great is your faithfulness oh Lord
The Third Place
Was at the 3-Day WAM camp at The Third Place for bass guitar which just concluded today. It was basically a daily nine-to-five affair which consisted of gruelling faculty sessions, band dynamics and even a Live Worship Workshop training programme where each of us had to go up to play a set. Had tremendous fun and even picked up a couple of tips from Josh, our instructor. Met a couple of Fairfield people and even got to meet Cham Nap, the Cambodian scholar who boarded with me in ACS (I).
Above all, the spiritual rewards assimilated from the camp outweighed the technical abilities because of the concise and relevant sermons preached. Also, our instructors were good examples of talented yet humble servants of God. Worship and sermon every morning was a joyous affair as we took back much in terms of spiritual annointing. Of course, Mark's sound-relevant and music minister workshops were extremely beneficial to our spiritual and technical well-being.
Most of the lessons learnt pertaining to the attitudes of a music minister were centered around the big idea: Who you are speaks louder than words or deeds. A minister is one who acts as the agent of the Lord, while a performer provides entertainment of some kind before an audience or spectators. That provides the big difference.
Christ's personal significance base as projected by the workshop notes are as follows:
1) Christ's Purpose was clear. (John 10:10, John 12:47)
2) Christ's Ego was not involved. (Luke 22:42, John 17:4)
3) Christ's goal was Obedience. (John 12:49-50, John 4:34)
4) Christ's actions were Others-Centered. (Matthew 20:26-28, Luke 23:33-34, Phillipians 2:1-8)
The 7 key ingredients for maintaining proper attitudes in ministry:
God's agenda
Love from a pure heart
Obedience to the Holy Spirit
Right Relationships
Integrity
Flexibility
You- be yourself!
While criticism is an inevitable component in our service as a music minister, we should take it back and think about it. We should be teachable and approachable for our teammates and also the audience. Pride can manifest itself easily in us, through the attributes of over-confidence, false humility, self-consciousness, anger, et cetera. We have to stay rooted to Christ and remember that we are of God!
Worship is a lifestyle- and not just an affair of going upstage and singing songs.
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Pastor Fabian's sermons also opened up new perspectives to a whole load of different issues. I found myself magnetically able to absorb and to derive lessons from his sermons over the three days of WAM camp. Here are some of the sermon notes I copied down:
1 Samuel 4:8
God wants to reach out to us today. The delluded men teach us a lesson: there is so much of distraction in life today that we have forgotten all about God.
On Technology and Instruments
Worship is a lifestyle! Are we actually offering personal sacrifices to the Lord? If so, is it just a Sunday event or is it an everyday affair?
On Ministry
We are ministers first; musicians second.
We need to listen to the Lord. We are spiritually first and physically second. However, we are more inclined towards the latter due to our gravitation towards worldly things.
We need to be a consecrated group of people- to lead a life that is holy to the Lord.
We should submit to our leaders and to communicate with them. Sensitivity to God and to one another should be practised. Through such practice, God will reveal himself to us.
We should not merely be a group of counter-culture people.
Relevant Verses
1 Thessalonians 1:4
Matthew 24:1-13
1 Peter 3:10
Colossians 3:5
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Hope you found the above useful. Matthew 24:13 tells us that He who goes through to the end will get salvation. Press on with the fire for the Lord and lead a lifestyle of worship today. We should be more resilient in pursuing a vertical (spiritual) relationship with God first before embarking on a horizontal (congregational) one. Our lives will only be used by God to minister to the congregation and to lead everyone into a time of worship only if we have a strong vertical relationship with God. While the spiritual connection to God is important, the technical aspect is a also a detail not to be missed. If we love our God, we should give Him our all. Slipshod preparations for worship and a hypocritical tension will only serve to undermine our relationship with God. However, this should go hand-in-hand with our spiritual life- our walk with God has to be set right and we can thus come to God consecrated and purposeful.
I'd just like to end off with the lyrics of this very meaningful song which served as overture and conclusion to this year's WAM camp. His grace is truly enough for us. Till next time.
Chris Tomlin- Your Grace Is Enough
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner’s heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
God i see your grace is enough
I’m covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me
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