My colleague, bandmate, golfing buddy and all-around tall guy, Jay Muir, has landed in the blogosphere.
He’s a worship pastor in Moncton, NB. You may remember him from this post, or from his Local Leader Profile.
He’s a ninja of the written word, so get in on the ground floor of his new blog and thank me later.
“Local Leader Profiles” is a WorshipPeriod.com series of spotlight interviews with worship leaders working and leading in a local church setting. They’ll each answer a series of the same questions to give us a snapshot of their church, their ministry and share some things they’re learning about God, the church, worship and leadership.
Name: Frank Trail
Church: Whitepine Baptist
Church (Riverview, NB)
Size/Denomination: 75+
; Baptist
Job Title: Lead Pastor
Years at this Job: 10+
Years leading worship: 20+
Primary instrument: guitar
Worship Team size: 5-6 people
Favorite Worship song: Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?
Favorite Worship artist: oy… probably David Crowder
Favorite Book: you’re kidding, right?.. Just one?! “Raggamuffin Gospel” is right up there…
What does a typical (work) week look like for you?
Lots of time reading (newspapers, online stuff, Bible, other books), not enough time praying, touching base with various ministry coordinators, checking my sermon theme schedule, planning the worship service by Thursday, finishing sermon by Saturday, worship team practice Sunday morning before the worship service…
What does a typical worship service look like for your church?
Don’t always follow a pattern, but in some order our worship service will at least include 6-8 worship songs, concentrated prayer ministry, a time to give offerings and for people to share praise items or prayer requests, ministry updates, message. Our music would be considered contemporary, including the use of ‘active songs’- we really try to create an environment that is inter-generational, so we don’t have certain things designated as ‘for the kids’, ‘for the youth’, etc… we just do it all together and everyone participates in it (clapping, jumping, raising hands, even dancing some times). We start at 10:45am and usually wrap up between 12-12:20.
“Local Leader Profiles” is a WorshipPeriod.com series of spotlight interviews with worship leaders working and leading in a local church setting. They’ll each answer a series of the same questions to give us a snapshot of their church, their ministry and share some things they’re learning about God, the church, worship and leadership.
Name: Jason (Jay) Muir
Church: Moncton Wesleyan Church (Moncton, NB)
Church Size/Denomination: 1500 (Wesleyan)
Job Title: Pastor of Worship Arts
Years at this Job: 6 months
Years leading worship: 12
Primary instrument: Acoustic guitar
Worship Team size: 40 in total, 8 – 9 any given week
Favorite Worship song:
How Deep the Father’s Love (all time)
Glory to God Forever (currently)
Favorite Worship artist: Chris Tomlin
Favorite Book: Lord of the Rings Trilogy
What does a typical week look like for you?
Service evaluation and staff meeting takes up most of Monday. Tuesday’s begin the planning cycle for whatever Sunday we’re currently working on (usually the one right in front of us!). Tuesday nights our creative team meets to discuss and create, as the name implies. Wednesday’s are usually reserved for meetings, getting to know people and pastoral care type stuff. Thursday nights are Worship Team rehearsal. Friday’s we finalize our plan for Sunday. Saturday is a much needed day off.
What does a typical worship service look like for your church?
Worship through music, prayer, giving, a half hour message. Done. We like to baptize people every week if we can, so often we’ll have one or two baptisms thrown into each service. Occasionally use video, drama and dance to illustrate the message. Music is mostly contemporary/modern with a hymn thrown in.
