His heart is filled with music - Mark Presswood’s original goal was to be a veterinarian, but in his second year at Louisiana State University (LSU) God presented him with a different plan. He says it was a good move for him in a number of ways; music was like breathing for him, so it helped his grades and his stress level. It was during these early years at LSU that he met the love of his life, Deanie Sowell.
Mark and Deanie were married in their senior year at LSU. They lived and worked on campus as they finished their degrees. Mark earned a voice degree in sacred music. He continued his studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
It was during his Jr. and Sr. years at LSU that Presswood had his first professional experience as the part-time Music Minister at Plank Road Baptist Church. He later worked part-time at Forest Park in Fort Worth. His first full-time position was as Minister of Music and Youth at First Baptist Church in Jonesville, Louisiana. “I loved working with youth, but my upbringing makes me a rules oriented person. I became frustrated when the kids pushed the limits,” he said.
Mark and Deanie Presswood brought their family to Farmstead Baptist in June 2001. The children are Allyson, studying Biblical languages and linguistics in preparation to be a Bible Translation Missionary, John, a student at LSU studying Engineering and planning a career in the Air Force, and Rebekah, a student at Sumiton Christian School.
Based on their30 -year marriage and parenting experiences, Mark and Deanie work together to teach parenting classes based on the book “Growing Kids God’s Way.” They advocate “first time obedience” both to parents and to God. “Our position is that God is not obligated to call a person twice. He often does, but we do not have that assurance. That makes it imperative for us to respond immediately to every call of God,” Presswood said.
With a choir numbering between 12 - 13 percent of the attending members, Presswood said that he feels particularly blessed. Most churches, he says, are doing well to have 10 percent of their Sunday School attendance in the music program.
“These people work hard and they love to sing. They want to be here and they want to participate. Even our congregation sings well. I would put our church’s musical talent up against churches twice our size,” he said.
Presswood said he can envision a choir of 100 adult members. Presently, the youth choir is taught by Donna Fleming, and the children are under the direction of Ashley Harris. His wife, Deanie, leads the preschool choir. He provides support and resources for both programs but feels that his time is best utilized with the adult choir and in the area of Education and Administration. He welcomes new voices with or without prior experience. His focus is on praising God in song.
