“If you aren’t changing, you’re dying or dead.”
This past week, my friend Bill Adams announced to the mass choirs of the Fort Bend Boys Choir what Bill and I had been discussing for a bit . . . that I would not be returning as the FBBC Town Choir Director. This May will mark my final concert with this great organization. I will, without a doubt, miss the time with the organization and certainly, directing the boys.
Why the change and why now?
In the past couple of years, I have regularly found myself on Thursday afternoons exhausted at the end of a many-hour church week. I simply don’t have time to devote to the FBBC.
Couple that with being a work-a-holic, and you can see the problems I’ve personally developed — weight gain, stress, lack of focus, not enough time to dream, limited family time, Downton Abbey addiction.
Joyfully, I am in my tenth year of serving at First United Methodist Church. During that time, things have changed significantly and I’ve tried to be consistent in my work there. Some moments more successful that others, of course. Facing my limited family time, music ministry needs, increased workload, the arrival of a new dynamic Senior Pastor and my additional responsibilities in the area of Communications, I informed Bill of my intention to depart the FBBC.
No one specifically asked me to do this because of an event or a problem. In fact, I have the luxury of feeling very supported in all that I do both at home and at the church. Simply put, it’s time for me to focus and work on me and devote quality time to family, music ensembles, worship, communication and visioning.
This is the first step of a much longer journey for me.
In addition to being mentored as part of a new program, I’m deep into reading a book entitled Creativity, Inc., written by Pixar head Ed Catmull. I highly recommend this book as a way to rethink leading creative teams. Both have begun to change my thinking significantly.
Why say this on a blog? Mostly, to avoid having multiple discussions with others about why I’m leaving FBBC and what’s up with me.
I ask for your prayers during this time of personal “me-work” as I work through “me-change.”
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