Mike Jones

About six years ago, Karen, my brother's wife, started randomly calling churches in hopes of finding someplace that would let her host student recitals. She found one that would allow her to have open access to the sanctuary on the grounds that she would play at their services, so started a long journey.

Soon after she began playing services, they decided to move towards a modern growth format, so the elders hired a pastor named Chris.  He recognized need for leadership and brought in Mike Jones to lead worship.  In the next six month the congregation doubled in size. It didn't talk long for Mike to ask Karen if she would play in the modern services, and that led to a lasting friendship. One weekend the praise team was short, missing a lead guitarist, so Mike asks my older brother Ron if he could help. Mike says, "no obligations, just give it a try and see how it feels." Ron enjoyed the experience and has been involved with worship services since that day.

The church never fully transitioned because the elders decided to tone down, if not nearly abandoning the modern services out of prejudice for the old. They let go of Chris, and Mike followed. When hopes in a new church plant never took off, Chris came onto staff at a 90 year old church that had transitioned to a seeker friendly service.

The story of the Orchard Community can be found here in Christianity Today. Scott had taken over a lead pastor role of the church after his father's death, previously he had been leading worship. The Orchard felt the need for a praise leader / music director, so eventually Mike ended up on staff. It didn't take long before Mike approached Karen and Ron about joining the Orchard worship team.

I bought my first bass around the time that Ron started playing in the worship band. Honest I never thought about playing bass guitar until I was in my late 20's, and then the idea kept growing until I finally bought one. After a while Ron was borrowing my bass to fill in on the weekends when the church didn't have a bass player. He kept telling me to work on my chops because the church could use bass players. I told him that I wasn't a church person.

Later that year he gave me a quarter of bass lessons as a birthday present. Initially I was blown away by the really flashy slap style funk rock, and I practiced a lot. After two years of bass lessons my teacher kept telling me to find a band. I was frustrated that I couldn't find one, and then I went back full time to college, so I stopped taking lessons.

Hungering for a reason to pick up my bass again, I accepted the invitation to audition at Ron's church. It was fun, but I was scared to death of the idea of preparing 5 or 6 songs in a few days time and balancing a full class load. Then May comes around and Ron asks me to give Mike a call. So Mike says, "we are really in a spot this weekend, do you want to come out and play? No obligation, just give it a try and see how it feels."

I really struggled at first, but I enjoyed playing on the praise team. Mike stuck with me, always encouraging me forward. I've heard constructive criticisms, but never a negative word out of his mouth. He always has a smile on his face, and he wss never afraid to face any challenge that comes his way. We once played a song that needed both keyboard and rhythm guitar, so he sang, played keys, then swung his guitar around towards the end of the song. It was amazing.

By the end of the summer I had to start confronting my struggles with faith. One weekend in late July I was completely blown away by what I felt during the worship, and my life has slowly changed since that Sunday morning. I've totally become a spiritual geek in terms of theology and ancient Christian writings, but still I accept that I am a layperson.

So this weekend I will play my 92nd service, and it will be the last with Mike. Monday he rolls out to a job at a church in California. I was taken back when he announced that he was leaving, but I understand the reasons. He has been such a great spiritual leader, possibly the most influential person I've had in my life, and I'm so grateful for everything he has done.

Thank you Mike!

Two really huge things we all learned from you; first is that we can change people with our spirituality, and the second is that if God is patient with us, then we need to offer that same patience to others as they grow in faith.