He is certainly learning the ropes...appropriately he makes Bro. Moffitt the butt of jokes, just like we are all used to over these many years. He teases a certain choir member about being a hick, he's learned the names to mention and the buzz words to use to get us to laugh and feel happy, as if a sense of relief washes over the crowd...."Oh, good! Nothing will change!"
On the other hand, he knows sign language which is nice. He actually "spoke" to the deaf after they signed a special yesterday.
He seems like a kind, gentle man. He dares to buck a little tradition, getting up and requesting an unlisted hymn off-the-cuff. Or, asking us to sing more than the perfunctory two verses of whichever hymn we are singing. (None of us know the words to more than the two verses of the 30 hymns we sing on rotation... so it's kind of funny to hear the entire congregation mumbling...)
It's only been one Sunday, and there was a lot of hoopla to wade through, so it's hard to tell just what he will be like.
I lost my bet that they were going to bestow an honorary doctorate on him last night. I guess he must already have one, since they played pre-recorded congratulations to him from many assorted pastors. One of whom, Jack Trieber, repeatedly referred to him as Dr. John Wilkerson.
So now, time will tell as to how things will be.
