Introduction to Marketing

I know I am definitely going to offend some people for saying this, but it needs to be said. Do you know what sort of people should NEVER go into business for themselves? Those who are unwilling to take responsibility for the successful marketing of their business.

To them I say: save your time, effort and the money put in from your own savings, your relatives and other investors. If you don't want to take final responsibility for marketing, you don't have what it takes to start and run a business.

There are people who think having a great idea or concept for a business is enough to bring about success. Oh, please! Great ideas, creative inventions are a dime a dozen. But it takes more than good ideas to succeed. It also needs people who can bring those ideas to fruition, make them into sell-able products or services, AND bring them successfully to the end-consumer, the customer.

I had this conversation with a friend once. She was telling me about someone who she thought was a great businessman. Why? Because he knew how to set up shops and had done so a number of times. My question was "But can he bring in customers?" When she paused to think about that, I pointed out that any business without customers is out of business. So how can we call someone a good businessman if he can't bring in customers?

If you are in business for yourself, or thinking of starting up your own business (and this includes being an insurance agent or a property agent), please understand that things are very different now, compared to even 10-15 years ago. I'll be describing these changes from a Singapore context, but the same changes have occurred in many other places around the world.

In the OLD DAYS

1) It was harder to get into business, write and publish a book, set up a shop or dining place, or start a training centre or school. There were less book publishers in the scene, less record companies to launch and promote music albums, and, especially in Singapore, less office and retail space available for rent. Those factors meant that only the serious, the very good and those who had loads of capital to spare could go into business for themselves.

But this also meant that those who managed to get into the scene had less competition to worry about. Therefore they didn't need to be that good at marketing. It was still easier for them to capture enough market share to survive or thrive.

2) There were less distractions. I remember growing up with only 1 English newspaper in Singapore, 2 Chinese newspapers (that eventually merged), 2 English language stations on radio and even less for Chinese, Malay and Tamil. On TV we only had 1 channel each for English and Chinese programmes, and would get 2 channels from Malaysian TV (complements of our neighbor to the north).

What this means is that people had less distractions and less to remember. So they could remember your business, book or album a lot more easily. It also meant that it was easier to dominate the various marketing channels (print, radio and TV) and get public attention for your business.

3) Fewer channels of communications. If people wanted to talk to each other about your business, they would have to either write letters to each other or call each other on the telephone. This meant that word-of-mouth happened very slowly, if at all, and there were less things clamoring for people's attention every day.

BUT NOW

1) It is very much easier for people to go into business for themselves. They could sell insurance, be property agents, or make use of the loads of retail and office space now available for rent to start a dinning place, retail outlet or some other business. Technology has made it easier and cheaper for someone to write a book or cut an album, or maybe even do a great music video to go along with it.

This means that there are a lot more businesses now taking aim at the customers' dollar. Unless you find a compelling way to make your business stand out from the crowd, AND effectively make it known to your customers, you are in trouble. And please, don't expect that claiming you provide the best service/product at the lowest price to work. Many others are also claiming exactly the same thing!

2) We are flooded with distractions. I read in passing that an average American is hit by 3000 sales messages a day. We should be nearing that here in Singapore! In just TV alone we have 170 channels on cable TV, for radio we can listen in to stations from around the world via the Internet, and besides all that we can access almost any form of entertainment we want, thanks to Youtube and other similar sites. We have Facebook and Twitter to keep ourselves occupied and up-to-date with the events around the world, and there are blogs galore to satisfy our interest in our not-so-mainstream interests.

So that means that even if you can get your business/book/album noticed positively, the odds are that your prospective customers will have forgotten you and the name of your business/book/album within a few days. And I think I am being generous here! If people forget your restaurant before they get a chance to patronize it, you have lost that opportunity right there.

3) We have MANY more channels of communication. Blogs, forums , Facebook, Twitter, and email allow us to communicate with people within moments. Moreover, they usually connect people who trust each other, so word-of-mouth messages about your business/book/album get passed more powerfully.

Before all the cheapskate "business"-men start rubbing their hands in glee and thinking that they can sit back and let word-of-mouth handle ALL their marketing work for them, please remember: 1) People may be passing around BAD publicity about your business; 2) Why WOULD they talk about your business to their friends? Just because you want them to? It doesn't work that way!

So That Means:

1) Your marketing has to stand out, and in a compelling way. Many people think that entertaining and clever ads lead to good sales, or they blindly copy the same ads their competitors are using. Entertaining ads may get some attention at the beginning, but I have read of award-winning ads leading to a drop in sales before. So please be careful before you had over loads of money over to an advertising agency. I'm not saying that they can't help you, but please don't switch off your mind, hand them a blank cheque and expect your business to boom uncontrollably after that!

In order for your business/book/album to stand out, you MUST be clear what are you offering that is superior or different compared to your competitors. If you are vague about it ("good service, prompt delivery, good prices") your marketing will leave a vague impression in people's minds. And in this day and age, a vague impression is as useful as no impression at all, except that you wasted more money and time to get it…

And if you are a writer, if you yourself can't put into words why other people should buy your book rather than the next bestseller from Dan Brown or John Grisham (or John C. Maxwell, for that matter) don't expect other people to be able to do it for you. Besides, if you claim to be a writer and can't write a persuasive ad for your own book, I personally would suspect you are a lousy writer and I won't be bothered to read your book at all!

2) People are distracted, so your marketing efforts have to be done on a consistent basis. Don't think a one-shot ad or a short-term marketing blitz will bring in customers in droves for the rest of your life. You need to bring the message of the benefits of your business to your customers and prospects over and over again, once a month at least, or your business will be forgotten.

Writers, don't think that your job is done once a person has bought your book. He or she may have bought your book on the spur of the moment but later forgotten to read it. Your marketing will remind your customer to read your book and benefit from your writing efforts (which is what you want, right?). And if your book is that good, that is where you can get more testimonials to use in your marketing efforts.

3) People will talk and share with their friends about what has captured their attention. So make sure they are saying good things about your business (because people WILL trust their friends more than your promotional efforts) AND make sure they have a good reason to share about your business to their friends.

It need not be in the form of money (rebates, discounts, referral fees), it could even be simply a personally written thank-you note, a special report useful to their lives or small gift (like a cute or classy cup with your company name on it). Just make sure that gift fits in with everything else you are saying about your company. If you deal with serious matter such as estate planning or ending world hunger, a cutesy, teeny-bopper cup design will probably backfire!

By the way, word-of-mouth doesn't only apply to getting customers. If you are a boss, what are your business vendors, suppliers and former employees saying about your business?

For example: Billy Graham Ministries (BGM) has a great reputation with their suppliers.

• They are famous for paying their bills IMMEDIATELY, on the very day they receive the bill, rather than waiting for the end of the month. Because of that reputation, many people want to do business with them. They never have to ask for discounts, the suppliers are falling over themselves to offer them discounts and good rates.
  
  
• Lousy suppliers are fired immediately, because BGM has hordes of other suppliers and vendors waiting at the door.
  
  
• Non-Christian vendors are known to send offerings and donations to them even after the business deals are over, because BGM gave them opportunities when they were down and out, and those vendors responded by giving excellent value in the work they did. Those vendors still remember the hand of compassion extended to them at their time of need, and show their appreciation by making voluntary donations to BGM for years after.

So how much easier would it be for you to run your business and get top-notch employees if your business/company has this kind of reputation? Because word WILL spread, but you have to determine if it is going to be good or bad…

In Conclusion:

I hate seeing businesses go down. Something about it just offends me, because it just stinks of broken dreams, shattered hopes and wasted money. Most of the time I see a business go down because of a lack of customers, and so that is why I am taking a huge detour from my usual writing to bring all these thoughts to you.

Many of us had our impressions about marketing set in our growing years, the years before marketing was so deeply affected by the three major changes I described above. Many people rose to become bosses, or made lots of money from selling insurance, their books or their albums, based on what happened in that era, and are now wondering why what used to work doesn't work anymore. I hope this article will give you a broad sweep of the changes that have happened and why they will affect the way you conduct marketing in the future.

Business people, I wish you success!

Me and Plants

(Personal Blog Post)

I've been really busy with work. I've done stuff ranging from music, my kampong (that's Malay for home village), to English Language to taking kids on tours to the Botanic Gardens. Now that last one was really weird for me.

You see, I am not really interested in plant life. You know those people they say have green thumbs? I'm not one of them. Plant life in general is too organic for my liking. My appreciation for plant life and vegetation is limited to really liking french fries. I know nature is good, and I want my two sons to appreciate and enjoy nature.

Just don't ask me to join them, OK?

Anyway, because a good friend of mine asked me to help him with the learning journeys he was conducting for a secondary school, I agreed. The whole thing didn't start off well. Because I almost never go to the Botanic Gardens, I keep forgetting how large the place is. My friend organized a training session for us guides, and I ended up an hour late because my cab delivered me to the wrong part of the Gardens and it took me ages to walk to the correct meeting point. As I was hurrying to the meeting point I was already muttering to myself "I hate this... Why did I ever agree in the first place... And why can't they make this place one of those itty-bitty little parks so that I won't have to walk so much?!???!?"

The actual tour itself went quite OK. The kids were quite well-behaved (compared to some other kids I was afflicted with recently). Of course there were moments when I felt really embarassed. Like this one: I was giving a brief, rehearsed explanation on some of the plants the kids saw that day. When the kids asked me some questions I hastily improvised some answers that sounded good but had little factual substance. (Parents, that is the lifeskill your kids will learn in the Arts & Social Science faculty of the National University of Singapore. Be warned!)

A few minutes later I found out the sweet young lady following that class, nodding politely at my explanations, was their geography teacher, who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants there at the Botanic Gardens, and who had been preparing the kids for that trip by teaching on the types of plants they would come across. In other words, the kids probably knew more about the plants than I did!

Ah well, such things happen...

Anyway, the interesting thing about this experience was that after helping out with that tour, I found that despite my lack of interest I started noticing the plant life around me more. For example, one of the plant types I had to explain to the kids was Epiphytes. These are plants that grow on other plants but not in a parasitical way.

After the tour I shelved the information on them into the Recycle Bin of my mind (to be deleted because it's useless to my life). But as I was travelling to my students' homes for teaching, I keep seeing epiphytes everywhere. Yes, they were there before all the while, but because I was ignorant my eyes just skimmed past them as if they weren't there. Now I found myself noticing them. I'd look at the following plant and think: "Bird's Nest Fern! They trap fallen leaves from the host plant for compost. And those little strands below the dead fern leaves should be Shoestring Ferns, right?"

God help me, I'm actually interested now!

And I even find myself going up close to the plants to get a better look. See that fern at the right, the one with all the triangle shaped leaves or leaf clusters or whatever you call them? That's a Rabbit's Foot Fern. I'm told that it's named thus because of the shoot (that little brown thingy in the middle of the pic) is supposed to resemble a rabbit's foot. Brown, thin, furry and bent at an angle.

The other guide who was with me was commenting "Does it really look like a rabbit's foot to you? It doesn't to me. Do scientists come up with these plant names when they are drunk?"

Anyway, I'm really hoping that after I get all this stuff off my chest I can go back to my usual world, thinking about how to manage my regular life, get better at my music and take good care of my kids. I really have to stop staring at every possible epiphyte I come across and taking pictures of them with my handphone. I've already got enough to do! :)

On My Facebook Wall

I received this message on my Facebook wall.

"Thank you so much for your help in music ministry! People have NO idea how taxing being a Worship Pastor is, and your instruction makes it soo much easier! I have tried some of your techniques, and they REALLY do work...talk about a move from God! May God continue to bless your ministry as well as your instruction! Blessings!"

Min. Warren Gilmore
Worship Pastor
Urban Outreach
East St. Louis, IL USA

One thing about Warren, he isn't a newbie to worship ministry or leading worship. If you check out his Youtube videos you can see that he is a fantastic singer and musician. On top of that, he can do something I cannot do, choir arrangements.

In other words, he is someone I would not presume to teach. He's got the charisma, music skill and enough experience in the things of God to make things work even if everything else goes wrong. Telling someone like him that I've got an easier way for him to get results in worship ministry is like approaching a billionaire to tell him you've got ways for him to save money in his day-to-day expenses. He can make it easily without my advice, why should he take it?

But he did, and even more than that, he was kind enough to tell me about how my Invisible Worship Musician has helped him. And that humbles me deeply.

This incident drives home to me a lesson about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10.

1 Cor 15:10 (NIV) - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

This verse summarizes Paul's ministry – it began with a touch from God, Paul responded with all that he could humanly do ("I worked harder than all of them"), and yet realizes that even that was from God ("the grace of God that was with me").

And that also describes where I am now. I began my ministry with a touch from God (all the insights and experiences I detailed in Invisible Worship Musician) and responded with all I could humanly do (write the book, set up the site and do marketing work). Some people have felt my promotional work was too extreme, that I was too boastful about my abilities and that if I truly trusted God I would have toned down on my marketing efforts and spend my time praying instead.

You can guess that I didn't pay much attention to those people!

(marketing for Christians, a topic for another blog post?)

And Warren's post on my Facebook wall strongly reminded me that ultimately even the best of my natural efforts are still God working in me. If what I have can be a blessing even to someone like him, then it really must have come from God.

Now I find myself in a funny position. I used to find Christians who deflected praise cheesy. Do you know what I am talking about? I'm talking about those who, when you affirm them in some way or other ("Hey, you played the drums really well today!"), would say things like "All glory to God, it's all his grace". I thought there was something wrong with how they seemed unwilling to acknowledge that they put in effort and made themselves available to God to be used by him to bless his people.

But that is where I am now. All the human efforts I have put in (and which I used to be proud of) just look so lame now compared to what God did through it. So now I have to say, like those I found cheesy, that it's really God's grace working through me.

The point of what I am sharing is this:

There are believers who spend their time talking about God working through them, but they so busy waiting for God to zap them into inspired action and they miss the little steps they can take right now to become the right person in the right place for God to use for a supernatural work. Why? Because they don't see God working through the ordinary, the unexciting and the un-glamorous in their lives.

There are others who get so caught up with the human efforts that they even resort to methods they would be ashamed to acknowledge. One Christian marketer I know used an automatic article spinner to produce many different versions of an article he wrote and submitted those mass-generated articles to many sites to get Google's attention. The problem is, those articles ended up un-readable, with poor choices of synonyms, and therefore of no help to people reading them. And he did all this for the sake of tricking Google's search engines.

It is so difficult to navigate through life, to find that right balance where we labour as unto the LORD and yet fully trust him to work in us, through us and for us. So if you know God has brought you to that point, rejoice in him! And then expect that he will still have some more growing for you to do. And you disagree with what I write here, that's OK too. I'm still growing in the Lord myself, and if I am wrong it's only a matter of time before God will teach and convict me about it. I'm sure of that!

Be blessed, everyone!


P.S. Do take some time to enjoy the Youtube videos of Minister Warren Gilmore I find them very inspiring!

Thinking back on Monday

(Personal Blog Post)

I pushed myself really hard to prepare for Monday.

I had two things coming up that day, a music enrichment module (on songwriting) and playing for an audition for a hotel gig.

The Music Enrichment Module

That was super-challenging because it was to be conducted with a class of kids that were mostly defiant and rowdy. For the trouble-makers, if they were not actively causing problems (mocking the teachers, starting fights with the rest of the students in class and so forth) they were passive (going on Facebook and Counterstrike) while the teacher was trying to conduct a lesson.

Irony of ironies, some of those problem kids were outraged when told to shut down the computers. How dare a teacher mess up their Counterstrike session!

Anyway, because I saw those kids in action before, I knew what kind of challenge I was facing, so I worked like nuts during the weekend to prepare my lesson. Videos from Eagles, Michael Jackson, Santana and even the United States Marine Corps were carefully chosen to both illustrate the songwriting points I wanted to make, as well as keep even the dis-interested entertained.

When facing a class of kids like this, some people would spend their time complaining about how the parents didn't raise the kids properly, how the school should have allocated more resources to helping those kids and how ultimately everything is the government's fault. That does not help anyone in any way. I chose to face up to the challenge: I knew it was going to be like managing a large class of 5-6 year old kids (bigger sized, greater potential for violence, a lot better at provoking teachers, but still 5-6 years old at heart) and I prepared myself accordingly.

All my preparations went to naught. I put all the videos on my thumb drive AND even brought along my trusty laptop as a back-up plan. In the end the teacher's computer in that room couldn't even be switched on (so much for my thumb drive) and my laptop kept hanging every few minutes. So no matter what I did I was unable to conduct the lesson.

In the end the kids went back to Facebook and Counterstrike. Score: Kids 01 – Me 00.

Hotel Gig Audition

Why did I have to push myself hard for this one too? Because it was a piano and singer thing, and I was expected to do all the jazz piano solos and all that. Having neglected jazz for years because I was working on classical piano, my weaker side, I was very worried about blotching up the audition. So even while preparing for the music module I would take time out to practice some jazz standards.

The audition went well, I only messed up one solo. And at least two of the people there praised my piano playing. But before the audition I made it clear to the people involved that I would NOT be taking this gig. Why? Because of my kids. This was a typical hotel gig, starting at 7.30-8 pm in the evenings, and because of my kids' schedules that would clash with me spending time with my boys.

And of course I can't keep farming out my sons to my relatives 6 nights a week, right?

In the past when I was doing gigs at Chinese/Canto pubs, they'd start late at night, around 10 pm. That was just perfect for me. I'd get Jess to sleep (Jacques wasn't born yet) then rush out for work. In the morning I'd wake up to manage Jess, though I was usually groggy until the afternoon nap. But it was all good. I'd get to be with my son during the day AND get a full-time pay at the same time for working at night. It was a perfect arrangement while it lasted!

Things are different now. I don't get any Canto gigs anymore, that stream has dried up. And as my sons grew older and needed more of my time I had to turn down regular evening gigs, even though they are easy money to me (not that much work required). I am not too happy about it, but there is no point complaining. All I can do about it right now is to continue to be serious with my music (both jazz and classical) and see how things go later on.

Anyway, ever since Monday I've been kind of spaced out. It was a good thing that Tuesday was a light teaching day for me, because I was so worn out from the pressure I had to sleep a lot more than usual. I started ramping things up yesterday (work, training and practice) and I should be back in the full swing of things by this weekend. Yup, so that's about it for me this week. Will post again soon!

Leading Worship WITHOUT Musical Instruments

I had to lead worship for an office fellowship a couple of Thursdays ago, and because of the other tenants in that office, I was asked to lead worship without my trusty guitar.

Talk about a challenge!

You need to understand that I am a musician first and foremost, not a singer. Therefore I feel very insecure when I am trying to lead worship without any instrumental accompaniment at all. I was reading an article by another worship leader recently. In it he wrote glowingly about how a small church without music instruments can just make do by singing a cappella, and how stirring the effect of adding vocal harmonies would be.

Not that I disagree with him totally, but I've spent time trying to train vocalists to sing harmonies in praise and worship. Let's just say that it is very much easier to get someone to take guitar lessons online and play for worship rather than train up some singers who can sing harmony. Much, much easier! So I believe his advice may not be the best advice he can give to a new or small church struggling to manage without good musicians or instruments.

In the end I managed the session by choosing the right songs. I used the songs

Amazing Grace (traditional version)



My Jesus I Love Thee



These two songs

• Were familiar – there were people from a few different churches present, so I had to restrict my choices
  
  
• Had easy-to-manage vocal ranges – We didn't have the guitar to help cover any gaps in the singing, so I HAD to make sure there was nothing to hinder the singing. That, by the way, was why I do not like to use Chris Tomlin's version (My Chains Are Gone). The vocal range is 1 ½ octaves, very hard to manage. It's easy to cover that up in a large congregation, but not in a small group meeting.
  
  
• Had steady counts in the melody, without large gaps in the singing – This is vital. Remember, the two core roles of a music instrument in worship is to unify the key (through chords) and the beats (through the rhythm played). So if you have to lead worship without an instrument, you will have to unify the key through your voice. And you choose songs which have obvious counts.

Here's an example of a song without obvious counts – With All I Am (by Hillsongs)




The verse is difficult to sing without some instrument marking out the counts, because the melody just floats around somehow. There is also a 2 bar gap from the end of the verse to the start of the chorus, again difficult to manage without a rhythm instrument. Yes you can cut short that gap if you are singing a cappella, but that gap is the point where most people would be lost. And try as I might, I cannot think of a musically tasteful way to cut short that gap without getting artificial or contrived. So I will never use that song when leading worship without any instruments.

Conclusion:

Am I being too nit-picky with all these details? I don't think so. I believe that leadership involves looking ahead, anticipating problems that may arise and either preparing to face them or finding ways to avoid them.

Those who have read up to the final chapters of my Invisible Worship Musician will know that I believe worship ministry is all about controlling as many of the factors as possible to bring things to the point when we lose the control and surrender it all to God. We see this in how the priests in 2 Chronicles 5:12-14 carefully orchestrated all the details and how God responded by gracing them with his glory. And when he did so the priests could not continue their ministry any further. In other words, they lost control of the proceedings. And that's OK!

Too often I see people either bring down the intensity of worship before we get to the point when God responds with his glory, or they do things half-baked, let a lot of important details slip and expect God to show us his glory anyway. It's like what I said in a previous blog post "They want to believe that they can get results without putting in the necessary effort. And they use the Holy Spirit as an excuse."

May that not be said of us!

Cracking the Worship Ministry Code

My pastor was talking with me the other day about a tuition centre in Singapore that causes the students who enroll there to score well in the Singapore mandarin (Chinese) language exams even if they are weak in the language. They have figured out what the Ministry of Education is looking for at every level of the exams, and so they focus intensively on those areas. In other words, that tuition centre has cracked the code for the Singapore Chinese examination system.

What that centre has done for Chinese exams is what I have done for worship ministry. I have cracked the Worship Ministry Code.

To some people that sounds like no big deal. I am sure I am not the first to have cracked it. Maybe I am just the first to express it this way and really explore what it means to worship ministry and our Christian lives. When I interact with other worship leaders online, I find that many of them from other countries have cracked the code also, just that many of them don't give the Scriptural backing for what they do and why it works.

So when I say I cracked the worship ministry code, I am not saying that I am the only one or that I am the best worship ministry teacher around, OK?

To some other people, this claim is the very heights of presumptuousness. They believe that worship ministry is complex, difficult and requires very detailed leading and guiding from the Holy Spirit for every step and every nuance. Even worse, they believe that the Holy Spirit will often be leading them to do weird or flaky stuff to prove their obedience to him and to show how little they depend on formulae, principles and techniques.

These people usually unsubscribe from my emails after some time, because they disagree with me so much. And that is fine with me. I am here to serve those who find value in what I teach, not to irritate and provoke those who think differently!

How can we be sure that we can crack the worship ministry code? How can we know that worship ministry can be simple, straightforward and easy to teach?

1) God is consistent

That's very important, because worship has to be pleasing to God. If God is inconsistent, in other words, he keeps changing his character or his requirements, then there is no code to crack. In such a case, worship ministry would be complex, difficult and require detailed and nuanced leading from the Holy Spirit every step of the way. And we can have no assurance that we can get it right this time, even though we may have got it right many times before.

Heb 13:8 (NIV) - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And because God is consistent, we know that what pleased him before in the Bible will please him now. We can be confident that the prayers he answered before are the same ones that he will answer now. We know that what he esteems and values in times past are what he esteems and values now.

And we can think, pray and act accordingly!

2) God is consistent in accepting us

Not only is God consistent, he is also consistent in accepting us. If God is harsh, demanding and unmerciful, there is still hope that we can please him IF we meet up to his high standards and requirements. But the Bible reveals that God is consistent, faithful in showing us mercy in spite of our sins and transgressions.

Mal 3:6 (NIV) - "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

3) God desires that we meet him in worship

God isn't putting up with our praises and worship. He isn't enduring it, hoping that we will get it over and done with as soon as possible. He finds it pleasing, that is, he enjoys it.

Psalm 69:30-31 (NIV) - I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

Because he finds it pleasing, he has made it possible for us to worship him acceptably, through Jesus Christ.

Heb 13:15 (NIV) - Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Important point though: our worship is not automatically accepted through Christ, because some believers choose to make their status in Christ of no effect. They do so by trusting in their own works to make them acceptable before God, rather than the finished work of Christ.

Gal 5:4 (NIV) - You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

So we can say that offering God an acceptable sacrifice of praise is easy. All we need to do is to surrender our pride and self-righteousness…

Conclusion:

When we put all those factors together, we end up with a theology that makes meeting God in praise and worship something natural and simple for us as believers. So if praising God acceptably is natural and simple, why should facilitating praise and worship not be natural and simple too? Why do people in worship ministry want to make things more complicated and difficult than how the Bible teaches it?

Those who have read my book Invisible Worship Musician know that the first five chapters are about the myths and misunderstandings common in worship ministry. I realize now that I had to explain all those factors so you can understand that not only is there such a code for worship ministry, but that it is very simple to find, understand and make use of.

And once you have cracked the worship ministry code, everything else (how to choose the songs, how to lead the worship, what should the musicians play) flows very naturally and logically from there.

But it all starts with the right theology, knowing that God wants us to encounter him in praise and worship and that he has made it possible for the meek and humble to approach him easily. And if you truly grasp this, you find yourself growing in boldness and confidence in your prayer and worship life.

And that's always good!

Lessons from Last Friday

I led worship for the Lunchtime Fellowship of Living Faith Church last Friday, and the worship went much better than usual. So here's a breakdown of what was different and what stayed the same last Friday, so you can see what probably caused the people to keep on praising God and not want to stop.

1) Songs: they were

1. Show Your Glory by John Greene (F major)
   
2. Be Exalted by Brent Chambers (G major for the chorus, then A major)
   
3. Glory to The Lamb by Larry Dempsey (C major)

One thing all the songs had in common was the glory of the Lord. That was deliberate, as I felt in my heart that was what God wanted me to pay attention to for that worship session. Despite my cynical and skeptical exterior, there are times when I believe I hear from the Lord and do what I think he wants me to do.

Judging from how well the people responded to the songs, I think I heard God correctly that day!

But what if I was wrong? Or if I do not have any specific theme or leading from the Lord for the songs? I am not too concerned with that, because there are only two possibilities when it comes to choosing the theme for the worship set: either I am right or I am wrong. If I am right, that's great! But if I chose wrongly or failed to hear God correctly, then another Scriptural truth kicks in and starts taking effect.

Phil 4:8 (NIV) – Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

In other words, as long as we effectively use our songs to help the people take their minds off the things of this world and set their minds on heavenly things (Col 3:2), we will fulfill command given us in Phi 4:8. And Paul says that the God of peace will be with us. We will experience the peace of God in a powerful way (Phi 4:9).

Many worship leaders I know worry about choosing the right songs for a worship set. I hope this helps to take away the pressure!

2) The People

Another huge difference – the people were early that day. Usually we have only a handful of people when the service starts and the rest trickle in near the end of the worship set. (Yes, I must admit sometimes I am less thick-skinned than usual and start wondering if my singing is really THAT bad?) But last Friday most of the people arrived during the first song. And it also included a few people I know to be hardcore worshippers, people who take God with serious reverence. When these people are present, the spirit of the fear of the LORD that is upon them can spread to the rest of the congregation, especially if you have enough of them around so that they feed off and strengthen each other.

And that is what happened last Friday. The congregation kept on singing and the momentum kept growing. I felt bad to be watching the clock for the right time to hand the service over to the pastor. Anyway, the pastor had the option to tell me to extend the worship session (as he has done on a few occasions) but he did not tell me to do so this time, so I handed the service over to the pastor.

Important Points:

Firstly, I evaluated my success at leading worship not by some hazy, intangible concepts but by 2 Chronicles 5:13, whether the praises were unified. If you ask me to evaluate and critique a worship session, I'd also look at the worship leader and the musicians, but for that Friday there was no need to do that, since the worship leader and the only musician was me. That part didn't change.

Secondly, it is very humbling for me to admit that my success at leading worship last Friday was not largely due to how well I sing or play music, or how anointed I am. It was because of a few people in the congregation who happened to be there earlier than usual, and these people helped spur the rest of the people on (Heb 10:24).

I say that because I am convinced that New Testament worship ministry based more on participation rather than performance. So as long as I keep up to certain standards in my song selection, my singing and my music, I have done my part as a worship minister. And the rest is in the hands of the congregation, whether they will join me in declaring the goodness and glory of the LORD. So if things do not go that well I don't bear much of the blame. But that means that when things do go well I cannot claim much of the credit either!

This is my question for you: when you are NOT serving in the worship team, are you sitting near the front and supporting the worship team as much as you can? Or are you hiding near the back or even worse, skipping the church services? If you are not just trying to show off or gain acclaim for yourself, but have a genuine heart for worship ministry, then support the worship team for the glory of God. Sing louder, flow with the worship leader, sit (or stand) nearer to the front. Smile at the worship leader (yes, trust me, that makes a huge difference!).

In other words, be one of those people whom worship leaders and musicians greet with the words "Thank God you're here!"

Be blessed!

Lesson From A Loser Love-Song

I was buying groceries at a supermarket near my home one day, and they started playing one of those Loser Love-Songs over the sound system. *sigh*

Loser Love-Songs is what I call those songs in which the guy gets dumped by his girlfriend and he starts mooning over her and getting all whiney and weepy. Maybe she figured out that he was that sort and that's why she left him in the first place? I wouldn't be surprised!

You can guess I get disgusted with those songs…

But that day in the supermarket, I suddenly realized there was a Biblical truth in THIS Loser Love-Song.

It's called 不要對他說 (Don't Say This To Him) and it is the guy begging the girl not to say certain things to her new boyfriend (the one she is dumping him for). If you want to check out the song, you can hear it in the video below:


The Biblical truth I noticed came out in these words

不要對他說　夜裡會害怕
Don’t tell him you are afraid at night

別說你多睌都會等他的電話
Don't say you will stay up late just for his phone call

別說你只喜歡他送的玫瑰花
Don't say that you love only the roses that come from him

因為這些　是我僅有　殘留的夢
These are my broken dreams


What suddenly struck me was the realization that even though it was a Loser Love-Song (and was setting my teeth on edge) what the composer was asking for is actually something Biblical. He was asking for intimacy, in other words, that there be something that be kept as an exclusive experience between him and his lover.

I believe this is what we earnestly desire when it comes to our romantic lives, a sense of communicating and connecting with someone of the opposite gender so deeply and on an exclusive level. This is what is described in the following passage:

Song of Solomon 4:10-12 (NIV) - How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!

Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.

You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

Not only is this sense of exclusivity shown to be desirable in women, it is also urged upon men as well.

Proverbs 5:16-17 (NIV) - Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.

One thing about this sense of exclusivity, we hurt ourselves and the people we open ourselves to if we do it prematurely, or to the wrong people. That's why we need to give ourselves time in any romantic relationship, time to see if this person is someone who can be trusted with our secrets, especially our weaknesses or past mistakes.

Be especially cautious of people who take your weaknesses or past mistakes and use them against you when during quarrels and arguments. Cut these people out of your life immediately. You will regret getting even closer with such people, that I can promise you. These people are what I consider the thorns in the flesh, the messengers of Satan that you should avoid like the plague.

And if they can be harsh and unforgiving to you before marriage, remember, you are totally at their mercy after marriage. Either that or you be prepared to live the rest of your life putting on a false front before your spouse or wondering when any skeletons in your closet will be discovered or when your past will finally catch up with you.

It doesn't have to be like that.

But it does mean that you be very discerning about the people you share the deepest, most intimate (exclusive) secrets of your life with. It may mean waiting longer for the right person, or it may mean investing time, money and effort in getting sound Christian counseling and pastoral care for your life first, so you will be able to discern the right person when he or she arrives.

Will it be worth it? I can't answer that question for you, but would you rather be the one standing outside an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend's window singing a loser love-song?

One More Day In The Gym

I was digging through all my old emails recently and I came across this old post by Scott Wesley Brown. It's called One More Day In The Gym. It's an insightful post, one that I really resonate with, and I'd like to share it with you. You can check it out at

http://www.worshiptherock.com/profiles/blogs/one-more-day-in-the-gym

And if you enjoyed the post and found it helpful, do take a couple of moments and drop Scott a comment or note to express your appreciation.

Again, the post is here: http://www.worshiptherock.com/profiles/blogs/one-more-day-in-the-gym

Be blessed!

Teachers of Pet Topics

2 Tim 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (NKJV)

I love the small group ministry.

Whatever you call it at your church, Cell Group, Carecell, LifeGroup (at my church) or whatever, it's a great way for the people in your church to bond together and build genuine Christian fellowship, as well as to grow in the Word of God.

And growing in the Word of God through a small group ministry is very simple. You don't have to discuss deep stuff or seek out special materials for Bible study; you just need to pay attention during that week's sermon, take good notes, think through the sermon again before the meeting and discuss the sermon with the rest of the people there. That means you'd be exposed to the sermon four times rather than the usual one time. And that helps a lot in retaining the message!

What if you are the one leading the discussion? That's also easy too. If people only talk about what was covered in the sermon, you don't need to do a lot of extra work. And if they ask about stuff that wasn't covered in the sermon or you haven't learned about, you just need to say "I'm not too sure about that. Let me bring it up with the pastor and I'll get back to you?"

You can't get any simpler than that, right?

A problem arises, however, if you are the one leading the discussion, a difficult topic comes up and you feel the need to answer the question even if you don't have enough understanding from the Bible to answer it.

I've seen people doing that. They can't stand saying "I don't know", so they have to squeeze out of themselves some answer somehow or other. And the easiest way to do that is to reduce the question to one of their pet topics, such as love, righteousness, faith, the blood of Christ or something like that, even if it isn’t relevant to the question.

Let me be blunt here: if you can't take saying you don't know and want to give answers to Bible questions in your small group meeting, then put in the necessary work to actually give good answers. And that means beginning that life-long journey of growing in God's Word, to know the whole counsel of God, rather than just your 2-3 favorite pet topics. Become a believer of the Word, rather than just a believer of your favorite parts of the Word!

If you are new to studying the Word of God by yourself, you can start by reading a chapter of the Bible every day. Read it aloud to yourself, and go back to the chapters you have read for the two days before that too. That way you will read three chapters daily, and one will be new to you. If you are involved in the worship ministry, studying the Book of Psalms is a must. Put that as a priority above going for the next overseas worship conference or reading some worship devotional book.

It will be a life-long journey, and it can get frustrating at times.

It takes time and effort to get familiar with a book of the Bible to the point when you can use it, and the reason why some people end up as pet-topic teachers is because they don't feel that they can learn the Bible even if they put in effort. Or they don't want to put in the necessary work.

So what happens? They may look for other teachers and just swallow wholesale the teaching and Bible interpretations of those teachers. That's fine if you have enough understanding of the Bible to discern and evaluate Scripturally the teachings they bring you, whether through online sermons, books, teaching CDs or even commentaries. But if you don't, you are in danger of exchanging your own errors for the errors of others.

And an error, even if held with all sincerity, is still an error!

I remember one day I was reading a teaching by a popular preacher.

Mark 11:23 (NKJV) - For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

The preacher claimed that this verse meant that when we face challenges in life, we are to take authority over them and speak to them, commanding them to get out of our lives in the name of Jesus. He also claimed that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and said that NEVER in the New Testament were believers told to pray to God about their problems. They were to exercise their God-given authority over their problems.

How interesting. When I first read that, all it took was a second to remember the Lord's prayer (Matt 6:9-13) where Jesus told us to pray to God to deliver us from the evil one (vs 13). There is also an example from David in Psalm 6, where we find David speaking to his problems (vs 8) as well as praying to the LORD about them (vs 4).

So we can see that what he claimed Jesus spoke to him in a vision was not true. All it took was just a passing familiarity with the Bible to keep this error from sinking its roots into my mind. Not too difficult, was it? Of course, there will be other doctrines which will be more difficult to evaluate. One way to help us evaluate teachings – ask yourself if the teaching is what the Bible actually says or what someone else says it means.

For example, in Exodus 12:32 we read that Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to take the Israelites and leave Egypt, and also to bless him. That is a direct statement of Scripture. If someone claims that Pharaoh was thus trying to obtain blessings that are not rightfully his, since blessing is only for those with a covenant with God, now that is an interpretation. We evaluate this interpretation by asking:

1. Is this idea directly stated in the Bible? If it is, are there any other verses that balance it out or give another perspective?
   
2. If it is an interpretation, are there other verses that support that interpretation? And, more importantly, are there verses that do not support that interpretation?
   
3. If that interpretation is accurate, how much do you need to re-look other beliefs and opinions that you already hold?

And if you come from a Word-of-Faith background, you need to be especially strict with your Scripture interpretation. Because, speaking frankly, we from the Word-of-Faith movement have more than our fair share of false teachers and sincere Bible teachers with some mistaken interpretations here and there. Because of that, believers from other parts of the Body of Christ sometimes find it hard to take us seriously.

So we have to hold ourselves to an even higher standard of Bible interpretation than the rest of the Body of Christ!

Conclusion:

So whatever part of the Body of Christ you come from, or whatever your denomination or beliefs, if you are heading the Bible discussions or studies in your small group, I urge you to put in the best effort you can to know the Bible. It takes effort, that is why we are commanded to be diligent about it (2 Tim 2:15). But if you find it hard to spur yourself towards the work and diligence necessary for this, just remember, his approval, his "well-done, good and faithful servant!" as your reward!

Worship Leaders - Song Selection Made Easy

Hi, everyone!

Here's an IPhone App that worship leaders should find very useful! Whether you lead worship for your church congregation or at a small group level, SongSuggest for the IPhone will save you loads of time and effort when picking songs for your worship set.

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If you are like thousands of other worship leaders, picking songs each week can be a frustrating process. You don’t want to pick the same songs all the time, but you dont want to sing boring stuff or too many new songs each week.

SongSuggest will help you quickly find the ideal song. Many worship leaders use it during their weekly planning times or in the actual service as they try to replace a song that no longer fits!

SongSuggest has over 600 songs. These songs cover the most loved, the most familiar songs sung by the english-speaking christian church around the world for the last 30 years. All the great hymns and choruses are in there.

Why only those songs? Well what use is a song suggestion tool – when you, your team and congregation don’t know the suggested songs.

This is not a planning tool, it will not replace your binder – but it will help you come up with songs your team and congregation already know and love.

Great Features:

• Preloaded with over 600 beloved songs
• Add to Your Binder
• Search for Lyrics & chords
• Watch Song videos on YouTube
• Listen to song clips in iTunes

With SongSuggest you will…

Always have a great song for any occasion! - No more frantic flipping through that huge song binder minutes before the service…

Quickly build a set of amazing songs your congregation loves.

Use it to find one song idea – or plan your whole setlist. This is not meant to replace prayerful planning, but it will jog your memory when you can’t think of anything. It’s also helpful when you are in transit, or away from your desk to start next weeks set list – no matter where you are!

Discover long forgotten yet loved songs awaiting a comeback & your musical makeover.

You will be surprised at all the great songs you have forgotten… also remember many new Christians have never heard these songs – so add your own creative sauce to the old, and mix them with the new.

See your congregation gain confidence in their corporate worship.

Ever been to a concert when the artists starts to sing their popular and familiar songs… remember how the audience responded? You get the same dynamic here. Your congregation or small group will be free to be expressive and authentic in their worship when you use the familiar songs.

Just so you know - I have no business or affliate arrangement with the creators of this iPhone app. In other words, I get no commission or financial benefit should you purchase this app, but I am suggesting that you check it out because I sincerely believe you will find it a great help for planning your worship sets.

Click over to http://www.worshipapps.com/products/songsuggest and check it out now!

Be blessed!

Dawning Realization

Personal Blog Post:

I went through the whole Bible in 2009 (one of those Bible-in-a-year plans) and decided that this year I'd focus on studying the New Testament as well as take another round through the Book of Psalms.

As I went through the Psalms this year, I just kept feeling that something was missing but I couldn't put my finger on it. I only figured it out when I re-visited this group of Psalms.

Psalm 25:1-7 (NIV)

¹To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; ² in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. ³ No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; ⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. ⁶ Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. ⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.

Psalm 26:1-3 (NIV)

¹ Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. ² Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; ³ for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.

Psalm 27:1-6 (NIV)

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
² When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. ³ Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.
⁴ One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. ⁵ For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. ⁶ Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.

This set of verses is an example of what I call the Crisis Psalms (first mentioned in this post). I didn't talk very much about that season of my life on this blog, but let's just say that a lot of the teachings during that season came from personal experiences and pain. :)

Anyway, what I realized when I re-visited that set of verses was this: the horrible, oppressive sense of being continuously under seige was gone. It's kinda like when a war veteran picks up the rifle he used in the infantry trenches and realizes that he's not in that war anymore.

Not saying that my life is smooth sailing now, but I finally took a look back and realized that I've come a long way since then. During those days, I couldn't even begin to imagine life being better than the continual struggle I faced then.

Of course I have moved on to more advanced problems, but now I have the added confidence of knowing that our LORD is faithful. As the hymn-writer so aptly put it, "T'was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home..."

And that's the point of this post. If you are facing any serious struggle or crisis right now, and it's affecting your clarity of vision and you find yourself losing hope, take courage. Hang on to your confession of faith and keep trusting our faithful LORD. Before you know it, you will find that you are past the worst of the storm, and much stronger in your faith for that experience!

Be blessed!

Paying Your Church Musicians

Once we start on a topic involving money, watch the temperatures rise! People tend to get emotional about this issue. Some musicians see it as a matter of respect, others as a means of making a livelihood. Some church leaders and members may feel think, 'it's a ministry, people should do this entirely on a voluntary basis'.

People can get very confused when discussing this, and end up at cross-purposes with each other just because there is a large spectrum of musicians, work assigned to musicians, and different levels of pay. So here are some questions that will help you clarify the matter and help in your decision making.

Important Note:

All this is written for church leaders and pastors who are in a position to decide on church musician salaries. If you are a musician, don't take my material and use it to try and get yourself paid. That's not what it's meant for!

1) How much work is a musician doing? Is the musician

• Just playing?

• For some services or all?

• Leading the practices and settling the music arrangements for a not-so-musical worship leader/pastor?

• Small group leader (giving some form of pastoral care) for the rest of the musicians?

You will have to decide on how much work should they do before it's justified to pay them. This will be largely based on how much you want from the musicians (demand), how easy it is to find what you want (supply) and how much time it takes to fulfil those duties (price).

I had this conversation once. A member of church staff was asking me how to find and hire a pastor who would be highly qualified, possess a wide range of skills, be willing to go the extra mile especially in terms of working overtime AND do it all for a wage that is lower than the market rate.

I had to tell her that if they do not already have such a church member with such qualifications volunteering in the church, it's nearly impossible to find such a person. I threw the question back at her: if you were highly qualified, widely skilled and habitually go the extra mile for whatever organization you work for, would you rather do it for lower wages or for higher?

And if someone whom you don't know (from another church, perhaps) claims to be highly qualified, widely skilled, willing to go the extra mile and is willing to work at your church for a lower wage, wouldn't you be suspicious? I know I would be!

Some churches bring musicians on staff, but they also give the musicians other duties as well. They may double as administrators, do some pastoral work, lead other musicians or even write songs for the church. Most musicians I know dream of a cushy job where they are paid a good wage for sitting down behind their instruments and doodling all day, but if they ARE good musicians, they will have skills and abilities that carry over to other types of work as well. Consider the precedent we see in this passage of Scripture:

2 Chronicles 34:12-13 (NIV) - … The men did the work faithfully. Over them to direct them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath. The Levites—all who were skilled in playing musical instruments- had charge of the laborers and supervised all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were secretaries, scribes and doorkeepers.

The ability to lead other musicians carries over to the ability to lead other people. The attention to detail that some people bring to playing music is great for admin and accounts work, while the creativity some musicians have carries over to other forms of expression as well (such as writing).

2) Where does your church stand on the performance and participation scale?

If your church is more performance-based (putting up a show to wow people) rather than participation-based (getting worshippers to sing their hearts out), then what you want from your musicians will probably harder to acquire. It can take many years to develop skills suitable for performance, and not everyone with such skills actually enjoys putting up a show week after week, service after service... It will be easier to justify paying musicians for such specialized skills.

But if your church is more participation-based, and your vision is to mobilize a large portion of your congregation to volunteer, then you cannot indiscriminately pay all the volunteers. So you will have to plan out some guidelines, such as those who serve at small group do so on a volunteer basis, while you pay those who serve for the main service. If you come from a small church, start having some idea about it now, so you aren't caught off-guard when your church expands.

What I personally believe is that if your church believes in mobilizing the people for the ministry, especially for the worship ministry, then you will want to pay the musicians who lead and teach the other musicians.

1 Tim 5:17 (NIV) - The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

But if you want to pay your musicians based on the principles of how you pay church elders, what you require from your church musicians should also be based on what the Bible expects from elders. More on that later…

3) Besides paying musicians, other things you can do for your musicians include just paying for petrol and guitar strings (many musicians appreciate even such small gestures) or making sure they have food if they are playing for an evening service. You may want to sponsor them for a seminar/conference or pay for them to take a couple of months of music lessons.

One church I know gives a stored-value farecard for travelling on the Singapore public transport system to two of their musicians. Those two musicians are foreign students studying in Singapore, and such students usually have a tight budget (Singapore public transport isn't cheap). You can guess how much they appreciate this gesture! Use a bit of creativity in finding ways to show appreciation to your church musicians. And sometimes simple ideas are the best.

4) Finally, ask yourself what are YOUR expectations from the musicians?

If you pay them, what else do you expect from them other than turn up and play? Are they going help you manage the equipment too? Are you expecting their 90% attendance for Sunday services? Evening bible study meetings? Small group fellowships? Will your church expect a certain level of consistency and discipline in their personal prayer and devotional life? And if you pay for their music lessons, are they committed to serving in the church that is investing in them?

And here is the question I do not often hear addressed: when do you stop paying a musician? For example, if you appoint a musician to teach the rest of the team and this musician does not teach effectively, are you going to stop paying him or her? Once you pay musicians a wage, they have a corresponding obligation to your church. And if they agree to that obligation and you find that they are unable to fulfil it, what are you going to do? How will you handle the situation?

More complications that can arise: For example, if you decide to pay only the head musician and not the rest of the band, that could give problems. What if I am one of the musicians and I happen to think the guy in charge is a total incompetent, a waste of church resources, and that the money would be better spent on ME? The same thing applies even if you pay every musician but pay the head musician a bit more.

Yes, money complicates things. Then again, Paul doesn't avoid these issues. In the above passage (1 Tim 5:17), he said the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor (financially). This opens a can of worms - how will you know if they are doing well? Who decides? What will you do if church members disagree with your assessment? Handling all these worms is part and parcel of a pastor's or church leader's job.

So if you are new to this, I hope this post has helped you anticipate and plan for any problems that might come up, so that you will not be caught off-guard when issues arise. Be blessed!
 

Business and Spiders

I've been asked to continue writing on Christian business, so I will. :) It'll take a while, so in the meantime I'm just going to share this short and insightful article on what businesses spiders like...

http://davedee.com/blog2/2010/07/are-spiders-ready-to-attack.html

Keep your fingers crossed, I want to write about this from a Christian perspective soon. There are some excuses Christians tend to use to be lazy in their marketing, I want to expose them the next time I write about Christian business. Stay tuned! :)

Recognizing Arrogance

This is the question I received via email.

"Should we recruit experienced worship leaders and musicians who would like to join our worship team from another church which we know they possess arrogance and think that they are better than the leaders of our church?"

Looking at the question, I think the answer is simple: No. Have nothing to do with arrogant people, but rather avoid them. Truly arrogant people cause more damage than they are worth. But how would we recognize people who are arrogant?

What I experienced with my life is this: because I am confident in many things (or at least look confident) and can express my viewpoints strongly, insecure people find me threatening. And they therefore accuse me of being arrogant. That's OK, because it's less dangerous to me than the people who feel threatened by me and hide it until one day they just blow up at me out of nowhere.

That used to happen to me often at one of my previous day jobs. Even though I was so low in the company hierarchy that practically anyone else in the staff could get me fired, I intimidated my immediate manager unknowingly, not by arguing or threatening, but just by how I carried myself day-to-day. So my manager didn't give me the immediate feedback I needed to do better, he just held his feelings in check until he finally blew his top…

So, how do you tell if someone is confident or just arrogant? There are 3 signs to look out for.

1) How they talk to other people:

Psalm 73:6-8 (NIV) -Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

Arrogant people show their true colors in their words. Their words are threatening (as in the above passage) and boastful.

Psalm 75:4 (NIV) - To the arrogant I say, 'Boast no more,' and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horns.

The arrogant use their words to attack the righteous (Psalm 31:18) and mock them (Psalm 119:51). They would tell lies (Psalm 119:69) in order to falsely accuse the righteous (Psalm 119:78). In contrast, the confident feel no need to attack other people in order to make themselves look good.

2) How they treat other people:

Exodus 18:10-11 (NIV) - He said, "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly."

This passage tells us that God sees the way Pharaoh treated the Israelites as arrogance. The Israelites were subjected to forced labour (Exo 1:11) and their newborn sons were mercilessly killed (Exo 1:22). Why were they so harshly abused? Probably because Pharaoh did not think the Israelites had a God that he was angering with his behaviour (Exo 5:2).

Arrogant people see others as resources to exploit or as threats to be neutralized (Exo 1:10-11), rather than people with the same needs and wants as they have. When you see someone treating others only as resources ("he has money to give me, she can help me get my dream job") or as threats ("I better make sure the boss won't give him MY promotion") you know you have an arrogant person right there.

3) How they respond to instruction and correction

Nehemiah 9:16 (NIV) - But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.

Nehemiah 9:29 (NIV) - You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.

Sometimes arrogant people put on a façade to get what they want from others. That's why it can be hard to recognize them at times. Here is one more sign of an arrogant person: he or she does not accept teaching or correction.

Watch how a person behaves when given teaching or correction. If he or she accepts it humbly or expresses any disagreement with you in a peaceable way, you know this person is not arrogant. However, if this person despises your words or suggestions, or totally ignores them, you know you have a problem right there.

Conclusion:

You do not need to have arrogant people in your worship team. In fact, it is better to keep them out. If you truly embrace worship ministry as participation, rather than performance (http://invisibleworshipmusician.com/article01.htm), you'll find that you do not need very musically skilled musicians to serve in your church. In my experience it is possible to prepare adults (with no music background) to play keyboards for church within 3-9 months. That's because worship music that works is not technically difficult.

But if you want to keep them out of your worship team, you'll need to be able to recognize them. You'll also need to make sure you don't reject confident people by mistake! Try these guidelines for recognizing arrogant people and let me know how they work for you?

Be blessed!