A Home They Never Expected
Madeline and Claudio Olivera
[Madeline] As a professional singer, I've aways had a church home. And so I was looking around at various different churches once we moved here, and this one was the one that had my favorite music program and that treated their musicians the best. And so I ended up here by chance, pretty much.
[Claudio] I grew up in South America, which is 95% Catholic. And being here in the States, I have been understanding more about the different denominations. And always in my mind, I understand that Baptist was probably not the type of church that I would want to be with. So it was really surprising, once I started coming here and playing for a few things, that I was completely wrong about what I thought this church was. And it's been such an incredible place. As a musician, also, we have made so many friends, and it feels like a family. I can't imagine a better place to be.
So after a few years playing music, we decided to join because this is a place that feels like home to us. The idea that this is open to all and closed to none, that really resonates with us.
[Madeline] i was pregnant with my oldest when we started singing here. So we've seen our kids become more and more in love with the childcare people here, too, and the other kids.
[Claudio] Every time we come here on Sunday mornings and drop our boys off, they're so happy. It's never been an issue. There's times where they don't want to go. They want to stay with their Papa and Mama. But every time we get here, they're like "Goodbye."
[Both] As soon as they're at the door.
Yeah, as soon as they are at the door, they're like, "Okay bye. Get out of here."
Yeah. It's just perfect. It's perfect for us.
[Madeline] What drew us to join as members and really stay here, because there were opportunities for us to bounce around to different churches. I've stayed here the longest, absolutely, by choice because of the community that I found within the choir. In the choir, there is such a beautiful diversity of age and background and even spirituality.
[Claudio] Again, coming from a Catholic background, when I was about 18 or 20 years old, I think I had a very strong reaction against that, and I stopped going to church. And I might say for a while, I almost considered myself an atheist.
And any time I have also played for many different churches of all different denominations, and it always was a job. Okay, I'm going to church to play. That's my job, and I'm grateful that they hired me, but I'm not going there spiritually, so to say. It's just to make a living.
And this was the first church [where] it didn't feel that way anymore. It felt like we all have a common goal, and I feel like the important thing is what kind of person you want to be. And I just feel like everyone here is just exactly the type of people I want to be around.
I feel like it has also shifted my spirituality. And I'm still searching for answers and trying to figure it out, but I don't think of any other place where I would want to do that than here.
[Madeline] Giving to the church helps us in so many ways personally. This childcare, we can see the effects of people giving to the church financially through the wonderful childcare staff. Our kids are absolutely in love with the childcare staff here.
If there weren't people giving to the church, we never would have ended up here because we're musicians. We came here as professionals and stayed for what we found in the church.
We show up at the Pride parade. We give by going to the Room in the Inn things and all of the fighting hunger events that we've had in the past. I like to participate in those. That's what really makes me feel like I'm being helpful and useful.
[Claudio] Churches, historically, since the time of Bach, they were the sponsors of musicians. That's still a big reality nowadays. The more funding you have, the better the music program can be, and it always feels like the better the music program is, the more it draws people. Musicians obviously don't make a lot of money, so we do depend on it. It's not something you can do for free, so funding is crucial to have a good-quality music program.
We're so grateful with how generous this church has been, and we want to do everything we can to help.