Members of the Community Church at Tellico Village celebrated pastor John Orr’s 10th year of service Sunday.
Orr joined the church as pastor of music and worship Jan. 1, 2010.
“I was able to watch the church grow,” Orr said. “When I started was the year that they were building this sanctuary and so it’s been nice to watch the church grow into this. Membership has grown, this program has grown and it’s been nice to see it become sort of a pillar in the community.”
After the service, a crowd gathered outside the sanctuary to greet Orr, enjoying light refreshments and dropping off cards to share well wishes.
Orr said the reception was an unexpected honor.
“Ten years is a big accomplishment for pastors in ministry,” the Rev. Stephen Prevatte, senior pastor, said. “Too many times pastors get burned out and they move on. Unfortunately, the average stay for a pastor is just a few years in a lot of places, and so to celebrate an accomplishment like 10 years is something definitely worth doing.
“He’s done a remarkable job for us,” he added. “He’s a great coworker, colleague, minister and a friend. I really value his leadership.”
Prevatte said Orr helped him learn his way around the church when Prevatte joined a few years ago.
“He knows the people and the people love him and have responded to him, and he’s helped get me acquainted with our church, with our community,” Prevatte said. “Our church has grown as our community has grown and a large part of our church’s growth can be attributed to our wonderful music ministry. John has added so many choirs and ensembles and lots of things that go into making a wonderful music ministry.
“The addition of the fine arts series that he has started since he’s been here has been wonderful for not only our church but for our community because it brings a lot of wonderful talent, musical talent here,” he added.
The fine arts series was introduced in 2011.
The Rev. Devin Phillips, pastor of connections, described Orr as driven with a heart for the Lord and people.
“What he does with this choir, the music ministry that we have here is brilliant and you wouldn’t be able to find better one anywhere around,” Phillips said. “Part of what he does is he builds those relationships with his choir members and with his people and so that choir in and of itself is a family. So a lot of people come, talking to us and they’re so impressed with the music program and a lot of that is just based on the relationships that he’s built there with his choir.”
Building relationships is a key goal for Orr.
“We’ve grown just both in numbers and I always kind of call us the choir family,” he said. “So we think about it as a family and we try to take care of each other and we pray for each other and we look out for each other. Everything we do on Sunday morning is because we’ve already spent many hours together preparing for it. So it’s kind of a close-knit group and it’s nice.
“What’s fun is as we watch people come to Tellico Village or to the Loudon area and come and investigate us and we’re able to kind of adopt them into our family. That’s a neat thing to watch,” he added.
Orr comes from a musical background. Growing up in Nashville, he began singing as a child in school and church choirs. In grade school he became a professional studio vocalist, recording children’s music for music publishers.
Prior to coming to Tellico Village, he was involved in churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Missouri.
“I was always involved in music at both church and school and professionally as a child, but when I was in high school I sort of sensed a feeling like God wanted me to use my gifts in the church,” Orr said. “So, while I’ve always been involved with community music, the church has always sort of been my calling and that’s where I like to serve and work with people.”
