Sometimes God speaks to you through really weird circumstances. And sometimes He just shows you something that was there all along, but you didn’t really notice.
Last night, I was watching the Pixar movie Cars 3. It was pretty funny, but it dealt with some interesting stuff (for a supposed “kid’s” movie). In it, Lightning McQueen begins losing races to a bunch of new up-and-coming racers who are tech-savvy, strong, and just plain faster than him. And of course, he mopes about it for a while, but then decides to try and beat them at their own game by training like them.
And as can be expected, it doesn’t work for McQueen. In his quest to find his “missing mojo” he runs across Doc Hudson’s old mentor, who informs him that as much as Doc loved racing, his biggest achievement and joy was training McQueen to carry on his legacy and passion for racing.
And as I sat there watching the credits roll, I was reminded of how true this is for anyone who’s getting older, and who feels their dream has eluded them. Like me.
Sometimes, like in King David’s life, God says (I’m paraphrasing) “You’ve served me well, and you’ve been faithful in starting construction of the Temple, but it is not your place to finish it. Your son will complete the Temple.” (This is in David’s speech in 1 Chronicles 28 before he appoints Solomon as the new King.)
I thought about all the years I’ve spent dedicating myself to music ministry, how much I love it, and how much passion I have for worship. How desperately I longed to be able to lead worship for a living. And despite this, God said to me “You may never get the chance to travel the world and play music for a living, but you can train up the next generation to do it.”
And truth be told, that means I have to love the act of God being worshiped more than I love to worship God on my own. I need to get over the idea that nobody else can meet that need. I have to want to see younger worship leaders grow- I can’t keep my knowledge and experience to myself.
The Spiritual Aspect:
God has blessed me with the ability to learn and teach music easily. I passionately love leading worship, but I understand that I’m not able to do that the way I envisioned when I was younger. That’s okay- I still love what I get to do- but I always thought God was teaching me these things and bringing me through these experiences so that I could transition into a place where I was able to use them full-time.
But what if God intends to use me to make an even bigger impact? Which has more impact: me spending the next few years starting over and reaching a few thousand people, or me teaching half a dozen young worship leaders who will each reach a few thousand people over decades- possibly even after I’m gone?
They say that “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” But what if God’s intention all along was to raise me up to teach a new generation of leaders how to go back to what worship really means? What if God will use me to help fuel a movement of today’s youth turning back to God’s holiness and glory in worship? How else will today’s young worship leaders and songwriters understand where my generation came from and how we got to where we are today?
Who am I to say it has to be *me* that is out in front? Sometimes that’s not what God has in store. And whatever God has in store is always better than what I can think of. Always.
The Technical Aspect:
I’ve been sitting on a website idea for the last few years. And I’ve been spending so much time working on improving my music and worship leading that I’ve almost completely forgotten about it. I have the hosting- I have the domain name- and I have a dozen articles already written. I just haven’t pulled the trigger.
Starting today, I’m going to begin working on firing up my new website and equipping today’s young leaders with the tools to lead worship in a modern setting without enormous budgets; using free software and inexpensive tools to spread the Gospel and worship of the Lord.
This is a big part of what God made me for: to encourage and equip others. And with my experience in music and open-source technology, I’m qualified to do it. Nobody else is doing it. I’ve got everything in place, I have the resources, I just need to make it happen.
I firmly believe God can use me to equip people, spiritually, musically, and technologically, to face ongoing challenges in the worship ministry of the Church. I will be praying for guidance and strength as I do this, but in the end, it’s all for God’s glory.
As for the website, I will post links to it once it’s up and running.