Former Sierra Members Form New Praise and Worship Duo Abide

By Julie Saffrin

After five albums in ten years and reaching the top of the adult contemporary charts in Christian radio, the singing group Sierra disband last year. Now two of its three members, Jennifer McReynolds and Marianne Adams, have formed a praise and worship duo called Abide.

“We retired Sierra in April of last year. Wendy [Foy Green] had two children. I had two children and Marianne was pregnant. It became hard to leave our families behind,” said McReynolds, speaking from her home in Franklin, Tennessee. “We always knew that Sierra was for a season and we would do it as long as God said to go and when He said to stop, we would stop.”

While at a women's conference as performers in 2002, the singing group, known for their three-part harmonies, listened as a speaker addressed the audience about the importance of raising children and sensed God was speaking directly to them. “It was something all of us had been thinking about. We looked at each other and said, ‘It's time to stay home.'”

Sierra finished its remaining concerts and the women became stay-at-home mothers and for the first time, put roots down. “I'd been married nine years and been on the road so much that I was never able to call my house my home,” said McReynolds. “It's nice to put my suitcase in the closet and not pull it back out in 24 hours.”

McReynolds and Adams continued to meet together with their children, involving themselves in their local churches in Tennessee through praise and worship ministry. “Music was still in our hearts, but this was a season to rest and to become part of our churches. It's important to have those relationships at church and to be able to feel like your pastor is your pastor,” McReynolds said.

At the beginning of 2003 both women sensed God calling them to a new ministry in praise and worship leadership. “We incorporated a worship set three and a half years ago with Sierra. I played the piano, Wendy the guitar and Jen the flute,” Adams said. “There was always something powerful that happened in that worship time, even within our group. He planted a seed for Abide as we developed as worship leaders together.”

Six months ago, the two women formed Abide, a praise and worship duo that seeks to teach churches how to deepen the worship experience. “There are a lot of worship ministries out there. Abide is different. It's more personalized for whoever God is calling us to go and minister to.” A key part of their ministry is to draw out the healing benefits that come from worship, something Adams experienced firsthand. “I battled bulimia and depression from the ages of 13 to 27. One night I attended a long evening worship and some women came up to me that didn't know me. They began to pray for me and in the middle of worship God instantly healed me of a struggle that 14 years of therapy and psychiatrists couldn't heal.”

Both women are gifted musically. Growing up in Lampasas, Texas, McReynolds sang her first solo in church at age four. In high school her father, a minister of music, asked her what she wanted to do with her life. McReynolds told him she wanted to sing. “He told me to give it all I've got and they would support me.” Within the year she was offered to be part of Sierra and moved to Nashville.

Adams also grew up in a musical family. Born in Rhode Island, her father majored in jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as classical piano from New England Conservatory and taught Adams piano lessons. “I wrote my first song at age 5.” Adams attended Berklee then moved to New York City, finally settling in Nashville. She became part of Sierra in 1999. Most of the songs Sierra performed were written by its members.

Abide had its first praise and worship weekend session at a women's conference at a church in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of October. The duo worked with the director of women's ministry, the pastors, the worship leaders, as well as led praise and worship sessions over the weekend. “Worship leaders can't just walk into a church and expect worship to happen. They need to come prepared to worship too. They need to consecrate their hearts,” said Adams. “It's a big responsibility God has given us. He's called us ‘Levites' and if you're in worship, you need to be responsible with that gifting and with your heart being right with God.”

Both women are excited about their new ministry but feel, with three children under five between them and another due in February, that teaching one weekend a month is the pace God desires for them at this time. “We really just feel that God would say, ‘I'm going to use you, but don't let your schedule go beyond what my grace will cover,” Adams said.

“Abide is the name that God gave us. It defined how important it is to abide in the Lord and His word and for Him to abide in us,” McReynolds added.

Throughout the New Testament the apostles built relationships, spoke the Truth and served. “That's how the Gospel was spread,” Adams said. “We're excited to see how God unfolds this ministry and to see where God leads us.”

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For bookings please contact Vertical Entertainment at (615) 498-7149 or their website at www.abideworship.com.