// Jim Eckert
One of my most recent meetings was with a guy named Jim Eckert. He is a retired worship leader of 35 years who now goes to Fellowship and heard about the residency and wanted to meet with me. Because of all his experience and stories i knew i would love to and benefit from hanging out with him. He had so many things to say and advice to give that could only come from years of first-hand experience. We met two different times and talked about everything from how to handle compliments and the always present negative comments. He also talked a lot about knowing the environment you are hired into and even looking at the songs you sing to see if the are theologically sound. One of the biggest take-aways i had from our time together was to never marry the church. He said that he knew so many men and women who would put off their families and other responsibilities to use the church as an excuse or honestly think it was more important and then wonder why their lives were falling apart. The church is not God. It was good being able to have someone confess that and talk about his own struggles that he had with keeping his priorities in line and not to put the church before God or his family.
