FACE TO FACE
Jennifer Wheatley Looks Back Jennifer Wheatley
You know you’re old when . . . you’re the only person left on staff who remembers bringing a floppy disk to work in the Brown House offices, hoping that a computer would be available! I began working with children’s choirs in 1990, and those early days in the church office, though a distant memory, keep coming to mind as my time working at College Church comes to an end. It’s with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I share with you that a new chapter is unfolding in our lives this summer. Greg and I are retiring and moving to North Carolina to be near our daughter Stephanie, her husband and our son-in-law, Chris Blumhofer, and our two granddaughters, Chloe and Marika. Preparing for this big change in our lives has brought back lots of memories. When the Brown House (situated along the north parking lot) was the church office, nearly 40 employees worked in that tiny space. The pastors (except for Kent Hughes) filled the upstairs rooms. Most of the non-pastoral staff occupied the basement. There was a rotating workstation that I could use when available. With my files stored in the back of our station wagon, I transported my work back and forth on floppy disks; I was doing remote work before it was trending. Back then, the main methods of communication were telephones and voicemail. (Email eventually became free in 1996, when Hotmail launched the first free web-based email service). So, in the early 90s, every communication I sent to children’s choir parents was contained on a postcard sent by snail mail. When creating programs for our children’s choir musicals and concerts, I would photocopy clip art and layout my programs on a lightboard. The finished product would then be sent out for printing. It was such a gift when Herb Carlburg had the technology to print our programs and brochures in-house. In my early days of ministry, I directed the Cherub Choir and was Paul Lusher’s secretary (the term “administrative assistant” wasn’t in vogue yet). Our part-time minister of music Paul was also responsible for our children’s choirs. As you can imagine, adding that to a very full music ministry schedule was difficult. As I began to help organize the children’s choir ministry, he asked if I would oversee the program. At that time, there were three children’s choirs and about 80 children involved. Our program has since peaked at nearly 200 children, and along the way, we’ve added a fourth choir.
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The first musical I directed was Music Machine, a story about the fruits of the Spirit. My husband, Greg, innocently volunteered to help me by singing the song “Have Patience” sung by Herbert the Snail. It was Marge Gieser who created a huge foam snail with a cutout for the head. When Greg’s solo came up, he slowly lifted the snail from behind the choir loft, poked his head out through the hole and sang “Have Patience” at a snail’s pace. I’m pretty sure Greg had no idea that a snail’s body would be involved when he volunteered. Thinking about it still makes me smile! Until the time of her illness, Marge faithfully worked with me on every musical we performed. An amazing artist, she would meet with my team each spring, listening carefully as we explained our vision. Then, we would step back and let Marge do her thing. Among our favorite musicals were Paul and Co. and Elijah. Some of you will remember the dramatic moment in Elijah when the great fireball falls from heaven to devour the altar. Marge led many hours of discussion coupled with trial and error to bring that fireball to creation! One of our most meaningful musicals was one that we created ourselves. Forward by Faith told the incredible history of College Church. College Church member Virginia Hughes thoroughly researched our history and turned it into a script. We added music, choreography, dance and special effects to create a musical that poignantly shows the faithfulness of God through difficult circumstances. Tim Hollinger worked his techno magic and spun us back in time to the 1930s by playing the music and events that represented each decade. There is real value in showing the children of the church where we’ve come from and how God has provided for us, especially when times are difficult. For many years now we have opened the choirs to families who want their children to have an opportunity to learn and grow within a children’s choir ministry but attend churches where
