200 Words [or Less] About Being a Worship Musician: Key Elements >> Called

200 Words [or Less] About Being a Worship Musician:

Key Elements >> Called

Read previous Key Elements articles: Intro; Talent; Surrendered Part 1; Surrendered Part 2; Passionate; Teachable Part 1, Teachable Part 2 Available)

A call to ministry…

… isn’t a matter of desire. Just because I WANT to sing, or play or lead doesn’t mean I should.

…isn’t about talent or gifting.

…isn’t permanent. We don’t own our position on the team. Andy Stanley says it best – “Leadership is a stewardship. It is temporary…” We need to hold our positions in an open hand – allowing God to give more or take away.

…prepares for a subsequent calling. Time spent on a worship team is training grounds for something more. Also, people may need an additional training ground before they can join the team.

…implies an invitation. If no one invited me, I’m at the wrong party. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t seek an invitation if I feel called. But in the end, if none is given, I need to determine if it’s a “No”, a “Not Right Now”, or a “Not Right Here.”

…is affirmed by peers and confirmed by leadership.

…is an invitation to serve and build the church. Not for our “talents to be used.” The call is to build the Kingdom, not our egos.

…is an expectation to produce good fruit.

…can be shelved, but not indefinitely ignored.

…requires humility.

Wii Bowling with Andy Stanley

Everyone blathers on about resolutions for a couple weeks in the New Year. Typically, I give most of mine up for Lent. (actually, if they last that long it's something of a miracle...) I got Andy Stanley's The Principle of the Path for Christmas. His pithy, overarching vision statement for the book is "Direction, not intention, determines destination."

So I guess he's saying that my 'resolution' to lose my muffintop and be able to tuck my shirt in again is pretty much worthless if all I do for exercise is play Wii Bowling once a fortnight? Crud.

I have a love-hate thing with Andy. He's such an incredible communicator and astounding leader. The man's got more personal discipline in his ear lobe than I have in my whole being. That horks me off. But I realized that he's wired [way] differently than I am. So I've had to stop trying to be Andy Stanley (not that anyone's ever accused me of that).

But in reading his book, I realized that Andy not only is wired differently than me, but he has chosen to walk different paths than I have. Many of my journeys have been well-intended, but the path I've taken haven't match the desired destination.

So instead resolutions this New Year, I'm thinking about destinations, and the paths that actually take me in that direction.