It was 33 years ago that I helped move our new music minister to town.  I was a senior in high school way back when.  We called a family who lived in the Longview area.  I still remember the first songs we did in choir.  The house for the music leader was across the street back then.  Large oak trees shaded the house during the summer.  We were excited since he seemed to know what he was doing.  Past music ministers came and went every few years.  This one ended up staying for 33 years.  He just announced his retirement.  


To stay in a place that long calls for something unusual.  Very few actually remain much more than three years much less over thirty.  I was 17 and now I am 51.  Imagine how many changes are included in that stretch of time.  You remain in one place because it grows to be part of you.  Marriages begin and sometimes end over that period.  You celebrate births and mourn deaths. He sometimes even served as an interim pastor of sorts when the senior minister left or retired.  I can only guess how many funerals or weddings he participated in some capacity.  You know people on far more than a surface level.  You become woven into the fabric of church history.


Some may not see this retirement as a big deal.  Maybe there will be those glad to see him leave this place of leadership.  I would tell them you do not replace 33 years of work with the turn of a resume.  Everything will change within the confines of that congregation.  I went up to a funeral about a year ago where he sang and my former pastor spoke.  My comment to them was it felt like an old timers baseball game.  There was something familiar and comfortable about that service.  We were in their sanctuary which is not the one I knew.  Yet there was a sense of walking back in time to earlier years while hearing them sing and preach.  Maybe that made a sad occasion a bit more bearable.  


I will go back if possible for any reception or recognition time.  They mattered that much to me over the years.  But do not expect me to move them again!  Odds are good they will not be moving from that place they found a home.


Bro. Trey