It was graduation weekend. So as I walked to the college offices, I wasn't surprised to walk by two IBCS graduates who were sitting on the porch talking. I spoke to them as I passed, intending to keep walking. But they stopped me: “Pastor Stertzbach! We have been talking about you for the last hour!” They went on to tell me that they had been comparing notes. Both are full-time employees in two different churches. And both are working in a “second man” position. In church work, that means they are the helper and assistant to the pastor. Both said that they direct the music in their churches. So they are basically doing the same job - one in Fruita, Colorado, and the other in Buckeye, Arizona.
It was a blessing to me when they told me that they were comparing notes about how much they “do like Pastor Stertzbach.” Interestingly, what they said is that a lot of what they do in full-time ministry, they learned by watching what we do in church services. “Some things we even learned in your classes. But mostly from watching you in rehearsals and services.”
One of them said that his church's Christmas Eve service needed help. It was not successful. So he turned it into a “Lessons & Carols” type service because he saw how successful that type of service was at college. He mentioned that he had at least four years of Christmas Eve service ideas based on what he participated in during his time in College Choir.
Both in the classroom and in “the classroom outside the classroom,” IBCS students learn to minister and lead in local churches.
Read more about the value of a Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Church Music at IBCS.