Children Reaching Everyone in Worship

The year 2011 marked some changes to the music ministry for First Baptist Church. In the spring of 2011, Rief Kessler was brought on to be the new music minister. Later that year, he asked me if I would be interested in serving as the children's choir director. I really didn't think that I was qualified for that position. After all, most of my work as a musician was with band students and/or preschool kids in Kindermusik. I had never taught choir or really worked with kids in the 1st-6th grade age group. But he talked me into it and even showed me a choir musical he had already picked out which he thought might be a good start: Down by the Creek Bank. It just so happened that my first season and performance of children's choir, spring 2012, would fall on the 25th anniversary of the original release of that musical. What's a more perfect way to reinvent our children's music program than with a tried-and-true classic?

The thing is, I had no idea what I was doing, or what I was supposed to do, or what others expected from me. As it turns out that this was not as much of a handicap as I thought. Looking back on those years, it is amazing to see what we came up with when there were no previous expectations. My years of directing the children's choir became one of the best blessings that God could have given me. Not only did I get to experience endless joy and forge lifetime friendships with some women who have helped lead me in growing my faith, but I was also able to see what a difference faith-based music can have in children's lives. More on that later...

Our first musical was on April 29, 2012. We had about 20 children participate. Being very inexperienced in musical theater, I used whatever ideas came to mind to help me visualize the flow of the story. Since my own kids were very young at the time, it made sense to me to use my daughter's princess figurines to work out our scene changes. Each character had a little post-it note attached to it with the name of a choir member on it. It worked at the time!

Over the years our choir grew. There were some seasons where the choir numbers were in the forties or even fifties. One Sunday morning in April of 2014 we had over seventy kids singing in the choir loft! As our choir grew, so did our desire to serve more in our church and we began to add other opportunities for the kids to sing and do ministry. We sang on Palm Sundays and at times combined with the adult choir to lead worship together. We also went caroling at the nursing homes. One Christmas, we even took on a community service project alongside our musical, The Christmas Shoe Tree, collecting and donating over 60 pairs of shoes.

One of my favorites opportunities to serve was Sunday Night Sing. Sunday night services at that time had a very different feel than Sunday mornings: small, intimate, and traditional. I had always felt that it was important for the children to know and sing the music from more traditional collections, like the hymnals in the pew. Sunday Night Sing was the perfect time for us to do that. It also felt like an opportunity to share music with members of our congregation that would feel a strong connection to that music, as some of it represented a generation separate from these children.

We also started a tradition of ending every rehearsal with a prayer followed by the chorus of the hymn "Sweet, Sweet Spirit:"

Sweet, Holy Spirit
Sweet heavenly Dove
Stay right here with us
filling us with Your love
And for these blessings
we lift our hearts in praise
[In their loudest, most adorable little singing voices]
Without a doubt we'll know
that we have been revived
when we shall leave this place!

After a few years of children's choir growth and increased presence in ministry, I felt that it was time to give our group an identity; a name that not only inspired our kids to want to be part of something special, but also to demonstrate what our purpose was. That is when the name First CREW was created. There were multiple pieces of symbolism in this name.

First: God comes first, in our lives and in our music. It also stands for First Baptist Church and the logo for First CREW was stylized from the "F" in the church logo at that time.

CREW: it stands for Children Reaching Everyone in Worship. It was our primary purpose to use our music to communicate God's Word and share His message.

Of course, this "CREW" was not just me and a bunch of kids. Over the years, there were many volunteers that stepped up in so many ways to support our ministry. I was always grateful to the many moms and dads who helped with organizing, supervising, designing costumes, and making some of the greatest sets and decorations ever created! But there was a core group of ladies that became so important to me: they were my Dream Team!
• Stephanie Cortez, co-director and music coach. I admired her God-given beautiful singing voice and how fully invested she was in music worship. At times her worship singing would bring me to tears.
• Cindy Roberts, drama coach. She was a dedicated Christian who always reminded me to look to God in times of questioning, fear, or stress. She was our meticulous, organized team member!
• Rebekah Moon, drama coach. She was a prayer warrior! Rebekah always had an articulate way of starting a conversation with God. Her faith was always so strong, and she was the most calming presence for our team and our children.

Not only were we a team that worked well together, but each person also brought a unique personality and strength to our group. We supported each other through hard work, laughter, tears, prayer, and of course, music! We became a well-oiled machine and understood how to get things done as the years went by. Although, whenever I started a conversation with, "so, I've got an idea!", I think they all wanted to run for the hills!

When reflecting on my time with First CREW, there are so many things that I am thankful for, things that I learned from, and experiences I grew from.

There's a saying that "We learn by teaching" and I absolutely found that to be true. I had not been a Bible scholar by any stretch, but I knew that it was important for our kids to know the meaning behind the lyrics they were singing. We did many devotionals as part of our choir practices and had lots of discussion about the meaning of certain words and phrases. I learned a lot to be ready for all of those kids' questions! My favorite devotional was when we spent a semester learning Psalm 23, line by line, through a children's book about Sammy the sheep. It was so inspiring and I often reflect on the meaning of those verses from our time in that devotional. I believe that through our music ministry, many children have accepted Christ. Over the years, I have had the honor to stand up in the congregation as a witness to the baptism of many First CREW children. I'm thankful that God allowed me to be a small part of that journey with them. Many of our older CREW members stayed on with us as teen helpers, sometimes for years. They were amazing and it was heart-warming to see the impact that First CREW had on their lives.

While working with kids and doing these musicals every year presented challenges, nothing was more challenging than the spring of 2020 and the COVID pandemic. When it seemed that the world came to a standstill in March of that year, we were right in the middle of preparation for our spring musical, Agape League. We did what it seemed everyone else did at the time and went online. Since we couldn't meet in person, we had zoom rehearsals, did devotionals via video, and even recorded ourselves in our living rooms doing choreography to teach the kids. It was crazy, but we did what we had to do to stay connected with the kids. It was also a semester when we had one of our best devotional series: the Fruits of the Spirit. It correlated with the theme of our musical and Cindy Roberts, our co-director, put together a beautiful devotional workbook. I recorded videos based on that workbook and still love reading and watching those lessons.

Because of Covid and the effect that it had on everyday church activities, jobs, social activities, and other aspects of life I was forced to make a decision that I wasn't prepared for: leaving First CREW as director. We were already losing Stephanie Cortez at the end of that summer when her family moved to Germany. We had hoped to be able to perform our spring musical late in the summer as a final performance, but COVID was not going away, so choir could not resume. At that time, my personal small business, which had given me the time and schedule to dedicate to First CREW, went under as a result of the pandemic. I had to find other employment and felt that I could not continue with the children's choir from a health standpoint or schedule. I also did not get to do my "last musical."

As the pandemic finally started to wane and church opened up again, First CREW came back as well. Rebekah Moon is the creative, positive, energetic, and inspiring leader for this CREW and is doing an amazing job. The children in the choir continue to reach the congregation through their music and it is a joy to behold.

Having to leave First CREW was, and has been, one of the hardest things to let go of in my life. I loved being a part of the regeneration of a thriving children's music ministry. I am forever changed by the experiences, people, music, and awareness of God working in my life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to lead and learn and I'm so glad that I trusted God and took that leap of faith.