Finding my PLACE in the Kingdom...

The past three months have been very interesting. It’s been a time of transition, change and learning. Here is the short version of some of the past events...

For the past three years I had been serving and employed as Minister of Music at a wonderful church in Portsmouth, Virginia. This position afforded me the privilege of serving one of the kindest pastors I’d ever met. He is a man with a heart for his community and a passion to see people’s lives become better. I woke up one morning to the voice of the Lord telling me that my assignment at that church was complete and it was time to go. Of course, it shocked me. I was happy there. It was a nearly drama free church – and after all the drama that I’d endured in churches in the past, that was a welcomed change. We always experienced the presence of the Lord in the services. The worship was rich! I didn’t want to leave this place. So, I told my wife and we spent the following three weeks in prayer and fasting for confirmation and affirmation. God did confirm it. So we submitted a letter of resignation and offered a six-week notice so that the church would have time to make a smooth transition and the ministry wouldn’t be hindered.

Upon my resignation I started working with a wonderful church in Norfolk in an advisory and coaching role. This church has a full band, multiple choirs and worship leaders and a minister of music. My task was to help troubleshoot the ministry and offer suggestions while modeling a standard to which the music ministry could aspire. This was a part-time role.

Meanwhile, I was looking for a full-time Minister of Music position. I submitted my resume to over 40 churches in the Hampton Roads area – targeting Virginia Beach. As a result, I had some wonderful interviews with some great ministries. It was all very enticing. But, as I worked with this much smaller church in Norfolk (smaller than the churches that were interviewing me and making offers) I found my wife and me falling in love with the ministry. As if that wasn’t enough, each offer I received was followed by the voice of the Lord telling me that it wasn’t my place.

This drove me to my knees. I needed to know what was going on. Had I missed God somewhere? Then God spoke… loudly! “Stop trivializing what I’ve called you to do. This is more than a job. This is ministry. Many lives will be affected by what you do. It’s not a gig!” By now, tears were flowing as I repented of my wrong. I had taken the approach of so many musicians who see this as a job or a gig and had lost focus of the MINISTRY. Because of this, I was just looking for a job, not looking for my place. I was ready to join the place that was going to pay my bills. The priority was completely out of order. Thank God for the Holy Spirit that convicts us when we get out of line!

A few weeks later, my wife and I knew that we were ready to become a part of the Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church family and serve under Rev. Dr. Kirk T. Houston, Sr. Without any condition or promise of position, we joined a church where we both felt the Holy Spirit leading us. We found our place.

As for employment and other such matters, God has been supplying our needs. He is indeed the source. It’s amazing how firm a foundation you find once you take the leap of faith.

So, my encouragement to you is to know that you are in your place. Don’t keep wandering around, giving God contingencies. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and find your place.

There is more to this. Watch out for the next post.

Define "Ministry"...

Webster's Dictionary defines ministry as "the service, functions, or profession of a minister of religion. Simple, right? So let's dig deeper. Richard's Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, a source that I deeply enjoy, has this to say. The Hebrew word translated for minister in the Old Testament "is used of persons who give personal service to a ruler, particularly of those who are set aside to perform some special service in the worship of God." In the New Testament, "in most instances where 'minister' or 'ministering' is found in English versions, the Greek has some form of diakonia ('service' or 'ministry'), which occurs thirty-four times. A related noun, diakonos ('servant,' 'minister,' or 'deacon'), occurs thirty times. The verb diakoneo ('to serve' or 'to serve as a deacon') is used thirty-seven times.

"These words are distinctive in that their focus is squarely on loving action on behalf of a brother or sister or a neighbor. A similar word, doulos (127 times in the NT) can mean either 'slave' or 'servant,' and it focuses attention on our subjection to Jesus. But these ministry words call us to look at our fellow human beings as objects of the loving services we extend to them for Jesus' sake.

"It was Jesus himself who set both the tone and the example for such Christian ministry. He called his disciples to find greatness through servanthood, '...just as the Son of man did not come to be served (diakoneo) but to serve (diakoneo), and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mt 20:28)."

With this in mind, I am better able to understand my purpose as a minister of music and as a recording artist. It's interesting how the mind works. When you are carrying the title "Minister of Music," it is pretty easy to remember that you are in place to serve the body of Christ. You are automatically reminded that you are a person under the authority of a God-appointed leader, assigned to the task of helping that leader carry out their God-given mission. But when the title "Recording Artist" is attached or added, somehow we can easily forget who we are.

What the Lord is teaching me is that the only thing that should change when a person moves from minister of music to recording artist is the number of pastors that you are responsible to and the number of lives you are responsible for. As a recording artist, I am called to be a servant of the Body of Christ. I am not called to be a pastor or evangelist. I am called to be a servant. If my arrival at this new title is because the Lord appointed it, then it means that there is something in me that the Lord wants spread throughout the entire Body of Christ. But the recording artists is still a minister of music - therefore, still in place to serve the Body of Christ, under the authority of a God-appointed leader but now assigned to the task of helping that leader as well as all other God-appointed leaders carry out their God-given mission. In other words, it means more responsibility.

One of the reasons it is so easy to mess this up is because we see the celebrity of many secular recording artists and even many Christian or Gospel recording artists. Wow - what a mirage! So easily we start chasing the celebrity, wealth and fame of others not realizing that: a) many of them paid a dear price for what they have accomplished, b) most of them have been at it for several years before you've ever heard of them, c) there are many more artist that have been at it much longer they you that have not reached recognition status, let alone celebrity, d) it is incredibly easy and enticing to lose your integrity and your spiritual purity in pursuit of this temporal stuff, and e) promotion comes from God!

If we could just keep our eyes on God and not on this world we would be much less inclined to pursue passions that can destroy us. As servants of the kingdom, deacons of music, we must remember that secular artists can easily reach platinum sales because the world loves its own. But Christian/Gospel artists weren't necessarily called to minister to the world. Most of us were called to minister to God or to minister to the church. We are not of the world and shouldn't expect the world to love us. So the numbers are automatically different. Still, we don't have to sell out to the world for the sake of record sales. God has already orchestrated fantastic ways for our craft to be sustained within the dimensions of our God-given assignment. In other words, there are great, legitimate, honest ways to make a great living with Gospel/Christian music while retaining your integrity. It just requires that we trust and obey God.

I know I haven't written much lately. It's been an interesting few months. I've been going through an amazing transition and learning some powerful lessons. It hasn't all been comfortable. But I am closer to the Lord than I've ever been and I understand His word more clearly than ever. I've still got a lot to learn - but at least the classes are fun!!