Why so many people applied for the Music Director Job

Today Penny spoke about the progress towards the hiring of a new music director and said that more than 50 applications had been received for the post!  Besides the fact that Christ Church is a very unusual place and has a very diverse and warm congregation there are other reasons why so many people applied which may not have to do with economics, but that may be one reason.
I remembered an article that I read last year in the Star Ledger about a new organist that was hired by Grace Church in Newark.  I  found the article again and here is the link to the article.  It is titled; Julliard-trained organist brings passion for pipes to Grace Church in Newark. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/juilliard-trained_organist_bri.html
The article is about a young organist who was hired by Grace Church in Newark.  What is so special is that that the article says;"Classical musicians such as Arndt, who attained a master's degree in music from Juilliard and has performed in Cambridge, England, are hired less often by churches these days as houses of worship cater to Americans' growing tastes for popular "praise and worship" music at Christian services, said Martin Knoblauch of the Church Music Association of America. Plus, as churches struggle through the recession, full-time music directors are often considered a luxury"
Christ Church has a wonderful pipe organ, actually as our emeritis music director Wayne Bradford told me it is two organs!  The organ is actually too big for the church but that is OK.  We also have a traditional music program with a great choir and bell choir.  And as the article says churches are getting rid of their music programs and may not have a pipe organ.  I spoke to a woman who told me that her church disbanded the choir!  So we are lucky.
The article goes on to explain about the mechanics of the organ an why it needs an advocate.  The organ has to be played well and the our search committee is only presenting candidates to us that have that skill.  I hear most of the candidates are experienced organists.  The article says that many people are no longer studying the organ which is why the American Guild of Organists has a program to introduce the organ to young people.
So Christ Church will hire an excellent new music director if the two that have already auditioned are any indication.  Both persons that we met were excellent and my intitial idea was to hire them both!
Jeannette