Worship Musicians - A Sales Lesson

This never fails to irk me.

I’d be talking with some business people, and they’ll tell me what kind of customers they want, usually those who would mindlessly buy all their products at prices way above the market rate. Fair enough. I mean, if I was in business that’s the kind of customers I would want too.

And when I ask, “What are these people like? What do they care about? Where can you find them?” I usually get blank stares. Or they say “Can you help improve the English in our advertisement so that we can appeal to those people?” They’ve probably realized that their advertising isn’t working, so they hope that a quick fix (like improving the grammar) is enough to have hordes of crazed customers banging down their doors, begging for the chance to give them tons of money…

If business was THAT simple, shouldn't I do it myself and take all the money? Come on!

(“JJ, I thought this is about worship ministry?” - I’ll get to that in a moment!)

Those business people don’t realize that you cannot create something, present it to your ideal customer and try to trick them into buying it. Unless you are the only source of a product everyone needs, you have to know what your customers are looking for, what matters to them and how to give them what THEY want to buy, not what you want to sell to them.

Makes sense?

Just as clueless as the business people I mentioned earlier are many church leaders when looking for worship musicians. They approach recruiting church musicians with the same amount of care, planning and thought those businesses approach acquiring customers – almost zero.

Let me put this to you in business terms: when you are recruiting church musicians, you are doing sales. You are selling people the opportunity to be used by God in a powerful ministry that can deeply touch the lives of people, and can oftentimes unlock many other hidden giftings within the servers as well.

And what is the price? The price they have to pay to buy this opportunity is time; time spent on lessons and practice to acquire the relevant skills and knowledge, as well as time spent on rehearsals and service. This is time that can be spent with the family, on the career or the social life, or studying other areas of interest.

(Taking me for example - the biggest reason I am currently a socially-inept worship ministry geek is because of all the time I spent practicing during my younger days. That was the price I paid. This is why I can’t do youth ministry. I totally don’t understand youth, because I spent my youth on scales and drum rudiments!)

Besides time, many musicians have also invested considerable sums of money, both in their lessons and to purchase their instruments for practice. Let’s not include the opportunity cost, all the money they could have made if they spent their free time working instead of practising!

From this we can see that it takes a certain personality type to become a musician. Working with this type of people is like marketing to the affluent. If you try to sell products and services to the affluent without understanding what makes them different from the rest of the market, you will fail.

Dismally.

There is one thing many worship musicians have in common. And if you understand this ONE feature, you will know how to recruit them, how to handle them and how to lead them.

What is it?

Worship musicians very often lack confidence.

This makes sense if you stop and really think about it. Music is very wide ranging and diverse, and after some time the musician become aware of all the areas they are still not good at. Sight-reading? Arranging? Playing in a particular style, such as baroque, classical, jazz or R & B? Playing by ear? Improvisation? Transposing?

This lack of confidence applies across the board, whether the musician started lessons from young or took up an instrument later on in life. Someone who reads notes feels inadequate when facing a musician who plays entirely by ear. Musicians who play entirely by ear often feel insecure because they know that there are many things they cannot practice and train in unless they can read notes. Some of them feel like they are musical fakers, without genuine substance and music skill. And this nagging sense of insecurity remains no matter how much praise they receive for their music and how much encouragement others give them.

This lack of confidence colours a lot of what musicians do and how they think, yet it is something they HATE to admit to. So if you put them in a place where they have to admit their lack of confidence or show that their skills are lacking, they won't turn up.

That is why, when churches are recruiting worship musicians, I tell them to put up their list of worship musician criteria up on their website. Don't be lazy and say "We'll tell them our criteria when they tell us they are interested". It's very likely that the vast majority WON'T. They will scan through your church website and see if the info is there. If it isn't there, many of them are NOT going to ask. They don't want to bring up the topic, find out that they don't measure up, and then have to admit that to you. They hate that feeling.

This applies if you are announcing your recruitment exercise from the pulpit. Unless you stress that there are criteria and the musicians who wish to join your worship team can find out what they are in a non-threatening way, you are making it hard for them to approach you. If you put the criteria some place where they can check it up themselves, it is a lot less threatening to them.

Imagine that you are a shopowner, you've got many customers walking into a shop but your shop staff ignore them and don't even TRY to give them some information on what you have for sale or find out what they are looking for. As a business owner, should you tolerate this kind of sloppy service? It's costing you business!

But if you have a website or blog for your church and you don't put up your criteria for worship musicians up there, that's costing you worship musicians who may otherwise be a blessing to your congregation. That's fine if you have too many musicians already serving in your church, (let's say your church is smack in the middle of Nashville), but if you don't…

In the end, do you have a heart for your musicians?

If you know what matters to musicians, you will know how to communicate with them, are better able to give them what they want and help them give you what YOU want. But you have to be willing to understand and care for them, not try to make them fit YOUR idea of what worship ministry is like or see them only as resources to be exploited.

Don't give me excuses, saying "This is not how we do things in this church, this is not our culture." If you have musicians who come on board and soon quit, something is wrong. If your church is unable to recruit enough musicians in the long term, something is wrong. And you either fix it or go without good worship musicians. Or you are bouncing from one worship ministry crisis to another, wondering when will a large part of your musicians and worship leaders quit and leave you scrambling to recruit people again.

But if you engage with your worship musicians and work sincerely with them, you will find that you too will grow in understanding and maturity. And remember that the musicians in your church are God's people as well, redeemed by the blood, dear to his heart. Don't look at them only as useful to your successful running of a contemporary worship service. See them as people that God wants to love through you.

Remember, you are selling them the opportunity to be used by God in a powerful ministry that can deeply touch the lives of people, and can oftentimes unlock many other hidden giftings within the musicians too. This is a great product, and we know it will be a blessing to them. Are you willing to do what it takes to get this product to the right people, that they (and you) may be greatly blessed?

The ball is in YOUR court now!

P.S. if you find this useful, please tell your church friends and leaders about this blog. Thanks!

The Four Stages of Christian Maturity

We talk about looking for worship ministers and worship leaders with Christian maturity and character. But what does that really mean? We need to have some idea of what maturity is, because if we do not know what it looks like, we will not recognize it when we see it. Or we will be easily taken in by people who can spout the standard church-ianity model answers and clichés but do not live in the reality of the Christian walk.

What I am giving here is certainly NOT the final word on the topic, but it gives us a good starting point to look at this wide-ranging issue. I've realized that within the church context there are four stages of development that a believer may be at. They are:

1) Un-rooted Loner – A believer at this stage has accepted the salvation of Christ before, but because of anger, bitterness or unforgiveness, chooses to live independently of the other people in church. They have no functional root in Christ to give them consistent strength to walk in the Spirit.

They would live by their own standards of what is right, and they are often contemptuous of what other Christians believe and how they behave. They may accuse other Christians of just putting on a show, of pretending to follow the law and instructions of Christ. They may attend church services out of habit, but they are fundamentally self-centred and loners. One of the best descriptions of them is found in the following passage:

Proverbs 18:1 - A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. (NKJV)

2) Un-rooted Communal – these are believers who are not firmed rooted in Christ in themselves, but follow what they see the crowd doing. If it is fashionable to follow a particular doctrine or worship God in a particular way, that is what they do. Un-rooted Communals rise or fall depending on the godliness and wisdom of the leader of their particular group. If the leader and the rest of the group members are on fire for God and seeking God for wisdom as a body, these crowd-followers will do fine. But they are unable to stand alone, because they are not rooted in God by themselves. They are unable to take an individual stand against corporate mistakes, whether the mistakes of their denomination, church or fellowship group.

One of the best examples of crowd-followers would be the people of Israel during the time of Elijah's confrontation with King Ahab, recorded for us in 1 Kings 18:21-24. None of them dared to stand up for the LORD publically when the nation went into idolatry, but when they saw the demonstrated power of God they rejected the prophets of Baal and followed Elijah's lead in killing those prophets.

3) Rooted Loners – These are believers with a genuine walk with God. They are able to stand up against corporate error and are not intimidated by peer pressure. However, they are tactless and unfeeling in their interactions with other believers. They may be tempted to see other believers as mere crowd-followers, with no root in the Lord. And sometimes that is true. Rooted Loners are individualistic and they see little value in seeking God in the assembly.

They may go seek out people, but they do so for the sake of ministering to them (or correcting) them. They are not open to receiving ministry or correction from other people in the body of Christ, unless that person is clearly some spiritual super-hero, who has written a number of best-selling books, sold many worship albums or raised 18 or more people from the dead.

 

One of the best examples of rooted loners is the Apostle Paul in his early days. When he was converted, he would boldly go into the synagogues and preach Christ (Acts 9:20). But because he did not move in the wisdom and direction of the Lord, he stirred up such great strife that the rest of the believers had to send him to Tarsus (Acts 9:30). And when they did that the churches in that region had peace, were edified and their numbers multiplied (Acts 9:31).

Imagine, being so unedifying to church growth that your church multiplies in numbers and grows in maturity when you decide to do nothing! I would be so discouraged…

4) Rooted Communal – these are people with a genuine walk with God AND a heart both to serve his people and to be taught and served by them. They will seek God by themselves in the personal prayer closet, but they also know that they cannot walk with God alone. So they actively seek out edifying fellowship, people they can serve and be accountable to.

One clear example of a Rooted Communal is King David. We know from his psalms that he had a genuine walk with God; yet he also delighted in seeking God in the assembly. You can see from the following passage that David loved to go to the house of God with close companions, hence the pain he felt when betrayed by such a friend.

Psalm 55:13-14 - But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance.
We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng. (NKJV)

This emphasis on worshipping God as a community is an important theme in the worship of God's people. Consider this verse:

 

Psalm 122:1-2 - I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! (NKJV)
 

When does a believer really start growing?
The turning point in a believer's growth in the Lord comes when he or she gets rooted in the Lord. This comes from taking personal responsibility for his or her personal walk with the Lord. Such people will not fall away from God because other believers stumble. They will never leave the Lord because of other believers offending or hurting them, because they abide the Jesus, the Vine (John 15:4) and therefore they will bear fruit even if others do not.

But no matter how much time they spend in the presence of the Lord and seeking him in worship and in his word, they will never reach their highest potential in Christ until they realize what the Bible says in this passage:

Eph 4:12-13 - … to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

In other words, there is no way for a Loner, no matter how sincere or fervent in his or her faith, to fully realize his or her potential in Christ unless the rest of Body of Christ rises up too. The Rooted Communal will seek growth for his/her own sake, as well as for the Body of Christ. The Rooted Communal will be teach and exhort other believers in humility and gentleness, and be open to teaching and correcting from other believers as well, even those who are not spiritual super-heroes.

Why are we looking at this?

Because the nature of worship ministry, especially worship leading, require that we live in community. We cannot lead people if we look down upon them or think they are spiritual slackers that are just dead weight to the Body of Christ. We also cannot be consistently effective in leading people in worship if we do not know where they are at, what they struggle with, or even what songs they know.

The last thing you want is some Rooted Loner with a good singing voice leading worship for your congregation. I have seen situations in which the worship leader thought he could prophetically exhort the congregation into powerful spontaneous worship, and when the congregation didn't respond because they were not musical enough to sing to some abstract chord progressions, the worship leader continued to exhort them to love and praise God with all their hearts. The unspoken message is that if the people cannot sing to some strange chord progression they do not love God with all their hearts.

Do your people need this kind of guilt trip and condemnation? I don't think so!

Conclusion

I do not talk a lot about the intangibles of the worship ministry, because it is not the thrust of my ministry. But this factor, maturity in the Lord, is very important and has a very direct impact on the effectiveness of everybody in the worship ministry. So what stage of maturity are YOU at right now? How about your worship team members? And how will understanding this influence the way you select musicians and worship leaders for your worship ministry?

P.S. Enjoyed this post? Leave a comment on it below!

Pride of the Prophetic

I led worship for all the sessions of the Living Faith Church Pastors Conference last week.

Why is that significant to me?

You see, a month ago I received a strongly worded email about me, my life and all that. It came from someone whose heart I respect (in fact, I trust his sincerity a lot more than I trust my own) but whose level of insight is not always at a very high level.

Anyway, his email was on what he saw was wrong with my life. Simply put, he said that a lot of the fundamentals in my life were not in place and as long as there are not in place, my ministry will never go the way God wants it to go. He said that I would keep seeing people of a lesser capability than I, or younger in the faith, rise up and run further than I in worship ministry just because they are obedient to lay the foundations. I myself will be hovering and floating around trying to volunteer for worship ministry but never finding a place where I can take off.

Heavy going words, right? Makes me sound like the ultimate in pathetic, like Deu 28:68 - "There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

What gave him the ammo for his point was the postponement of my California ministry trip. To him, it's a spiritual matter, and further proof that God will close doors for me until I shape up.

Why do I even bother to give any thought to emails like that? Because that is how I am. I'm not interested in boasting of all the ministry opportunities that have come my way (and I have seized), I don't want to talk about how respected my ministry is amongst people with powerful prophetic insight and all that. Even if it proves this friend wrong.

Because:

1) he would just dismiss it anyway, saying that it doesn't count or the people involved are not spiritual leaders worth their salt (since they give open doors to someone he counts unworthy); AND

2) there is always the chance that there might be some truth in what he says. Ecc 10:1 says "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor". I am the sort who wants to look past the dead flies at the perfume, get what I mean?

So I brought the entire matter before God. What I think or what my friend says about my ministry isn't important, it's what God says that matters. So I prayed "God, you show me what YOU think of me and my ministry!"

The Answer

And within a week I was asked to lead worship for all the sessions of the Pastors Conference. I still remember praying about it, "God, should I or shouldn't I? Can I afford the time to? Can I afford the strength? Is it your will? Am I moving in the flesh, trying to open doors for myself in my own power rather than your Spirit?" and so on.

People who know me well will be sniggering away by now, because they know I usually have no patience for this kind of self-centred, moribund, self-indulgent introspection that cripples many charismatics and worship ministers I know. Yeah, that is how contagious doubt is!

Once I could quiet down my spirit to really hear the voice of God, I felt God telling me "I opened this door for you in answer to your prayer. Why are you praying about whether to go in? This is not an opportunity for you to serve. Leading worship for this conference is your reward!"

I know it sounds weird to say that serving my heart out is itself a reward, but that truly was how I experienced those sessions. It was so easy to lead worship for those pastors, I was basking in the spotlight anointing so easily, in the end I was so richly blessed and edified by those worship sessions.

So my heart is at rest now. I know my ministry and my walk with Christ isn't perfect yet, but God has chosen to vindicate me. And I am grateful.

About that brother:

I know this post makes that brother-in-Christ look bad. He isn't a bad person. As I said earlier, I trust his sincerity more than I trust my own. I have totally no doubts over his motivations; he has more than proven himself to truly love me and my family with the love of God.

It's just that he's not open to input when he's already made up his mind.

Before he sent off that email to me, he could have asked the opinions of church leaders who are in active contact with me, and be willing to hear from them. In church I am actively serving under two small group leaders who are mature believers I respect. They are not spiritually gullible newbies in Christ, easily taken in by a charismatic song and dance routine. They've been around and they have a certain level of discernment.

And they told me that for the tangibles (what can be seen in my actions and words) the points of that email were inaccurate and wrong. Both told me to set my heart at rest.

But what about my heart?

What about the inner workings of my heart? What about my motivations, my priorities and all that?

This is going to offend some people, but I sincerely believe that God deals with us not based on the intangibles (like the heart) but based on the tangibles, like our actions. Consider how David prayed about wicked people who habour malice in their hearts:

• Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve. (Psa 28:4, NIV)

Notice David focuses on the obvious? God himself also judges us according to our deeds, rather than our hearts. He said so.

• "I, the LORD, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." (Jer 17:10, NIV)

Because I long realized that the heart is deceitful above all things and utterly wicked (Jer 17:9), I gave up looking at my heart, worked on getting my actions right, and letting the Lord himself do his work in my heart in his timing. When one of my leaders told this friend about my actions and how faithful I am in serving, he took the ultimate charismatic cop-out – when he couldn't find fault with my actions (the tangibles), he moved on to talk about the intangibles (like foundations and all that).

As I said, he isn't open to other opinions once he has made up his mind.

This is a kind of pride that prophetically inclined people have to watch out for. They have heard God accurately some times, and take that to mean that they hear God correctly all the time. And if other believers don't agree with them there must be something wrong with those other believers.

And we worship ministers…

We in the worship ministry ALSO have to beware of this kind of pride. Because the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10), and we worship leaders are actively testifying of Jesus through our words and songs, we will find ourselves moving in the prophetic (even if we don't know or don't believe in it).

And when that happens we have to watch out for the Pride of the Prophetic. We may hear God and even speak for him accurately some times, or even often, but that does not mean we hear him accurately all the time. We still have to keep ourselves humble and teachable. Moving in the Spirit of Prophecy does not mean that we have superseded the rest of the Word of God. All the non-glamorous verses in Proverbs still apply to us, verses such as:

• He who answers before listening — that is his folly and his shame. (Pro 18:13).

We still need to be willing to hear from other people, even those we consider spiritually younger or weaker than us. After all,

• A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. (Pro 18:2, NIV)

Anyway, that's about it for now. I have got some other things to look at this week, so I'll get on with them. Do share your thoughts with me on this? You may add your comments on the bottom of this page, in the comments section. Be blessed!

James' Law of Two Springs

People were telling me that someone I know is really anointed for worship. They say that he would break out into prophetic songs in the midst of worship and those who hear it are edified. "Wouldn't it be great if the two of you can combine your gifting and work together? Wonder-Twins activated!" (Reference to a kid's TV show from a long time ago)

No.

Given the choice I will not want to minister in worship with this person. Why? Because he violates what I call James' Law of Two Springs.

James 3:9-11 (NIV) With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Simply put, James' Law tells us we should not be one of those who praise God and verbally abuse or criticise other people. And because I have spent considerable amounts of time with that supposedly anointed guy, I know him to be such a person. He is the kind of person who would sing out loud, be very demonstrative and expressive in worship, and yet within hours after the service be complaining about his spouse or verbally abusing and threatening his kids.

Of course you would not know these things about a person just from casual acquaintance. But as time goes by a person's true colours are revealed. One of his closest friends from church (not me) confronted him over how he always managed to find something wrong in every situation, instead of looking for whatever he could thank God for (1 Thes 5:18). And within weeks of that confrontation this person was talking about wanting to change church because the worship leaders and the worship musicians were not doing a good job during worship.

Yeah, right.

Am I being too strict over this? I don't think so. Jesus said that all these are symptoms of an underlying problem, a defiled heart.

Matt 15:18 (NIV) - But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'

Especially when it comes to encountering God in worship, this is crucial. Consider Isaiah's encounter with God, recorded for us in Isaiah 6.

Isaiah 6:5 (NIV) - "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

When Isaiah received a vision of the LORD seated on his throne and the angels worshipping him, the first area of his life that troubled his conscience was his lips. This strongly suggests to me that we cannot meet God face-to-face in worship without his holiness challenging us in the area of our speech.

Someone can sing out loud, break into spontaneous worship (which really impresses charismatics, I noticed) and yet not truly meet God face-to-face in worship. How will I know? I listen to such a person's words in day-to-day life. As long as I can see two springs of water, fresh and salty, where there should not be, I know this person hasn't fully met the Lord in worship yet.

Isaiah 6, by the way, explains the two opposite reactions people may have after an intense time of worship. Some people talk, it seems as if their lips are loosed and they start speaking of godly things a lot more. This is not surprising, as the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10). As they testified of Jesus in worship, the Spirit of prophecy came upon them.

Other people, I noticed, just fall silent. It's as if they do not want to defile the holy atmosphere around them with their worldly words. Suddenly they have no need to speak, and it seems as if their souls have entered the quietness and rest of God (Isa 30:15).

The practical aspect of things:

If you are leading your worship team, especially the singers and the worship leaders, I highly recommend that you do not accept anyone on your team if he or she does not consistently follow James' Law of Two Springs.

If you have gone through my teaching materials you should know me by now. I don't talk very much about the spiritual side of worship, about the heart of worship and all that kind of stuff. Why? Because I have seen people major on all the intangible stuff because they don't have anything to share or impart about the tangible aspects of worship ministry. That's not my role in the Body of Christ.

But James' Law of Two Springs is the ONE thing I will teach and emphasize on when it comes to the intangible aspects of worship ministry. In my 14-15 years in the worship ministry, I would say that this is one of the most important aspects of a worshipper's personal life, and it has a direct spiritual correlation on this person's spiritual effectiveness (or otherwise) in the worship ministry.

Now what if YOU are violating James' Two Stream Law?
You need to get out of it. There are three steps:

1. Prayer – My own personal testimony: when I was 17 years old I was at a youth camp and the pastor shared about specially seeking out the people who get put down and showing God's kindness to them. As he shared I suddenly realized that I myself was one who would go around putting others down. So after that sharing I asked that pastor to pray for me.

And he did. He prayed that I would let go of all the hurts I received before and walk in forgiveness. After that time I found that I suddenly lost the drive to get in the last word, to dig an insult further in, and to make other people pay for all the pain I went through before. That cleaned up my speech very quickly!

So you pray also. Find some spiritual leader such as your pastor to pray for you. There is power that comes from humbling yourself in prayer and seeking God for him to rein in your tongue.

2. Scripture – Replace unedifying thoughts and speech with the Word of God.

Colossians 3:15-16 (NIV) – Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

3. Worship – In this I am not referring to serving in the worship ministry, but simply singing praises to God, both as part of a congregation and by yourself. Remember Isaiah 6? When Isaiah saw the Lord and realized the sinfulness of his speech, immediately he received atonement for his sin.

The more we faithfully and consistently offer praises onto God, the more opportunity we give God to meet with us and change us, and at a more gradual and comfortable pace than Saul had when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Many charismatics I've met seem to prefer the sudden God-turns-up-and-zaps-me kind of transformation. That sudden encounter worked for changing Saul on the road to Damascus, but it was certainly very uncomfortable! I'd rather live in submission to God and avoid such drastic measures.

Conclusion

Many people in church circles despise the power of a reined tongue. They make light of it by saying things like "He can talk the talk, but can he walk the walk?" By this they imply that it is easier to say the right things than to do them. And then they think that because they do the right churchy kind of things, they need not watch their words.

James 1:26 (NIV) - If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

I have been touched by God in this area of my life. I know that my words, even when they offend, are not spoken out of malice or resentment. So I tell you: It can be done. God really wants to be there for you, to change your heart and purify the speech that arises from your lips. And when he has done his work you'll find that life is a lot better, your heart is a lot lighter and your praises to God feel a lot more powerful.

In other words, tap into the power of the One Spring!

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!

The Fish With A Coin In The Mouth

I am a charismatic. And proud of it.

But there are times when I cringe at what some of my fellow charismatics do. And that is especially when they make a very uniquely charismatic mistake, to mess up the natural and expect the supernatural to compensate for it.

What do I mean by that?

One clear example are people who claim they want to play drums for worship, refuse to seriously learn the instrument, and yet pray fervently that God would anoint their playing and bless the worship session with his presence. They would talk about depending on the Lord and not on their own efforts, not have the fruits to back it up, and then accuse others of being fleshly and earthly-minded if they do not agree that they are anointed and gifted of God in their drumming.

This mistake can manifest in other ways and contexts, other than just worship ministry. For example, a church may be seeking to hire a pastoral assistant with at least a diploma in theology, and yet put up the job notice in only one place – a secular job site. Surely if they wanted to seek the people with the right qualifications, they would at least email the notice to a few Bible Colleges or seminaries, right? They didn't.

I don't see this kind of mistake among the non-charismatics.
What makes the whole thing confusing?
You see, amongst us charismatics, we have testimonies of God directing people to do things that do not make sense, and yet they get results. Supernatural results.

All that is great – until we feed people the expectation that God will usually work like that, or if we believe that taking care of the natural details leaves God no room to work supernaturally. And for many of us charismatics, that has been put to us as the unpardonable sin, moving in the flesh, trusting in the arm of man rather than the power of God.

During this season I have been meditating on the Gospel of Matthew, and one day this verse grabbed my attention.
But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. (Matthew 17:27, NIV)
Jesus said this after Peter had foolishly committed himself and Jesus to paying the temple tax. Jesus, being the rightful owner of the temple (and the rest of the entire universe) of course would be exempted from the tax. But because Jesus saw the whole thing as a small matter, not worth offending the Pharisees over, he chose to pay that tax in a supernatural way.

Can you imagine what the other disciples might have said to Peter as he was heading off to follow Jesus' instructions?

"Hey Peter, I heard about the temple tax people coming here just now. What happened?"
"I told them that Jesus would pay the temple tax."

"And how does Jesus intend to settle that?"

"He told me to go fishing."

"Want some help, Peter? Maybe John and James should go help you? You are going to need to catch a lot of fish to pay that tax!"

"No problem, Jesus said I only need to get one, because the first one will have the money in its mouth already!"

Wonder what the other disciples thought at this point!

What I JUST noticed, however, was Jesus took care of the natural factors as well. What do I mean? For example, Jesus sent Peter to fish for the money, not Matthew the Tax Collector or Simon the Zealot. Naturally speaking, Peter was well-qualified to perform this task.

Jesus also directed Peter to fish in the lake. That was the ideal and reasonable place for Peter to find fish. Jesus could have told him to go fish in a river or pond or even look for the fish somewhere on land, since God would have no difficulty moving fish around anywhere he wishes. And yet Jesus told Peter to go to the lake.
In other words, we see that, even when preparing for a supernatural work, Jesus would get qualified people to go to the right places for it!
Of course God can direct his people to do really weird things. It's his prerogative. Personally, if someone tells me that God told him or her to do something strange, and if everything goes horribly wrong I am the person cleaning up the mess, then I'll look for the following two signs that this person has been directed by God:

1) Timing: Notice from this account that the first fish gave Peter the results. If Peter had to catch 2,385 fish to find that one fish with the money inside, then I'll say that his finding the money was just a fluke. Things like that happen.

2) Leverage: Could Peter have paid the tax without the money in the fish's mouth? Yes, but it would take catching a lot more fish! What was supernatural in this incidence was the leverage and impact of the results. This one fish was enough to accomplish God's purpose when usually we would need a lot more fish. If Peter toiled for a couple of weeks to catch enough fish for the tax, we can see clearly that it was not a supernatural working.

There are different ways leverage can be manifested. For example, in Luke 5:1-11, Peter caught a huge number of fish (leverage) immediately upon the Word of Jesus (timing). In Matthew 17 Jesus chose to skip the necessity of selling the fish in exchange for money and used the fish to bring the money directly. And after this account, the next time Jesus gave Peter a supernatural catch of fish in John 21, the leverage was displayed through the huge number of fish again.

So I'll look for the signs. Such as a job-ad in an unusual place pulling in the right job candidates immediately, or an untrained musician being able to play what unifies the worship of the congregation. In other words, I will judge, not by the jargon or spiritual-sounding clichés the person uses, but by the fruits (Luke 6:44).

Why would a person choose to ignore the natural factors and principles that make things work?

Ultimately it is an issue of slothfulness.

The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly. (Pro 26:16, NIV)

Those who are mentally lazy and do not want to put in the necessary preparations like to think of themselves as being above the rules. They want to believe that they can get results without putting in the necessary effort. And they use the Holy Spirit as an excuse.

For example, I see some business websites that are set up by Christians, and those sites have HORRIBLE marketing copy on them. The writing that they put up is self-indulgent and totally devoid of marketing value. It will not bring them customers; in fact, it will probably drive the customers away. Those website owners can say that they are inspired by God to write what they wrote, but if it isn't bringing them the results, then they are indirectly blaming God for the lack of fruit.

The willingness to learn what is necessary and do what it takes is the difference between the mentally lazy and the serious people who just need more time to bear fruit. Those who are serious but just need more time are those who will consult with genuine experts (not just friends, neighbours and relatives) and put in genuine effort.

They are teachable but discerning. They know that they are better off getting marketing advice from a marketing expert (with proven sales results), worship ministry advice from an effective worship leader, and exercise and diet advice from someone who is healthy and full of energy.

In other words, they will make themselves into the right people and are willing to go to the right places. When their time comes they are ready for God to use their natural preparations and give them supernatural results. Just like Peter in Matthew 17.

Please hear my heart. I know what I share here will be controversial, and there will be sincere, God-fearing charismatics who are offended by what I have said. But I am sharing this so that:

1) You will recognize this kind of faulty thinking in other people;

2) You will avoid it for yourself; AND

3) You will put in the necessary effort to make yourself the right person who can go to the right places at God's direction and be blessed with supernatural results.

I will not know what is God's specific assignment and direction for your life. It may or may not be in the worship ministry. But what I can tell you is that whatever it is, it will require you to grow in your understanding and skills. And it will involve a lot of mundane, unexciting preparations. Just like in Peter's case, when all the fishing he did before using his own natural abilities helped prepare him to be someone God could use to fish supernaturally.

So be patient, be faithful, and one day you may be the one opening the fish's mouth to find a coin inside!
"May the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will" (Hebrews 13:20, 21 NIV)
P.S. And if you want to get equipped to serve God in the worship ministry and you haven't got my book yet, what are you waiting for? Get it, get equipped and get going!

Who can show us any good?

I don't know why, but recently I have received more emails than usual from people, thanking me for the devotional emails I sent. Those emails cover material that is not posted anywhere on the Internet, unlike my blog posts and my teaching articles. (I may compile them into a book some day, who knows?)

Anyway, I've set up a page with a sample devotional, just so that those of you who are not on my mailing list can see what kind of good stuff you are missing. :) So go check it out!

Why Look to David?

One thing I have learned the HARD way - don't head over to any worship forums for a 'quick' look just before bedtime. The questions and thoughts I get can have me so excited I can't sleep!

One recent example is this question Peter Goh brought up on Worship the Rock. He pointed out that many Christian leaders teach worship from the Old Testament models of worship, such as Levitical worship or David's materials instead of looking at the New Testament. In John 4:23 Jesus revealed that there would be a massive change in the nature of worship "... a time is coming and has now come (NIV)" so why look at the older models of worship if God doesn't think they are good enough?

John 4:23 (NIV) - Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

To start we first need to look at what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. I wrote about it in detail before but to quickly sum up, to worship in spirit is to relate to God on the basis of our relationship with him through our new birth (John 3:5-6) rather than what we can achieve out of our flesh (Phil 3:3). And to worship in truth is to realize that there is nothing for which we can claim any credit or glory for, since every good we have done, including our worship, all came from God and was done through God in the first place (John 3:21).

This is a simple definition of spirit and truth, looking at John 3 and letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We can also say that to worship in spirit and truth is to relate to God based on the new covenant. And the new covenant means that all our sins are forgiven (Heb 8:12) and therefore we have a very good reason for total confidence and boldness in approaching God (Heb 10:19-22). Therefore praising God is a very natural fruit of such revelation (Heb 13:15).

The contemporary worship scene is more influenced by the Davidic model than the Levitical model (many people aren't keen to go back to sacrificing animals) so for now let's just consider: Why Look At David? I'll give a couple of reasons.

Firstly, David had an understanding of God that far exceeded what the Scriptures available to him revealed. We can see him as being very much a new covenant worshipper in the following areas:

1) He saw himself as a son of God - He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.' (Psalm 89:26, NIV)

2) He knew he needed the forgiveness of God and that God was willing to forgive - Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5, NIV)

3) He knew that he had nothing in and of himself to offer God, and that whatever he had came from God in the first place - Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (1 Chron 29:14, NIV).

People can argue over whether David was worshipping God in spirit and in truth. But what is obvious to us is that David, because of the faith he displayed in worshipping God, shows us very clearly how we ought to relate to God as new covenant believers. David was so confident in God that he believed his songs were more precious to God than even the animal sacrifices required by the Levitical priesthood.

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. (Psalm 69:30-31, NIV)

How many of us have THAT level of confidence when we sing to God? Or do we come to God with trepidation, not believing in the fullness of the finished work of Christ? Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). David definitely had the faith that pleased God. We would do well to learn from him.

Secondly, the New Testament points us towards the Davidic model of worship. We know that the whole of Scripture is God-breathed by his Spirit (2 Tim 3:16) and yet there are three specific parts of Scripture explicitly tied to the Spirit of God. They are

1) The Words of Jesus (the words in red) - The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63, NIV);

2) Old Testament prophecies - For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.(2 Pet 1:21, NIV); AND

3) The Psalms - be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:18-19, NKJV).

And God considers the Psalms, the fruit of the Davidic model of worship, so important, that we are admonished twice (Eph 5:18-19, Col 3:16) to feed on them, to talk to God and each other about them. And we have a direct endorsement of the Davidic model given us in Acts 15:16, when James declared that the Gentiles (non-Jews) turning to Jesus is a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy announcing God's intention to rebuild David's tabernacle (Amos 9:11-12). If God likes the David model of worship so much that he wants to restore it, and even ties the salvation of non-Jews to its restoration, it must be something VERY important to God.

And that means it ought to be important to us also.

Disclaimer: I'll be the first to admit that there are problems with the way some people look at the David model of worship. I personally disagree with using the Davidic model of worship to justify a song-and-dance routine that is based on professional worshippers rather than the entire body of Christ. And that's because of 1 Peter 2:9 which teaches us that ALL of us are royal priests, called to declare God's praises.

But even though there are people who misunderstand the Davidic model of worship, there will always be something useful for us to glean from it (as from ALL Scripture, 2 Tim 3:16). And I believe that we will understand the Davidic Model more and more in the future, as we continue to humble ourselves before God and ask that he open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18).

May God himself teach us from His word and make us fruitful in His service!

P.S. if you are not yet on my Invisible Worship Musician mailing list, get over to my page and get in now! I'm going to hold a special sale to celebrate my upcoming California ministry trip. Stay tuned!

Worship Musicians and Vampires

I have a confession to make.

I've read the Twilight Series, the series of vampire-themed novels by Stephenie Meyer.

For those of you who want to understand the appeal of this series without having to plough through four thick novels, this series is essentially Cinderella writ large. Ordinary girl attracts the devotion of a fascinating male with immense physical powers, loads of money, a rich history and the kind of good looks we attribute to Greek gods. And then she herself undergoes that same transformation to rise up to his status, to become his equal, just as Cinderella became royalty through her marriage with the prince.

There, now I've saved you the hassle of reading four thick books. You now have more time to read the Bible and all my emails!

One interesting thought that occurred to me as I read through the books: many worship musicians are similar to the vampires in that series of novels. We have three areas of similarity:

1) Heightened Sensitivity

First, just as the vampires in the series have heightened physical senses, we worship musicians also have a very much higher level of sensitivity to sound, pitch and tempo. The vampires in that series can hear a human heart beating from across the road ("no big deal, JJ! I can hear coins dropped in the NEXT room!"). Musicians are likewise more sensitive to musical nuances than the average layperson.

This can range from being able to tell if someone is singing a little out-of-tune or is playing the snare drum a millisecond delayed on the 2^nd and 4^th counts, to the subtle different in electric guitar effects. When I was a piano newbie I didn't understand why people insisted on me using the correct sustain pedal technique. Later on I found to my surprise that I could hear, while conducting a group class, the sound of ONE student using the wrong pedalling technique. It was just so obvious to me after years of hearing it done right.

Being more sensitive to all these musical nuances is great when you are trying to tune up and refine your own musical skills, or the skills of your students. It often causes frustration, however, when it applies to relating with non-musicians. Ever been in a small group worship setting when you, the worship leader, are the ONLY person in the room singing in tune? Some musicians cannot listen past the discordant sounds to hear how the people are singing their hearts out to God and encountering God in worship. All many musicians notice is how everyone else is out-of-tune when trying to hit the high C# note. This can lead to much frustration in the hearts of impatient musicians.

Remember, in a worship setting all music technique (singing in pitch, instrument skill) is meaningful only to the extent it helps the people sing out their praises to God. Serving the people is the end objective. NEVER let the music distract you from serving the congregation, and never let it cause you to despise the people!

2) The Temptation to Prey on People

Second, even though the primary vampire family in the series chose not to feed on human blood, they acknowledged that feeding on humans is the natural inclination. We worship musicians may not literally be feeding on the congregation's blood, but we have to fight the inclination to prey on them in other ways, especially for approval and applause.

Beware, especially, the mindset that the congregation owes it to us to appreciate our music. They don't. They don't understand or care about how much effort we put in to ensure we fit our diminished licks into the dominant seventh (flatted ninth) chords, or to recreate the exact horn and orchestral arrangements that we heard from some massive Christian concert. And they are most likely going to lose focus and stop paying attention during the worship if we insist on putting in 64 bars of electric guitar solos every two songs or so.

This calls for understanding and restraint. We need to understand that if we serve the congregation well they are not going to notice the little things we do for them. Only God does, therefore we should look to HIM for our reward and approval, not men. And we need to restrain musical displays at all times, doing only what would serve the people, not draw attention to us and distract them from God.

3) The Need for Deliberate Effort to Understand

Third, the vampire family has to put in conscious, deliberate effort to act like humans because they wish to stay among them. Bella, the protagonist of the story, has to remember a whole list of things to do after she has become a vampire and her dad unknowingly comes to visit. She's got to remember to breathe, to blink, to fidget, to cross and uncross her legs and remember to go to the bathroom once in a while.

We worship musicians have to remember the same thing. I was in the office with Jeff (the guy who did the music notation for my book Invisible Worship Musician) a few days back and he was commenting that he did not want to get involved with teaching laypeople about the lifestyle of worship, because we musicians view the entire matter in a very different way from the congregation.

For example, many musicians cannot comprehend singing along to a 'worship' CD, while for an average layperson in church that is quite an acceptable option. We musicians feel scandalized that people can connect with God without the intervention of us anointed, Spirit-filled, God-appointed worship ministers! But in a practical sense we are replaceable by CDs, MIDI software or Youtube videos.

So if we want to serve God's people even more effectively than a CD, MIDI file or Youtube video, we need to understand the congregation and how they see music. And we use our music to serve them. Sometimes that means playing in a boring way, because we don't want to be a distraction. Sometimes that means more work, when we change or tweak a song so that it works better for the people.

Warning!

And at all times we have to beware the deception of music = worship. In the very first worship band I joined my church called us worship musicians the modern-day Levites, saying that we were tasked to bring people into the presence of God through worship. But this statement never sat well with me, because it raised the question: what does me being a great musician have to do with worship? Does understanding one automatically mean I understand the other? Or will I have to about worship the same way every other believer does, through the Bible illuminated by God's Holy Spirit?

To say that a musician is gifted in worship ministry is like saying that someone who speaks Japanese is gifted in interior design. If you meet a few people who speak Japanese and have studied ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) and use those insights in decorating a house tastefully, that does not mean that the next Japanese-speaker you meet has the same skills and opportunities. Likewise for musicians. For a musician to be effective in worship ministry, this musician needs to be taught the specific skills of worship music and to deliberately use those skills to support the praises of a congregation.

Being skilled in music does not necessarily mean that someone is able to serve well in worship ministry! It takes more than that. It takes an understanding of what the people need and a willingness to use music to serve that need. That is the true heart of a worship minister. May God work in our hearts and grant us the insights and skills we need to serve his people!

P.S. If you are a worship leader or musician, and haven't checked out my Invisible Worship Musician yet, what are you waiting for? In that book I share in detail the understanding, concepts and skills you need to be an effective worship leader and musician. Get your copy today!

P.P.S . Continue to pray for my California trip. More and more of the details are falling in place and I am very excited! Stay tuned for the exact dates and location, they will be released soon!

Me? Going California?

Hi, everyone!

Really need your prayers! I'm heading to California (Yosemite area) in the second week of August to speak at a Worship Ministry conference. It's my first ministry trip out of Singapore, so you can guess I'm really excited about it. Do uphold me in prayer, especially over:

1. Me - pray that God will prepare me and speak to me about the work he wants me to do in this trip. I desire to be used by God to impact lives for this conference.

2. The Organizer - Pastor Allyn Bell will be handling all the logistics, promotion and all that kind of stuff. Pray that he will receive wisdom and strength from God as he labors to birth forth this event.

3. The participants - Pray that God will bring the right people to this event so that they will be blessed by it.

If you are going to be in the Yosemite area during the second week of August, do let me know! I'd love the opportunity to meet up with you. And if you'd like to be there for the conference, contact me and I'll link you up with Pastor Allyn, so he can send you the info and details you'll need.

Be blessed!