THEBAND
NEED FOR THE STAGE
It ’ s interesting to me that musicians are naturally drawn to be on the stage . There ’ s something about the affirmation and adulation that becomes part of the experience , and for many it ’ s truly like a drug . It ’ s a human condition that we derive some of our identity and security from what we do , and it ’ s certainly not wrong that we enjoy what we do . But the more associated we become with it the harder it is to separate ourselves from it . It should never be who we are at the core , and if it becomes so … God will always reveal it and deal with it as idolatry when we are genuinely seeking Him . good about it .
If you ’ re in a pop band , you , in essence , spend half your career developing a vibe , a look , a sound — an identity , all in order to be immediately recognizable and stand out . It ’ s part of the marketing associated with artistry . Though there are the few that stand out as being just who they are , like them or not . By and large , the ones we all come to know as stars and icons normally get there because there are a lot of dollars and effort put into developing the product .
TOM LANE Tom & his wife Patty live in Nashville , TN . Worship Pastor of Belmont Church , a member of Blues Counsel band . Traveled to over 35 countries ; leading worship , teaching , recording , & performing www . TomLane . com
Our faith in and walk with God is a journey filled with grace as we transform more and more into His likeness , and that is what He ’ s after . So all along the way we are growing and changing . One of the biggest changes I ’ ve noted is the moment when a light goes off and we begin not to need to be on stage or to receive other ’ s praise for what we do in order to feel
It ’ s completely understandable that in our humanity we bring many of the ways of the not going to grow our worship ministry using world with us into worship , but it ’ s exactly a cattle call model , meaning any and all are the opposite of the Kingdom of God , which welcome to join . For starters we ’ re not staffed is what we seek first . The process of being for that , nor do we feel that ’ s God ’ s best for sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit is us . Instead , we emphasize relationships and ever present . Yes , we ’ ve been made worthy to the organic nature of how leaders and teams enter the presence of God once and for all , but develop and evolve . In other words we don ’ t the work of being changed from glory to glory have a real program for you to enter into , but is ongoing . that doesn ’ t mean we don ’ t lead and serve . It ’ s taken awhile for some to get used to it ,
We ’ ve had to deal with especially those that hurt feelings for years were used to being because people were either not being asked to be on teams or were offended that we didn ’ t make room for them . There ’ s truly a whole culture in The Church at large that believe they have the right to serve wherever and however they wish , and an expectation that it is the leaderships responsibility and job to make room for them . That is not a Jesus
... acknowledge that the worship stage is very different than the performance stage .
in rotation . For some of our people it filled a real need in them to be on the platform as often as possible .
Again , the point is not to police and judge the motives of others hearts , and certainly not to fault anyone for desiring to serve in worship . Instead it ’ s to acknowledge that the worship stage is model of leadership , and many a ministry have very different than the performance stage . The run themselves to death trying to operate more we need to be on it in order to feel fulfilled this way . or used , the more we may honestly need an overhaul in our understanding of what worship
For our church in particular we decided we are is really about !
Jul � Aug 2016 WorshipMusician . com
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