Vineyard Newport, PowerPoint Duty. I got here around 7:25 and the only person here was the sound guy, Chris. Next guy to show up was Karl’s drummer, but he showed up without his sticks. Then Garrett, the young piano player, showed up. For awhile it was just the four of us, including a drummer with no sticks. After a bit Karl, the worship leader showed up with Marcel, on bass. While Marcel set up, Karl printed up the music and the drummer went back home to get his sticks.

Karl seems to spend most of his time on his side of the stage with the drums and bass and seems to largely ignore Garrett on keys on the other side of the stage. We’re all just getting to know one another. I can’t say that I feel particularly close to the new leader. I miss the sense of community that I felt with Keith. I felt like I was his student and I could trust him.

I brought up in last week’s meeting that there wasn’t going to be anyone on lead guitar because Marcel was going to be on bass (hint, hint, nudge, nudge…). They didn’t get the hint. Then again, I was having some difficulty keeping my strings tuned and more than once Karl didn’t like the patch I’d selected because it sounded out of tune. So…. I didn’t really feel “a part of the group.” And being sent to do PowerPoint doesn’t really challenge my “skills” or what I want to contribute.

Thus, with everything else happening (or not happening, as the case may be), I’m toying with the idea that maybe I need to move on, to find a “church home” closer to where I actually live. Damn. JBB