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| Conditioning |
Date Posted:
5/20/2004
Author:
Tom Lane
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Bottom line? It comes down to taking the role as priests seriously, not just playing the gig! God lives in the praises of His people. His presence in and around something makes the difference! He desires and wills to give us His best. Spend the needed time to dive into the Creator of all with your best! Bring Him more than cool and vibey songs! Start Conditioning!
Try It!
1. Fix a time and place, however frequently time allows, to meet, pray, play, and eat! Bring in some encouraging teachers, mentors, leaders, etc., to pour into you spiritually and musically. Treat this time as your boot camp. Trust God to bless and inhabit the time you've made for Him. Be consistent and document songs, words, prayers, etc.
2. Share your heart and plan with your key leaders; ask for their prayers. Invite them to share what God is revealing about worship, music, church, life, etc. Carefully present it as something that will enhance, not detract from, your role as the worship band. Leaders, don’t control or dominate but make room for your team. This should not cause you fear!
3. Make it a goal, individually, to prepare and bring something to these meetings (songs, ideas, dreams, visions, etc.) Study the word! Hone your skills!
4. Find opportunities to serve as a band outside the normal service; an outreach, mission trip, help for a smaller church. Mentor others together and build healthy relationships! It is a good outworking of what's happening internally during these times.
5. Keep it God-centered, not self-indulgent. Be focused and honor everyone by sticking to your allotted time. Be committed, not flippant! It is an act of intercession and serves your entire body, not just the team!
This article first appeared in Worship Musician Magazine
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Fighter pilots train countless hours, constantly repeating procedures and exercises in order to react instinctively in battle; their reactions honed to be conditioned reflexes. Anything can become a habit, second nature, if we put the needed time into training. It's called Conditioning!
As worship bands, how conditioned are we? Our arsenal of songs, normally familiar, simple and “congregationally correct,” stand at the ready. We know the routine, become good at it and do it about the same way, week-in-and-week-out. Maybe we sense the people's affirmation and respond positively. This is part of the role (takes a lot of time and effort) that I don’t intend to diminish one bit! But how much time do we put into training to go beyond the “routine,” hearing and responding to God in Worship? I don’t mean just spontaneous worship, but engaging with God beyond the songs, outside the context of the service; singing more than the standard worship vocabulary with which we are familiar; pouring out our hearts and connecting with God; showing up without an agenda/program to fit into, solely for playing to an audience of one.
There's a place and time for being real (and transparent) before God; where He will often move among the team - speaking not only to the leader but to, and through, the other members. He will give words to sing, words to pray, impressions, etc. Musically, He will take you to places you've never known and soon you condition yourself to flow with Him. You grow in discernment, wisdom and brokenness; become more driven to follow Him than to lead your own way. More teams need to find that place! A caution: the service may not be the ideal place to experiment.
Thinking of future worship bands, I believe we need to make more room for this particular time; ready ourselves for going beyond yesterday’s move. We need His vision today. This action means setting aside additional time, which some of you can do and some of you can’t. For the outcome, I predict new songs, ideas, vision and revelation about what is on God’s heart. As the church, we should prepare for the harvest to come; train and equip as Paul teaches; serve in various ways that are the heart of Jesus; focus on where He's taking us. You as leaders and teams are a part of that! Training and preparation will make you sharper and more useful. I know the realities and difficulties, with it largely being a nonpaying deal already (that's another article) but do what you can. Someone take the initiative and find a schedule that works because the rewards are worthwhile!
I realize there's a fine line between self-indulgence and responsibility. We can take freedom to extremes and let our emotions carry us places God never intended us to visit. It is still true, however, that we are priests unto God first; we are to minister to Him. If we spent an ounce of the time that many artists, athletes and professionals spend in their quest to be the best, we'd not only have greater impact but we’d be leading the world in worship. More often, we allow the world to be our guide and standard, looking at what the world does, especially musically!
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