Announcement from George
As you know, Covid has changed a lot about our Sunday mornings. There was a time we had to go completely online, without any in-person options. Most of the time we’ve been available in-person and online. We have taken steps to improve our livestream as much as we can, while not busting the budget. We have had outdoor worship services, parking lot communion, drive-through showers, and everyone has learned to zoom. It has been quite an adjustment for many of us.
One of the major adjustments we have experienced is in the number of volunteers. We have tried to maintain our Sunday morning worship and classes while a significant number of people have chosen to stay home and engage with us through our online options. Often this has been difficult.
This challenge has probably impacted us most in the area of leading worship. We are so grateful to have had four men who have primarily lead worship in the past few years: Joe Stephens, Will Duncan, Sid Todsen, and Barry Jones. These men have led us to the throne of God, and used their unique gifts to help us worship at Northwest. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Joe Stephens, who has led us almost every week since we went back to live worship. We are also grateful for Robert Harrold and Bill Warrell who have stepped in when needed.
Still, it has been difficult to maintain our Sunday morning worship as we continue to get back to our new normal. The elders and staff became convinced that we needed to expand our staff and hire someone part-time to lead us more consistently coming out of the pandemic. We have asked Cranstan Cumberbatch to join our staff as the part-time worship minister. He will lead two times a month moving forward, work with our praise team, and work with our ministry staff in planning worship. This will also give Joe a break once in a while, while leaving room for all of our other worship leaders to continue to lead as availability and health allow.
If you don’t know Cranstan, he grew up at this church, and has been a big part of the St. Pete community for a long time. He works with the Job Corps, as well as owning his own production company. He has performed with singing groups, and led worship for many years. We are so happy to have him join our staff at this time, and we look forward to him and our other song leaders continuing to lead our hearts in worship to our King.