Anar's Brush - True Friends

 

 I was cleaning our patio furniture a few days ago   and got out the tools I would need including a small   hand broom. I call this my Anar brush. Here's the   story...

 Anar Ohlin and I were on a church staff together in   the early 90s. The church had purchased an office   building that we were re-purposing for church use. As I recall, Anar and I were working on a clean up project and he had brought this hand brush to help clean out some tight spaces. I'm not sure how, but this little brush wound up under one of the seats in my car and I did not discover it for quite a while. When I told Anar I found his brush he told me to "keep it," he had another one. I have had it ever since. Every time I use it I think of Anar and his friendship.

We had a rocky departure from this church staff. When Anar found out the circumstances and reasons for this unsettling time, he was quite upset. He became my biggest defender. Even though we were already very good friends, and enjoyed working together immensely, I did not realize how big a friend he was to jeopardize his position in his outspoken defense of me. After we transitioned to another church in Colorado we remained close through phone calls, visits, and eventually emails. (email was just becoming a routine communication method in that time period)

Early in 2004 Anar called me and told me that he was having increasing problems with his heart. He knew that he would probably not live a lot longer with his weakened heart. We reminisced about some of the times we shared together and got caught up with what we each were doing at the present time and how our wives and children were doing. Then Anar got to the main reason for his call. He wanted me to come and play the piano and lead all the music for his funeral. While it would mean a hastily arranged airline flight and schedule changes when the time came, I immediately promised Anar I would be there. In the middle of June  in 2004 I made that flight and played the piano and led the music for my friend. When we arrived back at the church from the graveside service, I had an encounter that laid to rest most of the issues that had contributed to our department from this church staff several years earlier. Once again, my very good friend had been instrumental in being a friend to me.

As you can see, Anar's Brush is starting to get a little ragged. I think that once it isn't useful anymore for its intended purpose, I will hang it in my home office to remind me everyday of what it means to be a true friend.  

An Eight Year Gap

 It has been eight years since my last blog post. Life has a way of changing the time you have available to "cover all the bases." After writing 327 blog posts, life's busyness took over.

In 2013 I started a ministry department for the Illinois District Council that eventually became known as Your Church Admin. Our original goal was to offer church management and accounting software to our Illinois Assemblies of God churches. I would demo the software to pastors and church leaders, develop their software sites, and support their use of the software with phone calls, emails, on-site training, and other support methods. We knew there was a lot of interest in this because a district wide survey had shown widespread interest. What we did not anticipate was the turn the ministry would take in the first summer of operation.

At the on-site training session for one of our first churches, as we approached the end of the session, the pastor said "this is all well and good, and we are excited about the possibilities, but what we really need in addition to using the software is for someone to actually do some of the bookkeeping and accounting functions for us." Our district CFO had joined me on this training trip and as you might imagine, we had quite a conversation on the way home. The conversation with this pastor changed way we looked at the ministry we had begun. Over the next eight years it would expand to be primarily a bookkeeping and accounting service to nearly 100 churches and church ministries and we would process hundreds of payrolls every month. In 2015 I hired my first employee after nearly burning out because of our rapid expansion, and today their are nine employees that work either full or part time for Your Church Admin. Over the next few weeks I'll tell some of the stories of YCA and how God has blessed us as we have blessed so many churches and church leaders. BTW, I retired from this wonderful ministry at the end of February, 2022. Younger and innovative leaders are now moving this wonderful ministry forward.

A Warm Bed and a Hot Shower

Since we first became aware of the radical Muslim army called ISIS, and the obscene destruction of human life that they have become known for, I have joined many Christians around the world to pray for Christians, and other non-Muslims who have become their victims. The Islamic State does nothing to hide its targeting of all non-Muslims. In fact, from their videotaped be-headings to their bombing of religious sites, ISIS fighters have publicly displayed their gruesome acts. Mark Arabo, national spokesman for "Ending Genocide in Iraq," spoke with Sean Hannity this week about the Christian crisis in Iraq. Arabo claims hundreds of Christians are dying every day and 40,000 have been killed this year. We've all read accounts of people having to flee their homes with just what they can carry. Many were trapped on a mountain top for weeks without food, water, shelter, or other life necessities. 

I find myself trying to pray, but not having enough words to describe how badly I feel about what is going on. I've caught myself thinking, "they are actually better off because they are in God's presence, in the place that has been prepared for them." That is just a cop-out for my puny attempts to pray effectively for these precious members of the body of Christ. I cannot imagine the horror of parents watching their children being beheaded in front of them, because the children will not renounce Christ and agree to become Muslims. I have always thought that I would do anything I possibly could, including giving my life, to protect my wife, and my children. For Christians in Iraq, their "thinking" has become reality.

The other night as I lay in my comfortable, warm bed, I was again praying for these people. Knowing full well that survivors who have fled are living in miserable conditions. Here I was praying for them from the comfort of my bed. The next morning, again they were on my mind as my shower water warmed up to a comfortable temperature and I enjoyed a hot shower before heading off to my office. I feel guilty for the contentedness I feel right now. God's blessing is very real and evident to me. And yet these horrible things are happening to people that I love, but don't know. I love them because we are loved immeasurable by the God of the universe. We are the family of the only true God and creator of all. If there is an overarching idea here, it must be that regardless of our standing in Christ, life is not fair. Why should I enjoy my warm bed at night, and a hot shower in the morning, while thousands of Christians are fleeing for their lives and living in the poorest of conditions? These are hard questions, without good answers. I am just so thankful that I have never had to endure this kind of cruel and hideous treatment. One day it won't matter, Christians that have lived throughout the ages will surround the throne of God and proclaim Him as I AM. In the meantime, I'll keep praying for Christians in Iraq, and other parts of the world, who are running for their lives. God, please give me good words to pray.

Blessed, Blessed, Blessed...

During my five hour drive home last night from Chicago to Carlinville, IL, I had a Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir marathon. One of my iTunes playlists contains almost every recording the Tab has ever recorded. As I listened to song after song, it brought back some great memories of singing some of these wonderful songs with choirs that I have directed over the years. And it made me wonder about how the repertoire might have changed if the Brooklyn Tab choir had been recording music a lot earlier. For instance, one of the largest choirs I directed was in Albany, Oregon in the mid 80s. That choir grew and grew until I was buying 90+ copies of music for everyone. We kept adding extensions and chairs to our choir loft. We sang some wonderful music, but I wonder what Total Praise might have sounded like from this great choir. At Heritage Village Church in Ft. Mill, South Carolina, I still remember the day we ordered 120 choir robes. That choir had the opportunity to sing on television and between our Sunday music and special productions, we sang some great music. I wonder, though, what they could have done with Father We Adore Thee or Days of Elijah.

It was at Abundant Life Christian Center in the Denver area when we first started singing Brooklyn Tab music. I will never forget LR singing the solo on I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy. We sang this song at a district service one year and the glory of God descended on that service. At First Assembly in Grand Junction, Colorado (now Victory Life Church), we loved Brooklyn Tab music. It really fit the personality of the church. It was an incredible experience to hear KR sing the solo on Rain On Us. If I could have, I would have set the DC player in our sound booth to "repeat" and sing the song until someone found the stop button. One of the choirs I directed had several wonderful vocalists in it. This Oklahoma City church had never done any "from the heart" music before, and our first presentations of Brooklyn Tab and similar music really changed the way this church appreciated the ministry of the choir, and the worship experience that it ushered in. Kristy Starling, before she was married, was one of our soloists and a member of the choir. Wow...

The finest combination of choir and orchestra that I was blessed to work with was at West County Assembly of God in the St. Louis area. The opportunity to present a lot of our music "live" was tremendous. On the weekend that we were there to interview, look at the church, and meet with leaders, I conducted Total Praise. Almost nine years later, on our final Sunday, I chose Total Praise again. Another one of our favorites was Thou, O Lord. In reality, there were too many to list. One of the highest moments at this church, however, was one Christmas when we performed Josh Grobin's version of Silent Night. Our son, Jason, did the orchestration for it and CY sang the solo. The combination of the orchestra, a classic carol, an exquisite tenor solo and the choir, all combined for a memorable experience I will never forget.

As I got close to home, had listened to many songs, and had traveled down memory lane, I realized again how blessed I have been. In all of the churches that Kathy and I served, there were many times that I played the accompaniment, and she would conduct the choir. We were a seamless team. Our lives have changed a lot in the last three years. I haven't conducted a choir or led worship consistently since June of 2011. A few days ago I celebrated a milestone birthday, and it probably had something to do with my trip down memory lane last night. The bottom line, however, is that musically, I had a great run, with some great music, and even greater people. I have been blessed, blessed, blessed...