Is Substandard the New Normal?

I am all about encouraging people to garner their courage and take a step out to play music for their church. But over the years I have seen way too many unprepared people thrown into the deep end of the pool too early, left to sink or swim (sink, more often than not). That's not doing anyone, the church or the wannabe musician, any favours.

Even worse, I have discovered that when you get unprepared musicians playing "live" for church too soon, their bad habits usually become permanent. Something that could have been learned with 6 months of lessons now becomes a bad habit that takes 1-2 years to fix. And the unlearning and relearning process is painful (been there, done that).

Confession time - I too have contributed to such a culture. I have simplified stuff and cut things down to their bare essentials when teaching music for church. I guess that has unleashed the floodgates, sending people the idea that things can be simplified even further. And after some time music foundations (which take a long time to build) get short shrift in the quest to churn out "servers" for church, who feel better about their playing than they ought to.

The only way to get some semblance of music skill from such servers is by feeding them cheap, simplistic music formula. But if they believe too strongly the cheap music formula they are given, they become unable to pick up mistakes in their own playing.

Let me share my experience:

When I was a teenager, I started learning drums. I played in the school marching band, and so had a decent idea and grasp of snare drum rudiments. But when I shifted to the drum kit I had no one to teach me how to play rim shots or cross-stick. I made up my own approximations. When my own approximations did not sound like the professionals I assumed it was because the professionals had sound engineering to make them sound better, so if they gave me the same sound engineering and mixing I of course would sound just as good.

In the end, it got so bad that I thought my “boom pat” on the kick and snare was on par with the professionals’ “boom THWACK!” I heard my playing as the same as theirs. Looking back I cannot believe I had THAT much hubris!

This doesn’t just apply to musicians. It can also apply to singers. I worked with a singer who was not very fluent with English, but did her best to sing English songs because her church needed her to lead worship in English (God bless her heart). Whenever I pointed out to her any pronunciation mistakes she made, she would say that’s what she heard from the video/MP3. I tried my best to ignore those mistakes, but I had enough when I heard her sing the song “Worthy is the Lamb” by Hillsong. There is one line that is “crown him now with many crowns” and she sang it as “clown him now with many clowns”. No, I doubt Hillsong sang it like that!

But that is the problem when mistakes become habits. After some time we can’t even hear them anymore and we think our music/singing is doing just fine. We mentally tune out any extra high G notes on the guitar that clash with the B minor chord, or we play a pad sound on the synthesizer, hold it down with the sustain pedal, and leave it there even if we played the wrong notes in the first place or it no longer fits the chords of the song. When I was taking music lessons at Yamaha we used to laugh at a one-chord-fits-all kind of playing. I never thought our little insider joke from all those years ago would ever be seen as acceptable playing in a church…

To sum up what I am saying:

Proverbs 28:19 (NIV) - Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.

Don’t fantasize of waking up overnight and suddenly having musical skill and ability you did not work for. Don’t dream that amateur bumbling and noodling around will lead to skill that people who have put in proper work will envy. There are some shortcuts to certain aspects of music skill, but don’t ever let yourself think that practice and training will always be fun and easy. It is always fun and easy only for boring children’s music. The Levites in the Old Testament initially started serving from 30 years old onwards (1 Chr 23:3) and that was later changed to 20 years of age onwards (1 Chr 23:24). Even then I don’t think they played kiddie music in church!

OK, I am going to chill now and get on with my regular life. Be blessed!

Faithful in 2013?

It’s nearly the end of 2012!

I’ve already started planning for 2013, paying special attention to the areas of my life I believe God wants me to exercise faithfulness in.

Proverbs 20:6 (ESV) - Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

This passage tells me that faithfulness, a person who can diligently exercise faithfulness in his or her life, is a rare find.

Proverbs 28:20 (ESV) - A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

In this passage, we see that faithfulness does not only lead to blessing, it leads to an abundance of blessing. Sounds good to me! People, however, tend not to appreciate the value of regular consistent effort, whether in their health (eating, exercise and rest habits), work or in other areas. They tend to do things in spurts, hoping that the next special gym machine, money-making opportunity or chocolate-fudge-cake-diet plan that comes down the road is THE answer to the toned physique, loaded bank account and weight loss that they SAY they really want.

That is especially true in money-making, by the way. People who are hasty to be rich can end up shutting off their common sense or conscience. I remember being prospected by someone for a lottery-based “business opportunity”, in which people pay money to buy lottery tickets as a group and share the earnings. The company also paid recruiters for every person who was recruited into the scheme.

When I told the fellow I really wasn’t interested and did not want to be involved with anything involving the lottery, he mocked me for my qualms, especially since he COULD  prove that the government has given this company license to operate in Singapore. My reply was, “So what if it is legal? Prostitution is also legal in this country, does that mean I want to become a pimp?”

Needless to say, I didn’t win any friends that day…

The spiritual equivalent for charismatics would be hoping that the next anointed preacher who prays for them or the next big overseas seminar they attend will suddenly catapult them into the heights of their walk with God. In the meantime, however, they neglect prayer, renewing their minds with Scripture and regular serving in church (to actually put into practice what they learn from the Bible and the preaching).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there is no room in a believer’s life for attending special seminars and all that. I’m just saying that seminars and other events cannot replace regular, consistent time and effort in the basic disciplines of the Christian walk.

Faithfulness does NOT mean complacency

I know someone who has been a church-goer for 15 years (or more). Whenever he ran into spiritual problems and started complaining about God letting him down, I would ask him “Have you been reading your Bible?” And he would say, “Yes. I did my daily chapter of Proverbs. Why? Isn’t that good enough?”

When you are a baby Christian, the daily chapter of Proverbs (moving on to a new chapter each day and starting again from the beginning when you have completed the whole book) is fantastic. When you are supposed to move on and grow up, however…

And personally I doubt he is consistent with even one chapter of Proverbs a day. I believe that people who are consistent with Scripture grow in their appetite and hunger. They want to explore and meditate on the rest of the Bible also, now that they have tasted and seen that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:10).

Especially in spiritual matters, we ought always to seek to expand our understanding of God and his ways, and live them out in our lives.

Hebrews 6:1 (ESV) - Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God…

This passage is the background to one of the sternest warnings given in Scripture.

Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV) - For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Often, people look at this passage and argue about the doctrine of eternal security, whether it is possible for a believer to lose his or her salvation. But that is missing the most important point here. The purpose of this passage is to warn us and urge us to grow up in Christ. Whatever you think the warning means, we can all agree that it is something bad. We don’t want to go there, and the correct response to that warning is to grow up.

So what is God nudging you to be faithful in for 2013?

What will is it that will give you the greatest bang for your buck, the most results for your time and the greatest growth in your life in 2013? It is going to be different for everyone. Talk with your pastor or a good friend, someone who has known you and your life for years, and ask for their advice if you have no idea.

We are not talking about massive time commitments, such as attending Bible college full-time (though I’m sure you will know if you have to). I’m much more small scale in thinking: what would be the best way for YOU, to invest 20-30 minutes a day, every weekday, for the next year? Exercise? Music practice? Scripture reading? Learning new songs? Family time with the kids?

For me, for example, I need to spend a lot more time in the New Testament next year. Following my Bible reading plan this year showed me that I am not as familiar with the New Testament as I want to be. But my ego fights against the idea, since it looks like a step down. My pride says that I ought to go through the entire Bible again, and expect it to work out better next year. But given that I am struggling to keep up with this year’s readings (and have them sink inside me) while juggling work, family and my health, I think I ought to just work on my weaker areas and add in other stuff (like Psalms, Proverbs and the Minor Prophets) after that.

Then Get Started

Find some way, even if it is just 20 minutes a week, to get started before the next year. Many people try to start new habits at the beginning of the year, and find it too much of a change. Far better to start gradually now and step up the pace when January 2013 comes. 

And when it comes to meditating on the Bible, I am toying with the idea of setting up a Facebook group where people can join and find others to hold them accountable to their commitment to God’s Word. And if that interests you, email me and let me know!

In the meantime, however, do seek God for his wisdom and direction for 2013. It will be upon us soon. Let’s face it with a clear direction from God as to what he wants us to achieve and how.

Be blessed!

Dreaming of Proverbs

I just had a really weird experience last night.

I actually had specific Scriptures appear in my dreams last night. And that was the first time that ever happened. Even in my undergrad days, when my daily Scripture consumption would put many people to shame (including the current me), I didn’t get this.

So what are the specific passages, you may ask? The first is this:

Proverbs 20:6 (NKJV) - Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?

The second:

Proverbs 28:20 (NKJV) - A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

The interesting thing is that in my dream I actually saw the exact page in my study bible, and there was a further explanation of the Hebrew word for ‘faithful’.

‘emunah (Strong’s #530) – Firmness, stability, faithfulness, fidelity, conscientiousness, steadiness, certainty; that which is permanent, enduring and steadfast. ‘emunah comes from the root ‘aman, “to be firm, sure, established and steady”. “Amen”, derived from the same root, means, “it is firmly, truly so!” (Spirit Filled Life Bible, New King James Version).

So you can guess that I’ll be giving this a lot of attention these couple of days, until I think I have squeezed out whatever I can from these couple of verses!

How about the rest of the dream? Errr…. Well, it involved being with a bunch of people from my church. We were involved with the logistics of a funeral, we had a hotel room especially for us to put all of our things (clothes and bags) and we spent a lot of the time wandering around the hotel, trying to find the right lift that would bring us to the correct hotel room where we had left our stuff.

Not sure if there was anything deeply significant or spiritually profound in that. Then again, I never claimed to be spiritually profound all the time!

Kung-Fu Movies and Worship Ministry

I have a confession to make.

I watched loads and loads of kung-fu movies when I was a kid.

Looking back, I wonder why I ever wasted my time with those movies.

The story lines were ALWAYS the same. The hero gets the EXCUSE (revenge, usually) to try to beat up the bad guy, always gets beaten because the bad guy is too tough, then finds the MASTER and learns the SECRET to kung-fu success, then always finally beats the bad guy.

The EXCUSE and the SECRET changes, but otherwise the movies stay the same...

I guess what I enjoyed most were the scenes of the Master training the hero in the basics first. The hero would ALWAYS have to prove himself with the basics to convince the Master to teach him the secret. And the training in the basics was always brutal, strict and exaggerated for dramatic effect.

What else do you expect from a movie, right?

What about the Worship Ministry?

I said before that God looks for the right people and puts them at the right place to do His supernatural work. And this leads to the question: how shall we know if someone is the right person for a particular work?

We look for the basics. If the person wants to play an instrument for worship, they need to have at least a basic grasp of the fundamentals of that instrument. If someone wants to sing, they need to know how to sing, breathe correctly and sing in tune consistently. These are basics.

Just like Jesus sent Peter, a fisherman, to go fish for the temple tax money (Matt 17:27).

If you are the one auditioning the musicians or singers, don't get taken in by people who tell you how passionate they are about serving God in the worship ministry, or how dedicated and sincere they will be. Someone may say "What if the person has the heart for the ministry but doesn't have the skill yet?" If the person is passionate, dedicated and sincere, they WILL give be willing to train for 6-12 months (or more, if necessary) to be ready to serve.

After all, the Bible did say that those who want to serve (deacons) should be tested, right (1 Tim 3:10)? If those people cannot pass the test of learning some music skill, which is one of the simplest parts of worship ministry, what makes you think they are that faithful in all the other parts of it?

Don't get me wrong.

I am not a technique freak. In a worship situation I do not believe in technique for technique's sake. You will NEVER hear from me anything about playing what is 'excellent'. All too often I have heard that word misused and misapplied to playing more notes than necessary and being a distraction to the congregation. You WILL hear me talk about playing what works, what is effective, what supports the praises of the people, rather than what distracts.

And even though that is easier to do, it does require that your basics be in place.

There are people who think I am being legalistic or too fussy about this. They are not the ones who have to pick up the pieces when an amateur vocalist holding a mike is belting out the songs out-of-tune at the top of his or her voice.

I am.

Those people are not the ones facing angry musicians all frustrated and wanting to quit because of the wannabe drummer playing out of time.

I am.

They are not the ones trying to unify the praises of the people in spite of all the distractions created by worship team members attempting to serve before they are ready.

I am.

I've lost count of how many times church leaders have told me "this brother/sister is passionate about serving in this way, please work with him/her." A quick test reveals that this person does not even have the basics in place, but needs at least 3-6 months of proper lessons, not just worship team practice, to be ready. And when I tell the leaders that, they say "Just work with them doing the practice, it's OK." Oh, please!

So if you want to serve, make sure your basics are in place. If you are the one choosing musicians and vocalists, make sure their basics are there. Please.

Now my book, Invisible Worship Musician, is NOT a book on music basics. You will not get from it stuff like how to form a major chord, how to hold your drumsticks or how to breathe properly for singing. You can get that from many other people, even secular instructors. There is no such thing as a holier C major chord, for example. When it comes to the music basics, we don't have anything that the world does not already have.

My book, however, does teach the basics of worship leading, since there are not many who actually know how to lead worship. I explain how to choose songs and how to use them. I also teach what the musicians ought to do when playing for worship. And the musicians need to know their own instrument basics so they can understand how they ought to apply the basic skills in a worship context.

If you are a musician and you KNOW your basics are not in place but you are already serving in the worship ministry, please address that now. Get music lessons, ask experienced musicians or if you are on my email list, email me about any of the music parts of my book that you do not understand if you cannot find someone to help you with it. I will continue to try and put up videos in myYoutube account demonstrating worship music principles I talk about in my book.

Final Kung-Fu Movie thought

Do you know the biggest difference between what I saw from my childhood kung-fu movies and what I discovered from real life kung-fu practitioners?

The real life ones LOVE the basics. They never get tired of the basics; some even practice all of them daily. You'll never hear from them any desire to skip the basics and find some shortcut to mastery and success.

They have already learned that the basics ARE the shortcut.

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. (Pro 28:19)

May the Lord himself find us just as serious when it comes to serving his people in the ministry!