We are delighted to announce that Parker Story will be joining the staff of RCC as our new Worship Leader. Let me tell you the story of how hiring him came about.

Nancy Longabaugh, our current Worship Leader, has received excellent feedback from our church for her ministry. But from the start of her tenure Nancy always maintained that she would step aside should the right person come along. Over the course of last autumn Nancy began to feel the burden of leading worship alone, so she and I began to pray about what to do.

As we neared Christmas, we wanted to hire a keyboard player for Christmas Eve. We knew of Parker because his wife Kara was a member of our previous church. I had led Kara’s confirmation class and later her college ministry, and Kara eventually became leader of our former church’s praise band. Kara has been an important person in our lives, and we joyfully witnessed her wedding to Parker almost three years ago.

Anyway, Parker agreed to play keys for Christmas Eve, and as you may remember, Christmas Eve did not go as planned. Covid struck. We had to post-pone the children’s play, and our attendance was low. I was feeling disappointed before the service and asked Parker to pray for me. His prayer bolstered me, and as a result I began to see him as a spiritual leader as well as musical leader.

Nancy and I hatched this idea: we would invite Parker and Kara to come play for two Sundays in January, then assess how to respond. The Elders agreed. When the Story’s came, worship was truly rich. And Nancy enjoyed ministering with them so much that she came up with this idea: she could stay on the worship team as a volunteer and help Parker transition into the Worship Leader role – if he proved to be right for it.

Nancy shared this idea with the Elders, and the Elders invited Parker and Kara to an interview. We considered Kara for the role of Worship Leader, but since Nancy could provide vocals and guitar, we felt our real need was on the keyboard. We also felt that many hymns sound better from the keys.

Parker aced the interview. He showed himself to be a man of strong faith, open to fellowship at RCC, and equipped to minister musically. He told us he receives offers to come on staff from churches every month, but his experience at RCC was special. That’s quite a compliment.

Our Trustees approved extending an offer to Parker, and earlier this week he agreed. We look forward to bringing Parker on board in the coming weeks.

We will celebrate Nancy’s ministry soon. It deserves to be said that it’s uncommon to have someone perform a paid role well and then happily continue in it as a volunteer. Nancy’s desire is to advance God’s kingdom; in Parker she sees a great opportunity for God to move, and she gracefully steps aside so Parker can step in.