Preparing for 100 – News Bulletin

CRESTVIEW — The associate pastor of music at Crestview’s First Baptist Church, Andrew Heathershaw, has been planning for the church’s 100^th anniversary celebration, which is scheduled to take place from 2-4 p.m. on Aug. 12.

When asked what he has in store for the celebration, Heathershaw said, “We are starting service with ‘Find Us Faithful,’ a song which questions if people in the future will see us as faithful to the Lord when they look back on us.” He also said that at the luncheon, the reunion youth choir will be singing, “Some Day My Lord Will Come," and a few former ministers of music will sing as well.

Heathershaw, who also oversees the technical aspects of the church’s music production, selects music from Christian publishers with song samples that pique his interest. His personal favorite songs, he said, are “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “10,000 Reasons,” a newer song about praising the goodness of God.

According to Heathershaw, American Baptist churches tend to either stick to the old or go with the "new" when it comes to musical style, but at Crestview’s First Baptist Church, they are somewhere in between. “Traditional churches do hymns only and some other Baptist churches only do new music — we are somewhere in the middle.”

He said, “It varies a lot within denominations — there isn’t a Baptist style — it just always points people to God with excellence, whatever it is.”