Laura Nolette
Occupation: Homemaker, Homeschool four children.
Description of Ministry in Church: I play the electric bass and sing on the worship team. Sometimes I play the piano and lead worship at small groups. I have also been known to play the flute during worship or as special musical offering to the Lord. I take care of Church administration & finances, build and manage the church web site and help lead the ladies' ministry.
Ministry Goals for the future: I've always had a dream to disciple young women into adulthood, Biblically based independence and marriage.
Favorite Food: Lately I have fallen completely in love with Gummi Bears but that will change in a couple of days I am sure.
Favorite Book: L'Abri, everything ever written by Jane Austen, Frank Peretti and Jules Verne. I know, I know, strange mix what can I say? I love a good story!
Favorite Song: Rhapsodies Hongroises (Hungarian Rhapsody) by Liszt and Rhapsody in Blue by George Girshwin, I guess you can take the girl out of the symphony, but you cannot take the symphony out of the girl. Many years ago I saw a movie starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly called Anchors Aweigh where Jos Iturbi and many children play Hungarian Rhapsody on multiple grand pianos. It was amazing and I've been in love with the song ever since. Disney did a nice job of animating Rhapsody in Blue in their Fantasia 2000. So far my favorite arrangement of it was conducted by Leonard Bernstein. All that said, I usually listen to rock-n-roll praise music and I have many favorites among those songs, like The Heart of Worship and All Bow Down, but the two rhapsodies remain my all time favorites.
Favorite Singer/Group: I love Kutless, Delirious?, Third Day and Sonic Flood and many more, but my all time favorite singer isn't famous or well know, you probably haven't even heard of him, but every time he sings my heart skips a beat, it's Donald Nolette. His voice is soooo beautiful and he puts his whole heart into what he sings. I love it!!
Favorite Movie: Anything starring Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn, just about anything with a happy ending, the hero gets the girl, the villain gets what he deserves, there is justice, peace, and harmony ever after. I have enough reality in my real life, I don't want it in my diversions.
Favorite Way to Spend Free Time: I do so much with my time that when I force myself to make spare time I like to rest relax and veg so I go to the BEACH or watch a MOVIE. What am I saying? I LOVE to read, paint, and listen to music but I do these as part of projects so I forget to think of them as leisure time activities. I also like to play Solitaire or Sudoku on the computer.
Personal Heroes: my mom, my dad, and Meredith Curtis They have all overcome some really significant stuff and done it quite well I think.
Favorite Verse: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
Most Meaningful Ministry Experience Has Been:
If you had asked me what is my most enjoyable ministry experience I would have said playing the bass hands down! Most meaningful is more difficult. I love, I mean REALLY LOVE, to help people. If I'm doing something that will change lives then its meaningful and worth doing. Working on this web site so that the great information that people at Powerline have written will get out there to the world has been great. I have to say that prayer has been the most meaningful. Meredith and I often (weekly) go to battle for those we love in prayer. God answers those prayers and it is so exciting. I cant wait to pray some more and see what he does next!! God changes lives and
He's doing it right before our eyes.
for three months, then on to Topsham, Maine. For the two and a half years we lived there I attended Sunday School and sang in the choir on a regular basis. Life went on and the moves continued. We always found a nice Methodist congregation to join, but I never really learned anything new.By the time I was in High School, the world around me had a whole lot more to say about me than my relationship with Christ. If you asked me if I had a relationship with Christ, I probably wouldn't have known how to answer. They questions didn't make sense to me back then. The consequence was that good Christian behavior didn't make sense to me either. I loved the crowd I hung with. I still have fond memories of them all. We did, however, make many bad choices. I made choices that grieved the Lord. They also, in the long run, have grieved me.
When I started college I realized that something was very wrong in my life. I also realized that it had something to do with God. I just didn't know what to do with it, so I continued my party lifestyle and lived for the next trip to the bar. By the time I got married, at 21, I was already experiencing health problems as a result of my choices. I also was feeling a strong calling from the Lord. I talked to my pastor and my husband about going to seminary. He still jokes to this day about almost becoming a pastors wife.
Within two years of our wedding my husband changed.
He was attending a Bible Study Fellowship weekly class. He was really getting into his Bible and learning what it had to say about everyday life. I realized quickly that if I didn't want some serious problems in my marriage I should look into what he had found. We started attending the local Methodist church. We pick this one church, Christ United Methodist Church, in Frederick, Maryland, simply because it was convenient. Fortunately for us the pastor and the majority of the congregation really loved that Lord and sought to serve Him in the entire lives. We joined a small Bible study group that met every Friday night in a home and we have never been the same since.
From the time that we joined that small group, through three different states and countless household moves, we have remained in small groups as part of our life. In these groups I study the Word, I pray and worship God. My small group (Bible study, Cell Group, L.I.F.E. Group or whatever you want to call it) has always been crucial in helping me live my life. When times are hard for me there is always somebody there to help, with a prayer and with advice and with practical things like meals for my family after I had surgery. When times are easy for me there is always somebody there that I can help. These people have been my family when my family was far away. They have been my friends when I was lonely. Most importantly, they have always been there to remind me that Jesus is the husband to the widow, and the father to the orphan. Jesus is my everything.
Musician & Worship Singer
My mom put me in piano lessons when I was 4. I began reading and appreciating music before I was reading English.
When I was 11 I decided I wanted to be in the band. I realized quickly that I didn't have many options as a piano player in a school band. Fortunately I had VERY supportive parents. They were happy to rent me an instrument until I knew if I really wanted to play it. I wanted to play the clarinet. My mom wanted me to try the flute. Like most disagreements Mom and I had... ...she was right. I took to the flute very quickly. Starting at the age of 12 I had the privilege of playing with concert bands, marching bands, symphonies, and ensemble groups. I enjoyed them all. Eventually for a variety of reasons I laid music aside.
In 1994 I was given my first opportunity to play the flute with a worship team during Sunday services. I am very grateful to Kathy Kaplan for that opportunity. It was a great learning experience for me. A year later, again for a variety of reasons, I laid down music for a time.
My love of music never lessened. My desire to be part of the worship team never waned. Despite my love of music and worship it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the Lord allowed me to return to being on a worship team.
The year 2000 was an amazing year for me. The Lord gave me harmony. I had always loved singing and could carry a tune very well. The problem was that I had a very low female voice. Unless I could sing harmony there would be no place for me in an ensemble of singers. One weekend at a Women’s Charisma Conference in Daytona Beach, I opened my mouth to sing and out popped the harmony. I was truly blessed. The Lord knew the desire of my heart and He granted it to me. Shortly after that weekend I began playing the flute with the Powerline Community Church Worship Team. I still remember the first song I was asked to sing on microphone with the group. It was Better Is One Day. It is a pretty song. More importantly, it speaks very true words, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”
It’s now three years later. I have the privilege of regularly singing with the worship team and playing the flute as well.
I really love the style of music we use for praise and worship here at Powerline. I’m a child of Rock n’ Roll. I guess you really never grow out of loving the music of your youth. Give me some electric guitars, a powerful bass and a strong drum beat and I’m happy. It’s very exciting when we get to play outside of the Sunday service and introduce other people to our kind of praise and worship.
Prayer Requests: Time! I need more time! I'm sure we all do. Please pray that I can do in the amount of time that God has given me all the things that I must do. I am still struggling with my health and this makes everything go more slowly. Please pray that the Lord will heal me. I long to be used of the Lord. I long to be an excellent wife and mother. Please pray that I would be able to love my family and friends in such a way that they all understand and feel my great love for them.