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Kristie Snyder of Bangor didn’t know the name of the musical instrument she wanted to play when she was a schoolgirl.
So she drew a picture of it.
It was a saxophone, but her mom couldn’t afford to buy even a used one.
So, growing up in Massachusetts, Snyder started attending band classes, absorbing as much as she could, until Christmas, when she finally received the sax as a present. She played it through high school, but never took private lessons or classes in music theory or composition. Ten years ago, she taught herself to play the piano and two years later took up the guitar.
Persistence is part of life for Snyder, 35, who became music director and worship leader at the First Church of the Nazarene, 1465 Union St., two years ago.
So is doubt. When she considered the music leader’s job, “I thought, ‘I can’t do that. I don’t know enough and I’m a woman.’ I’d never seen a woman do it, even though this denomination has been very supportive of women. I felt like I was arguing with God about it.”
But even as a child, Snyder and her three sisters had sung together. Since 1988, she had played the sax at Sunday evening services and sung in the choir at the Bangor church.
“I felt in my heart called to worship leading,” she said after a recent Sunday service.
In Snyder’s congregation, worship leaders are not ordained clergy, but lay members who feel called to lead worshippers in song and prayer. Since its founding in 1907, the Church of the Nazarene has ordained women and encouraged them to take leadership roles. Snyder simply had no personal experience with woman worship leaders until she discovered the recording of Darlene Zschech (pronounced Check), an Australian singer and worship leader in Sydney.
After the Rev. G. Martin Gentzler, pastor of the Bangor church, asked Snyder to become music director, they jettisoned the traditional hymnal at Sunday services and switched to contemporary Christian music – some of it composed by Snyder.
Since her tenure began, the band has grown from two keyboards and guitar to a seven-piece group with three vocalists. Lyrics to songs are projected onto a screen above the altar, and a typical Sunday morning service includes eight to 12 songs, twice as many as a traditional worship service.
Older members who miss the more traditional hymns sing them during the weekly Wednesday night prayer meeting and at old-fashioned hymn sings held occasionally.
The switch to contemporary music under Snyder’s direction has brought new and young worshippers to the church, according to Gentzler.
“Kristie’s tremendous gift with music is that she has great insight into how to touch people’s hearts,” said Gentzler, 46. “Music has become more of a way to bring people into an atmosphere of worship and helps people become active participants rather than observer. Contemporary music makes church more accessible to those who were not necessarily raised in church.”
While the median age at most Nazarene churches in Maine is close to 50, the pastor said he thinks 30 is the median at the Bangor church. He credited Snyder’s work with bringing in new people.
Snyder tries to choose songs that have similar themes, ones that flow easily without modulation in keys. She categorizes songs between those that worshippers sing to each other about God and those they sing directly to God. She said that the transition from such “horizontal” to “vertical” songs should take place before the congregational prayer.
“I’ve noticed that since we’ve have the band, more people are visibly engaged in the music,” she said. “People grew up listening to band music, and they like having that in church. For people in my generation, the meter feels foreign. We’re used to very syncopated music.”
Snyder works part time in the church office, but is not paid for her work as music director. She said that she and the other musicians work as a team, taking turns leading the congregation in song and prayer.
The group is working on a CD, expected to be completed by the end of the year, which will feature Snyder’s original music.
“If we are going to meet unchurched people with the message of Jesus Christ, we need to appeal to them in such a way so that they hear the message,” said Gentzler, who has been pastor at the church for eight years. “God uses different ways to reach people to be sure. Here, he’s reaching many through Kristie and her music.”
Sunday services Church of the Nazarene, 1465 Union St., are at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. For information, call 942-7216 or e-mail BangorNaz@aol.com.
Church of the Nazarene
Membership: 636,564 in the United States in 2000. The Bangor church has about 225 members.
Beliefs: Members believe in the idea of ?entire sanctification,? which Nazarenes say means that God calls believers to a life of holy living that is marked by an act of God that cleanses the heart from original sin and fills a person with love for God and humankind.
Activities: Nazarenes express their faith through worship, evangelism, compassionate ministries and education. The church maintains more than 600 missionaries around the world.
History: The denomination was founded in 1907 when three independent ?holiness? groups merged.
Headquarters: Kansas City, Mo. Its Web site is: www.nazarene.org.
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