Artistic Preparation

I started to write a marathon blog about preparation and decided it was best to make it two blog entries instead of one...for your sake!

There are two main types of preparation we need to focus on as artists: spiritual and artistic

In the last few weeks I've had several conversations with team members about ways to take their craft to the next level. Now these conversations weren't based on someone needing to 'step up' because they were being slack. Nope, just the opposite. To a person, every one of these conversations was with a fellow artist who wanted to push themselves and not just for 'arts sake.' They wanted to push themselves because they were keenly aware they had been given a gift and it was their responsibility to God to nurture it. To hear someone say, "What can I do to take my ministry to the next level so I can be more effective for Christ?" is one of the most glorious things. As an artist it reminds me that I haven't 'arrived' and need to continually be a student of the arts/my art to be effective. Since this conversation has come up a few times, it's time to share this information with everyone.

Artistic Preparation

1 Timothy 4:14 says, "Do not neglect your gift."

In other words, Practice.

Practice.

Don't give up on your art.

Don't neglect your talent.

Don't worry about whether you're talented enough. That's not the point.

Whether your gift attracts large crowds or not, it is not to be neglected.

As a person who has been gifted with artistic gifts - you are an artist full-time, not just when you're called to serve.

So...how are you doing with your gift? Ready to get intrusive?

Are you practicing? Nope, I'm not talking about on Tuesday nights and Saturday afternoons for the band, or the weekly dance team gathering, when you're scheduled/required to be there practicing. Are you practicing in between? Are you preparing yourself so that when God calls, you're ready to answer, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

Are you honing your skills to stay in 'artistic shape'?

Are you seeking out the counsel/coaching of other team members who are further along than you are and could teach you something?

Are you offering your skills/knowledge to others?

Are you challenging yourself with new and different styles of music/dance/singing/editing/writing/filming/etc, to stretch your ability? To be open to a new and great work that God might produce through YOU?

Have you been to see a performer/performance that has inspired you lately?

Do you need to fall back in love with art again?

I haven't even mentioned prayer and a regular time with God but that's a given, a huge part of your artistic preparation (and the subject of our next blog!)

Jeremiah 1:9 says, "I have put my words in your mouth."

Read that again fellow artists:

"I have put MY words in your mouth."

I hope you don't take that lightly. I hope it never gets too easy to do Christian music, art, media, dance or theatre. I hope the weight of that responsibility - the responsibility of communicating God Himself - is sobering to all of us.

Friends, the moment we stop learning, the moment we stop being students of the craft that God has so generously blessed us with - is the moment we lose our effectiveness...it's also the moment we stop honoring God with the great blessing He has given us for His purposes.

"Do not neglect your gift." 1 Timothy 4:4

Now this has never happened before...

Yep...it's been 16 years and it's never happened before, but now it has: I was invited to Meck!

I was standing in line at Target with my kids, in not exactly what I would classify as a 'great mood'. I was hoping to get in and out without bumping into anyone I knew or that knew me...I just wanted to get my stuff and get out of there. And then it happened...

Riley leans over and says to me, "That lady is talking about OUR church."

What? I start eavesdropping (is it really eavesdropping if you're standing right there and don't even really have to 'try' to hear the conversation?)...and she was right. The cashier was telling the woman in front of us about her weekend, how she found this new church and she loves it. She talked about the music, the warm environment, the kids 'play area'...she was gushing.

Then it was my turn.

I walked to the register and just waited, but I didn't have to wait for long. The cashier greeted all of us and asked what we had planned for the weekend. After giving her a vague answer she said to me, "Well if you don't have anything special going on I could give you an idea and your kids would love it too."

"Really?"

"Yes Ma'am. I've been going to this church for a few weeks and it's awesome. My whole family loves it and we aren't church people...but that's what's cool about it, it doesn't feel like it's for church-people, it feels like it's for real people. (a little shocked at herself) Oh my...you aren't offended by that are you? Do you go to church?"

But before I could answer, she was off again...

"Really...I'd be shocked if you didn't love it. Believe me, I'm the last person that ever imagined I'd be going to church much less being excited by it, but now I am, so you know it must be good stuff."

She handed me a receipt, said goodbye and off I went a little in shock over what just happened. But there's more...

Standing at the ICEE counter I hear the man that was behind me in line ask the cashier what church she was talking about because he wasn't 'church people' either and he might want to try it out.

The tears started flowing and wouldn't stop.

I was blown away by the impact of the church playing out before my eyes...how 'gossip' was spreading about Jesus and this woman couldn't contain it. She was sharing something so meaningful to her so effortlessly with complete strangers. She was sure she had stumbled on to something and wanted to make sure everyone she came in contact with knew about it...because maybe they needed to stumble over it too.

I know one man for sure who needed to hear it...the man who was standing behind me in Target, the one who wasn't 'church people'. And how do I know that?

He was sitting in the back row this past weekend.

Sometimes gossip can be a great thing.

God - please help us to spread lots of gossip about you tomorrow. Amen.

Being a Lens

I talked to the weekend team about this post as part of our devotion. It seemed fitting as we were getting ready to serve together and by way of the Holy Spirit, lead others into the presence of God. But this isn't just a blog for those who are considered 'worship leaders' though the metaphor speaks specifically to that role. This blog is for every Christ follower so I hope you'll soak it in and consider how it applies to your life.

I read something in a weekly email I receive that I thought was a pretty awesome metaphor. Author and Worship Leader (among many other titles), Andy Crouch, wrote that great worship leaders are like a lens and "lenses aren't meant to be look at; they're meant to be looked through."

That's it...that's the metaphor that grabbed me. Maybe it's because I've tried to look through a foggy lens and found it very frustrating. Every time I wiped the lens clean, it fogged back up or got streaks and just looked ugly.

I tried to wear glasses to look cool (or maybe smarter) in high school but there was a problem - I have great eye sight so wearing glasses actually made it nearly impossible for me to see. Lenses that were intended to correct sight, resulted in the opposite.

I've had broken lenses - sunglasses that I just didn't want to throw away because I loved the style or the way they fit my face, I just couldn't get rid of them. I would find myself trying to balance them just right so they wouldn't fall apart...or tape the lens into place and try to see out of just one eye (driving was dangerous ;)

So, what have I learned? Not all lenses are created equal. But friends when you do find the right lens - the lens that allows you to see with clarity - the world comes alive quite literally before your eyes. The colors are brighter, the world seems warmer and safer and everything is just...clear.

At some point in your journey with God, he became clear to you. Did you have people who served as lenses along the way? Right now you probably have people who model Christ to you - who live in a way that you are seeing Christ 'through' them. I am grateful for those people in my life. They remind me to polish my own lens because, Lord willing, I'll have an opportunity to be a God-lens for someone else.

Isn't it amazing how God uses scratched and broken lives/lenses to make Himself ever so clear?