End of April Personal Update

It has been a while since I posted about the various goings-on in my life. Probably because I haven’t had much time to do so in the last couple of months. Also, some of my summer plans were up in the air and are just now being nailed down. So… I will now attempt to fill you in on the end of the semester here and my plans for the summer.

First, the school year is basically over now. Today is the last day of exams for the University. In fact, as I type, I can hear random shouts of joy outside my window as people are finishing their last exams for the year (“I’m DONE!!”, “Finished!”, “It’s all over!”, etc.). In fact, I’ve actually been done with my exams since early Monday morning. Because of work obligations at FMA stage this week, the other stage guys and I had to take all our final exams early so that we would be free to work all this week with the various rehearsals, recitals, performances, and other events filling the FMA calendar. It was hectic trying to finish all major projects AND cram for early exams last week, but it was all worth it just to be done ahead of everybody else. Whew!

I will be singing in the annual Commencement Concert in the FMA this Friday evening. The main attraction for the event is the University Symphonic Wind Band under the direction of Dr. Dan Turner. However, the University combined choirs will be joining the band to premiere a new piece by Dr. Dan Forrest of the composition faculty entitled In Paradisum. In short, it sounds really sweet, but you can read more about it on Dr. Forrest’s website (www.danforrest.com). The Commencement Concert will also feature music such as the Lord of the Rings and the Wind in the Willows (complete with a car crash on stage).

Now, for my summer plans. I will try to summarize them so this post doesn’t get too long. I will be doing my Church Music Internship this summer. I will be serving at Community Baptist Church here in Greenville (Greer, actually). The music pastor I will be interning under is Pastor Matt Whitcomb. Mr. Whitcomb was my choir director here at school this semester. I’m looking forward to learning a lot and getting a better glimpse of my possible future vocation as a church music pastor.

Unfortunately, since I’m doing my internship in SC, I won’t be able to come home much this summer (maybe for a week of vacation, but that has yet to be worked out). I will be living and working full time here on campus at BJU. I will continue to work my present job as stage crew in the FMA and Stratton Hall. There are some renovations that will be done in Stratton Hall this summer and some other projects to work on in the FMA. In addition to working full-time and doing my internship, I hope to fill remaining free time doing some programming projects, web design, and piano practice. Speaking of piano practice, my senior recital has been scheduled for March 6th, 2009 at 5pm in War Memorial Chapel. The exact program has yet to be nailed down, but will include music by Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, and Bartok.

Some prayer requests that I have for the summer are:

• That I would be used greatly of the Lord in my summer internship and music ministry at Community.
• That the Lord would show me more of His future will for my life in regards to the church music ministry.
• That I would have the energy to faithfully fulfill all my duties at work and at church this summer.
• Transportation for going back and forth from BJU to church (I don’t have a car).
• Money for next year’s school bill.
• A continued strengthening of my relationship with God, particularly in the area of Bible reading and prayer.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to post periodic updates of how my summer is going. If you made it all the way to the end of this post you deserve a reward.