church and have been a part of it my whole life . And without knowing it , I had kind of become so ingrained in that in a bad way . In the sense that it had just become part of my routine of life , it had become wrapped up in my identity of “ I ’ m in ministry , and I ’ m a worship leader .” And I kind of lost what it meant to just be a son and find my identity ... and being a child of God instead of what I did for God , if that makes sense . And so we found ourselves coming to this little thing on Tuesday nights every week . It was a church , but it felt so small at the time because there were only a couple hundred people .
But what I love about our church is that same sense that I got in that little venue in South Nashville — the presence of God . Even though there wasn ’ t a big PA , a big LED wall , lighting , and all the other things that we might have now , it was the same presence of God that we sense every week now . And that ’ s why we kept coming back . God just began to change our lives , and he began to draw me back to this true sense of what it meant to walk with Him and what it meant to be in His presence . And a very long story short , I ended up calling The Belonging Co my home . I got a job at a coffee shop , working 40 hours a week .
I had been on staff at the church I grew up at , and when I came to The Belonging Co , I had this season of just returning to ... you remember when you started leading worship or started getting involved in church when you were a kid in a youth group or whatever , and nothing else mattered ? You just wanted to be there with your friends , encountering God and leading your friends in worship to Him .
And so , I tell people that ’ s what that season was like for me . I started volunteering on the team at church and serving on the worship team . And it felt like every Tuesday I was just so excited to get to church , to encounter God with my friends , and to lead my friends in worship . And my wife and I started meeting some of our best friends in the world at our church . We started building community . And at the time , Pastor Henry was leading the whole worship team as well as being the senior pastor . So he was leading worship almost every week . He was doing Planning Center , he was rostering the team . And I remember one day I just looked at him , and I was like , “ Hey , I can help you . I ’ ve been doing this for a long time . I know what I ’ m doing . Let me help you .”
So I just started going over to his house and helping him do Planning Center and sending songs out to the team , and whatever . And I ended up coming on staff in 2016 , eight years ago this month , February of 2016 . And I ’ ve been the worship pastor on staff since then . But what I love about my journey ... I love your follow-up question , Bruce , in the sense of why have you stayed ?
My church was my church before it was my job . And I love that progression because I found home here before it was a position or before it was a staff position and a paycheck . And I think a lot of times in church life , we chase that more than we chase finding community and finding
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