody back to you, and I don’t know what all you have set in motion to change his mind, but I am so grateful. And I want to ask you to continue to use me in whatever way you want to help Cody. He has such an amazing gift; I know that you will use him in amazing ways.”
As he wiped the tears from his face, Mark reached over to one of his shelves and grabbed two large envelopes. He put one set of copies in each of the folders, then grabbed a pen from a can on his desk. He wrote ‘Lexi’ on one envelope and ‘Cody’ on the other, then picked up both and headed back down the hall. Mark exited through the front doors of the church and locked them behind him. Getting into his car, he laid the envelopes in the passenger seat and turned the key in the ignition.
As he put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot, Mark turned on the radio and heard an advertisement for services at one of the mega-churches in the next county. Mark had wondered what it would be like to lead worship at one of the mega-churches, with almost unlimited resources in funds and talent. He had contemplated visiting one just to see how they do things at that level; it might help him with some things he is struggling with at this level. He decided to call one of them in the morning and try to set up a visit for a Saturday evening service so it wouldn’t take him away from the Sunday morning service at Renaissance. But that would all wait. For now, Mark was basking in the joy of Cody’s phone call.
INTERLUDE
(The Luncheon)
Sitting at a computer in his office at Renaissance, Mark Googled “Southern Mountain Church.” The listing he was looking for came up, and he saw a phone number. Pulling out his cell phone, Mark called the number.
“Hello, Southern Mountain, this is Barbara…” came a sweet voice on the other end.
“Hi, this is Mark Flanders from Renaissance Church,” he said. “I’m the worship pastor here and I heard an ad for one of your services on the radio last week. I was just wondering if you all had a Saturday night service, and if I could come check out a
‘behind-the-scenes’ view sometime…”
“We do have a Saturday evening service,” Barbara replied. “Let me transfer you to pastor Caleb, he’s our worship pastor. Just a moment…”
After a few seconds, Mark heard the phone ringing on the other end, and then a man’s voice saying, “This is Caleb.”
“Hey Caleb,” Mark repeated, “This is Mark Flanders from Renaissance Church. I’m the worship pastor here and I heard an ad for one of your services on the radio last week. I was just wondering if I could come check out a ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of your Saturday evening service. I think it would be a great learning opportunity for me and my team.”
“Yeah, sure Mark,” Caleb answered, “we actually get asked that more often than you would think. Would you have time to come around 2:00 or so? That way we could show you around the church, then we’ll have dress rehearsal from 3:00 to 4:30 and evening service starts at 5:00. If you want to join us for dinner afterward, several of us go out to eat.”
“Oh wow,” Mark commented, “that would be great. Can we do it this week or do you need more notice?”
“This week is fine, what’s your name again?” Caleb asked.
“Mark Flanders.”
“Got it, see you at 2:00 this Saturday.” Caleb ended. The two exchanged good-byes and hung up their phones.
Mark was trying to get all of his work caught up before lunch; he didn’t want anything on his mind distracting him. It had taken years to