Behind the Scenes of Worship

Quarrels Late At Night

2012-02-07T13:04:00.001+08:00

(Personal Blog Post - modified from my Facebook post)

‎1.30 a.m., and there was loud quarreling from the void deck area below my flat.

In the past I would have been irritated, judgemental or amused. Now I find myself sad. Especially over the past 7 years or so I've learned firsthand what it is like to face provocation by a fool, what the Bible says is a heavier burden than stone or sand.

Proverbs 27:3 (NIV) - Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.

It is heartbreaking to realize that someone you geniunely want to resolve conflict with delights in prolonging the strife. You wonder why you hold back the insults and barbs while the other person doesn't, in fact, delights in giving you a double portion...

Psalm 120:6-7 (NIV) - Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

So now my heart goes out to those who have to live with contentious people in their lives, the agents of strife who delight in war when others desire peace. Is there a way out? The Bible says:

Psalm 37:37 (NIV) - Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.

God, bring me to that future you have prepared for me, and not me only, but also those who love peace!

The Turning Point

2012-01-31T23:41:00.000+08:00

As I shared before, I served in the worship ministry beforeI had ever encountered God in worship. Or maybe I did, but thought that it wasjust the effect of really cool music. So coming from that perspective, I endedup assuming worship=music.

And that meant that getting better worship required gettingbetter music. Whatever “better” means…

When I believed that, and didn’t have any conclusiveencounter with God through worship, it led to two problems:

My own personal worship life was very weak. Whyinvest time in it if I believed I had to be in a large congregation with a hyper-coolband for it to work? Worship in your own personal prayer time does not alwaysfeel good immediately. If you don’t believe in it you will give up easily.
I became frustrated with small group worshipsessions. I didn’t encounter God in worship there, so I didn’t believe it waspossible. Looking back, I realize that it was because most of the worshipleaders in the small groups I attended didn’t have enough understanding to stayon a good song long enough for the singing to be unified. A technical issue.And also, they would shy away from the presence of God and choke downeverything before things got really intense. Probably a sin-consciousnessissue.

But one day…

The leader of my worship team sat us down and said “We’re aworship band, so we’re going to worship God!” And he proceeded to lead us in aworship session that honestly felt like being brought to heaven and back. Thissession shattered all my wrong ideas just like that. It was a small group (5-6people) and had simple music (one acoustic guitar). And I KNEW, deep in myheart, that I had just met God in worship.

And I was hooked. Totally hooked!

Not only that, I also wanted to share that same experience,encountering God in worship, with every believer I could. I became totallyobsessed with worship and worship ministry; I kept bugging the band leader forhis ideas, concepts and opinions.

Now he wasn’t that much of a teacher; he just kind ofstumbled across what works, but he couldn’t really explain to me how or why itworked. So I continued with the smartestthing I ever did: I copied him wholesale. He led worship on solo guitar and itworked, so I started learning how to play the guitar. He would use certainsongs and lead them in a certain way, so I would work on the same songs and dothem the same way.

And it worked for me too!

Of course there were refinements I needed to make along theway. Things like what key to pitch songs in, how to use music to properlysupport what I was doing, and nitty-gritty things like that. But I had alreadyachieved what many other worship leaders I knew could only pray and dream about– consistent success in leading worship. I would be able to bring the worshipas deep and as intense as it could go that session, and the worshippers wouldencounter God, be blessed by him and want to seek him in worship more and more.

So, is that it? Was that all? Did I live happilyever after, end of story? Not quite. There still remained one more importantstep to reach and milestone to achieve. But it’s getting really late for menow, so I’ll share with you the story next time. In the meantime, be blessed!

How I Started in Worship Ministry

2012-01-28T00:39:00.002+08:00

I still remember how I got started in the worship ministry…

I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was young(less than 12). Because I wasn’t attending church after that, my faith took abackseat to role-playing games and music. But there was always this naggingfeeling at the back of my mind that God deserved a lot more seriousness thanwhat I was showing him during those years. So when I finally had a chance toattend church services I jumped at the opportunity.

The pleasant surprise for me was discovering that church hadmusic!

One thing about me, I’m quite capable of going on withsomething if I was convinced it was good for me. I didn’t need it to beentertaining, exciting or enjoyable, it just had to be meaningful. I was readyto not enjoy any aspect of the church experience but just keep turning upanyway.

So having enjoyable music at church was an unexpectedbenefit!

Because I didn’t know the songs, I couldn’t join in thesinging. But I did appreciate the music. Unfortunately, that became my habit –paying more attention to the music than what people (and I) ought to be singingto the Lord. It’s not that I was a total reprobate during that season; I wouldseek God in prayer and in the Scriptures. And I would encounter him there.

But encountering God during the worship? No, it didn’treally happen.

And that meant that, if I was put in charge of a team ofmusicians at that time (I wasn’t, thank God!!), any decisions would be madebased on what would sound good musically, rather than whether it would bespiritually pleasing to God or helpful to the congregation.

The Point of What I Am Saying…

… is that if your church has decent music, it’s quite likelythat there are people like me in the congregation. And this means:

Your pastor may have to regularly preach and teach onencountering God in worship, yearly or half-yearly if your congregation hasregular growth; AND
People like me may apply to join your church worshipteam. And you have to start thinking and praying about how God wants you tohandle such people.

Of course not every church musician is like how I was atthat point of time when I first started serving in the worship ministry. Someknew God first, before they discovered their interest and talent for music. Youmay encounter different challenges with these people, compared to my sort.
Thenagain, I wasn’t exactly the most mature and easy-to-handle person in those dayseither!

So that was how I started serving in the worship ministry. Ihave another two major milestones to share, but those will have to wait forfuture emails and posts. So in the meantime, be blessed!

Arguing About Food

2011-11-28T11:13:00.001+08:00

A few weekends back, I was stuck in an argument with a relative over food. She wanted to have dinner with me, but wanted more expensive food and wanted me to pay for it. She euphemistically called it ‘good’ food, but we all know what she meant, especially when she dismissed all of my suggestions that would have fitted nicely into my food budget.

When she saw that she wasn’t able to persuade me from my stand (sticking to a wise budget is a basic discipline I learned the hard way) she started arguing with me, insulting me over my earning capacity and how little I treasure the relationship as I am not willing to spend 3 meals’ budget (6 if you include her) on one meal with her.

Moments like this really reinforce to me the truth of the following Scriptures:

Proverbs 15:17 - Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.

Proverbs 17:1 - Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

Why would Solomon even set up a contrast between a place of luxurious food and strife, and drab food with peace? I am not sure, but I believe it’s because there are times self-indulgent people, whose god is their stomach and glory is in their shame (Phi 3:19) would consider luxurious food more important than keeping peace.

I know, most of the time we can’t choose our relatives. So if we have relatives like that, God help us! But there are two things we CAN do to reduce your exposure to this type of idiotic situations.

1) Choose your spouse carefully

Proverbs 21:9 - Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

Proverbs 21:19 - Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife

If you have a quarrelsome spouse (male or female), he or she can turn anything into an argument. And that includes food too. You’ll end up walking on eggshells all the time, wondering when is the next blow-up coming. And your kids will either grow up to be argumentative and aggressive, or they’ll become timid and easily bullied by the people of the world.

So for the sake of your own mental health and the health of your future children, don’t ever, ever marry such people!

Of course, if we are all charmed by our potential spouse during dating and courtship, we may not recognize the person’s true colours until too late. But here are two helpful tips. Watch how much they insist on their own way and no other. And watch how he or she reacts when unexpected snags crop up. If they take them well (and over a period of at least 6-12 months), you know you have someone who isn’t going to give you much problems in this area. Also, someone who can take unexpected snags in his or her stride is the sort of person who can keep his or her presence of mind while parenting. Good thing to watch out for if you ever want to raise a family.

(And if you know the quarrelsome one is you, repent! Quick!)

2) Train your children well.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

We have to impart discipline and wisdom to our children and teach them God’s priorities. In this case this means making sure they are not ruled by their appetites but know how to keep their stomachs from wrecking havoc over their lives.

Besides teaching them the Word of God (all those above passages from Proverbs are a good start), we also need to teach them appreciate healthy food. Plain water is great, fresh fruits are fantastic and there is a joy in eating natural, unprocessed food.

We also need to keep our children from being addicted to processed and unnatural food such as white sugar, MSG and all that kind of stuff. Why? Because an addict isn’t able to think straight about food and nutrition. Their cravings will drive them to seek their own way regardless of the people around them. And that may lead to arguments and strife later on in their lives when they grow older.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: what example are YOU setting? Are you gulping down junk food yourself? Or can you say you set your children an admirable example in your food choices, attitudes and discipline? And again, are YOU the argumentative one?

For the relative I mentioned earlier, her parents were quite disciplined in avoiding junk food, but they were sometimes harsh and abrasive. That example was a hard one for her to shake off, and other people suffer for it. Including me…

Conclusion:

This is not a typical worship ministry post from me, I know. But it will be useful to those of us who are still single (so we know what to look out for when we are dating) and married with children (so we teach our children right). So do share it with people you think would appreciate it. Thanks!

Prosperity - The Challenge

2011-11-17T09:31:00.001+08:00

This passage has been on my heart recently.

Psalm 118:22-26 (NKJV) – The stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

The Hebrew word for prosperity in this passage is Tsalach (Strongs #06743). It has a wide range of meaning, including to advance, prosper, to make successful and profitable. In fact, the NIV translates verse 25 as “grant us success”. In this passage we see that the Scripture exhorts us to pray to God for prosperity and success in our undertakings.

In my own Christian life I have swung between extremes. Sometimes I have been the typical Word-of-Faith person, declaring by faith success in everything. Sometimes I have been more passive, just getting along with my activities and trusting God to prosper whatever he chose to. This isn’t wrong, by the way, we see this kind of attitude displayed in Ecclesiastes 11:6.

But this season, I’ve gone back to plain old asking. God, prosper the work of my hands, and grant me success! Driving this consistent prayer are two realizations:

1) We cannot afford to NOT prosper

When can you afford to not prosper? I cannot imagine. If you are a parent, prosperity means raising your children well. If you are a pastor, prosperity means taking good care of the congregation God has entrusted to your care. If you are a doctor, prosperity means your patients get better, not worse. If you are an employee, prosperity means you succeed at the tasks entrusted to you. If you are a worship minister, prosperity means you led the people into a powerful and life-changing encounter with the God of the universe, instead of wasting the time and the opportunity.

So when can you afford not to prosper? If your life is meaningfully occupied, you have no room in your life for not prospering!

2) We are called to prosper

New Testament believers are called to a priestly ministry…

1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) - But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

… and the priestly tribe, Levi, had a special calling to prosperity and success. We see that from the blessing Moses spoke over Levi.
If we take this prayer and apply it to our New Testament priesthood, it tells us that we are to pray that our skills (work, music or others) be blessed (successful) and that our works are pleasing to the LORD. We are called to prosper, but we have the obligation to seek God for it.

Deuteronomy 33:11 (NIV) – “Bless all his skills, O LORD, and be pleased with the work of his hands. Smite the loins of those who rise up against him; strike his foes till they rise no more.”

And how will we know if we have it?

Consider the example of Joseph in Genesis 39.

Genesis 39:2-5 (NIV) - The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

In the above passage, both “prospered” and “success” are the same Hebrew word, Tsalach, again. God’s prosperity leads to blessings with tangible evidence in our work, ministry and family. If we are truly walking in the prosperity of God, the people of the world can tell. It’s as obvious to them as it was to Potiphar in Joseph’s time.

Are you feeling uncomfortable yet? I am. I know that my life isn’t anywhere near that standard yet. And if God wants me to prosper in all to which I set my hand, and there is a spiritual calling upon my life for success, then it’s MY responsibility if it’s not happening. It’s MY responsibility to seek God for wisdom and direction, and then to take action as he directs.

And that is why praying for success is so important. Praying means an active communication and communion with God. When I pray, rather than just speak the success over my life or let God prosper whichever area he chooses to, I am putting myself in a position and frame of mind to hear God on the areas of my life he wants me to work on, to see the results he wants me to have.

Conclusion:

Of course there is a lot more to Biblical prosperity than just asking God for it. There is the meditation on the Word of God (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3), the presence of God (Genesis 39:2), seeking the LORD (2 Chronicles 26:5) and other areas I probably haven’t realized yet. But I share this with you first to invite you to join me on this journey. Let’s grow in wisdom and understanding in the prosperity God desires for us, shall we?

Behind The Pastor's Back

2011-11-03T10:13:00.000+08:00

As youprobably know, I serve at a few churches during the week. Just yesterday, as Iwas running errands, I met someone who regularly attends one of those servicesI serve at. It was an interesting conversation, because he basically wanted meto change my style of playing.

Him: "theway you play when Pastor leads the people in prayer after preaching, verystagnant. No flow. You must flow…"

Under othercircumstances I would have asked him what he meant by flow. After all, it couldrefer to a musical flow (which I know I have) or a spiritual flow (which I believeI have). However, I felt there was no need to find out more, because I wasn’tgoing to change my style of playing.

Me: "I'mplaying the way Pastor wants me to play. He told me to play this way, so thatis how I am going to play."

Him:"I've known Pastor for a long time already. And I've been playing for 40years. I went to Berklee (a famous college for contemporary and jazz music).You cannot play like that, you must flow…"

By now Isuspected that he meant to play more spontaneously, to use Pastor's exhortationtime as an opportunity to display whatever musical chops I have. Whatever hemeant didn't really matter, because I already had instructions from the Pastor.And I'm not going to change stuff like that without checking with the Pastorfirst.

But whywould I need to check with the Pastor anyway? He's got a lot on his plate, andhe already has the habit of telling me whatever he wanted me to know. Bugginghim about trivia like that is implying his instructions weren't clear enough,or that he didn't know what he was doing. No thanks!

So I tookthe easy way out.

Me:"Since you say you have known Pastor for some time, how about YOU talk tohim about it? I'll just do what he tells me…"

Him:"Cannot, he's not a musician so he won't know. You must change ityourself."

Err, wait aminute. He's not a musician, but he has been in ministry even longer than Ihave. Am I to believe that during all that time, having ministered in manydifferent churches around the world, he hasn't come across different styles ofmusic and he doesn't know what type works best for him?

He couldsee I was not convinced.

Him:"Do you know (mega-church A) and (mega-church B)? I trained theirmusicians. You think I can only play one instrument? I can play more than oneinstrument! When I tell the chief musician (of the church I am serving at) toflow, he does it. Even the other guy, who played for the service when you werenot there, flows better than you…"

I haven'tlistened to the worship team from mega-church B, but I did know thatmega-church A had a team of immature musicians, who were professional only inthe sense that they were being paid, not in terms of their musicality. Thosemusicians tended to overplay and get in each other's way, and overall the soundwould be too cluttered to let the congregation sing their hearts out. So thecongregation would spend most of the worship time standing there and watchingthe show up on the stage.

You canguess that I was less than impressed by his name dropping. I wanted to tell him"So it's YOUR fault that band is so lousy? No wonder…" but I knew Godwouldn't approve of me being THAT direct. So I switched back to my one and onlyargument.

Me:"OK, so if Pastor thinks the other guy is better, then he can tell me toplay like him. So far, Pastor hasn't told me to play like him, so…"

Him:"They can flow. Why can't you? No wonder your playing is sostagnant."

Me:"I'veplayed other ways before, and Pastor has told me he wants it this way, so I amgoing to play it this way."

Him:"He's not a musician, he won't know. You must change, you must flow, thenhe will come and tell you that you are correct."

OK, thiswas going too far. One problem that has plagued many charismatic churches –some people think they hear from God better than the pastor does, and they don'twant to discuss things with the pastor first. They deliberately choose toignore or disobey the pastor's instructions on a specific matter. Those people thenexpect God to vindicate their disobedience by blessing them with obviouslysupernatural fruit, so the pastor has to swallow his pride and admit they wereright all along.

Hear thisfrom me – no good will ever come out of doing this. Either get the agreement ofyour church pastor, submit to his instructions or leave to find another church.By this time I already realized that this person was NOT worth listening to. Hemay have music knowledge, but his understanding of the things of God was verylacking.

So Ibrought up the only topic that seemed to bug him, the pastor.

Me:"How about this? How about YOU play, then we let Pastor decide?"

He didn'tlike that, so he changed the topic.

Him: "Why,when you play, you don't play there and there (indicating the higher and lowerparts of the keyboard), you only play here (indicating the middle)? I might aswell chop off the top and bottom parts!"

God is mywitness, he was THAT inane, thinking that playing solo piano accompaniment forworship was to be done the same way as playing for some show at Berklee. Ifother Berklee grads are like him, Berklee ought to get me to teach Musicianship101. The fellow went back to his mantra of the day.

Him:"You must flow!"

Me:"You can flow?"

Him:"Of course!"

Me:"OK, then you play and show Pastor. We let him decide, OK?"

I guess hereally had no answer, so he started getting personal.

Him:"I can flow, but can you follow it or not? Your playing is like sleeping!You ought to humble yourself. Other people can follow what I tell them, why notyou?"

Me:"OK, then you play and we let Pastor decide, OK?"

By thistime I guess he had enough. So he walked off. I wasn't too smart yesterdaymorning, it took me so long to figure out how to drive him away – keeping mentioningthe Pastor! It was like showing a cross to a vampire, it might take a while butit will work in the end. Now I know what to say to him the next time we meet atthe service…

The PointIs…

As you cantell from my previous posts, I can be very dogmatic. When I have the authorityto tell musicians what to do, I fully expect them to follow my instructions. Idon't want them changing things behind my back or without checking with mefirst.

And becauseI believe in treating people the same way I want to be treated (Matt 7:12),this is also how I follow instructions from my leaders as well. Don't expect meto try out suggestions and ideas from other people without checking with mychurch leaders first.

If you findyourself in the same place I was, with someone trying his or her best to getyou to disobey clear instructions from your church leader or pastor, you mayalso find it helpful to do what I did – suggest that THEY themselves go discusswith the pastor or leader themselves. If they are sincere and have nothing tohide, they would be more than happy to.

But if thesuggestion only seems to frustrate them into insulting you or arguing with you,you know they have an agenda and something to hide. Don't let yourself bemanipulated by such people, OK?

Be blessed!

Prayer Principles from Psalm 41

2011-10-31T11:20:00.001+08:00

This passage has been on my heart a lot this season.

Psa 41:1-3 (NKJV) Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.

Notice that God promises deliverance from times of trouble. Which means that there will be troubles, even in the life of the generous. Notice also that it also implies that generous people are not immune to sickness, and that they will have enemies.

Psa 41:4-6 (NIV) - I said, “O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die and his name perish?”
Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.

In this case, David has fallen into severe illness. And he knows it is the consequence of his sin (vs 4). Pay attention: David does not ignore the sickness or pretend it's not his fault. He also did not think God ought to ignore his sin just because of the good he has done before. He understands God too well for that!

I know some generous people who don't take their own sin seriously, and they are taken aback, caught off-guard and offended when they reap the harvest from their sin. And they start raging against God. It’s actually quite common; there are some people who head charities, for example, and have terrible tempers, or commit adultery or embezzle funds. I suspect they feel, deep in their hearts, that their good works gives them some room to sin...

Make sure you don't fall into that deception!

Psa 41:7-9 (NIV) All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,
“A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies.”
Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

We don't see in the Bible any account of David falling sick, so it's hard to tie this psalm to a specific incident in David's life. The closest guess, in my opinion, is that this psalm refers to the time David committed adultery with Bathsheba, which eventually led to Absalom's rebellion and Ahithophel's betrayal (2 Sam 11, 13-16).

Remember that as David’s trusted counsellor, Ahithophel not only had the ear of the king, he also knew his heart. If any man would know how David would think and act, it was Ahithophel. Ahithophel thus would be the person most capable of plotting David’s downfall, since he knew David inside-out.

And if someone who knew him inside-out could not only reject him but actively work towards his defeat, it was a rejection of everything that David stood for. He must have been thinking “If someone who knows my heart so deeply could betray me, what does that say about my heart?” It's enough to crush a man's spirit!

Pro 18:14 (NIV) - A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?

It takes faith to rise up above this. It takes faith in order to know God still loves us in spite of our sins and in spite of our failings. Hear the prayer of a man who pleases God's heart -

Psalm 41:10-12 (NIV) - But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them. I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.

Personally, I feel uncomfortable with this part. David prayed that God would let him avenge himself on his enemies. One thing I noticed, however, is that God kept David from doing so. Whether we are talking about Saul, who sought to kill David in the earlier days, or Ahithophel, or even Absalom, David never had to raise his hand against his enemies. God eventually took care of those enemies, and kept David from avenging himself on them.

The point, however, seems to be that because David loved God, David could pray what he wanted. God would still decide what was best and settle matters accordingly.

And that's what I want to share with you also. Just pray, pouring out your heart to God honestly, and let God decide how he wants to handle the matter.

Also, begin with remembering the promises of God.

If we had stopped at the end of verse 3, we would have thought this was a feel-good, sunshine-and-roses kind of Psalm. It’s when we look at verse 4 onwards that we realize that David wrote this in the midst of severe trial and testing. He was commanding his soul to feed on the promises of God.

We likewise ought to do the same. When we are in the midst of a difficult season, we need to discipline ourselves to not only to pray, but to pray remembering the promises of God. We see the same principle in the following passage:

Lamentations 3:19-26 (NIV) - I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Notice how the writer of Lamentations has to consciously remember the goodness of God even in the midst of grief? If we want to have a confident and enjoyable prayer life, we need to do the same.

Conclusion:

Our worship lives will not rise above our prayer lives. That is why we need to not only pray, but pray in ways that please God. The LORD chose to have this psalm preserved for us in Scripture so that it may encourage and strengthen us in the LORD. I hope my sharing has helped to spur you on and make your prayer life more like how God wants it to be!

Sharing Some Music

2011-10-26T18:00:00.000+08:00

Hi, everyone!

This is rather different. Instead of worship-related material, I'd like to share some music I did recently.

The first is my own variations on a chorus. The original came from a Chinese song written by the Singaporean singer/songwriter Stephanie Sun. The original is like this:

My chorus and variations goes like this:

I also did a cover version of Girl From Ipanema, a famous bossanova standard. It was interesting, I didn't try out all the auto-accompaniment before I did the recording, so some of it caught me by surprise.

Anyway, these were done just for the fun of it. No teaching points included, so if that's what you were looking for, sorry to disappoint you! If you enjoyed the videos of my playing, please click over to those video pages (click on those videos) and leave a comment on them. Thanks!

Lesson from 1 Corinthians 14

2011-10-07T11:04:00.001+08:00

A few Sundays back, one of the church leaders spoke to me after the service. He told me “I just want to tell you that you minister on the piano, really minister. Not just today, but every time…”

And that really encouraged me a lot.

Before you get me wrong, I am not one of those high-maintenance musicians, who need to be affirmed and encouraged every week. In fact, one pastor I serve with mentioned that I am very low-maintenance, and he’s glad for that. There are two reasons why I am low-maintenance: 1) I enjoy serving in the worship ministry, so I am self-motivated; 2) I am very confident of what I am doing, so I am self-directed most of the time.

But sometimes I go out on a limb and decide to try stuff out of nowhere. For example, that particular Sunday we used the song Dance with Me, by Jesus Culture. At one point the worship leader did not indicate which part of the song to do next. On the spur of the moment I turned up the keyboard volume and played the melody of the chorus. Because my church worship band is really a dream team, the whole team went that way too, and it all sounded prepared and rehearsed.

It wasn’t.

And later the worship leader directed me to just linger after a song and give the congregation room to sing their own songs unto the Lord. Err… I immediately launched off into one of my trusty chord progressions, Bm7 – C#m7 – D – E (we were in the key of F# minor), and stayed there until the worship leader went into the next song (which was in the key of A major). Again unrehearsed and unprepared, but it all worked out ok, at least to me.

1 Cor 14:29 (NKJV) - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

So to have that church leader approach me and affirm me after the service meant a lot to me.

Acts 2:18 (NKJV) - And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.

This passage tells me that the New Testament church is to be characterized by prophecy (we can argue what prophecy means some other time). But if you want to prophesy you have to be willing to let your prophecies be judged by the rest of your local body of Christ, as instructed in 1 Corinthians 14:29.

So I take the same principle and apply it to my playing. I have to be open to having it judged by the body of Christ, especially my church leaders. Now, it isn’t practical for me to go around making a nuisance of myself and bugging the worship leaders and my pastor for feedback after EVERY service. But 1 Cor 14:29 does mean that I do have to be open to feedback on my work and ministry unto the LORD.

So what does it mean for you?

Two things:

1) Be willing to submit to judgment.

It’s unrealistic to believe that diligently seeking God's guidance will mean that you will make no mistake or have everyone approve of your decisions. And if that worries you, you are operating from fear rather than faith.

All it takes is humility, being willing to accept feedback and maybe realize that sometimes we don't hear God as clearly as we'd like. Exercise humility and teachability when you're serving God with other people. It's less pressurizing in the long run...

2) Be gentle and generous with your feedback.

If someone went out on a limb, either in the worship ministry or some other way, be quick to affirm the good in it. How about problems or mistakes? Personally I would not mention the problems or mistakes unless I have a relationship with that person (he/she trusts me) or if I am in a leadership position in that group.

Why? Because of my manner. I can come across as strict and harsh in person, so I have to be extra careful to be gentle, to not crush someone's spirit.

Isaiah 42:3 (NIV) - A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

Watch out for that too, if you are in a leadership position. There will be times when you will have to call someone out on his or her mistakes or defiance, especially if the culture in that group has gone haywire. But hopefully that is not going to be common in the church or fellowship you serve at!

Conclusion:

We love God by serving his people (Heb 6:10) and we become effective only when we work together with others and let them sharpen us (Pro 27:17). So be open to the feedback and advice from others, and also remember to exhort and encourage one another, especially when they go out on a limb to serve God!

Going for the Heart

2011-09-21T22:02:00.001+08:00

How to keep the wrong people out of the worship team

Pro 14:15 - The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps. (NKJV)

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how gullible some worship ministry leaders can get. I've seen many of them taken in by people who say they are serious about serving in the worship team, yet are not willing to put in the effort to get training. Sometimes those leaders approach me and say things like "That person is very serious about worship ministry, he has the heart for worship, can you help him?"

This, by the way, is usually an indirect request for free music lessons. People in church can be like that. This comes from a spirit of poverty upon that person, but that's a topic for another day…

I know I sound uncaring and calculative, but I've done this way too often and I have NEVER seen my efforts bear fruit. Such people never practice what I tell them to practice, never put in the work they need to put in and as a result never become effective in service. So don't waste my time!

Pro 20:11 Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right. (NKJV)

I wonder how much heartache and frustration would have been averted if ministry leaders kept the wrong people out of the worship band. In this day and age people have no excuses to not have the skills for whatever instrument they wish to play. Youtube has easily millions of dollars worth of music lessons available for free. Anyone who is serious but lacking in funds can easily head over there and get loads of good instrument and vocal teaching.

Of course it takes more work to organize and understand the material, but a serious person won't let that stop him or her!

But how about the heart? Would every good Christian musician have what it takes to do well in the worship ministry? Not necessarily. Here's a simple list of what they need to be an asset to your worship team.

Basic level of skill with the instrument or voice – easily checked during the audition. And as a side benefit, if someone has a basic level of skill with an instrument, it shows that he or she is capable of putting in consistent work over a period of time. This basic level of discipline is very useful for many areas of life, not just music.
Willingness to take a supporting role – you have to explain this during the briefings and auditions. Why? Because many immature musicians who are more impressed with flashiness rather than good taste, can hear a mature church band (playing only what is necessary) and think they are called of God to join the team and show the rest of the musicians how to rock the church building for the glory of God. They are expecting that once they show off their stuff on the guitar fretboard or piano key, for example, all the rest of you would immediately affirm them and say "That's great! If only you joined us earlier!!" And Sunday worship would be made up of them "humbly" displaying their skills to the glory of God…

Don't wait until they start overplaying on Sunday before you tell them that they need to restrain themselves. Tell them early and let them decide if they still want to join the worship team.

Willingness to follow direction – this is the most crucial point.

If I tell a musician to play something in a particular way, and I know this musician has the necessary skill for it, this musician has totally no excuse for not following my instructions. "I'll try" is an unacceptable answer. If they cannot remember my instructions, then they should write them down on the chord charts I take time to prepare for every session I lead worship.

(Or they could just simply follow the chord charts. It takes only a couple of months to learn how to read them. A musician who plays solely by ear may be stuck in his/her ways already. Teaching them how to read chord charts is a quick way to see if they are still teachable and humble…)

Of course, I can be that dogmatic when giving specific instructions to other musicians. That's because I understand music, can play 3 instruments and have loads of experience teaching adult learners. If you don't have that level of skill and understanding you may have to be more careful when issuing such firm instructions. But at a minimum, you should expect musicians to follow the chord charts, just as you would expect singers to follow the song lyrics you give, and not keep changing the lyrics every time you do the song. People who will not do that do NOT have the necessary heart to serve in a worship ministry.

On YOUR part…

… if you are the worship leader or the leader of the ministry, you have to make every effort to make sure your followers have no valid reasons to not follow your directions.

That's why if I lead worship I prepare my own chord charts, ensure they are sent out a couple of days before, going through everything during the rehearsal and check if the musicians and vocalists can hear me and the anchor instrument I am using. As a leader you need to anticipate problems and deal with them or move around them.

How do you check if a musician can follow directions?

You have to build all that into the audition process. Give them directions and see how they follow. One idea is to tell them to repeat a chorus three times and build up the intensity each time. Give them some leeway in how they do it, but see if they do it, or at least try. Then decide from there.

Conclusion:

Never be desperate to take in just anybody. It's a recipe for trouble. The last thing you want is a worship "team" made up of individualistic players, each off in his or her own world, contributing more noise than music and giving you attitude problems in other ways as well. Keep the wrong people out and exercise your faith to believe God to provide the right musicians, those with a genuine heart for worship ministry.

May you and your worship team grow both in size and skill, in the name of Jesus!

__________________________________________________

Announcement:
I've noticed that some people have purchased my Invisible Worship Musician e-book but have not signed up for the special lessons and updates emails. If you are one of them, please email me so I can put you on that list. I have some lesson materials that are more private, and kept only for the people on that list. Thanks!

How NOT to recruit musicians

2011-09-16T10:08:00.000+08:00

I came across this excellent article on recruiting church musicians.

http://www.worshipministry.com/worship-planning/worship-planning-six-lousy-methods-to-get-more-musicians-part-1/

It's well written. Not only does it cover what I consider important (as written in my article here - http://www.invisibleworshipmusician.com/article02.htm) it also has some insights I didn't consider before, like how people with the gift of helps end up in the worship ministry.

I also like how the writer would offer to teach music-score-dependant pianists how to read the lead sheets they use. It's a requirement in his church, some pianists can't meet it, but if they are serious, genuinely serious about serving God in the worship ministry, he'll take the effort to help them meet it. (so those with more heart than ability have no excuse to not buck up!)

It's a great article, so I wanted to share it with you. Again, it's over here at

http://www.worshipministry.com/worship-planning/worship-planning-six-lousy-methods-to-get-more-musicians-part-1/

If you like it, do leave a comment on the page to encourage the writer (public encouragement like this is the way to go in the social media age). Enjoy!

Don't Entertain Fear

2011-09-13T09:37:00.002+08:00

It's both amusing and sad at the same time.

I come from a Word-of-Faith background, and I get to fellowship with people who believe in biblical wealth and divine health. So they do not put up with financial lack or sickness; they will immediately pray for money or healing, as the case may be.

But I personally know many in the worship ministry who would tolerate and entertain the spirit of fear. Why???

2 Tim 1:7 (NKJV) - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Sometimes the fear is obvious.

One worship leader I work with regularly ALWAYS puts her songs in keys that are too low for the congregation. And she does that even though she can reach ALL the higher notes she needs, even if she puts the songs in my key.

I'll remind her to use the best key for the congregation, and I always get a snap, unthinking reaction. "No, cannot, too high for me!" She would say that every time, as if I was one of those dabblers and wannabes who don't really know music, or as if I am just a musician and not a fellow worship leader trying to help. I get tired of having to remind her that I already KNOW her vocal range, and that I'm not out to embarrass her or mess up her singing!

Sometimes it's not so obvious.

I remember once being a guest worship leader (at another church), and facing a musician who told me he does not read chord charts. I remembered thinking to myself "what's he going to do on the keyboards then? Doodle all over the place and call it playing by the spirit?"

You can guess how irritated I was by that, until I realized he would rather keep his playing random (doodling) so that he could deny responsibility for his note choices and "inspiration". Basically, he was afraid of people judging his choice of notes and thinking they were lousy.

(They were, by the way. His note choices were quite random, but consistently lousy. They'd clash with the chords, rhythms and the rest of the band. The music sounded better whenever he stopped playing...)

And that was why he refused to learn how to read chord charts or write down the notes he needed to play to fit the rest of the band. Ironic, to 'protect' his note choices from being judged he ended up with totally lousy ones.

Fear has a way of messing up everything, I noticed...

The point of what I'm saying is this: many people, including myself, have areas in our daily lives where we need to face up to our fears. Whether those areas are music-related (sight-reading, singing or strumming) or not (writing in proper English, public speaking or making conversation with strangers) does not matter. We should not entertain or tolerate fear in our lives. We should face up to them instead.

How should we do that? Get the support and prayers of our friends, get coaching from someone who knows what he or she is doing, and just get on with it. God has given us a measure of faith (Rom 12:3) and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13), so let's throw off fear and live the life of faith he wants us to live!

Be blessed!

Looking Back

2011-08-31T22:59:00.002+08:00

(personal blog post)

August is the month I do a lot of looking back.

Maybe it's just my perception, but it seems like lots of significant things happen to me in August. Should I go check it up in the Jewish calendar and see if it coincides with any specific Jewish season, feast or event? :)

So I naturally think through past events even more during August. I read through my old notes, I flip through my journals and even look at older emails. There's always a sense of nostagia, of how innocent I was then. I always feel as if I am getting more jaded and cynical as the days go by. Of course, in a year's time I'll look back at this post and think about how innocent I was back then!

I usually don't have enough time or mind-space to spare for reminiscing, because I am really busy. But once a year I make the time for it. It's good, I find that it helps me plan better how to use the rest of the year, so that I won't be totally frustrated and remorseful over wasted time by the end of the year.

But August 2011 is over. Enough of looking back, time to get things done. I still have four more months to make 2011 rock, so let's keep going! :)

Giving to the Poor

2011-08-30T14:53:00.003+08:00

"You must be led by the Spirit when it comes to giving to the poor."

Do you agree or disagree with that idea?

I've met a number of people who say that we should not give to the poor without the specific leading of God. Some of them argue from this passage in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!" (Luke 15:17, NIV)

Their reasoning is:

1) The son came to his senses because he was starving.

2) What if someone gave him food before that? Would that not have delayed him coming to his senses, or maybe even short-circuited the process?

3) We cannot tell where poor people are at in their lives, if they are just about to come to their senses if their suffering lasts a little longer;

Therefore we need to inquire of the Spirit before giving to the poor, whether we should give and, if so, how much.

Here's My Answer

Firstly, anyone who can be bothered to just skim through the Bible will know God commands us to give to the poor.

In the Old Testament:

"During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." (Exodus 23:11 NIV)

And again,

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:22 (NIV)

All that is about leaving food for the poor to pick up. Notice it didn't say we need to be careful about who we leave the food behind for, nor does it warn us that letting the poor eat may delay them from coming to their senses. How about giving to them directly?

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs… Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (Deu 15:8-9, 10, NIV)

And in the New Testament:

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21, NIV)

Notice that Jesus did NOT say "follow me and I'll tell you who are the poor you should give to"? He also tells us not only to give to the poor, but to go one step further and have fellowship with them.

"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." (Luke 14:13, NIV)

Let's compare the "Spirit-led" reasoning and my answer.

In their thinking, only the first point is supported by Scripture. The second is a --what-if-- and –maybe--. The third is true. But the conclusion, that we need to be led by the Spirit to give to the poor, is based entirely on the --what-if-- and –maybe-- given in the second point.

It is NOT directly stated in the Bible at all, nor do we see it demonstrated anywhere in the Bible. It looks good and sounds very spiritual, but it is only human teaching. And Jesus' opinion of that is "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Matthew 15:9, NIV)

I Understand Where They Are Coming From

I really do. Poverty is actually a spiritual problem, and the poor very often are poor because of some attitudes, beliefs and wrong ideas that they hold. After all, everything we see in our lives originates first from our hearts (Pro 4:23) and we experience physical prosperity is tied in with our soul-prosperity (3 John 2). So we can argue that if someone is poor there may be some spiritual problem causing it, or some spiritual lesson the person has to learn in order to get out of poverty. Maybe.

And I have seen some poor people who only care about milking you for all they can get. They may say they don't want to be poor, but they are still doing the things that keep them poor. They also avoid doing what will bring them financial provision and abundance. As long as they can get a hand-out from you, they have no motivation to change their lifestyle and behaviour. And they will stay in the cycle of poverty.

So if you decide that because of that you will NOT give to the poor, or you will give only to very selected cases, I understand fully. But please don't try to justify your decision with spiritual-sounding clichés and jargon. Call it what it is, a personal decision or personal conviction. Don't mention the Holy Spirit to make your decision sound more acceptable, I believe that is misusing the name of God (Exo 20:7).

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."( 1 John 3:17-18, NIV)

Why Am I Talking About All This?

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16. NIV)

Because giving to the poor is also tied in with worship. When you give to the poor, God calls it a sacrifice that pleases him. Some people think they should not give to the poor because they are struggling to make ends meet. That's like saying that only those with good voices should sing praises to God. It's disobeying the clear commands of Scripture.

In case you misunderstand, I'm not financially rich myself. There are always things to pay for, expenses I know are coming up and unexpected problems that cost money. So I following this command isn't easy for me either. But I will still find ways to do it. And there will always be ways.

Here's An Example

One day I was meeting a customer at a church in a poorer district of Singapore. There an unkempt woman with a scrawny little boy (about the same age as Jessiah) approached me and asked for a few dollars to feed her son. And as she talked the smell of alcohol hit me smack in the face.

Dilemma: Should I give her a few dollars, knowing she will throw it away on alcohol and leave her son hungry? Or walk away and leave the poor boy hungry? Both were unacceptable to me.

So I decided to take charge of the situation and overwhelm the woman with enthusiasm. "What?!??!? Your son is hungry? Little boy, how old are you?" I spoke to the boy directly. The kid was surprised at me talking to him directly, but he answered me with Jess' age at that time. "You're hungry? I'll buy food for you!" And I dragged mother and son off to a nearby food stall, told the boy to order what food he wanted and told the stallholder to pack a larger portion of rice, meat and veg for the boy and his mother.

"Boy, are you thirsty?" "I'm OK, I drink water from a tap." "No boy, that's not good enough. Come with me!" And I went over to a nearby convenience shop and bought them bottled water (Singapore water is fluoridated, bleah!!!) and apples too. It was fun actually, because I was both feeding the poor (as God commanded) AND playing along with the mother. You should have seen the look on her face as she saw me paying for the food and water. Total dismay. All that money that she could have spent on beer, and not a cent going to her! I spent more than the few dollars she was hoping for, and she couldn't stop me without admitting that she only wanted the money for beer.

In the meantime, I kept talking to the boy. It was heart-warming to see how happy he was. I made sure the food was enough for both him and his mother, and if she chose not to eat it but to get drunk instead, then the boy would have enough for 2-3 meals. On top of that, I talked to the boy as if he was an intelligent fellow, deserving dignity. He was a good kid, I could tell from the time I spent with him.

Finally, when I HAD to leave, the mother made one last try, asking for a few dollars again. And I could honestly tell her that I was out of cash, showing her my empty wallet. And I needed to rush off for another appointment. And with a cheery "God bless you!" to the son I left. She got what she asked for, but not what she wanted. Hahaha!

Conclusion:

I share the above story not to boast of my good works (many people do more than me, and much more often) but to show that there are always ways to help the poor. You just need to be a little bit more creative. It doesn't have to be just money, you can organize a church outing to clean the homes of some poor people, the aged who are staying by themselves and cannot clean up their homes.

And just as I have discovered that things go better in my life when I take time out to praise God, I believe you will find things going better in your life as you make the effort to do good and share with others. Be blessed!

From Father to Son

2011-08-17T11:54:00.003+08:00

A short time back, I found an old CD of an audio recording of Bible verses I did for Jess. In those days Jess was just an infant, and I wanted him to hear over and over again the Word of God. So I just got down to it, did a few simple home-made recordings and kept having that CD played when I wasn't around to read the Bible to him.

Well, Jess grew and I started spending more time with him to read to him. And other things came along, and I misplaced my final copy of those recordings. But I finally found my last CD, put the tracks on my phone, started listening to it every day ever since, and found that it built MY faith too!

So here is one of the tracks, From Father to Son. It's a short (less than 7 minutes) recording of selected verses from Proverbs. You can just download it as a gift from here.

Yup, it's a gift. You don't have to buy my e-book, make a special donation, refer customers to me or whatever. Just go to this page and download it. And let your Christian friends know of it too, so they can get it and be blessed as well. It's especially great for parents with sons that they want to raise as godly children, but I sincerely believe anyone will be blessed if they get it and keep listening to it everyday for a couple of weeks.

Remember, it's a home-made recording. And when I say home-made, I really mean home-made. The sound quality isn't going to be fantastic, the music isn't going to inspiring, my voice isn't going to be EQ-ed properly and all that. But it blessed Jessiah and I, so I share it with you also.

If it blesses you too, do let me know. Leave a comment or something like that on this blog page. Thanks!

Worship Leader Basics

2011-08-11T11:08:00.002+08:00

About two weeks ago, I attended the funeral wake of my grandmother-in-law.

It was a Christian funeral service, because she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior for quite a few years already. I wasn’t close to her in the first place; the Singapore pace of life makes it hard to build decent relationships amongst relatives and friends. So it was out-of-sight-out-of-mind for her, and I'm not proud of that.

Because I wasn’t emotionally close, I was emotionally detached enough to observe the worship leader and musician trying to lead worship for the service. They stumbled over some of the basics. I haven't talked much about worship leading basics before, so I had better mention some of them now.

1) Sing Appropriately

One of the songs they used was 轻轻听, (it was a Chinese service). This means "listen gently", but if you don't understand Mandarin Chinese you'd never have guessed from the worship leader's singing. She was bawling it out for the entire song. Her dynamics ranged from loud, very loud and voice-distorted-on-the-mike kind of loud. I spent the 4 minutes or so cringing and feeling embarrassed for her.

So please sing appropriately. Match your voice and singing volume to the lyrics of the song. Don't sing a rousing song timidly, and don't belt out a quiet, contemplative song at the top of your voice. If you do, it shows you aren't really paying attention to what you are singing in the first place.

2) Rehearse

They sang Amazing Grace (but with Chinese lyrics) next. The worship leader and musician stumbled over the song for the first verse. Why? Because the leader was singing the song in three-four time (which is how it was originally written, and how many Singaporean Christians know it) and the guitarist was playing in four-four time.

What made it even more of a waste was that the people really tried to sing this song. And it was all choked up by the guitarist. Now if the leader and guitarist had rehearsed the song before hand, they would have been able to come to an agreement (three-four or four-four?). That would have allowed the two of them to start in sync, which would have made a large difference.

I recently got tagged into a discussion on Facebook about rehearsals. A lady was questioning the need for rehearsals. Her thought was that since it was worship, God was the recipient and the sincerity of heart was the most important, why practice so much? We don't practice our prayers, do we? She believed that practice was for performances unto men, not to God. So we should just spontaneously sing and play unto God, right?

Now I could go into her points the way I was taught in my university philosophy course, go straight for the assumptions behind her points, challenge the assumptions and then demolish them with Scripture passages. But I understand where she's coming from. She's reacting to the extremes of performance music in church. Performance music tends to have structure imposed for structure's sake, so she, like many others, went the other extreme by rejecting all structure.

She even said that the musicians and singers at the dedication of the temple just spontaneously played and sang unto God. From that we could easily guess that she never tried to coordinate 288 singers and musicians (1 Chr 25:7) as well as another 120 priests with trumpets before, or she'd quickly discover how 'spontaneous is best' would epically fail on her…

Just so you know, the idea that worship was supposed to be spontaneous also came out in the book Pagan Christianity. But just because an idea is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it's correct!

So practice. Rehearse. The only time you won't need it is if all the worship team is doing familiar songs. In other words, if the rehearsals are already done!

3) Match the intensity of the people

Leading worship for a funeral service is tough, because there may be visitors there who are not yet believers or who come from a different church and worship culture. So they may just stand there and not sing.

When that happens, it's difficult to generate momentum in the worship. The worship leader that evening tried to do so by singing louder and later singing in tongues. Maybe that would work in her home church, the congregation may take that as a cue to sing in tongues together with her, and there would be some participation at least.

But at a funeral service? With outsiders, people from liturgical churches and non-Christians?

1 Cor 14: 23 - So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? (NIV)

As I said, I understand how difficult it is to lead worship properly at a funeral service. If you are the worship leader, you have to be ready to feel as if you are singing all alone. If the people DO sing, they usually sing in a lack-lustre way. It's tempting to try to rouse them by hyping things up a bit.

Don't.

Go as far as you can for that session and that's it. If the people aren't flowing with you, don't try to force them. One objection some Christians have to contemporary praise and worship is that they see it as emotional manipulation. And if you try to hype up the worship when the people aren't responding, you ARE doing exactly that.

Conclusion:

The basics. If we have been serving in the worship ministry for some time it's easy to assume everyone knows the basics. But once in a while, just to be sure, it's good to go back and re-visit them again. And share them with your worship team also, especially the newer members!

What Upset Jessiah

2011-07-26T19:22:00.003+08:00

Jessiah was totally pissed off last night.

After I got home from teaching, he showed me this flyer that said:

"Enhancing your learning journey with iPad!"

"With the convenience of having study notes in an iPad, learning capabilities and potential are maximized, thus benefitting the student."

"You are entitled to a FREE iPad2 if you are:

Primary, Secondary, Junior College students
Valid Student Pass"

And of course, in a very much smaller font, in one unobtrusive corner of the page, "Terms and Conditions apply"

Being an innocent 9-year-old, he of course thought they were really giving away iPads just like that. I flipped over to the other side of the flyer showed him how it was a marketing ploy to get walk-ins for a tuition centre. I also took him through the figures, what it would look like if the centre gave iPads to EVERY student that signed up. And if it didn't make much sense for them to give iPads to EVERY student that they signed up, would they give iPads to those who did not sign up for lessons there?

As I said, Jessiah was very upset. He thought the centre was lying on the flyer, trying to cheat innocent little 9-year-olds like him. I definitely don't want him to always assume the worst of other people, so I told him that maybe the people who wrote this were just lousy communicators and didn't mean to create misunderstanding.

I mean, look at their choice of words. The grammar is quite shaky and the words were bigger than they needed to be (capabilities, potential, maximized – typically corporate-speak. God knows, I detest corporate-speak).

But certainly, if any of my children needed tuition for their school work, that centre would be the LAST place I send my kids to. Either they were being untruthful or they are lousy communicators. And if they can't even communicate well on a flyer, what makes me think they can teach my kids anything properly?

Why was Jessiah so upset?

You see, in his mind the iPad was already his. He already planned the first download, (Angry Birds of course) and had already planned how to get me to pay for the rest of the games he wanted. He already had visions of quietly sitting one corner for hours every day, smashing through the various levels with aplomb, and of course scoring even higher than me.

So the truth ruined all his dreams and plans!

Out in the Business World

For us who are out in the business world, sometimes there are people who try to pull a fast one over us during negotiations. Let's say we agree to a deal (business or job, for example) that had A, B and C. And at the last minute, they try to change point C just after you and they have already agreed to the entire deal.

If at that time you have already started thinking the deal or the job is yours, started planning how to spend the commission or salary, or even worse, started borrowing money expecting to repay the loan with the money you were certain you were going to get, you'll be in deep trouble. Why? Because you would be emotionally attached to making the deal or job work, even though they just changed point C on you. You'll feel pressurized to give in on point C so that the deal would work. At that time, you will find it difficult to step back from your emotions, the turmoil and fear of loss, and ask yourself if the deal or job is still worth it even without point C.

That is what those negotiators are counting on when they make those last minute changes. That's what they are hoping for!

Two very important precautions:

1) Remember, it's not yours until it's yours.

Until everything is signed and the cheque is in your hand (or the money already in your bank account), the deal isn't through yet. Until that point, something can still go wrong, so don't get emotionally attached to the deal or job yet.

2) Always have options.

If you are stuck, and think that this deal or job is ONLY way to go, you will feel pressured to accepting it anyway, even if point C was VERY important to you. That is the reason why you need clear options. If this deal doesn't work, exactly what will you do next to get another? What is the next job offer you have waiting for you?

When you have options, such negotiators are unable to pull a fast one over you with these cheap tactics.

The best example of having options is Billy Graham Ministries, As I said before, they pay their suppliers promptly (sometimes on the very day). Because of that they have many suppliers offering them the best deals. Those who try to cheat them get away with it ONCE. And they never get a foot at the door again, because of the hordes of other suppliers waiting for a chance.

Always seek to create more definite options for yourself. This will allow you to step back when there are any last minute hiccups.

Are ALL last minute changes attempts to cheat you?

Of course not!

Just keep an eye open during the negotiations. For example, if point C is important to you and the other side agreed to it quickly (too easily???), don't be surprised if they try to change point C later. People with a lot of experience in using this tactic may try to throw in some other hiccup first (maybe some last minute delay) then try to change point C after that. And without offering anything else in exchange.

How will you respond to this? That's between you and God. Will you decide the deal is still worth it? Will you create a better counter-offer? Go the extra mile? Walk away and decide there's no point doing business with people who cannot be trusted? That's up to you to decide. But in order to decide with clarity and wisdom, you need to be emotionally calm and know what your back-up options are. That way such negotiators will not be able to take advantage of you.

Think about this for a while, as I try to figure out how to teach such things to my sons without turning them into total cynics. Be blessed!

Is it supposed to be easy?

2011-07-20T20:37:00.002+08:00

One thing I realized a couple of Sundays ago, it's actually quite an easy job playing for my church worship team.

One thing, the skill level is there, but there is no one trying to hog the limelight or the sound mix by playing too much or random doodling on the instrument. We are all content to play what is necessary, to flow with the dynamics of the session, and no more.

And flowing with the dynamics is easy also. Almost every musician in the team is also a worship leader in his own right (we have an all-guy band), so it's easy to just ride the wave, so to speak. Seriously speaking, how many professional church musicians, even in mega-churches, are effective worship leaders in their own right? Not that many in Singapore!

One worship leader I was chatting with once asked me, "Don't you think the musicians need sensitivity to the Holy Spirit during the worship?" and was a bit surprised when I answered "No, they just need to follow the worship leader. We don't need great spiritual sensitivity, just some basic humility!"

(have I offended anyone yet?)

In my experience, if the worship leader isn't flowing with the Holy Spirit, there is very little a musician can do. Little, subtle nudges through the music are about all we musicians can try. And even then, if the worship leader doesn't get it, we have to flow with the leader anyway, or there would be dis-harmony in the team. And that's not good.

Let me put it this way…

A good worship musician cannot help a bad worship leader very much, but a bad worship musician can definitely drag a good worship leader down. So as a musician, my job is mainly to support the worship leader with what he or she is doing. It's up to the worship leader to make sure he or she is doing the right thing!

Why do some people think being a worship musician is difficult?

Basic skill – if your basic skill level isn't there, you will of course have to put in effort to manage. If you are a drummer and can't even play consistent quavers (eighth-notes) on the hi-hats, for example, you can be sure the rest of your skills aren't up to par. Playing for worship will then be a stressful experience, both for you and for the rest of the band.

Worship music – Let's be frank, what passes for contemporary church music these days has grown a lot more complex. In the old days, the most musically challenging arrangements and songs would come from an occasional Ron Kenonly album, where they would pull all the stops on the band, orchestra and choir. Tom Brooks would unleash his usual musical genius to create arrangements that would leave everyone going "wow!!!". And everyone would be awed by the entire album.

But those were special albums, special occasions. For every one of those special albums, Integrity Music would have 10 or more that are taken from what churches did and found effective. These days, many albums seem to be concert-like standard, with a professional band, huge choir and enough attendees to fill a small stadium. The average church is left with the impression that they are supposed to have music like those albums too, or it wouldn't be acceptable praise and worship in God's eyes…

Talk about a heavy burden!

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, good worship music is what unifies the praises of the congregation. Oftentimes, what is simpler tends to work better in a real-life church, as long as the counts and the chords are clear. As a general rule-of-thumb, the more you play the less they sing.

(more on this in the Invisible Worship Musician, chapters 9 to 11)

Worship dynamics – As I said earlier, musicians just need to be able to follow the worship leader. For us, worship dynamics made up of whether to build up the intensity or bring it down. For worship leaders, core decisions will be:

Do you bring up or down the intensity? That's easy, let the congregation's singing be your guide.
Do you move on to the next song with high intensity or bring it down again before you go there? Again, let the congregation's singing be your guide. Just remember that you need to be sure the people know the next song if you want to go there high. Or else the whole thing will just crash on you. Painfully.
And at the end of the song, does God want to exhort the congregation through you? This is something you need to consider at the later part of the worship, IF the praises of the congregation has been unified. Just be ready for it. Since the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10), don't be surprised if God wants to exhort, encourage and edify the congregation through you sometime during the worship session.

These three concerns are the ones a worship leader has to deal with. Us musicians have it easy, by comparison. Just how to build up or bring down, and maybe what to play during prophecy, spontaneous worship or during prayer time (my book, chapter 11). If you have the experience and know what usually happens during the worship session, flowing with the dynamics is actually quite easy. You'd then have a good reason to be confident!

Conclusion:

I share all this not to gloat or boast, but to show that it CAN be easy to play music for worship. If it isn't, check to see if you have the basic skills, an accurate understanding of what worship music is like, and confidence in flowing with the dynamics of the worship set.

Just remember, God isn't in the business of giving us burdens to heavy to bear. He's in the business of giving us rest. So get any unnecessary clutter out of your way and enjoy serving God in the worship ministry. Be blessed!

Worship Ministry – How To Work With Difficult Musicians

2011-07-09T22:43:00.004+08:00

One of the reasons why I wrote the Invisible Worship Musician was that I wanted to put an end to worship music clashes forever. Play more? Play less? Is flashy good or bad? Glorifying the flesh or showing the greatness of God?

I cut all those questions at the root by showing:

What worship ministry is supposed to achieve
Tried and tested ways of doing it
How to tell if you achieved it

But let's be realistic; not everyone has read my book, and not everyone agrees with it. So what do you do when you have to work with musicians who don't cooperate with you, who flat-out refuse to play what works and insist on doing things their way instead? Here are some things to watch out for.

1) Remember Respect

Don't get so caught up in getting the music to go the way you want that you forget basic respect. Remember, the musician or singer giving you problems is also a sibling-in-Christ, and so deserves basic respect for that.

1 John 4:10-11 (NIV) - This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

There are many ways of loving one another. But sarcastic or insulting words are NOT one of them. The LORD is watching you; how do you handle this challenging situation? Make sure that whatever you do or say is something you won't be ashamed to account to God for.

Matthew 12:37 (NIV) - For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

2) Long-Term or Short-Term?

Is it a long-term or short-term situation? For example, if you are leading worship for a special conference or event, and you are stuck with a quirky musician because he or she is the only one available from the host church, it isn't worth losing sleep over. If you are only leading worship at that church once a month, or the difficult musician is only a temporary substitute while your main one is away on maternity leave, don't sweat it.

You don't have much responsibility for the situation, unless the pastor asks for your help. And you also don't have very much you can do either!

Proverbs 26:17 (NKJV) - He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears.

But if the problem is a long-term one, you inherited the worship musicians from someone who let the wrong people in, and you have to work with them week after week after week, then this is something you have to take action on.

What you do depends on how much authority you have (are you the leader of the team or just a regular member?) and how much your leader and pastor support your actions. This is a tricky situation, so it is best to work as a team with your leader or pastor on this.

3) Be Patient

No one becomes an uncooperative musician overnight. He or she probably took a long time to build up the bad habits, so it will take time to change them.

It often happens like this: someone has a few flashy displays and people were impressed. So this musician takes this feedback as encouragement to keep on doing more of this, or other stuff like it.

After some time, the playing style and approach has become a strongly held habit. Not everyone has the interest or the time to explore new ways of playing, or to become a musician who can adapt to different situations. They become one-trick ponies, and feel threatened and insecure if you make them think their precious one trick isn't good enough.

So when you are working with them, it is far better to underwhelm them with what you want them to change, than to have them mentally give up on following your instructions.

So give specific pointers and bite-sized tips, such as

"If you do drum fills during the chorus it throws off my singing. How about doing fills only when I am not singing? Or here's something even better: sing with me, that will help you feel the song."
"Let's have our keyboards do complementing jobs, OK? I'll do the rhythm stuff, you do the pads and fills? If we do rhythm together the sound is very cluttered…"
"Let me set the tempo for especially the slower songs, OK? I'll use the piano to mark out the counts, stay with me on them."
"We need to have less keyboard playing so that the acoustic guitar can be heard more clearly…"

So be patient with any difficult musicians. Take the big-picture and long-term view, which Paul expressed in the following passage:

Philippians 1:6 (NIV) - being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

4) Make them WANT to play with you.

As I said earlier, difficult musicians are often one-trick ponies and they feel very insecure when they suspect their one trick isn't good enough. So they would rather ignore you and keep doing things THEIR way.

But if you can make them WANT to play with you, that will be enough motivation to move them out of their comfort zone. So on your part, make sure you know what you're doing. Make sure you have a decent level of skill with your instrument or voice (whichever you are using) and that you KNOW what you are trying to do with the music. If you have only a vague idea of what you want to hear, how can you expect your musicians to have a clear picture of the sound you want?

Most importantly, make sure you have respect both for yourself and the other musicians. The last thing you want others thinking is that you have great skills but lousy attitude.

Try out these tips and let me know how they go? Be blessed!

God, I Am Tired

2011-06-29T20:26:00.003+08:00

(personal blog post)

Nearly the end of June now. School has resumed, and that means going back to the usual waking-up by 0600 hours ("It's a great time... if you're a chicken!" - Robin Williams) to get Jess to school, and after that struggle to stay away long enough for the day's panic and urgency to kick in. Then I get on with the rest of the day.

One thing about the school days, because they are quite packed, I don't realize how tired I am. But once I get that little bit more breathing space, the fatigue hits me with a vengence. And that's when I experience the 30-fold, 60-fold or 100-fold harvest, but not in the area I want!

(*blink* "where was I? Ah yes...")

Personal confession: do you know the one commandment I have been breaking shamelessly for the past 5-6 years?

Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV) - “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

The problem is, there is no such thing as breaking God's commandments and not paying for it. Even the command to let the land rest every 7 years (Lev 25:4) came with a punishment for disobedience. Disobey, and God will exile his people from that land, so that the land may enjoy its Sabbaths (Lev 26:31-35).

I know it makes me look like a slow learner (OK, maybe I am), but this year I started getting the nagging feeling that I cannot continue to abuse my body like this and expect to get away with it. So I started with trying to have one afternoon off each week.

It was tough. Why? Because I found significance and meaning in my hustle and rush. When I made myself slow down, it was as if all my self-discipline just went out the window. All the things I planned to do during my rest time (read my Bible more, practice piano or even just sleep) didn't happen. I found myself staring off into space blankly those afternoons that I DID keep free from work.

It's like those busy mothers who fall sick during public holidays and crash out on the bed for the whole day. Some of them get horrendous migraine headaches the one day they have less work to do. They were sick all that while, but it was only at that moment that they had the time to really feel it. And if they don't rest properly but try to bury the pain with even more work...

During the school holidays, I had more free time than usual, since I had less teaching. And I found myself mentally hanging (going blank) even more than usual. The good thing was that I got a bit more sleep than usual, since I didn't have to wake up that early to get Jess to school. The bad thing was that I felt so guilty over how little other work I got done during that time.

Persevere, JJ, persevere...

Other than my struggles with the discipline of rest, the rest of this month was good. I got to play accompaniment for a student's singing exam, I got to bring my sons for a movie (Kung Fu Panda 2), and I got to spend a bit more time doodling on the piano. I didn't do as much of my own writing as I wanted, because I found it hard to gather my thoughts coherently. But that is even more evidence that I am in dire need of rest. So I should just take it in my stride, right?

Now that school has resumed, however, I'll need to guard my time and my mind carefully to keep myself commited to the discipline of rest. Part of me thinks "just half a day? You call that obedience?" and another part of me is going "are you being responsible to give up that afternoon? Do you know how much income you are missing by giving up that time?"

When I find myself torn in two directions like this, I go back to this passage of Scripture:

1 John 3:19-20 - This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Maybe this will help you too, if you ever find your conscience condemning you whatever you decide. Just remember that our hearts can sometimes judge us more harshly than God does. But ultimately, how God sees us is the most important. And knowing that ought to set our hearts at rest.

OK, that's it for now. Got to get back to the stuff that needs to be done. Be blessed!

Commitment

2011-06-17T23:23:00.002+08:00

A subscriber to my emails asked for my thoughts about commitment in ministry. It's a big topic, so i took a while to think about it. Three points came to mind

1) Commitment is a key to experiencing God's presence

In Psalm 15, we see what God looks for in a person who lives in God's presence. In other words, this is a person God is comfortable having near him; God enjoys this person's company!

Psalm 15 (NIV): LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbour no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man but honours those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.

"Who keeps his oath even when it hurts" is the best definition of commitment I can think of. It is when it hurts that you see how committed someone is. Sometimes the hurt is not even actual pain but boredom. Are you the sort of person who chooses to exercise daily, who chooses to eat and drink healthily, who feeds your spirit and mind with the word of God, even when it gets boring?

One thing that worries me is how few people can endure boredom. Growing in knowledge and skills (including music and singing skill) means sticking with something even when it is boring. Serving in ministry may not always be exciting and fresh. Are you willing to make your decisions (gaining new skills, serving God, taking good care of your physical health) a habit?

That is when you start to enjoy the benefits of commitment!

2) Commit only what you are willing to commit

One reason some people break their commitments is because they are too ambitious when they start. For example, if you are just starting to learn the guitar, committing yourself to practicing for an hour a day is not too smart, because many people take time for their fingers to get used to the guitar. If you are new to exercising, doing an hour a day of intense gym work is not wise.

When I start something, I start with what I know I can do the day after tomorrow. So if I am starting a new exercise, I take it easy on the first day, keep it up the second day and see if I can add a bit more on the third. Doing it like this helps to make it a habit.

When it comes to ministry, be very clear about how much time and effort you are able to commit. Do not let the needs of others compel you into doing more than you are willing to do.

2 Cor 9:6-8 (NIV) – Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

The above passage talks about money. We see God's heart in this area, that he wants our giving to be generous and cheerful. He does NOT want it to be grudging or forced. If we give money cheerfully, we enjoy the benefits of giving, having all that we need and abounding in good works.

I personally take that as a principle and apply it to time and effort. Give as much time and effort as you are cheerful to give. The needs of God's house will ALWAYS be great, because many people who are supposed to serve either do not want to or are unable to serve effectively. And that means that there is a heavier burden on us who are serving.

If you let that need and burden drive and compel you to serve more than you are cheerful to serve, you will burn out and get bitter sooner or later. Don't let that happen to you!

3) Honour the commitment you receive

One big problem with commitment is that it is so unassuming. When a server keeps turning up week after week after week, he or she usually fades into the background in many people's eyes. We tend to take that person for granted, and pay attention to that server only when things go wrong!

Don't do that.

It's easy to forget the good someone has done when things go wrong. After a worship session that went badly, for example, it's easy to blame the drummer that played too slow so he could do the synocopated kick-drum pattern you hated. It's not easy to remember that this drummer served faithfully even through the past few worship ministry crisis, when everyone else quit and he didn't.

That's why you MUST make yourself remember. Especially if you are a leader in your ministry. When you serve alongside the same people week after week, you have more chances for conflicts, disagreements and misunderstandings to happen. As you deal with them, remember that you are trying to resolve problems with someone you can count on, who has proven himself or herself faithful, and is therefore honoured in God's eyes because of that.

Romans 12:7 (NIV) – Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.

Conclusion:

In this post we have looked at the importance of commitment, how much commitment to give and how to receive it. Out of these three areas, which challenges you the most? Pray about it!

Christ, Ministry and Talent

2011-06-10T10:25:00.004+08:00

Pro 27:17 (NIV) - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Minister Warren Gilmore wrote again on my Facebook wall about a week ago. Something he said kept ringing in my spirit for some reason. He said that in my book, I teach people…

"… build their foundation on Christ first, ministry second, and then top it off with the steeple of talent, keeping us in check with of whom our gift, talent, and, most of all, ANOINTING comes from! "

His comment made me ask myself, what does it mean to build the foundation on Christ first, ministry second and then top it off with the steeple of talent?

1) Foundation on Christ

It means that our worship begins from Christ.

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

Our sacrifices of praise will NEVER be acceptable to God based on who we are or what we do. They are acceptable ONLY in Christ. If we think that our innate goodness or the 'sincerity' of our hearts is what makes God look on our worship with favour, we are seriously deceived.

We have only ONE way to offer acceptable sacrifices to God. Jesus Christ.

It also means that Christ is the object of our worship.

John 5:22-23 (NIV) - Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.

Putting it simply, the Father takes it personally. When we honour Jesus, the Father takes it as honour we give to the Father. How about the Holy Spirit?

John 16:14-15 (NIV) - He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The calling and task of the Holy Spirit on earth is to glorify Jesus. He does so by revealing what the Father has given to Jesus, which is, everything. When we see the Father and the Holy Spirit working together to glorify Jesus, how could we ourselves not do the same?

2) Ministry second…

Some people use very emotive language to describe their worship. They say they want to bless the heart of Jesus through their worship. I personally believe that the easiest way to bless his heart is to care for what Jesus cares about.

And Jesus cared about two things while he was on earth, glorifying the Father…

John 17:4 (NIV) - I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

… and the unity of the believers.

John 17:20-23 (NIV) - “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity."

I personally discovered that after I spent a lot of time and effort working towards unifying the worship, I began to truly value unity in the Body of Christ. And if you know how much a loner I was (and still am), you'll appreciate how profound that change is to me.

Ephesians 4:3 – Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (NIV)

I know that unifying the praises of the people seems quite superficial compared to working towards them being of one spirit and one mind (Phi 2:2). But if God will respond to that unity with his glory (2 Chronicles 5:13) then it obviously matters to him. And let's face it, if I am not faithful to do the easier task what makes you think God will entrust me with the harder one?

3) Steeple of Talent

The steeple is a tall tower on a building, usually topped by a spire (spear-like point). It gets the attention, but it doesn't support the building. In the worship ministry, talent gets the attention, but it isn't a foundation for the ministry. Only Christ and a genuine heart for the people he loves will do as a foundation for a sustainable and effective worship ministry.

I know it's fashionable these days to say that musical skill is the least important aspect of the worship ministry. And many worship musicians will say that Christ comes first, ministry second and musical talent third. They will talk about how they offer their skills to God, to serve him.

But talk is cheap. The REAL test of whether a singer or musician has offered his/her skills to God is when they find out what they do does NOT work. For example:

Some musicians have a very unique and personal playing style. That's great for self-expression. But are they willing to let go of that and play normal stuff so that the congregation focuses more on God than on the music?
Others may have gaps in their skill set, and find that they can't play what works. Will they start to take lessons and practice diligently to pick up the skills they lack?
Or if they are worship leaders, they may find that their singing range is too different from the average congregation member. That's when they have to decide if they will either train their singing range till it fits the congregation better, or if they will take a backseat and sing backup vocals instead.
In my case, I believe that 2 Kings 3 tells me to play like a harp when supporting prophecy or prayer time. I use that concept on the piano and it works. But there is a minister whom I regularly play for who moves powerfully in the prophetic. And he doesn't want the harp effect, he wants subdued chords on the jazz organ sound. Am I going to tell him, "Pastor, you are wrong! We're supposed to do it MY way…" or do I just give him what he wants, which he knows works for him?

So when the REAL test comes, that is when we see if people have a genuine heart to offer their skills to God.

I know I sound very exclusionist when I talk about these matters. But I am not. I honestly believe that worship ministry takes the least amount of skill and talent, compared to other ways of serving the Lord via music. But the skill and talent must be directed correctly.

And it may also be that a musician or singer may actually be gifted and called to serve God in other ways. Because we usually see the worship ministry using music most often, it's easy to forget that there are other ways of serving God through music and singing as well. If we try to force such people into the worship ministry, we are only making EVERYONE involved suffer. The musicians/singers suffer because there is a mismatch of ability and need, the congregation suffers because they are not getting what they need to unify their praises unto God.

Conclusion:

Stop for a moment and prayerfully consider your own ministry in the light of Minister Warren Gilmore's exhortation. Let's not get so caught up with getting things done until we forget to check if we are doing the right things or doing things right!

Preparation

2011-05-31T11:13:00.002+08:00

I've always been a firm believer in preparation.

When I first decided I wanted to become a worship leader, I immediately planned my first worship set and the songs I was going to use. I also practiced all those songs on the guitar, since I wanted to use the guitar, rather than the keyboards for leading worship.

How long did I spend practising my first worship set? If I remember correctly, it was for months. I learned more songs as I learned more chords. Then I started playing guitar for worship in cell group. Even though I felt I was ready to lead worship, the cell group kept putting up other people to lead worship, people who didn't really know what they were doing either musically or spiritually. So that just went on for months while I just continued preparing, planning and practicing my worship sets. I did that even though I was not leading worship for my own cell group.

How many people would continue preparing to lead worship if that happened to them?

It was really funny, in the end I finally got to lead worship for a prayer meeting at another church. For 6 months, I led worship for their prayer meeting every week. Suddenly ALL my preparation became useful. Everything I prepared came in useful during those 6 months.

--------

I had other people telling me that they wanted to become worship leaders. And I always tell them the same thing: prepare one set of worship songs and we'll discuss that. And God knows, many times they would tell me "But I don't know when I will be leading worship!"

I tell them "It does not matter. Prepare first!"

And they never do…

Especially amongst charismatics, some people believe that preparation goes against the leading of the Holy Spirit in worship. It's sad, because it shows that they don't believe that the Holy Spirit will guide them in their preparations. They seem to think that the Holy Spirit is just waiting for the chance to throw some surprises on them to catch them off guard, and if they do not manage to follow the Holy Spirit 100% they will miss whatever blessing the Spirit of God has planned for them for that meeting.

There are two types of preparation that came to mind as I think about worship leaders.

1) Levitical Preparation -

The Levites were set apart for the service of the LORD, to serve at the Ark of the Tabernacle (Num 18:6). They initially started serving from 30 years old onwards (1 Chr 23:3) and that was later changed to 20 years of age onwards (1 Chr 23:24). But one thing remained constant – to be born into the tribe of Levi meant that you were chosen for serving God.

And that also applies to us, as New Testament believers. We are set apart as royal priests onto God (1 Peter 2:9). And just as a Levite knew from birth that he was meant to serve God, and his parents were to raise him up accordingly, so are we meant to serve God. And from the moment of our spiritual birth into the Kingdom of Heaven we should prepare ourselves with that same seriousness and dedication.

2) Prophetic Preparation -

Jewish tradition claims that Samuel set up schools of prophets. They trained people in prophecy and music (1 Sam 10:5-6). By the time of Elijah, these schools were so established that even after Jezebel had killed off many of the prophets, Obadiah could still find 100 prophets to protect (1 Kings 18:4).

For us that refers to specific training we receive for a particular ministry. Is it possible to be effective in serving in worship ministry, for example, without having gone through formal training for it? Yes. But some form of preparation IS necessary.

If even prophets, who learned to speak as they were moved by the Spirit of God (2 Peter 1:21), could benefit from being trained and mentored, how much more us worship ministers?

And the preparation never stops. Even as we step up serve with what we have, God is still continually at work within us. He wants us to get ready for further service.

Are you serving God on just one music instrument? God may be nudging you to learn another.
Are you leading worship with only a few familiar songs? I am certain God is nudging you to learn more. Why am I certain? Because the Bible doesn't talk about worshiping God with new styles of music or new instruments. But the Scripture DOES tall about singing a new song to the LORD (Psa 33:3, 96:1, 144:9). And if we want to emphasize what the Bible emphasizes, we need to pay more attention to learning and using new songs in worship as well.
Are you limited in your music instrument skill? God may be nudging you to get out of familiar ground, to learn something new on your instrument or just patch up the weaknesses you have.

Quite a lot of keyboardists I know can't play comfortably in all the keys often used for a worship set. If they are using a keyboard that can transpose they may think they are doing OK. Don't be lazy! Just put in the practice and you will get the skills. And you'll make it easier for your worship leader to flow with the Spirit of God and the dynamics of the people during the worship set.

Conclusion:

Get started! If you have not started serving yet, keep preparing. As I learned from my early worship leading experience, your preparation is something God can use. If you are already serving, I hope this post will stir up within you the desire to prepare yourself for the next step in your ministry as well, to keep pressing on to fulfil the work God has planned for you to accomplish in Christ Jesus.

Be blessed!

Who Should Lead?

2011-05-18T19:54:00.003+08:00

In a worship team, who should be leading? The worship leader or the band director? The worship leader is the one who leads the congregation. The band director is the one who leads the musicians. So if you look at it that way, the worship leader is the one who should be leading everyone.

Including the musicians.

This is of course a VERY ideal case. In real life, however, sometimes

The worship leader is new and doesn't know or understand the flow of worship dynamics; or
The worship leader doesn't know the technical aspects of the music, such as how to put the songs in a suitable key for the congregation to sing comfortably.

In such a situation, hopefully the band director will be an anchor worship musician and thus able to provide practical advice and support for the worship leader. If not, we end up with a lousy situation, a worship leader with a spiritual vision for the session (what kind of spiritual fruit should result) and a band director with a musical vision (what he/she wants the music to sound like). If they are heading different directions from the beginning, the chances of unifying the praises of the people are slim to none.

During the practice:

Band directors should just focus on getting the music right. Worship leaders, if you don't know the details of the music, you'll have to trust the band directors on this. On your part, you should tell the band director if the key is too uncomfortable to sing in.

Hopefully, that would not be because your personal singing range is too different from the congregation! Because if it is, then any key comfortable for you would be bad for the congregation, and vice versa. You may then need to think about switching to some other form of ministry, like maybe prophetic singing or evangelistic singing…

During the worship:

At this time, if you are the anchor musician, remember to give space to the worship leader and follow his or her lead. You may be able to subtly nudge the worship leader and musicians the direction you prefer, but that does not mean that you have to, or you ought to, all the time.

Remember: maturity in Christ comes when every member of the Body of Christ participates in the ministry.

Eph 4:15-16 - Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

So what you should aim for is to have the worship leaders able to lead effectively, but with their own individual personality coming through also. We all have our own quirks and preferences. A new worship leader may be able to introduce new songs to the congregation or do things that we can't because it's not congruent with us.

We are to make disciples not duplicates (Matt 28:19). So we need to know what are the essentials, what we should not compromise on, and what are the peripherals, what we can give people room to experiment with and even make mistakes in.

Conclusion:

As I said earlier, in an ideal world the worship leaders should be the real leaders, in both the musical and spiritual aspects. But God has his own plan, journey AND schedule for your church and congregation. I have a decent grasp of both, but if you are stronger at one aspect than another I strongly urge you to team up with people who cover your weaknesses and hold your hand as you grow in experience and confidence.

And if you are called to support others in their growth, don't micro-manage! Major on the majors and take it easy on the minors. And if you aren't sure which is which, you can always just email, right?

Worship Ministry Foundations - Time and People

2011-05-14T23:07:00.003+08:00

One thing about ministering to another church, it makes me look again at the foundations of worship ministry. I have to explain again to a new worship team why what I do works, as well as why they sometimes get results even though they don't do everything the way I tell them to.

When they have this understanding they are able to adapt to any changes that happen, because they know the foundations and principles that give them results. And that is what I want for you too, of course!

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 – The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.

Time:

How long has this group, fellowship or congregation been around? The longer it has been around, the more time it has had to build up their unity. And that is something that will be expressed in their worship.

In 2 Chronicles 5:12 (not included above) we read that the musicians involved at the dedication of the Temple were Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. They were around and serving ever since King David's time (1 Chr 25:1). Solomon started building the temple since the 4th year of his reign, and completed it in the 11th year (1 Kings 6:37-38). And this tells us that Asaph, Heman and Jeduthan were already serving and heading their respective worship teams for at least 11 years.

Of course we can expect some turnover (some musicians would have retired ever since and some new ones introduced). But the fact remains, 11 years is a considerable period of time. Enough to build a unity of heart and mutual understanding that allows them to work well as a team. In 1 Chronicles 25:7, we find that they were sorted out by family groups. That means that even outside of ministry time they were in considerable amount of fellowship with each other.

What this means:

This means that the worship ministry of a long-standing group can do things ineffectively and still experience the glory of God in their worship. However, this ministry may end up thinking that they have results because of their heart, skill, methods or their super-anointing. You can just imagine the books, worship albums and worship seminars that will follow from that!

And if they ever minister at another church and the people there don't respond, they may think it's because the congregation are not true worshippers, not serious about God and all that. The congregation may also end up suspecting that there is something wrong with themselves, why do they not experience the glory of God when the 'anointed', famous worship team from another church comes to minister to them.

People:

As we saw from 1 Chronicles 25:7, the worship ministry was made up of Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their relatives. That is quite a closed group. At the dedication of the Temple, they were joined by 120 priests on the trumpets, another closed group. Once you have a closed group of people who have spent a lot of time together, unity is easy to build.

But what if your church is NOT a closed group? What if you have new believers born-again into your church regularly? What if you have people from other churches visiting or switching over to your church? What if your group is growing, as the LORD desires?

Acts 2:47 – And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV)

That means that you have to discover what is the most user-friendly approach to worship ministry and stick to that, unless you want to alienate the newer people. Your congregation may already be used to your various musical and worship leading quirks, but wouldn't it be better if what you do works not only with them but also with newcomers as well?

This means cleaning up your worship team of any musical distractions. Make sure your drummer can keep time and your keyboardist or pianist isn't doodling or rambling away on the instrument because he or she is bored. Make sure your overall band sound isn't too loud or too full, since the more you play the less they sing.

And most importantly, make sure the congregation always knows where you want them to sing next. I've seen too many lead singers rather than worship leaders, people who are more interested in their own singing rather than leading the congregation. Musicians, you are not exempted. If your worship leaders are not musically inclined or trained, and they have difficulty knowing when to start singing, then you are not doing your job as a worship musician. If you can't even cue in the worship leader, who has some idea of what is going on, how much more lost would the congregation be?

All those tips and pointers I just gave are not new. I have mentioned them before in my emails and posts (and taught in greater detail in my book, of course). If you get good results in your church even in spite of not following these tips, it would most likely because you have a long-standing, closed group. Nothing wrong with that, just remember that what you are comfortable with now may not work should the group dynamics change or if you have to minister in a new congregation, OK?

Be blessed!

Like Beasts That Perish

2011-04-26T14:34:00.004+08:00

I've got a confession to make.

This season, I've been quite unbalanced in my Bible consumption. The only passages I am studying this season are from the Psalms (because I want to make sure I stay in the Psalmic flow in my worship ministry) and on the good stuff, like health, wealth and protection.

So you can guess I was quite taken aback when out of nowhere, the words "like beasts that perish" keep ringing in my spirit. When it stayed for more than a couple of days, I flipped over to the Psalm where it came from, Psalm 49. And I found something interesting.

First, this phrase is used to describe all men.

Psalm 49:12 (NIV) - People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:16-20 (NIV) - Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them.

Which leads us to the question: who are those who have no understanding?

Psalm 73:21-22 (NIV) - When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

In the New Testament, we see that false teachers too are like the beasts that perish. Why?

2 Peter 2:10-12 (NIV) - This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

They follow the cravings of their fleshly nature and despise (make light) of authority. The telling sign is that they blaspheme (Strong's #987, Blasphemeo, to rail at, revile, to speak evil of) in matters they do not understand. In other words, they don't hesitate to talk trash even when they don't know the people or the issues involved.

They are also ill-disciplined, in fact, Peter refers to them as slaves of depravity (2 Peter 2:19) because depravity rules over them. I know it is fully possible for believers to be caught in the entanglement of sin and addiction. That does not automatically mean that they are like the beasts that perish. If they are humble, and are wise enough to hold their peace when they do not understand a matter, that means that they still have hope, because of the wisdom that still remains and is still working within them.

But if their lives are messed up and they are STILL arrogant, we have a problem here!

When Jude talks about people who are like beasts, the words are strikingly similar to Peter's:

Jude 8-10 (NIV) - In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

In this day and age, I come across a number of children who are both ill-disciplined (no habit of delayed gratification) and quick to revile, condemn and insult. A few weeks ago, I saw a little girl, who could have been no older than five or six years old, arguing with and insulting her mother in public. That girl even went as far to as to actually strike her mother on the arm a few times, at least until she noticed my furious glare from a few metres away.

God is my witness, I was only seconds away from shouting at her hard enough to probably traumatize her for life. It was only the presence of the mother that kept me from exploding, since I knew It would be a horrible loss of face for the mother should I act as if she was incapable of disciplining her daughter and I (a total stranger) have to take over.

(by the way, I was just talking with Jess last night about facing demon-possessed people. He said I was fierce enough to frighten away demons … face-palm moment!)

After a while, the mother noticed me and remarked "Hey, aren't you the keyboardist from [my old] church?" That was more than ten years ago. And that meant that this lady was also a believer. Yet her daughter turned out like that…

Ill-disciplined and blasphemous people are on the rise in today's society. It is therefore the responsibility on us Christians to:

Pray for our children
Model the right behavior (to be self-controlled and respectful) for them

… lest they, like too many I've seen, end up like the beasts that perish. The Bible does hold out hope for them, since we are told to:

Jude 23 (NIV) - … save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

But won't it be a lot easier to keep them from descending to such depths in the first place?

Just some food for thought...

All this brings me to my point: As we have already seen from the last post, we have no understanding, we end up grieved and embittered, when we allow ourselves to envy the prosperity of the wicked.Though while they live they count themselves blessed— and people praise you when you prosper— they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life.

People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish. Then, it is used to describe those who have no understanding, to tell us not to be intimidated when such people prosper (You listening in, Asaph?).

Spiritual Denseness and Dullness

2011-04-20T23:08:00.004+08:00

One thing I struggle with this season is this sense of being spiritually dense, as if I am not hearing God as well as I ought to. Because I believe God is still planning good in my life, I'm trying not to let myself get too frustrated over it. But it does make me curious about being spiritually dense. What are some of the reasons people cannot hear clearly from him?

Asaph, one of the psalmists, had a struggle with this too.

Psalm 73:1 - Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

Amen, brother! Preach it!

Psalm 73:2-3 - But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Huh? I don't think I understand…

Psalm 73:4-5 - They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.

Are you sure?

Psalm 73:6-12 – Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”
This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

Hold it there, Asaph. I'm getting the feeling that you are just generalizing here. You might see a few wicked prospering here and there, no denying that, but you make it sound like they ALL prosper. Are you sure that is what you really mean?

Psalm 73:13-14 - Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.

What I always thought was that we keep our hearts pure and our hands clean so that we may ascend the mountain of the LORD (Psa 24:4) and be in his presence. What does the prosperity of the wicked have to do with it? Were you thinking that keeping a pure heart and clean hands would ensure the speedy downfall of the wicked? I don't think it works like that!

I can see that you are troubled, Asaph. It looks to me like it's coming more from holding on to your expectations, that the world has to immediately confirm to YOUR idea of justice and reality, rather than what it actually is…

Psalm 73:15-16 - If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.
When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply

It's good that you restrain your words in front of the children of Israel, so that you do not stumble them. What I suspect is that you are trying to 'understand' all this based on your perspective, rather than the Word of God. And personally, I sometimes find that even the Word of God doesn't get through my thick skull when my emotions run amok. I think the best thing to do is…

Psalm 73:17 - till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.

Oh never mind, Asaph! I see you figured it out yourself.

Psalm 73:18-20 - Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.

Notice a 180 degree change in perspective after entering the presence of God?

Psalm 73:21-24 - When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

This is one of my favourite promises in the Bible. It humbles me and exalts the goodness of God at the same time. It humbles me by reminding me that no matter how spiritual I think I am, I can easily fall back into being a senseless and ignorant beast before God. And yet even then God is still with me, he still holds me and guides me. His faithfulness and patience humbles me, moves my heart and brings me to repentance.

And let's not forget the later glory he has waiting for us!

Psalm 73:25-26 - Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I've seen people quote this verse and try using it to preach people into desiring and longing for God above the things of this world. But I seldom see them preach it in its context. "Earth has nothing I desire besides you" is NOT a command from God. It’s a statement from Asaph AFTER he has entered the sanctuary of God. In other words, you can fulfil this verse ONLY when you are in the presence of God.

Final Observations:

First, envying the wicked and becoming spiritually dense seem to come together. I discovered this when I recently went through it myself. Which comes first and causes the other? I can't say for sure. But what I CAN say is that if you find yourself envying the wicked, check to see if your spiritual senses are dulled also.

And quickly run into the sanctuary of God before the bitterness that follows (Psa 73:21) has enough time to take root and defile you (Heb 12:15)!

Second, this entire Psalm, coming from someone as spiritually mature as Asaph, is a reminder that I will need to regularly enter the sanctuary of God to restore my vision and sensitivity towards God. Therefore, I have to guard that very jealously. I cannot let condemnation keep me from seeking God when I am by myself, and I cannot let offences with others keep me from seeking God when I am in the congregation of his people. To let being offended (or "disappointed", as the pseudo-spiritual would say) with other people keep me from the presence of God is foolishness and childishness to the highest degree.

Anyway, these are my thoughts and impressions from this Psalm. I hope that something from this would edify you and encourage you in the Lord. Be blessed!

A Few Nights Back

2011-03-31T23:40:00.002+08:00

I was just praying a couple of nights back, and this verse caught my attention.

Psalm 65: 4 (NIV) - Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

This is the question: what ARE the good things of God's holy temple?

I have to admit, I couldn't think of anything offhand. I looked at the rest of the psalm to see if there were any answers or clues. It continues to talk about God's character and power over the elements of nature (Psa 65:5-7). Then it describes how God gives blesses his people with abundant harvests.

If you know me long enough, you'll know that I have no objections to tangible and concrete blessings, such as wealth and health. And in this psalm, wealth is given in its most primal form, not gold, silver or precious stones, but in the form of food. In times of famine, what is the point of having money if there is no food for you to buy?

But I personally don't believe these tangible blessings are the good things the Psalmist refers to in verse 4. Those are depicted as outside of the temple, how God nourishes the land to give a bountiful harvest. What about the blessings within?

Another passage that came to mind as I mused on this,

Ephesians 1:3-9 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to son-ship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ…

This passage, I suspect, tells us the blessings within God's holy temple.

Being chosen for a destiny – vs 4-5
An adoption to son-ship (being an heir of God) – vs 5
Redemption and forgiveness – vs 7
Revelation of God's purpose – vs 8-9

Notice that forgiveness and being chosen also comes out early in Psalm 65?

Psalm 65:3 (NIV) - When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.

And in the next verse:

Psalm 65:4 (NIV) – Blessed are those you choose and bring near…

Of course, Paul explains everything a lot more clearly in his letter to the Ephesians.

But there's a problem I realized I have fallen into. When I look at Ephesians 1:3-9, I know the words. But do I get the reality of the words? I don't think so. I think truly grasping these truths require revelation from the Holy Spirit of God.

1 Cor 2:9-10 (NIV) – As it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

That is why even in Ephesians 1 Paul prays:

Eph 1:17-19 (NIV) – I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Right now, I find that I need to go back to that same prayer. All the prayer, study and meditation on that passage I have done before does not count for much in the now. It's not about how closely you followed the Lord and sought him in the days, months and years past; it's about how closely you follow him NOW. I used to take the Ephesians prayer and pray it over myself, another sibling-in-Christ and my pastor, and whenever I made that my regular practice my heart and mind was set on things above, not things below (Col 3:1-2). But once I stop I start to drift away.

I guess that is why Paul says "I KEEP asking"!

How about you? Is your heart set on things above? Are you enjoying and delighting in the good things of God's house, his holy temple?

Be blessed!

Add an Ad, Anyone?

2011-03-18T10:23:00.004+08:00

If you are interested in making money via the Internet, there are three main ways.

You use your blog or website to promote your products and services
You use your blog or website to promote the products of other people, and when a sale is made through your site you get paid a commission
You have a blog or site that has very high traffic, and businesses who want to get the attention of those who pay attention to you pay you to feature their ads on your site.

As you can guess, I chose the first option, to promote my worship ministry e-training material. I didn't expect other people to want to advertise their stuff on my site, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was asked if I'd be willing to host an ad for Louie Giglio's products on my site. Being a fan of Louie Giglio's work, I of course agreed!

So my site has only ONE ad. At the other extreme, there's another worship leader's blog that has ads galore. What he did was that he signed up for those ad programs that allow Google or the blog host to allocate ads to your site based on what their systems think is relevant. Problem is, their systems decide based on keywords, and if advertisers of wrong products chose keywords poorly, the wrong kind of ads can appear on your site.

This has resulted in all kinds of products being displayed at his worship ministry site. One ad clicked over to a "Free Develop-Your-Psychic-Powers DVD program", another to "Witchcraft Exposed", which promises to teach you witchcraft secrets and spells that others will not teach you. To be frank, I sometimes head over to his site JUST to see what kind of ads will turn up THIS time!

On one hand it's funny, and on the other, it's sad. Because I know about the quirks of the ad program he signed up for, and having been online for a longer period of time than he was, I once emailed him some time back to tell him the ad program was featuring yoga products on his worship ministry site. I was expecting him to either:

Ignore me, since I am a stranger to him and him to me
Thank me profusely for pointing out something he didn't know and was embarrassing him behind his back. Then deal with it.
Tell me that he has investigated yoga and thinks it's OK. And if that was his personal conviction, I can respect that.

But can you believe it? He actually emailed me, saying "The ads are beyond my control…" No, they are not! He chose to allow ads on his blog. He could have decided to use a free blog that wouldn't charge him anything for hosting his site, or he could have just trusted in God to provide the less than US$10 each month to host his site.

Nope, he decided he needed the few-cents-per-click income from his site more than the respect of fellow believers and the need to follow his own convictions. * fumes *

Anyway…

In case you are thinking about making money via the Internet, I sincerely believe that the Internet, as a market, has matured. Gone are the days of making mindlessly easy money online. Making money online now takes wisdom, hard work and a willingness to grow way beyond the average person's comfort zone.

I am not very much help in this area, since I am only a worship musician. But I'd like to remind urge you to remember: whatever you do online, especially when it comes to making money, please remember:

The God you one day have to answer to;
Your own convictions, your personal beliefs on what is right and what is wrong; AND
Your spiritual family, the rest of the Body of Christ.

Don't do things that you'd be ashamed to acknowledge before anyone, such as using automatic article spinners to produce and submit many different versions of an article for the sake of tricking Google's search engines. If I'd be ashamed to admit that to Google, how much worse would it be to admit it before the Judge of all the earth, right?

Thanks for putting up with my rant. I just needed to get this off my chest. Be blessed!

How To Plan Evangelistic Concerts

2011-03-10T13:03:00.003+08:00

Many, many years ago, the pastor of a Singapore mega-church was invited to be the featured speaker at an evangelistic concert organized by a small church. Just before the start of the evangelistic concert the local pastor said, "Let's pray for a mighty harvest!"

The mega-church pastor asked him "How many non-Christians are there in the audience?"

"I looked, and I think there are at least two…"

"The rest of the audience are already members of your church?"

"Yes…"

"Then why go through all this work and effort to run the concert? You can just invite those two non-Christians to have dinner with me and I can just talk with them over the meal, right?"

[loud silence follows]

That pastor shared with us that story in the debrief after a series of evangelistic concerts that were initiated, organized and executed by the youth ministry of his church. What impressed him was the fact that besides putting effort to have a good show (or why call it a concert?) we put in tons of effort to bring in the non-Christians to hear the message.

Those efforts paid off. We had, on average, 50-60 salvations per show. Not bad considering that at least 90% of it was run by students who had to juggle studying for exams with practising for the concert!

All this came to mind recently when a student of mine approached me to help for her church evangelistic concert. She asked me about how to find musicians, and I offered to help find them. But I needed to know what type of concert it was going to be, so I could find the appropriate musicians. And that was when she admitted that she didn't know and haven't yet planned what type of concert it was going to be.

Here's my advice to her (and anyone else planning evangelistic concerts)

If you want to do something big worth doing, you need the specific plan. When Moses was given the assignment to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, God gave him specific plans, blueprints and details. You need that kind of plan first before you even ask God about how to get the resources you need.

So if you say you want to do a concert ...

1) Who is it for? English-speaking? Chinese or dialect-speaking? Or others? What demographic do they belong to? Youth, working adults, male, female, families with kids... who?

You need to be focused on this, because in this day and age people have a lot of demands on their time. They won't turn up for something just because posters were put up or things like that. If you know WHO you are targeting, you can then formulate a plan to invite them for the concert.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but if you live in a city like Singapore, the days of organizing an evangelistic rally with a famous speaker and having hordes of non-Christians, young, old and in-between, lining up to attend it, are long gone. People have separated themselves into their demographics (working adults, families with kids, elderly with health challenges, grandparents actively involved with their grandchildren, entrepreneurs, and so on). There is no more one-size-fits-all approach to reaching and connecting with them!

To know more about how social dynamics have changed in many parts of the world, head over to http://jvworship.blogspot.com/2010/10/introduction-to-marketing.html, I give a brief overview there.

2) What do they want?
This is the plan for inviting them to the concert- you have to show them that they should sacrifice 1-2 hours of their time to be at your concert. If you don't know what they want, you cannot persuade them.

Moreover, when you give them the reasons, you have to speak to them in THEIR language. As Paul said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I may save some." (1 Cor 9:22). Many Christians are lazy when communicating with non-Christians; they make no effort to hear them before they start speaking down to them. It's like saying "Jesus is the answer!" but not stopping to ask them first what is their question.

Very shoddy. Any businessman who takes this kind of attitude towards getting customers for his business DESERVES to have his business fail… Are we less serious about an evangelistic concert than a businessman is over growing his business?

3) How can you give it to them?
If they want entertainment, you have to be more entertaining than what people get from TV, because otherwise they can stay at home and watch TV. If they want interaction, you need to offer them interaction that is better than joining their colleagues at the pub or the karaoke lounge. If they want information, you have to make sure the information you present them really adds value to their lives. What do they want?

The Problem is...
Many people plan evangelistic concerts based on what they feel other people OUGHT to want, rather than what they really do want. It's a very self-centred way of doing things, and it puts off the non-Christians. Evangelism is about connecting with people and then connecting them with God. And if you want to do an evangelistic concert, you'd better have evangelists on your team. And listen to what they say.

Many of the serious worship leaders and musicians I know have a prophetic inclination. They find spending extended periods of time praying and praising God something very natural, but are less developed in their people skills. That is why few of them can teach or evangelize. I suspect many Christian singers and musicians who have an evangelistic gifting end up in the secular world and connect well with non-Christians. But if they are left alone and without genuine fellowship and discipleship from fellow believers, they easily end up compromising their testimony, like salt that has lost its taste.

You may think that the hours you spend in prayer and worship makes you more spiritual than them. And maybe, just maybe, you are. But if you have no evangelistic gifting, you NEED their wisdom, advice and help to make an evangelistic concert work. God made us such that we need each other in the Body of Christ in order to come to the fullness of the measure of Christ (Eph 4:15-16).

In the end…

… After you have looked at all these questions and waited upon God, you may find that an evangelistic concert may not be the best thing to do after all. You may plan some other outreach event instead, and it may not even involve music. We musicians tend to look for ways to drag music into every church activity we are involved in. But that may not be necessary or wise all the time.

Don't do what I have seen too many pastors and leaders do – get started doing something and THEN ask God to guide them. That's wrong. The better way is to wait upon God for his instructions FIRST and then move from there. It can be difficult, because the flesh usually swings between rationalized laziness and frantic activity to try and please God. And as I am fond of saying, the fruit (results) don't lie!

So if you are planning for an evangelistic concert, I hope you will find my thoughts and opinions helpful. Be blessed!

Working With Your Pastor and Being the New Guy

2011-03-04T09:23:00.002+08:00

A couple of quick points:

First, I came across a couple of very useful posts recently. They are about:

1) Working Together With Your Pastor - Useful advice for worship leaders on how to partner with your senior pastor.

2) Being the New Guy - if you are taking over a worship ministry established by someone else, what should you keep in mind?

Secondly, I'll be announcing a special gift for those who are on my Hidden-Truths mailing list. So if you are interested in growing in your understanding of spontaneous worship and playing for prayer time, make sure you keep an eye on your email inbox!

That's all for now. I'll be in touch...

Hobble, limp, grumble, whine...

2011-02-28T20:57:00.003+08:00

(Personal blog post)

It's the end of Feb 2011, and the thoughts most pressing on my mind: my toes hurt!

I kicked them against something hard (and that's all I'm saying, I don't want to look totally lame). They didn't hurt at first, but later there was pain even as I played piano pedals during church. And after playing for service I ran to the washrooms, looked at my by-then-swollen toes and realized I was going to suffer for the next few days...

So I went about limping around today. I did SOME teaching even though the doctor recommended that I rest completely for two days. But I drew the line at carrying the guitar around for teaching guitar. That would be going too far, so I postponed my guitar teaching to another day.

It sounds lame (no pun intended) that with all the horrible things that could have happened to me but didn't, my mind is fixated on my poor hurting toes. I'm limping around as I walk, and as I hobble I am feeling really sorry for myself.

Yes, I reserve the right to be silly once in a while! :D

Another thing on my mind this month was how I managed to clear a lot of my old clothes, as mentioned in my blog posts. It was a good experience, letting go of whatever I knew I had to let go of. I guess that's one of the beneficial aspects of Chinese New Year, the custom of cleaning out the house, which leads naturally to clearing out whatever we ought to really get rid of.

So now I face a more spacious wardrobe and a more organized working room. Hopefully I can keep myself disciplined in this area for the rest of the year. Keeping my personal space organized, though it sounds very trivial, is one of those little things that affect how well I deal with big things.

What's the next step? To make my first 2 hours in the morning even more productive. Tell you more about it next time. Got to get on with some other matters, so I'll continue some other time. Stay tuned! :)

How to Change Your Spiritual Wardrobe

2011-02-24T00:04:00.003+08:00

For those of us who like everything listed out neatly, here are the two lists in Colossians 3.

What To Take Off

sexual immorality
impurity
lust
evil desires
greed (= idolatry)
anger
rage
malice
slander
filthy language
lying

What To Put On

compassion
kindness
humility
gentleness
patience
forgiveness
love

The driven, task-oriented amongst us will probably print out the lists, put them up somewhere they would see every day and make them their New Year Resolutions. From experience, only the very disciplined amongst us can make it work. And for the rest of us, we will find it very frustrating, because we are not doing things the way God wants us to do them.

How ARE We Supposed to Change?

1) Think About Godly Things

Colossians 3:1-3 – Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (NIV)

I remember the days I so wanted to live a God-pleasing life. I had been a believer for years before that, but because I was not in fellowship with other brethren and didn't have a proper devotional life, I was convinced that it was unrealistic and unattainable. But I still wanted to try anyway.

I wasn't too sure I could follow the instructions in the Bible, but I decided that the least I could was KNOW what the instructions were. So I just made it a point to read the Bible daily. At that time I didn't know the power of reading the Bible aloud, but even then the 15-20 minutes each time, done 2-3 times a day, was enough to start changing my mind into thinking that obeying God wasn't that unrealistic and unattainable after all.

And let's face it, that was a very necessary first step!

2) Know God

Colossians 3:10 - … and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (NIV)

In verses 9-10, Paul tells us since you have take off our old self (and its habits) and put on the new self by being renewed in knowledge in the image of our Creator. This tells me that I ought to put less attention less on changing my lifestyle and more on knowing the God who created the new me.

Consider the following:

Lev 20:26 - You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. (NIV)

Knowing the holiness of God will spur us into holy living. Notice how God uses himself as an example for us to follow?

Deut 10:18-19 - He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (NIV)

And in the New Testament, we are told to imitate God:

Eph 5:1-2 - Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (NKJV)

But how can we imitate God unless we deeply and intimately know him? We need to meditate on his wonders and his deeds (Psa 77:12). When we do, and realize that we are his children and thus carry his DNA in our spirit, we then begin to find ourselves living as his children would.

3) Recognize that we are the chosen, holy and dearly loved

Colossians 3:12-14 - Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (NIV)

This is the earlier step, Knowing God, and carries it a step further. When we know God and how much he loves us, it becomes easy to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and so on. Why? Because we know God is like that, and he has treated us thus. And that makes it reasonable for us to do likewise.

Conclusion:

All these steps may seem simple. They are. But don't let the simplicity deceive you. They require us to put in consistent and regular effort to renew our minds. We used to live in the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph 2:2) and so it will take time and deliberate effort to change our thought patterns and emotional habits.

It's not an easy journey. But I can assure you that you will find joy and delight in it as you know you please God in your thoughts, words and deeds. Shall we continue this journey together?

Be blessed!

My Old Clothes

2011-02-17T23:59:00.002+08:00

I gave away a large stack of my old clothes recently.

It took a number of trips, lugging heavy bags, taking Singapore public transport and then doing a 'heave'-offering into the Salvation Army collection centre. And from the looks of things I'll still have to make a couple more trips over the next few weeks.

We Chinese usually do loads of spring-cleaning and housekeeping before the Chinese New Year. That makes it an appropriate time to look through the wardrobe and decide if you REALLY want to wear that crazy shirt you bought the last holiday…

After totally forgetting to do this for years, I finally buckled myself down and forced myself to start on seriously evaluating my wardrobe and the clothes therein. And it started me thinking about my spiritual dress sense also. To make it very simple, our spiritual dressing is made up of:

1) What We Take Off

Colossians 3:5, 8-9 – Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry… But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (NIV)

Why were there so many of my old clothes left in my wardrobe? Because I didn't grow physically over the past 12 or so years. Many people I know wear forced to give away their old clothes because those clothes didn't fit them anymore. But for me, my height, my arm-length and even my waistline has remained the same, so I could get away with wearing the old clothes that I used to wear 12 years back.

It's just like how some believers, when they first turn to Christ from an extremely bad background, such as drug and alcohol abuse, crime and all that, change spiritual dressing very drastically. Because what they had to get rid of was very obvious and easy to see, you could see the changes in their lives very quickly. They knew their old ways just didn’t fit their new identity in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).

It was like people whose waistlines grew a few inches. It's obvious that their old jeans don't fit anymore!

Some believers don't have horrible backgrounds when they come to Christ. Maybe they were by nature nice people already, or their parents had brought them up well, or they had really good self-discipline. Because the things they had to get rid of were not so obvious, they could actually get away with staying the same, not totally surrendering their behavior and emotions to the Lord, and people around them wouldn't notice.

It's like me keeping old clothes from 12 years back because they still fit OK!

So why I get rid of the old clothes then? Because no matter how much I washed them, they still stink. There was a moldy, stale smell that wouldn't go away no matter how many times I put those clothes in the washing machine.

Likewise for our attitudes and habits. Even though they may still fit in our lives (they don't cause us or the people around us major inconvenience or problems), after a while, as we mature in Christ we realize that they stink, we don't like them and we really ought to get rid of them.

2) What We Put On

Colossians 3:12 – Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (NIV)

Why did I get down to evaluating my wardrobe after all these years? Because I was given lots of new clothes and I needed to make space for them in my room.

That is my primary motivation for getting rid of anger, malice, slander and other inappropriate habits from my life. Even though they were not really obvious and not causing that much problems, I needed to get rid of them to make even more room for compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

One thing I appreciate about how Paul expresses himself here – he compares those virtues to clothes. One thing that sets humans apart from animals – our clothes are NOT a part of us, and we therefore have a choice in what we choose to wear.

Jeremiah 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? (NKJV)

We can't change the color of our skin, but we can choose what we wear above it. Likewise, despite our basic nature, we can choose to wear compassion, kindness and the other virtues over it. At the very beginning, when we struggle with our old emotional habits and thought-life, putting on compassion can make us feel like we are faking it, that we are pretending to be kind and humble people when we aren't. The accuser can jump in to heap condemnation upon us and discourage us from the Christian walk, or we sometimes totally discourage ourselves without his help.

As long as we know that it feels uncomfortable and unnatural at the beginning, we are not expecting it to be a miraculous change and we are not very disappointed if we slip up and make mistakes. This allows us to keep on at it for the long haul, and after time what we wear becomes an integral part of our personal identity. Gentleness, kindness and patience are not longer just clothes that we may or may not wear that day; they become vital and irreplaceable aspects of our spiritual dress code.

And by that time we cannot imagine or accept replacing them with anything less!

It's just like my current dress sense. There are colours and types of clothes I know I will NEVER wear. I don't care what other people say. I am NEVER going to wear Bermuda-pants (I think I look ridiculous in them) or the brighter, fiery colours (such as yellow, orange or red). I'm sticking to my favourite colours no matter how boring they make me look. My clothes and the colours I choose are now a vital part of my personal identity and I am sticking with them!

Of course, it helps that I am already married and am no longer spouse-hunting…

So when was the last time YOU waited before the LORD and asked him what he wanted you to change in your spiritual wardrobe?

Be blessed!

When You Have to Change A Whole Church...

2011-02-07T10:54:00.003+08:00

One of the greatest challenges a worship leader could ever face is changing the worship culture of an entire church. Whether it is a performance-based culture (they sit back and watch you make a fool of yourself on the stage) changing to a participation-based one (the people actually sing out their praises to God), or a liturgical service being changed to a contemporary service, it is a huge and daunting challenge. So if your pastor comes to you and gives you the task of creating more dynamic praise and worship in your church, here are some suggestions to help.

1) Take it slow

As I mentioned in the last chapter of my Invisible Worship Musician, God gives his people time to adapt to changes. In Exodus 16, after the people of God were delivered out of bondage in Egypt, they began clamouring Moses for meat. They said:

"There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted..." (Exodus16:3, NIV)

This suggests to me that they saw meat as being the only viable food for them. God, however, had different plans. He wanted to feed the people with manna. However, he had the kindness and gentleness to meet the people where they were, giving them what they were used to first, before giving them what he decided was his perfect plan for their food.

"At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'" (Exodus 16:11, NIV)

This same principle also applies to establishing a worship ministry paradigm that genuinely serves the people of God, or converting your church's liturgical service to a contemporary one without alienating all the faithful members of your church. Whatever you do, please remember that it takes time for people to get used to changes in general. So do be patient with them!

2) Use the Fallback Worship Songs

What are the Fallback Worship Songs of your church? The ones the people love to death and will sing no matter what? The ones that convey the timeless truths you want people to remember when crisis strikes and their faith is tested? If you do not know what they are, go find out, and start using these songs. They will be the backbone of your church's worship culture.

It's interesting, the Fallback Worship Songs of a church can be very different, depending on its background. If the church is performance based and the members are hungering spiritually to exercise their spirits by really participating in the worship, the Fallback Songs can be very simple, musically and lyrically. But if you come from a liturgical church, the Fallback Songs can be a hymn that has 3-6 stanzas of lyrics that the faithful members of the church can sing from heart. So make use of that!

Quick tip: for a liturgical church, Chris Tomlin's How Great is our God (CCLI #4348399) is a fantastic song to teach them, because its structure and lyrics is easy for them to take to.

3) Work with a small group first

What's easier, changing the worship culture of 200 people or 10 people? If your goal is participation for the sake of unity (as shown in 2 Chr 5:13), you'll probably find 10 people easier to manage than 200. So if you need to change the worship paradigm of your church, find a small group of people you can work with and start there.

I would prefer that you plug yourself into a group that is already running and start to work from there, instead of starting your own group. If the group is already running, you can get to see the worship dynamics of the church upfront and personal, and you can better figure out what is feasible for you and what isn't. If you intend to start another group, you will have to first seek the approval of your church pastor, and then expect that you will have to shepherd the group instead of just focusing on the worship and leaving the overall leading of the group to someone else.

Joining and working with your church's prayer meeting (if it has one) is a great way to start. The people tend to be more expressive, and there is a greater link between prayer and praise that you can tap on to create a more dynamic worship culture. Also, if you do a good job at this meeting and people encounter God's presence strongly there, word will spread and more people from your church will join that meeting. And from there the fire will spread to the rest of your congregation, just give it some time.

Conclusion:

It can be difficult to change the worship culture of an entire church. But it can be done. Other people have done it before and you can do it too. If this is the vision your church pastor has for your church, and you believe in your heart that this is what God wants you to do, go for it! It will take time and serious, dedicated effort. But what worthwhile endeavour in life doesn't?

Temple Trip with Jessiah

2011-01-28T09:49:00.004+08:00

(Personal Blog Post)

Jessiah and I went to a Taoist temple recently.

It was not for a cultural or enrichment thing, it was because he won an award for his academic performance in school. The award was presented at the temple, and so we had to go down to that temple to receive the award.

Jessiah was obviously uncomfortable as we got nearer to the temple. You must understand that it was to him a canopy of unfamiliar sounds (chanting, gongs and droning music) and smells (the incense from the joss sticks). I, on the other hand, because I was raised in a non-Christian family, was much more familiar with all these elements. In fact, they brought me back to nostalgia lane, back to a time when I was so much more innocent and optimistic (and spoiled rotten by a doting grandmother)…

I am still not used to having a camera with me everywhere I go, so I didn't take many pictures of the place. But here is a picture of the tent where the awards ceremony was held. You can see how many other people were there as well. It was quite a large ceremony.

So as I sat down and waited for the ceremony to begin, I realized that I didn't want Jessiah to grow up culturally stunted. In his day to day life, he is exposed to Western culture almost all the time. I want him to be culturally-savvy, able to move confidently and wisely in different cultural contexts. Because I would accompany my parents to various temples (Buddhist and Taoist) when I was a young kid, I am still comfortable with going into temples. I am not freaking out, convinced that I will get demon-possessed and will lose my anointing if I stay there too long. No, I am relaxed, in the moment, enjoying the experience and looking to see what lessons the LORD has in store for me that day.

This means that I have to make a conscientious effort to bring him into different cultural situations and teaching him how to manage himself well there. That is something that I have neglected (to be honest) and I realize that I'll have to try to fix that this year. How? Hmmm… let me get back to you on that!

Side note: here is something I found VERY amusing...

I never knew that Taoist temples had money changers too! I wonder if Taoists ever felt that a particular temple had a corrupted money system in place and wished for someone to go charging in, whip in hand and start overturning the money changers' tables!

Criteria for Worship Minister?

2011-01-22T18:02:00.002+08:00

Last year, I wrote on paying your church musicians. Recently, I came across Greg Jones writing on this topic from a different angle. He wrote on what to look for when your church is hiring a worship pastor, the full-time staff who heads the worship ministry. He calls that position 'worship leader', probably because in some churches the worship leader not only leads worship, but also gives pastoral care and training to the rest of the musicians and singers as well. And is, of course, a member of the paid staff.

Read his article here

As I said, his angle is different. It's about what to look for in someone you are going to engage as paid staff, while mine is about whether to pay the people you already have and are serving. But it is interesting to see where we converge:

Teaching - I believe 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. Greg Jones talked about how a worship leader/pastor who cannot teach may be able to tell the worship team that they are at level A and need to go to level B, but does not have the ability to equip the team as to how to get there. And this can lead to lots of frustration.
Possible conflicts – In my post, I wrote that if you decide to pay only the head musician and not the rest of the band, that could give problems if one of the musicians thinks the guy in charge is less deserving of it than he/she was. Greg brought up another possibility I did not consider: if the worship leader/pastor is unable to anchor the music and has to depend on a layperson (volunteer) to do it, then the layperson may feel taken advantage of. That can lead to dissension, conflict and resentment.

All in all, Greg gives a good perspective on the issue. He has his own experience as a worship leader and musician. He also thinks through his points and has useful insights to share. Let me know what you think of his article, OK?

Be blessed!

Pub Musician, Worship Musician?

2011-01-16T23:01:00.004+08:00

Can someone who is playing at a pub or a rock band also play in the worship team?

The question seems to boil down to whether playing in a pub or rock band disqualifies someone from playing in the worship team. I've done my own pub-band time and other secular gigs as well, so here are three things that I'd look at when it comes to this issue.

Alcohol – Does the person have a problem with alcohol abuse? If so then he/she ought to avoid the pub environment in the first place.

Eph 5:18 - Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (NIV)

I have no problems with believers drinking alcohol. If the Bible does not prohibit it, neither should I. But the Bible DOES prohibit getting drunk. So if we are talking about a believer who plays music at a pub and he or she consistently gets drunk, then I'd think twice about letting this person play on the worship team.

Secular music – I also have no problem with believers playing secular music. The Bible does not prohibit it, neither should I. But the Bible does speak out against confusing the sacred with the secular. Consider this passage:

Eze 33:31-32 - So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. (NKJV)

The reference to secular entertainers in Israel shows that they did exist in those days. In this passage, God says that ignoring the word of a prophet is like treating him/her just like a secular entertainer. The Bible does not condemn secular music, but it does tell us not to treat the Word of God in the same way, as mere entertainment.

The Believer's Word Life – And that refers to both the time the person spends in the Bible and his spoken words.

A secular pub is usually an unedifying place. The Bible does not give us a definite order to avoid all unedifying places, in fact we are told that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). So that means that we cannot totally avoid unedifying places. But we CAN keep ourselves from being polluted by the world (James 1:27). And that is what we should aim for.

So if a pub or rock musician wants to play on the worship team, my first question is this: has he or she been polluted by the world? The fastest gauge of that is his or her speech, because the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). If the believer has been polluted by the world, his or her speech will usually be the first to go haywire.

Quick tip: don't just listen to how this person talks in church. Drop by the pub when this musician is working, hide yourself one corner and pay careful attention to how he or she behaves when no one knows you are around. There are pub musicians I know who consistently shine forth as lights in a warped and crooked generation (Phi 2:15), even at the pub itself. I'd be honoured to have those people with me on the worship team anytime!

I'll also watch for this person's hunger for the Word of God. Why? Because if his or her heart has departed from the LORD, he/she will lose the hunger for the Bible.

Jeremiah 2:15 - My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (NIV)

And once the hunger for the Word of God is gone, the pollution of the world will come in very quickly. So does the musician in question skip church services? How is his/her personal time in the Word of God? I'd ask what was the latest insight he/she got from the Scriptures recently. If you see a panic-stricken expression on the face, that's a warning sign for you right there!

Conclusion: Every believer will have areas in life where they need help. A believer who is pub or rock band musician and who has any of the above problems is NOT a lesser person in Christ than we are. They just need help in those areas, just as we ourselves do in other parts of our lives. If a pub or rock band musician has problems with alcohol abuse and with being polluted by the world, then whether he/she is included on the worship team is a decision that is best made by the pastor in charge. Why? Because the LORD may use the musician's involvement in worship ministry to spur him/her to take God seriously. Because the ramifications are heavier than usual, it is best to leave this decision to God-appointed leadership who will pray and seek the mind of God on this situation.

Let me know what you think?

The Anchor Worship Musician

2011-01-12T10:18:00.004+08:00

It would be great if every musician in your church worship team knew how to anchor the worship music. By that I mean:

they are all able to read where the congregation dynamics are headed,
they all know how to cue the worship leader and congregation to start singing, and
they all effectively use the music to unify both the praises of the people and the rest of the musicians.

But that does not just happen out of nowhere. Anchor musicians will have to be carefully cultivated. A musician who can anchor a worship team will usually play either the piano or the guitar. Those two instruments are able to provide a full rhythmic and harmony (beats and chords) support for the congregation, and are thus easier for the rest of the band to latch on to and follow.

Besides that, anchor worship musicians -

1) Need to know the various chord progressions that work as intros and for free worship. A good song intro is one that cues the worship leader and congregation to start singing. Sometimes hiccups happen in the worship session and the unity of the singing gets disrupted. The anchor musician has to know what to play that would lead the congregation back into the song or into the next song. At this point, being able to improvise a quick song intro (around 4 bars long) is an essential skill to have.

Knowing the chords that work for free worship also allows the anchor musician to lead the rest of the band when playing for spontaneous worship. You ought to confirm all these chords in advance during practice, but sometimes a congregation can build up a lot of momentum for a song that you did not plan for. So that time it helps if you are able to choose suitable chords and flow into spontaneous worship from there.

2) Should be able to think as a worship leader – the best way to get this ability is to lead worship in a small group setting. Leading worship at a small group, with only one instrument and a few people, is the best training ground for worship ministry ever. Doing this, falling flat on your face a few times, seeing firsthand and upfront what works and what doesn't, is the fastest way to learn how to lead worship.

And once you have this ability, you are able to gauge what the worship leader needs and provide that for him or her accordingly. Does the worship leader need the first note of the melody to start the song? Or the rhythms to be clearly brought out so the people get the timing? When you think like a worship leader you'll be able anticipate what you ought to play next.

3) Must dare to make mistakes – if the pianist or guitarist does not boldly lead the worship leader, congregation and band through the instrument, it is often because he or she is afraid of making mistakes.

Making mistakes is part and parcel of being an anchor musician. Sometimes we mis-read the dynamics of the congregation and sometimes we lead the people in another direction from where the worship leader is going. It's easy to tell people to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit for him to guide you in your music, but the fact remains that while learning you will slip up once in a while. And frankly, I don't see that as a problem. It hurts our pride, true, but that helps us keep our confidence in the LORD and not in our own skills, experience or worship ministry wisdom.

Conclusion:

Many musicians do not realize the power they have to communicate and lead people with their instruments. Many of them see playing their instruments merely as an opportunity for personal expression while serving the Lord's people. I hope I have helped you see the potential to use your instrument not only for personal expression but also to unify the praises of the congregation effectively. If so, then the next time you take up your instrument in the worship team, play carefully and with the awareness of how you can through your instrument help to anchor the rest of the worship musicians!

Another Source of Worship Ministry Conflicts

2010-12-09T10:51:00.004+08:00

Some time back I talked about one of the causes of worship ministry conflicts, people placing different levels of priority on performance and participation. There is actually another cause of conflicts and misunderstanding in worship ministry, and it is how we see worship ministry through the eyes of our own personal giftings.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) - Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

What usually happens is that people will tend to fellowship with others with the same gifting. Teachers will enjoy hanging out with other teachers, prophets with other prophets and so on. This is how they develop themselves to be even stronger and effective in that particular area. The problems arise when they assume that they are the only ones who are right and the others are wrong. And THAT can lead to massive conflicts, strife and even people leaving the ministry.

Let's see how it works out in the following scenarios

1) Choosing songs for a worship set –

If you are a teacher, you'll probably prefer songs that are Scripture set to music and those that have solid lyrical content (like hymns). If you are an evangelist, you might prefer invitation-type songs such as So You Would Come (Hillsongs). If you are more prophetically inclined, you may prefer songs that are more figurative, poetic or symbolic, such as Dance with Me by Jesus Culture.

You can already see from here how conflicts can arise. Not many people are at the level of maturity when they can see the differences how other people approach worship ministry and celebrate them.

2) And how about worship music?

An evangelist will prefer what appeals to the pre-believers, exciting, performance-style music. Why? Because it is more likely to bring in the crowds for him or her to preach to. A prophet will prefer more a repetitive, droning style of music. A teacher will prefer more laid-back, unobtrusive musical accompaniment that does not distract the people from the lyrical content.

3) What if the church is spiritually dead in the area of praise and worship?

A prophet will be more inclined to think finding an anointed worship leader or on-fire worship team to minister to the congregation will work. This is more like the style of Old Testament prophets; they would seek God, speak to God's people to bring them the message on God's heart, and things happen. A teacher will try to get a worship trainer or pastor to teach the congregation. A pastor will be the one who worries about whether there are groups of people within the congregation who are alienated by any changes in the worship ministry or style, because it's unacceptable to him (or her) to rejoice over the 99 sheep who remain and write off the 1 who leaves (Luke 15:3).

Conclusion:

Of course, we know everything isn't that cut and dried in real life. Many church leaders have a mix of giftings. For example, many pastors have the teaching gifting to some degree, in fact, Paul puts it as a requirement (1 Tim 3:2). Timothy was supposed to both teach (1 Tim 4:11) and do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim 4:5). And Peter, in Acts 2:17-18, says:

Acts 2:17-18 (NIV) – "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."

This suggests to me that every believer has the potential to move in the prophetic gifting in some way. By the way, Jack Deere has written a chapter on how the key people in the history of the Presbyterian denomination (such as John Knox) actually moved in the gift of prophecy. It makes an astounding read. It's in his book Surprised by the Voice of God. Do check it out, it's a very good example of how a teacher (Jack Deere) sees the gift of prophecy from a teacher's perspective.

Anyway, many people I have met slant their thinking along one particular gifting, and have the priorities that come with that gifting. So I hope that this post will help you see your own slant and understand the perspectives of those around you, so that we can understand each other better, have less conflict and work together for the glory of God!

Be blessed!

P.S. Jack Deere's book, Surprised by The Voice of God, is a well-thought-out, Scriptural look at how God speaks to his people today. It has my highest recommendation for every believer, especially those who are seriously want to hear the voice of God in their lives and want to avoid the common mistakes. You can get it here!

Bass and Bible Study

2010-11-30T22:45:00.001+08:00

(Personal Blog Post)

An unexpected day off. Good, I need the rest as well as some time to chew on what's been happening…

Playing for Sunday service was interesting. The music director took the bass (usually he's on one of the other instruments). You see, there are two sorts of people who play bass, those who really understand harmony and those who don't. Those who don't will play the bass notes they are supposed to, just like what's on the CD or what's written on the chord chart. Those who do may actually change the chords of the song on the fly to better fit the energy of the moment.

That's what the director did on Sunday. For example, one of the songs had a simple F – Bb – C – F progression that came out for both the verses and the chorus. And we knew the worship leader was going to camp on this song quite a bit. So the director did a pedal point thing, playing an F note on the bass throughout the changes, making them:

F – Bb/F – C/F – F

What this does is that it creates a lot of musical tension. People subconsciously expect the bass note to change with the chords, and when the bass note doesn't it creates a sense of building up. If you do something like that, you can actually go back to the original bass line later on in the song (maybe the last chorus, for example) and that would give the song a huge burst of energy.

If you want to be a bassist who can control the music in this fashion, you need to really know the notes of the chords. Like how a C major chord is made up of C, E and G, how a C minor chord is C, Eb and G and all that. You will also need to have a good sense of chord progressions, when a melody line allows for more than one possible set of chords to be used, so you can decide when to change the chords for a better musical effect.

Finally, you need musicians who will keep out of your way. There's no point on the bassist keeping to the F note in the changes, for example, if the pianist will still continue playing the F, Bb and C notes in the lower registers of the piano. That way, you end up with a muddy sound in the bass part of the sound mix. Bad…

If you are a pianist or guitarist in a band with this kind of bassist, you need to listen carefully to the bass at all times to recognize when the bassist is changing the notes. When that happens, keep yourself out of the way! One of the best bassists I know personally once told me that he enjoys having me on the keyboard, not just because of my piano skills, but also because I keep out of his way. Many other keyboardists he plays with don't care, they just happily clutter up the sound trying to play along with the bassist (and messing things up)…

By the way, that bassist was the buddy who helped me to record my Youtube vid on auditioning church pianists . When I talked about keeping out of the way of the bassist, he was giving me two thumbs up from behind the camera. It was only that day, after the video recording, that I found out how other keyboardists bugged him so much!

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Another thing: it's nearing the end of the year now. I started doing inductive Bible study on the books of the New Testament this year. The goal was to cover one book each month, so I am supposed to be done with Colossians by now. But because I got massively distracted a few times this year, I am only up to Ephesians.

Yeah, I set Bible study goals for myself and FAIL too, just like many other believers!

Since I am expecting a bit more free time this December, I'll be able to catch up on the books I need to work on to get myself back on schedule and ready for next year. The key point, however is this: even though I didn't meet up with my own expectations and achieve my own goal for Bible study this year, I still got a lot more Bible study done than I would have if I did not decide to do it.

Yes, I could have still kept on cruising with the way things were last year. I was already spending a lot of time in God's Word even without the inductive study, so I wasn't too shabby. But because I set the goal this year and kept at it most of the time, I put myself in a place where God could reveal to me more and more of himself through his Word. And that's always good!

So if you have been setting goals for yourself and failing, or starting on New Year's Resolutions and quitting them by February, don't lose heart! All you need to do is to make sure that you go further, do more and last longer than the last time you tried. That's called progress, isn't it?

Just Between You And God

2010-11-29T00:17:00.002+08:00

I would that every believer sing praises to God daily, not just on Sunday at church.

Psalm 92:1-2 (NKJV) - It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night

And that is why I think it's a joke if someone claims to be serious about being in the worship ministry and yet does not take out time for personal worship moments with God. A person who needs to have good music and an audience before he or she starts singing passionately unto the LORD or dancing around is a hypocrite, in Jesus' opinion.

Matthew 6:1-2 (NIV) - Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

I don't think that Jesus is not talking about total absolute secrecy. If he was, then I'll have to donate things to the Salvation Army collection centres in the middle of the night while wearing a ninja suit. And I'll look really weird when I'm arrested by the police (for suspected burglary or attempted terrorism) and they discover children's clothes and old toys cunningly hidden in secret compartments on my clothes and ninja-utility belt…

I believe Jesus is referring to the heart, to the motive of our giving. Are we fine with people totally forgetting about our giving later on? Or do we need the honour in the eyes of others before we give?

And the same thing applies to prayer (and by implication, worship).

Matthew 6:5-6 (NIV) - And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

In other words, if all you want is the applause of men, then that is ALL you will get. But if you want the reward that comes from your Father in heaven, then you have to be prepared to go without the praise that comes from other people.

The reason why many people do not have a consistent and regular personal prayer and worship time is because it does not always feel good straight away. You have to be prepared for months of not feeling as if you are getting anywhere. And all Jesus would say about it is that the Father, whom we cannot see, will reward us. Yet nothing concrete and tangible is promised as the reward. Is it money? Power to heal the sick and raise the dead? Influence and authority?

Jesus doesn't tell us.

That means that the only people who are going to take Jesus at his word here are those who can 1) See the unseen God through eyes of faith; AND 2) believe that the Father knows best how to reward us for seeking him. And this was the case for Moses. He too saw God and valued the reward he knew God has prepared for those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:26-27 (NIV) He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

Seeking after the honour that comes from men is a lot easier. It's tangible and immediate. Some people are so earthly minded that the tangible and immediate things are good enough for them. So if praying, reading the Bible and worship doesn't feel good immediately, or at least within the first 5-10 minutes, they quit and make excuses for themselves, saying that they are not the spiritual sort.

Let me be blunt here: no one is. No one is born into the Kingdom of God finding all the things of God easy. Sure, we might enjoy prayer, worship, feeding on the Scriptures and other acts of righteousness at first because they are new and exciting to us. But soon, the routine and dryness sets in. That is when we have to make the choice: are we going to seek God only when it feels good? Or we will preserve no matter what, because we have set our hearts and minds on heavenly things (Col 3:1-2)?

It takes conscious decision and deliberate effort. That is why we are told to crave spiritual milk in order that we may grow up in our salvation (1 Pet 2:2). If the Bible tells us to crave spiritual milk, it means that it is not something that we would naturally do as believers. It requires us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:2)

You know what I wish?

I wish that I could spur the average believers around me to seek after the things of God more. I wish spiritual hunger was contagious and that I could infect people with it, then they would overflow with the desire and discipline to spend personal time with God. I wish I could make them treasure and experience the relationship and fellowship that is just between them and God, that which no one else can ever fully experience or understand because it is strictly between God and them.

That is why I get so frustrated sometimes, when I meet believers who need to have God dumbed down for them. For them I try to show them how easy it is to get started with prayer and the Word of God. We all have to start somewhere, true. But if we are not growing in our faith, and find ourselves exactly the same place we were spiritually 5-10 years ago, then something has gone wrong somewhere. The writer of the book of Hebrews says:

Heb 6:1 (NIV) - Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity…

Conclusion: I am tempted to end this post with a few how-to-es. How to see the invisible God, how to trust in him to reward us, how to get started in prayer and all that. But I suspect it is not necessary. I suspect that every believer who is honest before God will know how he or she stands spiritually. I believe every believer who is honest with themselves already knows, deep in his or her heart, what God wants him or her to do next and what is the first step. The only question now is: are you going to take that next step forward? Go for it!

Be blessed!

Spiritual Metabolism and Digestion

2010-11-18T12:02:00.002+08:00

Something interesting happened to me. A couple of weeks ago, I meet up with a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and he diagnosed me as having a very low metabolic rate. In TCM terminology, my body was too cold.

Now if you see from my Facebook pics how scrawny I am, and watch how I usually eat a lot (shoveling French fries down my throat like there's no tomorrow) and notice how difficult it is for me to sit still, you would understand why I was very skeptical of this diagnosis. The practitioner then convinced me by mentioning that I don't sweat easily, even out in the sun. And that was evidence of a low metabolic rate. At that time we were in an air-conditioned place, so there was no logical way of him knowing about my sweating habits. And that lent further credence to his diagnosis.

Then why am I so thin? Because my metabolic rate was too low, even my digestion was ineffective. In other words, I was unable to absorb and utilize the nutrients in my food. It was like someone giving me a wallet with $20 every day, and I would take $5 and throw the rest of the money away along with the wallet… I am convinced of his diagnosis, so I have started making some lifestyle changes to bring my body to a more optimal level of health.

His diagnosis also got me thinking: how many Christians have a spiritual metabolic rate that's too low, and therefore cannot even digest the Word of God properly?

How will you know if you have an optimal spiritual metabolic rate?

You will be hungry for spiritual food, the Word of God. Physically I can eat a lot, but a couple of weeks ago I could also miss a meal here and there and not feel hungry. I should have recognized that as a bad sign. The same thing applies spiritually. If you aren't craving and hungering for the Bible, something is wrong with your spirit's metabolic rate (1 Pet 2:2).
You will have loads of energy for the things of God. Physically I was active, but I found myself unable to bring my fitness to the next level. In fact, my energy level was dropping. Spiritually, how does worship, prayer, godly fellowship and acts of righteousness make you feel? Bored and listless? Or excited and enthusiastic? You can discern your spirit's metabolic rate right there.
You will sweat. As I mentioned earlier, physically I sweat very little. Just on Monday I sprinted for 3-4 minutes (late for an appointment and I missed the correct bus-stop) and didn't break a sweat. Bad sign. Remember, sweat helps your body remove toxins and waste from your system. Spiritually, that translates to you sweating out bad thinking, wrong ideas and lousy attitudes. Do you feel yourself getting rid of the junk within your spirit (2 Cor 7:1), the things you know are toxic to your walk with Christ? If you have difficulty in this, take a good look at your spiritual metabolic rate. Something might be wrong there.

What are the causes of a lousy spiritual metabolic rate? Here are a few.

1) Lack of proper feeding. If you don't feed on the Word of God in the first place, don't expect your spirit to have anything to properly metabolize.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Col 3:16, NKJV)

I hope I don't sound too harsh, but I get really frustrated when I hear the excuses some Christians give for not spending proper time in God's Word. Some of them would be hilarious if they were not so pathetic. God, give me patience with Christians who think getting life lessons from Korean soap operas is a viable alternative to feeding on the Scriptures!

2) Lack of action. Worship, prayer, godly fellowship and acts of righteousness are the natural fruit of feeding on God's Word. I pity the sermon junkies, people who go from one preacher to another, expecting to find someone who can preach them into feeling good without them having to take corresponding action. Ultimately, these people are doomed to a Christian existence (notice I didn't choose the word 'life') of boredom and frustration.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25, NKJV)

When I hear people complaining about sermons after the service, saying that this sermon wasn't 'anointed' or 'spirit-filled' or things like that, I wonder what they were expecting. Were they expecting something that would zap them into feeling good before they start obeying the Word of God? I heard a popular preacher who helped propagate that myth. He would talk about how some people would suddenly, naturally and effortlessly start living the life God intended for them after listening to his sermons long enough. The end result was a congregation of spiritually passive people, people who were waiting for God to zap them into wanting to forsake sin, read the Bible, pray and then live out godly lives.

*shudder*

3) Spiritual Indigestion. If you feed on the wisdom of the world instead of God's Word, you of course cannot expect to get the same results as feeding on the Bible.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. (Col 2:8 NIV)

There are two types of thinking often confused with the Word of God, secular positive thinking (self-help and personal development) and secular morality. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against secular positive thinking and secular morality in general, in fact, I do read up on them at times. But I have long decided that if I have to choose between those teachings and the Word of God, I'd take the Word of God.

I'm sure there are other Christians who claim they would decide the same way. My question for them is this: are you so familiar with the Bible that you can tell when a thought or concept is from the Bible or from some self-help author? And has the Scripture taken such a hold of your heart that the Scriptures, rather than Napoleon Hill, James Allen or Stephen Covey, are what your heart leans on when the crisis of life strike?

And there is one final group of people with a messed up metabolism. They are spiritually active and feed seriously on the Bible, and yet find themselves running out of steam, making big mistakes in their lives, and are unable to hear the voice of God and discern his will for their lives. They are those who have, in the midst of growing in doctrine and faith, forgotten how much they have been forgiven by God.

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Heb 8:11-12, NIV)

Think about it: if those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits (Dan 11:32), and we can know God only if our sins are forgiven (Heb 8:11-12) then those who start off strong and later lose momentum may have forgotten how deeply God has forgiven them of their sins. I used to think that it was good enough that God has forgiven me, even if I forgot to acknowledge truth at times. But now I have changed my mind. I now believe that if I don't regularly acknowledge my forgiveness in Christ, I shall live as if I am not forgiven.

… that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (Philemon 6, NKJV)

The above passage suggests that if I do NOT acknowledge every good thing that is in me in Christ Jesus (including forgiveness and redemption) then the sharing (or fellowship in the faith) becomes ineffective, useless and nullified. And that has been my own personal experience also. Whenever I find my spiritual hearing dulled and my discernment inaccurate, it is usually after an extended season of paying so much attention to the other teachings in the Bible that I forget to meditate on the forgiveness and redemption God has given me in Christ.

Conclusion:

Spiritual metabolism, converting what you get from the Word of God into action in our lives, such a vital topic because it determines whether we live our Christian lives as God intended. I am sure I can't do justice to it with just one post. Nevertheless, I hope that this would at least get you started in looking at your own spiritual walk with God. Is there anything you realize needs some tweaking?

Be blessed!

Ideas for Horn Section Arrangements

2010-11-14T23:38:00.002+08:00

One of my favourite roles on keyboards is to play the horn section (trumpet, saxophone and trombone) parts on synthesizer. I don't know why, but over here in Singapore there aren't that many keyboardists who know how to create cool horn section arrangements. And as a result, we don't really hear a lot of that in churches over here.

Anyway, this post is to try and explain some simple concepts you can use to create horn section arrangements to fit into the songs you use in church. To start, listen to the following song, Halle, by Casiopea.

Now listen to the following arrangement of the same song, this time with a horn section included:

Notice the following points on this track.

Intro 0:00 to 0:26 – the horn section was doing short fills. The intro riff done by the rest of band filled up a lot of the rhythmic space, so there wasn't a lot of space left for the horn section to do fills longer than one and a half counts (crotchets).

Verse 0:26 to 0:50 – The verse had more held notes and lasted 6 bars in an 8 bar phrase , so the horn section had more space to do extended fills. You can hear that the fills for the horn section are about two bars long here, and they are done when the melody has a rest.

Pre-chorus 0:51 to 1:13 – The horn section did rhythmic fills here (repeated eighth notes/quavers) to fit into the held notes of the melody. Simple and punchy.

Chorus 1:14 to 1:31 – The horn section did more of an echo-thing here. In the held notes of the melody the horn section was doing a call-and-response interaction to the melody.

Guitar Solo (to chords of verse): 1:32 to 2:19 – The horn section didn't play here. When you are planning your keyboard parts, you don't have to play all the time either!

Pre-chorus 2:20 to 2:44 – The horn section kept to what they played in the earlier pre-chorus. There's no need to get too complicated or think that people get bored. Oftentimes we musicians get bored way before the congregation does, so let's not use the congregation as an excuse.

Chorus 2:44 to 3:15 – Again, they kept to the same horn arrangements as the chorus. The chorus structure is slightly different here because it is the final chorus, and that is all that is done to cue the audience that this is the grand finale. It's not done by the horns.

Ending 3:15 to 3:39 – The horns did the same thing as they did for the intro. This helps give the song a sense of finality and closure, by bringing the people back to where they started from.

The main points I want to emphasize are that horn section parts are:

1) simple

2) repetitive, because they are primarily playing a supportive role.

So the next time you have to come up with a horn section arrangement for an upbeat song, see where you can tastefully use short fills, more extended fills, repeated rhythmic patterns and call and response. And remember to keep your arrangements simple and structured at the same time!

Be blessed!

Introduction to Marketing

2010-10-30T23:31:00.001+08:00

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

2010-10-27T10:04:00.004+08:00

(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 explations, 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

2010-10-14T10:55:00.002+08:00

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!