* Chapter Five * How Does A Minstrel Minister? (Part ID BZD he ministering minstrel is going to primarily operate according to three basic principles; endeav- oring to always minister to please God, unwaveringly supporting the pastor and the vision that the Lord has given to him or her and ministering to positively impact God's people. All of these objectives are accomplished through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Endeavor to Constantly Please God Man’s primary purpose is to bring pleasure to God, Eccl. 12:13; John 8:29; | Thess. 2:4; Hebs. 11:6; 1 John 3:22. This maxim is realized when the Christ-centered consciousness we discussed earlier is pursued daily by the believer. The pursuit of daily preasthg Goo'evencu- ally develops into a discipline or a daily habit which the believer applies to every aspect of life including ministry. @To Be A Minstrel The ministering minstrel then will apply this principle to music ministry. He or she will strive constantly to develop a Spirit-led approach to executing music ministry that will inevitably please God. This is accom- plished through a series of critical steps undertaken everyday. First, there is the daily discipline of prayer and the personal devotion and allegiance to the Word of God. This perhaps is one of the greatest hindrances to a musician maturing into a biblical minstrel. Pleasing God comes as a result of knowing what He wants. Knowing what He wants is outlined in His Word. Therefore, knowing what he wants is tantamount to knowing His Word. And then prayer empowers us to give Him what he wants; to execute His will. The one word that bests sums up that dynamic is obedience. The prophet Samuel captures it best in | Samuel 15:22...’He is much more interested in your listening to him than in your offering the fat of rams to him.’ (TLB) These three principles are executed through the tutelage, guidance and empower- ment of the Holy Spirit. The tutelage and guidance of the Holy Spirit is experienced by being sensitive to His desires, moods and direction. Then, the empowerment is manifested through acting upon what is sensed. It is a willful, conscious endeavor. Everyday, we simply engage Him through, 1) conversation; asking Him to speak to us, lead us, guide us and teach us, and 2) inter- action; executing that which He says, following where He leads, walking where He guides and demonstrating what He teaches. All of this is simply obedience. | like to define the obedience of a Christ disciple as ‘doing who Jesus is’. That in turns leads to the discipline of pleasing God. Once the discipline of pleasing God is acquired, cultivated and unceasingly pursued, it carries 70To Be A Minstrel overto the restof life, For our purposes, we are concerned about its impact on music ministry. The minstrel will approach his or her music ministry responsibility with ‘a burning desire to accomplish God’s purpose and to fulfill His destiny for their personal ministry and the local assembly's music ministry vision. The church musician will do this through yielded sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Remember, it is through the Holy Spirit that we discern the Father's will and accomplish His purposes, Zech. 4:6; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8, Since the Holy Spirit leads us directly into the center of God’s will, yielding to Him guarantees us the reality of fulfilling God’s will. And so it is with the ministering minstrel. Their ministry efforts are not birthed out of the whims of their own human desires and designs. Rather, their ministry efforts are fueled by the promptings of the Holy Spirit as they are sensing His leading. The ability to ‘sense’ the Holy Spirit is acquired and cultivated privately and then manifested publicly. This is akin to the dynamic of rehearsing privately and performing publicly. The sharper the rehearsal is that much more effective and prolific the performance will be. Show me a great a musician and I show you an individual who has spent (and constantly spends) a great deal of time perfecting their skill and craft privately through prac- tice. And so it is with the ministering minstrel. They investa great deal of time in private devotion to the Lord through life consecration and skill cultivation (prac- tice). Subsequently, when they step forward to minister, (in whatever artistic expression they do so), the recipi- ents of their ministry ‘sense’ something greater at work than just the performance aspect of what is transpiring. ‘The recipients are actually brought into contact with the 1To Be A Minstrel Presence of the Lord. The church musician is cogni- zant of this ever-present reality. Consequently, they will make a consistent, conscientious effort to live a life that is pleasing to God which then in turn constantly creates ministry efforts that do the same. A life that is pleasing to God attracts the Presence of God. And if my life attracts God’s presence, then everything that is a part of my life will experience the same reality, including the capacity I minister in Supporting the Vision and the Visionary Close, careful examination of 2 Kings 3:15 reveals another crucial aspect of the minstrel’s ministry efforts. The church musician unwaveringly supports the pastor and the pastor’s vision. There are no hidden or subver- sive agendas on the part of the minstrel. They throw their energies, abilities and creativity into undergirding the pastor, the vision of the church and the church. Notice in our scripture the immediacy of the ministry of the minstrel. ‘But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him’. (KJV) We are not given access to the details concerning the lapse of time between when the minstrel was sent for and when he ministered. His ministry was needed, requested and he responded. We know thatthe minstrel didexactly that which was required (nothing more, nothing less) because of the results that ensued. The absence of this principle is one of the many large contributors to the frustrations often experienced between pastors, congregations and church musicians. There are factors that contribute to this reality that all nTo Be A Minstrel three parties (pastors-congregations-ministers of music) are responsible for. We will explore the pastor-congre- gation aspect in chapter 9. For now, it is the responsi bility of the minstrel to accept, embrace and enforce his or her divinely-mandated responsibility to wholeheart- edly and unwaveringly support the pastor, the vision and the church, Now I understand from a minstrel’s perspective that this particular aspect of ministry can be extremely challenging. Again, I will elaborate on this later. However from personal experience I can assure you that when you fulfill your part, God aligns every- thing else. Too often as ministers of music we are out of alignment with God either through lifestyle deficien- cies and/or leadership-protocol violations. Even when the pastor has a weak vision or no vision at all, itis still your responsibility as a minister of music to provide unwavering support, if you have been divinely assigned to that ministry, That is the matrix through which God is able to correct the situation. When the vision is strong, clear and relevant, the minstrel is responsible for praying for the Spirit’s leading to discern its musical implications, the anointing to interpret it within music ministry confines and then the divine strategy to imple- ‘ment the execution of those realities in the form of music try. Pastors it is extremely important to release a minister of music who is operating appropriately within this realm. It will benefit you as a pastor, the minister of music and the entire congregation. It is extremely important that the minstrel understands the weight of influence that he or she carries within the mechanics of a church. This is due to two realities. First, the office is highly visible. In many congregations, its visibility is second only to the senior pastor. (And believe it or not, BTo Be A Minstrel in some congregations, its visibility exceeds the senior pastor's visibility!) Congregants are watching you even when you are unaware of it. Second, music as an entity and in its function is extremely infectious. Music has the ability to move people in ways that nothing else can. Therefore, every temptation to be subversive, divi- sive and disruptive has to be avoided and shunned at all times. As a church musician, you are in a leadership position. Subsequently, God expects you to enforce the vision of the house and not impose your vision on the house. The manifestation of the presence of more than one vision is an indicator of the existence of division. Be wary of well-meaning and good-intended suggestions that incite you to move away from the vision. Rather, redirect the focus back to the vision that comes from the visionary who is the senior pastor. Now the ques- tion that inevitably arises is, ‘what do I do when the vision conflicts with the realities of the craft of music?” In other words, there are times as ministers of music we are asked to do things that just make absolutely no sense from the standpoint of musicianship. [This dynamic is prevalent especially when the senior pastor has little to no or limited musical inclination(s)| How do I as a minstrel go about addressing that kind of difficulty Allow me to share with you a true story that addresses this issue. Please note that fictitious names are being used to protect identities and preserve the dignity of those involved John was the minister of music at his church for quite some time. He and Pastor Jim had enjoyed a good working ministerial relationship. John was firmly committed t0 Pastor Jim, his vision and the church. As a matter of fact, 4To Be A Minstrel John prided himself on his allegiance to pastoral support as a member as well as the minister of music. However, there were times when Pastor Jim would come up with same peculiar ideas in an effort to advance the music ministry to the next level. On this one occasion, Pastor Jim went out of town and came back with this (in his opinion) brilliant idea to use some soundtracks he had purchased {from another minister for praise & worship as well as other church music needs. Pastor Jim exclaimed to John that the producer of the soundtracks (another pastor) was heralding these soundtracks as either an excellent alternative for churches without a musician or as capable ‘enhancements for churches with a musician, So Pastor Jim informed John that these tracks were going to be used and that he wanted John to play along with them in the services. (There are issues that we can stop and examine at ihis point but we will do so in chapter 9) John listened to the tracks and in the spirit of obedience, did his very best to comply with and support this aspect of the vision. However, John began to experience a number of challenges with the entire endeavor. For the purposes of this chapter, it was the quality of the soundtracks. John was a pretty good musician and he knew that the soundtracks were not the best of quality. He knew that they did not fit his particular style and convictions of musicianship. And, he also knew that they did not flow with the artistic culture of the local church he served. Nevertheless, John did not want to be insubordinate, subversive nor divisive towards Pastor Jim or his vision. To complicate matters, John was also pain- {fully aware of the fact that he was being watched by those in the music ministry as well as the congregation at large as io how he would handle the situation. So John continued to work with the tracks. However, the more he worked BTo Be A Minstrel with them, the more agitated he became within his spirit. After about three months, and a particularly awful music ministry experience in Sunday worship service, John cried ‘out to God in prayer. He said, ‘Lord, I need you to tell me what is wrong with me’. ‘You know I want to be faithful 10 my church and support my pastor.’ ‘Why am I having such «a difficult time embracing these soundtracks?’ To John's shock, amazement and relief, the Lord informed him that he was not the problem. The Lord went on to express t0 John that the principle of soundtracks cut totally against the grain of who God had created him to be musically. The Lord took John to the scriptures where David made the first attempt to bring back the Ark of the Covenant, I Chrons. 13:1-12, The Ark was placed on oxen (dumb animals). The oxen stumbled and subsequently, the Ark began to fall. One of the individuals accompanying the Ark put forth his hand to stabilize the Ark and he was immediately smitten with the Judgment of God and he died. Why? He was not authorized 10 handle the Ark, the symbol of God's presence. After a time period, David tried it again. Only this time he placed the Ark on the shoulders of the Levites, following God's due order, and this time they were successful, 1 Chrons. 15:11-14. The Lord informed John that the soundtracks were like the oxen (dumb) lacking the capacity to negotiate the dynamics of carrying the Presence of God. John’s resis- tance to the tracks was divine intervention because God wanted him to remember who He had made him to be musi- cally. Then John understood. You see when the tracks would stop, that would at times disrupt, stifle andlor quench the Move of the Spirit especially if the worship had ascended to 4 certain point. The tracks could go no further. However, a live human being, under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit could go as far as the Move of the Spirit wanted 6To Be A Minstrel to go and even make adjustments (improvisation) if needed. And that was who God had created John to be musically, a consecrated, dedicated Levite sensitive to the moods of the Spirit and able to negotiate His desires for the flow of worship. Now, John faced a greater dilemma, What was he going to do with this revelation? The Lord instructed Him to wait on Him because He was going to address the situa- tion. And in fact the Lord did just that. Some months later, a visiting minister came to the church and openly prophesied a word of corrective-exhortation that the tracks were incon- sistent with the sound that God had given to the house. He went on to say that God had given the church its own unique sound. Pastor Jim immediately released John from the obligatory constraint to use the sound tracks. It is imperative that as minstrels we embrace the responsibility to do our part and then allow God to do His. When you find yourself in the conflicting dilemma of allegiance to the vision at the expense of good, sound, quality musicianship, just cast your cares on the Lord. ‘And just as He moved on John’s behalf, He will do it for you, John continued to work but he also prayed. If there were any whisperings from malcontents in his ear, (after twenty-eight years of music ministry, | know there were!), John did not let them disturb, distract or deter him from his responsibility. He continued to support the vision and the visionary until God said otherwise. Music Ministry that Positively Impacts When a true minstrel really ministers, there is a defin- ve impact on the recipients of the ministry. nTo Be A Minstrel ‘As we saw in chapter 1, everyone benefits. The prophet was inspired, the people were ministered to and the minstrel enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing the mi: was accomplished. The same mandate rests on today’s minstrels. However, often the daunting but doable task at hand for today’s church musician is making the biblical paradigm of 2 Kings 3:15 a relevant 21* century reality, Every minstrel that desires to fulfill the scriptural mandate of 2 Kings 3:15 will embrace, cultivate and perfect the following principles: 1) Constantly develop and maintain a growing, vibrant and fresh relations! with the Lord Jesus Christ through daily prayer, study of the Word and obedience to the Word. These activi- ties constitute discipleship, a dynamic that no minister in the Kingdom can do without, 2) The aforementioned activities form the basis for acquiring a sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit, 3) Allow the Spirit to direct you in the things that feed your spirit especially the artistic expressions that you as a minstrel are influenced by, 4) You as a minstrel will minister out of that which has ministered to you, 5) Cultivate your craft through prayer, practice, education and music appreciation (constantly listening to music or exposing yourself to the expres- sion of your art form by others). Practice is extremely important for the minstrel because it, a) maintains the sharpness of the craft that is absolutely imperative to biblical ‘minstrelship”* and °) practice sessions are the times where God through the Holy Spirit gives you the revelation of how to ‘marry’ the principles of the ministry-driven mindset with the nuances of the craft of musicianship. (I will discuss this further in Chapter 7), and 6) Position yourself to consistently be the beneficiary of the ‘even-flow’ of the ministry cycle in your life. The 8To Be A Minstrel ‘even-flow’ of the ministry cycle is the maintenance of the balanced proportion between the amount of ministry you expend and the amount of ministry you receive One of the common pitfalls of ministry (as ironic as that sounds) is to be constantly working, and giving, while forgetting and/or neglecting to proportionately rest and receive (Luke 10:38-42). The minstrel that positively impacts will attend to this principle in their individual lives spiritually, mentally/emotionally and physically. The combination of these principles and the mechanics mentioned previously in this chapter and chapter 4 will lay the foundation for developing the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as to how he wants to lead and guide you in music ministry. The goal that each minstrel wants to meet is ministering the song or the art form, at the right time, in the way that the Holy Spirit desires, for as long as He directs. Notice the emphasis on the article the. Too many times as ministers of music we will settle for just doing a song because it sounds, feels or perhaps ‘even looks good. We even fall into the trap of ‘getting over’: working a song continuously because of histori- cally the success it may have had. However, the greater overarching issue becomes whether or not that was the particular song or artistic expression that the Holy Spirit was looking for in that situation. We are not told in 2 Kings 3:15 what it was that the minstrel played as far as genre, rhythm, tempo, chord structure or as far as any other music definition is concerned. I am convinced that this was divinely intended so that we would not become neutralized in a trivial quagmire but rather be open to whatever way God wants to lead, in whatever it is He wants to do, however He wants to do it. We are told that he played. Obviously whatever the minstrel played, it 9To Be A Minstrel was exactly that which was needed. And that is the kind of music ministry that impacts; the musical expression that the Holy Spirit is calling for. I have been on both sides of the issue. I have enjoyed the pleasure of minis- tering in step with the Holy Spirit. And I have committed the error of playing out of step with the Holy Spirit. The former has benefits that are indescribable. It is nothing short of a joyous wonder to see people connected to their Creator and His Presence through your ministry efforts. And the latter has some of the most excruciating moments of angst that no one would want to facilitate as, a minister. It is a horrible feeling to walk a way from a ministry endeavor knowing you missed God. The posi- tive experience can become a constant if you and I just simply embrace and commit to the discipline of endeav- oring to hear what the Spirit is saying and do just that. As I came to the close of my tenure as minister of music at my former church, completing the transition to begin pioneering the church that the Lord had instructed me to, I had one of the greatest things happen to me as a minstrel that | will forever cherish. It was one of my last Sundays there. One of the senior women of the church who had become like a mother to me came up to the keyboard after the benediction. She said these words to me that are as my apostle Dr. David Ireland would say, “written on me’; “Darren, I just want to encourage you to keep playing. Because, when you play, God speaks to me!” That, brothers and sisters, is music ministry that positively impacts,