Three church positions in a year?

It’s not that I can’t keep a job. Rather, for several years I have been dividing my time between my home in Boone, N.C., and that of my wife in Des Moines, Iowa. Conclusion: I can’t serve any one church regularly. So I have fun running around and helping this or that church from the organ bench week to week. I learn a lot about how folks are doing things – even if that research is sometimes horrifying. I’m glad for the education.

For much of this past spring semester 2025, I helped out as supply organist at First Baptist Church, Boone, N.C. Their organist retired, and I have enjoyed playing there and also spending some extra time with one of their problem choir members, otherwise known as my sister. The organ is a two-manual Reuter, Op. 2180, and the chapel houses the church’s former organ, a Möller double Artiste, Op. 10052. In the main church, there are no acoustics to speak of, and the padded pews do little more than foster a good nap, judging from the number of nappers I observe during sermons. But what a wonderful flock of music lovers and society servers. And if the Dear Reader has already been wondering how the words ‘Baptist’ and ‘organ’ can end up in the same sentence these days, wonder no more. This church has no screens and therefore no band and no intention of getting them. The choir loves to sing and learning how to sing better, and it keeps a stable of Appalachian State University students. The congregation is full of musical talent, and the handbell choir is healthy. And the church is the last one standing on the edge of campus, and its student ministry is strong. Go check them out.

As of this writing, summer 2025, I am embarking on my first position in a cathedral. Through August 10, I’ll be the interim organist for St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Des Moines. Two Eucharists each Sunday and the privilege of working with a semi-professional choir. I have even been assigned an email address on the Cathedral’s server! The organ is a sizeable Casavant, Op. 3719, and there is a 25-bell manual carillon. The Cathedral is searching for a director of music, so check them out, too. Dean and Bishop are welcoming and affirming, and there is a kind and music-loving congregation. St. Paul’s also has monthly Evensongs, society outreach, local beautification projects, Ascension service and soup dinner, etc. Downtown churches tend not to fare very well these days, so go and support them, if you’re around.

And then when I get back to western N.C. this fall, I’ll assume my annual seasonal duties as organist for All Saints Episcopal Mission in Linville, N.C., through their season that ends on the final Sunday of September. I just show up with a second musician of any flavor, play lots and lots of hymns and service music for Eucharist, and go to lunch. Another music- and organ-loving congregation, and I play on a sizeable Allen that has been expertly tended to and voiced by Jim Ingram. I have enjoyed visiting with guest clergy and celebrating far fewer than six degrees of separation most times. I even met Tom Roberts, the son of the Rev. Thomas Roberts, who hired my mentor Richard Forrest Woods in Houston way back in 1972.

Now after all that, I wonder what will be next. Anyone need any help from the organ bench?