Settling Back Into The Grind

When I got back from Europe I figured it would take my body a couple of days to adjust to the 6-hour time difference. I got off the plane running! We had our church’s New Years Eve service to execute. Because of the tremendous growth of Gethsemane Community Fellowship, we held our New Years Eve service off-site at Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium. We had to contract sound reinforcement for the event. We had a guest artist coming in to do a concert that night. So, I had a lot of work to do that day to make sure that things went smoothly that night. And, yes, it was a wonderful night!

Since we were headed into a new year… and our church was beginning a new service schedule – going from two services per Sunday to three services – there was a lot to do before the first Sunday of the year. I had lots of meetings and planning. We had to redesign how we would execute things to accommodate these services. As “Minister of Worship and Arts” I am responsible for the ushers, greeters, media, parking & security, dancers, mime, drama and music ministries. And the change in service schedule was going to directly impact my ministries. To make things even more challenging, I had a ministry leader who was going out on sick leave for a couple of months with another young lady covering her ministry and I had another ministry that had just changed leaders. So, I had to be hands-on with both of these ministries. There was a lot to do!

My plan, getting back home, was to get to work on my next recording project. I had planned to do another live recording on February 29th. But I had to look at my whole picture and see if my timetable was realistic… and it wasn’t. I needed to spend the month of January working out the kinks of the new service schedule and working with my leaders. In other words, I needed to concentrate on things at my home church first. So I pushed the recording date to April 25th.

Before I knew it, three weeks had gone by and I hadn’t done any work on my new music. But I also sensed a longing in my heart. God sent a word through the church on Sunday about the parable of the wise and the foolish homebuilders. In that message, I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me. I realized that in the three weeks that I’ve been home I had not spent any quality time in prayer or in reading God’s word. I was working very hard on the things of God but wasn’t spending quality private time with God. WORSHIP LEADERS: BEWARE!!

So, I put everything on hold on Monday and spent time with God. Of course, he took me to a scripture that spoke directly to me. Isaiah 2:8 says, “Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” The word of God here reminded me of how easy it is for leaders to begin to worship the leadership position… for singers to worship the songs… for musicians to worship the music… for worship leaders to begin to worship the worship! It sneaks up on you. Before you know it, the private time with God is replaced with doing “kingdom work.” IT’S NOT THE SAME! God requires that I spend time with Him… not busy time but quiet time.

After my time with God, I was able to finally finish a song that was being birthed in my heart for quite some time, “I Give You Everything.” It’s going to be on my next project. I believe it will bless you. It’s a song of worship and surrenderance.