As of today, 1/8/10, I have moved from my beloved hometown of Philadelphia, Pa to Washington D.C., where I am privileged to be an intern at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where Mark Dever is the senior pastor. It is a pastoral internship, where I will receive practical and theological training in the context of a healthy local church. My hope is, by God's grace, to someday be an elder. I can't even begin to articulate how excited I am about this opportunity. During the internship, I will have the opportunity to sit in on all the elders' meetings, accompany pastors on home and hospital visits, weddings and funerals- as well as interact with great theological works while fleshing out the implications of those works real-time amongst a congregation of saints who take Christ and His church very seriously. For those who want to know what this means for my music, well... it means that music ministry is on hold for the duration of the internship, which lasts until the end of May. Between now and then, I won't be travelling or taking engagements. I had hoped to have my new album finished before I began the internship, but it wasn't to be. It could be that the Lord may be pleased to use this experience to inform my writing. We'll see. At any rate, my plan is to continue writing songs while I'm here and to record them in June, which would mean a fall release. I'm also working on writing hymns and worship songs suited to congregational singing. Your prayers for my writing would be appreciated. I would also appreciate it if you could pray that the Lord would shape and sanctify me through this internship, that I might be able to serve the Lord more fruitfully and faithfully. Soli Deo Gloria!
grace and peace,
shai
