Playing to a Full House

Jesus is said to have started his ministry after fasting for 40 days in the wilderness. Pastor Don Harbert saved his ministry after fasting for 40 days in Buena Park.

Little more than a year ago, Harbert’s New Beginning Free Will Baptist Church was in deep trouble. His congregation had dwindled to 25 die-hard parishioners. And the beleaguered pastor had run out of ideas for attracting new worshipers.

His biggest problem was the lack of live music. It created a vacuum during worship that made the church seem sterile. His congregation had been reduced to singing along with CDs. His wife acted as the deejay.

“They say that music soothes the savage beast, but it also prepares the heart for worship,” Harbert said. “If you don’t have good music, it’s hard to prepare people for worship.”

One option he hadn’t tried: a long fast, in which he consumed only water and juice for 40 days. He lost 27 pounds, but he gained a new idea: He would pray for something different.

“I quit asking God to use me to build the church,” said Harbert, the pastor for nine years. “I asked God to place new people in positions that would build his church.”

Just before the fast, Harbert had watched a musical group, the Wilsons, perform at a Christian high school.

“I could see the excitement that they generated for the students,” Harbert said.

He wondered: Were these the new people I had been praying for for 40 days?

He invited the band to play at his church. The Wilsons, a Christian-version of “The Partridge Family,” accepted and were an instant hit.

Danny, the dad, played guitar and led the worship. Nancy, the mom, played piano and keyboard. Daniel, the son, 20, played the drums. They provided their musical talents for free.

Since the Wilsons began at the church a year ago, attendance has quadrupled to nearly 100 people each week. Plans are underway to add a second service next year.

“The holy spirit runs wild when they play--let’s put it that way,” said Marilynn Medlin, a longtime church member and the pastor’s mother. “You cannot just stop thanking the Lord daily for sending them our way.”

Danny, 49, and Nancy, 51, met 28 years ago while playing the hotel circuit. The cross-country gigs, which included Hyatts, Marriotts and the Disneyland Hotel, gave them a knack for reading an audience and playing a variety of music.

“In a hotel, the audience makeup could switch each hour,” Danny said. “So we might play a Top 40 set, a country set and standards in one night.”

In the Sunday church service, the Wilsons continue to play a mix of music, from contemporary worship to standard hymns. The one constant element is plenty of clapping and stomping.

Sheree Phillips and her family went a few times to the church before the Wilsons but stopped going. They tried it again a year ago and have rarely missed a Sunday since.

“It’s a whole different atmosphere,” Phillips said. “When they play their music, the Lord is working. My husband even sings now.”

Phillips has watched as the empty pews have gotten a little fuller each week.

“Sometimes if all of my family comes, we’re lucky we get a seat,” Phillips said. “Now we’re crammed in there, which is really good.”

The Wilsons decided to get off the road and get “real jobs” when their son was 3 years old, though they continued to play music for Christian audiences.

“I’ll tell you what,” Danny said. “There is more power and energy in a church service with just two people worshiping and singing in a soul-stirring manner than in a room full of hotel drunks.”

Before coming to the Buena Park church, the Wilsons had been playing for a much larger congregation, which had hundreds of people at two services. But the decision to come to the wobbly church of 25 parishioners wasn’t hard.

“I had no trepidation. Numbers weren’t an issue,” Danny said. “The people who were here were on fire. This is God’s hand working in this little church.”

By day, Danny and Daniel work in auto body repair shops, and Nancy is in property management. Two nights a week, the family rehearses in a studio at the couple’s Modjeska Canyon home.

Playing under the name Prodigal, the Wilsons are halfway through recording a CD of mostly original songs.

Since the arrival of live music, the Baptist church has experienced other bursts of growth and small miracles. A Bible study, an addiction recovery group and a youth ministry led by Daniel Wilson and his wife, Jennifer, are thriving.

And when the pastor mentioned the grass outside the church was dying, someone in the congregation quietly got the sprinkler system fixed--free of charge.

“It’s just amazing how the ministry has completely changed,” Harbert said. “I get excited every time I go to church.”