Welcome to, as a former supervisor often said in meetings, "the wonderful world of work." I wanted to strangle her every time she said it - LOL.

I have never objected to being paid for music work, but it is good to have some backup in case things go sour. They seem to do that in many places involving church music. I understand missing good people, but dividend paying stocks can be really comforting on cold winter evenings. Redundancy can be a good thing where income is concerned.

Do you have a good 'feel' for what the new job would be like, the working conditions, the people, and about the pastor?

@CharlesW: I don't know anything about the place other than it's location, a wealthy, cushy little town just a bit west of me. A colleague and resident of said town gave the heads up on the job, and as it turns out we know some of the members there. I am going to give her a call and get more information. It's another Presbyterian church like the one I work at now, so no guess work on their music hopefully. I keep hoping a Catholic position will open up but no luck here so far.

The other thing that is pushing me to consider it is the fact that the church I am at now is struggling to keep and grow its numbers. Another Presby church just around the corner from me closed its doors a few months ago, their attendance numbers were about what ours are now. The only thing keeping mine afloat are a few wealthy old timers, and once they are gone then what??? So knowing this, it feels foolish not to get myself into somewhere that is better off and I won't suddenly find myself unemployed. Sigh...

I'm sorry to seem crass, but this would appear to be a no brainer. A failing church vs. a church that seems to be doing well. Hmm. Demographics march on. Our church used to be funded by wealthy old timers but they have died off and we're hurting. You can hang on to what's pleasant, but you also may do the old church a service by leaving. Some churches can be rescued if they wake up in time. If you are liked and respected, and they give you an exit interview, you can express your misgivings about the future of the church and their efforts (or not, as in the case of my church) to do anything about it.

Not sure what the difference is, musically speaking ...

A lot more John, Charles, and Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

I have found that smaller environments are usually more supportive than large management teams where there seem to be many power struggles.

@Adam Wood: Yes it is the same place. And yes I have issues with the director on occasion, who doesn't? And judging by others' experiences here, those issues are minor. Interestingly, she recently supported me when a member notorious for complaints emailed the pastor to complain that the organ was too loud. Does my patience run thin when dealing with a superior who isn't professionally trained? You betcha. But that's to be expected in this line of work, unfortunately. And I've learned a lot about how to deal with it.

UPDATE: after all these months they finally replied with a request for an interview. I'm so torn right now it's awful. We are still dealing with the house selling nonsense and I've been working insane hours at my day job, and now this. The email said something like this:

Sorry for the delay, we are now ready to begin interviewing candidates. Please prepare one piece for prelude and postlude, and "one SONG suitable for congregational singing, preferably in the United Methodist tradition." Song? Meaning hymn, right? Ugggggh.

The salary is double my current one. They have two Sunday services, one "traditional" and one contemporary. Since I already do a pretty even mix of both at my current job, I'm sure it won't be a big issue. I guess I can just interview and see what happens. The trouble is that I've had all these months to think, pray, contemplate the whole thing, and it's really hard. Our yearly session meeting is in a few weeks and I want to discuss a raise since I've been there over two years now, agreed to start learning and playing organ as they asked me to, and while I know they cannot pay me what this other place can, if they can at least consider a raise and compensate me better for what I'm doing, I would stay.

one "traditional" and one contemporary

I know this will sound ignorant, but - do they play organ at "contemporary" services? As far as I've been able to tell, that isn't normally the case.

compensate me better

I suppose the case could always be made that (assuming you are Catholic, and not just a musician in a Catholic church) there's already the benefit of not having to play 2 services and then also finding time for Mass - the compensation being that you are fulfilling your Sunday obligation at your current church, as opposed to at/where you would end up.