Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Protection of the Word Pt. 2

Last post, I spoke about the need for written documentation for the musician and leaders to be on the same page. But the most important words the musician needs to be acquainted with are the words of the Holy Bible. It amazes me that in this day of constant bible teaching and access to all kinds of ministries that knowledge of God's Word is a rarity among musicians. In the past, we didn't have access to information about God's opinion of music and musicians. Oftentimes it was taken for granted that musicians had to play because that's what musicians do - when they weren't playing on secular gigs. But now we can learn how important music was, and is, in the current worship settings of today's churches based on biblical principles. However, the Word is no good if you don't know it.

To make this practical, let's look at how the Word gives musicians a place in the ministry.

From Genesis to Revelation, music takes a central place as a medium for worship. From 1 Chronicles 15:16, where David instituted the selection of musicians to work as and alongisde the priests in the temple; to the Psalms, which were originally set to music and contain hundreds of references to playing and singing; to Revelation, where even the redeemed saints are referred to as having the 'harps of God'. (Rev.15:2) You can't let people in the church downplay your role when you know that God has ordained a place for you in the worship of the ages. Knowing that you have a biblical role in the church can hold you up when respect, recognition, or reward is lacking.

Not only does the Word protect you from those that would claim you have no real value, it can protect you from your own destructive habits and issues that can keep you from becoming less than an anointed instrument. There really is no substitute for time in daily devotions for the Minister of Music or the musician. The devil himself was cast out of heaven because his gift went to his head. As musicians we are constantly in a battle between our desire to play skillfully and the need to let God alone be glorified. The only way to manage that desire is to have a keen sense of the Word, such as when Paul talks about his strengths and weaknesses in Phillipians 3. He has the credentials to boast, but yet he counts it loss for the knowledge of Christ. In the same way, God uses your talent to bless others, but you must give up the glory of the talent in order to know Christ fully. Without a daily dose of the Word, we become the very thing that Satan became- an instrument of discord and disobedience. Only the Word sustains us and maintains us in a world where the worship of gifts can overcome the worship of the Giver.

A couple of books that are great resources in this matter of the Word:
The Rebirth of Music by Lamar Boschmann, and Judah Nation by Clint Brown.

Until next time, b blessed

miamimaestro

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Protection of the Word

The title of this post has a double meaning, much like one of Jesus' parables - an earthly one and a heavenly one. The earthly meaning refers to the ways the written word can protect you in administrative and employment matters. The heavenly is the protection that the Word of God provides. I'll start with the former.

In the last few weeks, I've seen situation after situation where members and leaders have had differences of opinion, problems over dress code, rehearsal time, and the like. The most important thing I have at those times is a written note, calendar, policy, or e-mail detailing what was said, or what was explained prior. There's just no way a minister of music can keep up with all the issues and dates without some time of organization plan. Some have a secretary to help keep up with such things, most do not. So it's important to develop a music ministry policy or handbook that can cover how the ministry will handle day to day operations, rehearsals, and other things that can come up each week.

In my ministry I had each choir president and director tell me what their regular duties were, as well as their implied or non-official jobs that they ended up being responsible for. It was almost two years of work, but I finally compiled all the things I learned into a single document detailing what each position was responsible for. This helps both current leaders and new ones. The new leaders benefit because there is a basic plan of action they can follow, and current leaders can not hang their hats on a real description of their duties, and not feel like they have to work in the dark without a sense of where their authority begins and ends.

Choir rules, regulations, and structure, especially disciplinary procedures, must be in a written format that is easily understandable and accessible. The time it takes to write down your plan is nothing when compared to the time it takes to explain it after something happens.

Not only are you protecting your time, you protect your talent by having a detailed job description that helps your church leader and you remain on the same page. Often times musicians and ministers of music find themselves asked to do things way out of their gifting or their job. Now, I know we all should go the extra mile at times, but the problem is sometimes the extra mile becomes a marathon. When leaders do not understand your primary focus, you can be driven off track and become frustrated and ineffective in the job you do have - creating a worship atmosphere through music. So take the time to ask your pastor or board to write out exactly what you are responsible for. You'll find the process at times illuminating and liberating, as you discover what you'll not responsible for and the things you are already doing that you thought were not recognized.

Next time we'll deal with part two - the protection of the "Word", capital W.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Starting the right way - with prayer....

Not you... me.

I mean I've started this blog without as much as a plan - after that speech I gave you about being prepared. Please excuse me while I take this big log out of my eye.

No effort should begin in a spiritual purpose without a spiritual foundation, so.... if you know how to pray and read at the same time, please pray with me.

....Jesus, Lord and sustainer of all life and mine, thank you for the gift of salvation that allows me to call you my Savior. Lord, in your gracious will, You have given me more than that - the gift of sharing Your praise and Your new song with the world. Thank you and may I never compromise the gift You have given with anything approaching lack of respect or honor that is due You and Your praise.

Lord, I begin these thoughts and writings in the hopes that You will bless someone, who like me, was floundering under the weight of supporting a music ministry or choir. You brought me through from a wide eyed classical pianist to where you've placed me today. Please let this seed you have led me to sow find good ground in encouraging someone who was frustrated and unsure as I was. Help us as musicians and ministers in Your modern day temples to be consecrated, called and committed to Your service. Give us Asaphs, Cheniniahs, and Davids, that will play skillfully and spiritually to uplift Your everlasting and righteous name. Lord, even bless the house I serve in, and my Pastor, and give me a platform of authenticity and gentleness that would never lift my ability above my attitude of service. Bless the reader now, and all that serve you in spirit and in truth, and may Your praise be perfected on Earth as it is in Heaven until the day of Your return, where we will carry the harps of God and sing the song of the Redeemed to You in everlasting praise and worship choruses of the highest order.

In your precious name, Amen.


Now that we've prayed and invoked God's presence, I will attempt to give a set-up to some of my writings. At least once a week, I'll try to touch on one of three main topics -

- Spiritual / Biblical Issues
- Musical / Reading Music / Playing, etc.
- Organizational / Working with Pastors / Resources, etc.

Starting with my next post, I'll look for quick solutions to nagging problems and enlist others that I've interfaced with over the years and try to include their advice. Lord knows if I had all the answers, I would not be here because God would have me leading a little band in heaven by now.

Keep Praying and prayzin',

miamimaestro

Monday, May 19, 2008

Knowing Your Role

One thing I've been challenged with throughout my career is learning what my job really is. We as ministers of music have several hats we must wear - musician, administrator, praise leader, media specialist, pastoral assistant - but the most important role might not be any of these.

I've found that my most important role is to be a converter. By a converter, I mean someone that can absorb one type of information or energy and convert it into another. As musicians, we do this every time we play. Visual notes become sound. Chords are moved into melodies. Songs are converted into praise choruses.
We face human issues that need converting all the time. Negative issues must be converted into biblically based responses. Soloists that are nervous and unsure must be converted. Carnal minds must be converted into spiritual ones.

Our ministries are
constantly challenged by this idea of conversion.
At every point in our work, we are given the job of changing what is apparent into something else. This demands a special kind of knowledge. One, the ability to know how to convert, and two, what needs converting.

The ability to convert requires emotional and spiritual intelligence. We must be sensitive to the flow of the Holy Spirit in playing and directing, and have a goal in mind at each point. What needs to happen at this stage? Should the mood change to prayer or praise? Does the key need to change to fit the choir better at rehearsal? You can only move a ministry, song, or a service in a certain direction if you know where it is going, and then develop the tools to move it in the direction that your Pastor or leader has given. It may take more lessons, or self development or management books, or more bible study. But our commitment to excellence will ultimately determine our ability to move ministry in the right direction.

To know what needs converting, we must know exactly what constitutes good or bad results. We shouldn't change things that are working just for the experience of newness. Neither should we tolerate or allow dismal performance for the sake of tradition. One thing that helps is being exposed to successful strategies from other ministries. It's really important to connect with other musicians that are also trying to improve, because there you can find out if there really is a better way of doing what you're doing. Workshops, classes, and websites such as Gospelmusicians.com can help expose you to other types of music as well.

In a future post I'll try to touch on how to make those kinds of connections...looking unto the hills,

miamimaestro

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Practice Matters.

When was the last time you tried to do something without practicing first? Perhaps it was the latest new song that you just had to do THIS sunday, even though your band hadn't practiced with the choir first. Or the new chord change that would sound soooo good in that praise and worship chorus. Or even the run in the 2nd verse that the CD had. Of course you can pull it off. After all, God doesn't want everything programmed, right?

Wrong.

God calls for spontaneity and a "new song", but not at the expense of excellence. The idea that God accepts any kind of worship as long as we're sincere dies at the feet of Cain. The Bible doesn't say that Cain brought an offering that was bad, or rotten. It just says that God rejected it. Meaning, we don't determine whether worship is good enough. God does. If that is the case, it makes sense that we should prepare anything for God as if He were going to inspect it cover to cover and note to note.

This is not to say that unprepared worship music is unspiritual. It's just not sound planning. If you have a chance to go over something, make the time to go over it. There's the same 24 hours for all the other priorities in our lives, and practicing the music for the King can't be a bad use of some of that time He has given us.

Looking unto the hills,

miamimaestro

Friday, May 16, 2008

It's not about you.

This is the first sentence of Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life". It also is the first thing I think every minister of music and church musician must realize. Our job often seems to be the one thing besides preaching that affects the weekly service the most. If we are skilled, anointed, and on the ball, God seems close and the service is high. If we have an off day, or worse, are ineffective, uninterested, and unspiritual, we can drag the service down. But this is all misleading from the entire point of worship.

No matter how much we link our human intuition and talent to the presence of God, we do not determine alone whether God shows up in our service. We are simply a part of the mechanism God uses to bring us into contact with his presence. Prayer, praise, and proclamation must all be present in order for a congregation to know the full presence of God, and music can not become a catch all or substitute for worship.


The good part for musicians is that you need not bear the blame every time the service fails to produce expected results. While we have a responsibility to worship God through music with a spirit of excellence, we must never make the mistake of lucifer and think that we are either the object or the main conduit of worship. It's most important that musicians have a private worship life that can be activated even without the accolades or congregational response. That way you are never unduly motivated to forget the purpose of corporate worship - to bring attention to
Christ and not to yourself, either negatively or positively.


Looking unto the hills,

miamimaestro

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Welcome....Don't Leave!

OK, either my title grabbed your attention, or you googled your way into a dead end, or I begged you to come to this site. So stay a bit and see what comes next. Please?

If you tab over to Homeschooldaddy.blogspot.com, you can find out more of my personal details. This blog is more oriented to my professional life as a minister of music, songwriter, and music teacher. It is NOT a promo for my business - although I do accept cash and credit for projects and offers (that's for you, Kirk Franklin) - I sincerely feel there's a lack of real talk regarding musicians in the 21st Century Church, and I want to help fill it. So in the next few posts, I'll try to grab your attention quickly with some obvious, but not so evident, observations and tricks that might help struggling church musicians get out of a rut of devotion songs that go too long, singers that claim they know their key and always start 3 whole steps lower, and pastors that demand perfect praise with penny purchases. (not my pastor, just so you all know.) As I'll be posting within my busy schedule, many times I may only give a short tip, but I'll try to make it effective every time. Blessings and keep praying and prayzing,

Maestro