Since 2020, I have had the honor and privilege of working with the Downtown Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. Serving first as an intern, then as a part-time staff member, and finally stepping into a full-time role. Currently, I oversee the production of all 3 of our Sunday services, and I get to partner with the teams and team leaders who make those services a reality. I also work with our University Ministry and I help lead and produce our creative media efforts.
In the Fall of 2020, I began working alongside a co-intern to lead the church’s university student worship service. Originally hosted on Sunday evenings, the service was reformatted and moved as a 3rd, abbreviated Sunday morning service due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the Spring of 2021, we relaunched the Sunday night service (popularly called Downtown Singing) with a hearty volunteer team of about 8 students. By the end of the semester, we and grown that volunteer team to about 35 students, and were averaging about 175 students at each service.
By the end of the 2021/2022 school year, Downtown Singing had grown in size, averaging about 450 students at each service, and having nearly 100 students serving on the volunteer team. During this season, we (myself and my co-intern) developed the leadership system still used to this day. By empowering a group of students (we call them team leaders) to schedule volunteers, solve problems, and help create culture, we the interns, were no longer the limiting factor to our growth.
On January 1, 2023, I stepped into an on-staff, part-time position as the Worship Coordinator at Downtown, completing a transition that started back in August of 2022. In addition to co-leading the Downtown Singing service, I also oversaw the production of both Sunday morning services as well. In the Spring of 2023 I graduated from Harding University, and I turned my attention and energy towards my ministry efforts.
On January 1, 2024, I came on-staff full-time at the Downtown Church. In addition to overseeing the production of all weekend services, I would also partner with the Hospitality team at Downtown, and produce more creative media content for the church and weekend services.
In this role I’ve worked to expand our University Internship program, hiring and training students for positions like Worship Leading, Graphic Design, and Social Media management. Not only are they helping to meet the needs of the church today, but they’re building skills and potential for their leadership post-graduation. In this role I also partner with the Harding University Chapel Services, helping to train student Worship & Team Leaders in creating a culture of Worshipful Disciple-making. No two days look the same in this role, which can often be difficult, but I enjoy the challenge and the opportunity to rise to the occasion.
If I had to pick one thing that I am most proud of, without hesitation, it would be Downtown Singing. Since 2019 I have considered this Sunday Night gathering my home. I am convinced there is no where else in the world quite like it. It’s where you have hundreds of young adults not only coming to attend a worship service, but who are genuinely ecstatic to participate. Stewarding the culture and build the organization of Downtown Singing has been a highlight of my life and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to empower students to lead, to grow, and to serve their peers in worship! Occasionally, we multi-track record a worship service and release it as an album. I’ve had the honor of service as director & studio engineer for all the projects we’ve recorded. You can listen to Downtown Singing wherever you stream music.
I firmly believe in the power of the local church, and in the Hope that the local church provides to the world. Being part of a church that sits at the crossroads of the world, I felt a burden to share the blessings that God had gifted Downtown with churches all across the world. In December of 2023, I set out with a few friends to develop what I call The Church Resource Hub. The idea is simple…take everything we create, do, and say at Downtown and give it away for free, forever. Eventually, the goal is to scale the platform so that other churches can upload and share their resources and blessings with churches across the world. While the platform is still evolving and growing, I am confident God will use it to foster cooperation, growth, and revival in our brotherhood.
During my time at Downtown, I developed an “industry first” for projecting sheet music slides & song lyrics at the same time, all on a moving or animated background.
Working alongside AV integrators, I oversaw the replacement of our main PA system used in worship, along with several successful AV upgrades and modifications.
Over the course of 1.5 months, I rebuilt Downtown’s main website from the ground up, merging 3 separate websites into 1, and helping to build a robust technological future for the church.
During my time at Downtown, I worked to establish a foundation for a new creative media team, which would hire student workers and empower volunteers to produce all the graphics, videos, audio, and other creative media needed by the church.