Is Reuben a Family Name?

It’s amazing how often people stop and ask questions when you are toting around a handsome little guy.  It’s become wildly apparent to me that people love babies.  One of the coolest parts of being a mom is getting to have conversations with people I normally wouldn’t converse with…at Wal-Mart, the post office, the mall, etc…simply because I have a baby.  People love to “oooh” and “ahhh,” and it seems that as soon as I am accepting of their attention, the conversation quickly starts.  The questions usually occur in this order:

1.  How old is he?

2.  Is he mixed?  OR… What is he mixed with? (This one shocked me the most.  I absolutely don’t mind telling people that Reuben’s daddy is Trinidadian, but it still shocks me that people ask.)

3.  What’s his name?

4.  Oh…is that a family name?

Reuben is not technically a family name, but the story behind is name is really too long to tell the random lady at Wal-Mart.  I usually just shake my head no, and reply with, “No, we just liked the name!”  The lady is usually content with that answer, and may reply with, “Well, reuben is my favorite kind of sandwich!”  We awkwardly laugh and go our separate ways.

There is actually a very significant reason we named our son Reuben.  I figured there might be some of my friends out in the blogging world that may wonder where his name came from, and I would love to share 🙂   As many of you know, Nick is the worship pastor at our church, and I am often privileged to lead worship alongside him.  Almost 10 years ago, during our freshman year at TU, Nick and I had our first opportunity to lead worship together at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.   As cheesy as it may seem, this is the point when we began to fall in love.  Our heart connected in a deep way through leading worship together.  In the summer of 2001, I took Nick to Word Explosion at the Mabee Center to hear a worship band from a church in Sydney, Australia called Hillsong Church.  I had been familiar with worship songs coming out of Hillsong Church for about 4 years, and couldn’t wait to see them live with Nick.  It was obvious very quickly that this was not a concert, but a worship experience.  The two main worship leaders for their team at this conference were Darlene Zschech and Reuben Morgan.  We watched and listened as Darlene and Reuben passionately led worship, yet took no glory for themselves even though thousands of people were loudly proclaiming every word to the songs that they had written.  I will never forget the car ride home when Nick and I spoke about our realization of worship leading as a very high calling.  We learned that our sole responsibility is to lead his people in anthems of praise and worship in which they are continually giving glory to God for He is the only one deserving of this praise.  Over the years, we have been to dozens of worship nights led by various worship leaders out of Hillsong Church.  In 2007, we were even able to fulfill a lifelong dream and go to Sydney, Australia to attend the annual Hillsong Conference.  In 10+ years of attending their worship events, attending their church and conference, singing their songs, and serving alongside them, one thing remains the same…all glory, all praise, and all fame is directed to God.

For Nick, Reuben Morgan, the current worship pastor of Hillsong Church,  has been a true inspiration.  While we may never have a relationship or a chance to share with him the ways that he has impacted our lives, we know that we serve together as brothers and sisters in Christ in the ultimate mission of leading His people in giving Him all glory, honor, and praise.  And in that way, we are family.  So, yes, Reuben is a family name.  And while we personally love the name, there is a reason why we chose this name for our son.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Hillsong Church, they were actually featured on CNN’s “Faces of Faith” on Sunday.  Here is the CLIP (Reuben Morgan is the one on the right).

*In case you were wondering, we chose Reuben’s middle name, Mac, because my maiden name was McNamara.  Mac was a common nickname for my family members and me, so I felt this was a fun way for my son to carry on the family name.*

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