Teach and Admonish Part 03

(here's part 01 and part 02)

You've probably heard of a 'bucket' list, people writing down all the stuff they want to do in this world before they kick the bucket (pass on, in other words). I was just sorting through my stuff the other day and I came across another list I did years ago. It's what I call a lottery list, a list of things to do if I ever got a huge sum of money (like winning the lottery). And at the top of that list was this: writing a book on worship ministry.

It's really weird to see that on the list now, because even though I haven't got that huge financial windfall (well, not yet...) I've already written the book. More than that, I've recently updated the book and added a new chapter, so the book went from 164 pages to 171 pages. And I am certain that this will not be the last update for my book, there will be more updates and upgrades, as time goes by.

Why the updates and adding of new material to the book? Because I have a vision of what this book is meant to accomplish, and as I keep growing in understanding of the worship ministry, what has to be in that book to do all for which I have written it for has to grow also. And how did I get the increased understanding of the contents of my book? Through the process of teaching and sharing with other people, whether online or offline.

In a sense, you can say that my book follows an emergent curriculum, to some degree. An emergent curriculum is an idea from early childhood education. When kids are really young we want them to learn certain things, like language, math, science and all that. An emergent curriculum uses whatever topics the kids are interested in at the moment (dinosaurs, plants, people in the community) to provide a meaningful context for teaching them language, math, science and so forth.

And so it is with my book, The Invisible Worship Musician. I have certain core principles and ideas to convey, and the questions, ideas and comments from people who have read my book or attended my training sessions give me a wider context to explain those core principles and ideas.

I personally believe that the concept of an emergent curriculum is what God had in mind when he gave the following instructions:

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV)

If you are going to walk along the road with younger children, expect that they are going to be asking questions about anything and everything in the environment. At that time, you have to choose between telling them:

"Daddy's busy right now, don't bug me!"

OR

"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. And what do birds do inside nests? Yes, they lay eggs! Very good!"

OR

"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. Hey, did I ever tell you before what God said in his word about birds and nests? He said..."

So you use whatever is in your immediate environment to give the children the context for whatever truth from the Bible you can see illustrated there. That's the concept of an emergent curriculum.

One thing that I've learnt from actually spending time interacting with children in general, and my two sons in particular, is that they are more interested in what they learn and how they learn it than in the polished presentation of the end result. A few nights ago I was just working with my elder boy to prepare a wizard's costume for a party at this childcare centre (in case you are wondering, no, I am not a Potter critic). The next morning when I brought him down to the centre I saw all the store-bought props and costumes the other kids had. Boy, my heart sank! I felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed at the hand-made, home-produced, amateurish things we created.

But my son had no such problems. He happily told the other kids that costume, hat and wand were the result of working with his Daddy. You could see that he was really proud of what we created, in fact, he was very keen to show it all off. He wasn't at all intimidated by the good stuff the other kids had. Why? Because it was made together with his Daddy, and he also learned interesting things along the way. So he's happy.

And likewise with the people who have learned from my teaching. I can present things logically, but not necessarily in an aesthetically pleasing way. But that doesn't keep people from benefiting from my teaching. I am moving on, working on creating more teaching materials, and letting other people help me refine the presentation as we go along. I am not waiting until I have loads of money to create cool teaching materials with very professional and slick presentations, because

Ecclesiastics 11:4 - Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (NIV)

In other words, if I keep waiting for my environment to become more ideal, things will NEVER happen. So I grit my teeth, told my perfectionist streak to shut up, and got on with getting my teaching out to those who need it.

And people have come alongside to help. If you check out my articles page on my website, and look at this other site at called2music, you will see my articles there. And the site owner, Batsirai Chada, has taken the effort to make my articles look really good. But all this wouldn't have happened if I didn’t just get started in the first place.

So what's on YOUR lottery list? If there are items on it that you are afraid to begin working on now, because you don't think you have the resources, financial or otherwise, to bring it to completion, remember what Ecclesiastics 11:4 teaches us. The environment will NEVER be perfect.

I wanted to work on my first book from a position of financial abundance, so that I could focus on it like a full time writer. I also wanted to have a few thousand people on my mailing list so that I can have good sales without having to work so hard on publicity. But in the end I still completed the book without all that.

And I've grown, God knows how much I've grown through the process. All that growth took place because I decided not to wait for things to become ideal, and just get started anyway.

So this is what I'd like to share with you. For me, my purpose and my joy in life is to teach. For you, it may be something else. Whatever it is, don't put in on your bucket list, or lottery list. Put it on your to-do list. And get on with it.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Great Worship Ministry Article!

Very seldom do I come across a worship ministry article that impresses me to the very core of my being. To be frank, a lot of what's on the Internet is a rehash of the same old tired material from Praise and Worship Inc. and isn't very useful. But just yesterday I stumbled across an article by Colin Owen and moved quickly to get permission to reproduce it on my website.


People may think I don't use the works of others because I am young, brash and opinionated and think that I know best. And I won't deny the possibility. But if that's the case, what kind of article will wow me to the max, such that I HAVE to share it with you? Won't it be a really good one? Read it and judge for yourself. You can check it out here at http://www.invisibleworshipmusician.com/article11.htm


Be blessed!

Lessons from the Olympics

Singapore won an Olympic medal, FINALLY!

For those of you who are not from Singapore and don't understand why this is a really big deal, you need to know first and foremost is that Singapore is basically a social experiment on a national scale. Everything good that we have (business success, living environment and all that) was the result of careful planning, strategizing and government intervention (either direct or indirect).

(That's why, by the way, telling a Singaporean to let something just naturally happen is so difficult. It's directly opposite the inclination ingrained into our Singaporean DNA...)

And that is what happened in the Beijing Olympics. The Singapore Table Tennis Team was anchored by three athletes who were born in China, not Singapore. They were carefully wooed over to Singapore and offered Singaporean citizenship to compete for Singapore. And when our first Olympic medal in 48 years as the result of this deliberate effort, it vindicated the efforts (and money) spent on pursuing this policy.

But when it was announced that our table tennis team was in the finals (and thus assured of a medal) the nation pretty much forgot where these athletes were born. All we cared about was that we knew we were finally going to get a medal of some sort, and suddenly even those apathetic towards sports in general began following the Olympic Games to see how our team would do.

"And what does that have to do with us, JJ?"

Did you know that we, as believers, also have people following us in our lives and cheering us on to win glory for God?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1, NIV)

Think about it. In Church history, we have heroes who have accomplished great things for God. We have the early believers who withstood the persecution of insane Roman emperors, reformers who struggled to bring the truths of God's word back to the people of God, to missionaries who gave up their creature comforts, families and their own lives to further the spread of the Gospel of Christ.

And they have passed the baton to us, for us to continue the race marked out for us. It is now time for US to run the race, to perform the best we can with our earthly lives, and, if Christ should tarry, pass the baton to the next generation. And cheer them on, just as the believers who have gone before us are cheering us on right now.

What the Singapore government did for the China-born athletes, wooing them over from a different country to win sporting glory for our own, is what God has done for us in Christ.

"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:3, NIV)

We were by nature no different from the sinners of this world, the unsaved. And yet God chose to seek us out, to woo us over to another kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Then he sent us forth with the charge to win glory for the name of Jesus.

One interesting thing I learned from the table tennis saga is how much winning a medal can cause people to overlook mistakes and bloopers. One of the athletes from the men's team played without a coach by his side and performed dismally. The head of the Singapore Table Tennis Association announced that serious action would be taken against those responsible. Rumors that the head coach and the team manager would be fired ran rife.

And the nation went into an uproar. No one condoned leaving an athlete coach-less during the Olympics, but the head coach and team manager also shared in the credit for our medal. And so the furor grew against the supposed unfair and harsh treatment awaiting the coach and team manager when they returned to Singapore. The women's table tennis team, instead of coming back like victors, returned to Singapore with their heads bowed low because of the uncertainty over what would happen to their coach and manager.

And I believe the heavenly witnesses are feeling the same about us when we slip up. They don't like us sinning, causing shame to the name of Christ. But they stand on our side, urging us on and defending us against those who seek to discredit us and our contributions to the body of Christ. And that is how we believers here on earth ought to look at our fellow team-mates who stumble in their race for Christ.

But what if we have not been living our lives to win glory for the name of Christ in this race of life?

"... One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)

Really, there is no better time to start than now. If you are struggling with some sin or hindrance in your Christian walk, get help from a pastor whom you trust. If you know what you are supposed to do and have been neglecting it (happens to me too, trust me) get up, dust yourself off and get on with it. The heroes of our faith are watching you now in heaven and they are cheering you on!

May we be able to say one day, together with the Apostle Paul,

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NIV)

Sin And Restoration

Words cannot express the shock, dismay and grief I felt when I came across this story:

HE preached to thousands about his terminal illness and tugged at hearts with a hit song.

The problem is the pastor wasn't dying at all

Michael Guglielmucci, who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer "battle", has been exposed as a fraud.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24216087-5006787,00.html

"Why does this dismay you, JJ?"

First of all, it's a brother-in-Christ who fell morally, who sinned. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:29, said:

"Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?" (NIV)

That's what I am feeling right now, an inward burning. Whether I like the guy's music, his church or his doctrine is immaterial right now. A brother in Christ has fallen publicly.

Also, I am expecting the vultures to begin swooping in to discredit everything good God has done through that man. Seriously speaking, he's got the churches, denomination and now even the police looking into his life. His own conscience would have been troubling him all this while, and now he has to deal with the fact that he has deeply hurt his own family and betrayed AND discredited his fellow ministers.

He needs our prayers now, even more than before. And on our part we need to be ready and not caught off guard, for there will be even more cases like this in the future. That's what the Bible has already predicted.

"Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end." (Daniel 11:35, NIV)

So be prepared! When a prominent minister of Christ falls, we need to remember what the Bible teaches us to do:

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (Galatians 6:1, NIV)

Restore him gently. We are commanded to bring healing, not condemnation. Yes, I know that the faith of many has been damaged and people have turned away from the Lord because of scandals like this. But God's Word still tells us to seek to bring about restoration.

This verse is both sobering and encouraging at the same time. Paul tells us that the spiritual seeking to restore the fallen sibling-in-Christ have to be cautious of being tempted. No matter how strong we are in the Lord, remember that Paul addressed his warning to the spiritual amongst them, not the carnal. This tells me that the spiritual can still fall, if they are not careful. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man..." Sobering, isn't it?

But the encouraging part is this: if even the spiritual can be tempted, then being tempted does not mean that we are not spiritual. Many believers assume that as they grow more spiritual they Lord and see his hand in their lives they will be less prone to being tempted. And when they are tempted and tested (the word used in the Greek carries the idea of being tested, examined and disciplined) they begin to doubt their spiritual growth and the Lord's work in their lives.

Don't doubt yourself or the Lord. The testing and temptations you face mean only one thing: that you are still human. You may be a spiritual human (I certainly hope so!) but you are still human none the less.

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, NIV)

We can see in the context that this verse not only refers to helping one another in day-to-day living, but also specifically when a sibling-in-Christ has fallen. They fall under burdens that they cannot carry by themselves, and we, the rest of the body of Christ, are to help them AND to permit others to help US. We need to live in genuine fellowship with each other in order to fulfill this command to carry each others' burdens.

It's my firm personal conviction that if this pastor was totally open with at least ONE brother-in-Christ he respected before he started living a life of deception, this ONE brother-in-Christ would have been able to keep him on track before the lies and deception ballooned to monstrous proportions. Just ONE, that's all it would have taken to prevent this entire scandal and fiasco.

And we are talking about a pastor already used powerfully by God. If HE, with all his theological training, understanding and experience in the Lord, needed the help and support of the Body of Christ, how much more the rest of us!

"If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." (Galatians 6:3, NIV)

This verse is not referring to having a lousy opinion of oneself. It refers to acknowledging that we all need help. We all need the fellowship of the believers, people who will help us carry our burdens as we help carry theirs.

Why would someone NOT want to let others help carry his or her own burdens? Fear. When we need other people to help us, we become vulnerable. Such people can hurt us by simply refusing to help, even worse they are also in a better position to betray us because they know our weaknesses and struggles.

So that is why I am deeply honoured whenever anyone chooses to share with me their own personal burdens and struggles. I suspect it's the favour of God upon my life, that I've got friends who share with me deep, intimate secrets about their personal lives. I'd like to think that it's because I have the wisdom of God to help them; but most of the time I only know enough to pray for them.

But don't underestimate the power of knowing that a sibling-in-Christ accepts you for who you are and is consistently praying for you. This is often enough to break the power of shame in our lives.

The best definition of shame I ever read is this: shame is the nagging feeling that, deep down inside, there is something inherently wrong with me. And together with shame comes the fear, that if people know me, really know the REAL me, they would turn away from me and reject me.

What makes shame so insidious is that anyone, even those who look as if they have their lives in shape, can have it. In fact, it can be worse for them because there doesn't seem to be any way out. A jobless man who has shame can believe that his shame will go away once he finds a job. Usually it doesn't, it hides for a while and appears in another area of his life. Someone with family problems can believe that if the problems are fixed the shame will go away. But those who have their lives together and still have shame are stuck.

"Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load." (Galatians 6:4-5, NIV)

Here is where I speculate on the reason for this deception.

And no, I don't believe it is for money. Why? Well, this pastor is the youth pastor of a powerful church in Australia. And they don't pay shabby. Let's not forget also he has royalties coming on from 60 songs already, so I don't believe money is the issue.

I believe it is because he was dissatisfied with the load he had to carry in this life and felt it had to be something else in order to really bring glory to God. Hence the need to 'help' God make his own personal message more 'glorious'.

It would be fantastic if you write a great worship song about God's healing while you are suffering from terminal disease, that song becomes a hit and you see God's healing of your body later on. What a great testimony to Christ!

But does it become any less glorious if all you did was write a great worship song about healing and you have no personal testimony about it? It's all about being true to the load you have to carry in this life.

Yes, other people may have great testimonies, and those testimonies make their message powerful. But do not despise the message you already have and the testimony you already are by being faithful to the load you have to carry in this life.

Yup, it's tempting sometimes to embellish our testimonies a bit, especially if we didn't come from shady backgrounds and thus don't have much 'street cred', as they'll call it in the hip-hop scene. Or if we weren't delivered from crippling addictions, or a few million in debt, or whatever. But in such moments all we can depend on is God empowering the songs we sing and the words we speak. And when we see God touching the lives of others through us we know it is entirely because of God, not of us.

And, for me at least, I think that is more than good enough!