Article by: Tom Lane

Years ago I was at a festival in Southern Hungary with people from all over the world. We were there to help encourage artists and musicians. Bands came from Greece, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and Macedonia. The Turkish band was one of the only known Christian bands in their country and paid a dear price to even be Christian. As I talked with these bands it was evident they had a mission and were passionate for Christ despite the lack of resource, opposition, and inconvenience. Just to get to the event some passed through war zones in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia.

We are fortunate in our country to have the possibility of choosing music as a profession or being involved with worship and ministry vocationally. We live in a world of big events, tour buses, and stars.
I'm amazed by the passion and drive creative people have innately but when joined with a passion for what pleases the God who made them- it's even more amazing! Since most of the bands at the festival didn't have an option to do music for a living they were focused on going where some wouldn't dare to play and serving the needs around them. I heard their stories and was continuously humbled and convicted. The professionals from Nashville had come to help them but truly they had more right than most I know do. Christian music for them wasn't the possibility of notoriety or platform because it didn't exist. Not to take away anything from those genuinely used by God on a world stage, but the stuff can be distracting!

Let's live with a strong sense of Mission. It's easy to use words like ministry and worship to our advantage when what we may want is exposure. We can all be egocentric and selfish! King David was rich and famous so that's not the issue either. Being about the mission of Jesus is! Since God is famous for promoting who He chooses, what if any amount of our time should be spent promoting ourselves? I don't presume to know what you specifically are called to do or how best to do it, only to remind you of Matt. 6:33 . seek the Kingdom of God first! Be humble and He will exalt you!

Humanity craves hero's and icons and it's a lure to become one for many. It's also tempting for anyone to judge or criticize them from afar and that's not our job. We've all seen the rise and fall of many good people with great talent, just as real and vulnerable as the rest! Paul reminded us we're in a battle against a real adversary. For that reason we strive to avoid pitfalls that can waylay anyone. As we write our vision/mission statements and take our art to the masses, remember we are first created for His Pleasure and He'll have no other god before Him!

Is your goal the pursuit of God and His pleasure? Worship is that above all, not living only to accomplish our dreams, or even to please the church. Jesus preached the gospel and lived a life of mercy. He spent less time tailoring what He said and did specifically for the religious community and more time aiming at the hearts of sick people! We can all be guilty of ignoring the religion that God accepts as pure and faultless in James 1:27 but let's don't be in this generation! It's never ultimately about the music or us, though we are free to choose, and do whether by our own volition or neglect. Worship and justice go together always!

When I met the very hard core Serbian band I was astonished to find they were young evangelists and pastors who understood the mission and chose to be servants first. My thought was, these guys are truly modeling what it means to be Christian and they're a band.

Bands come and go! What are you doing that's lasting? What are you doing without a record deal or $ behind you that's worthy of supporting? Be more than creative geniuses and do now what you're called to do, don't wait for discovery to start! The awesome thing is God loves to give you the desires of your heart and will honor pure lives that pray for His will to be done. The secret is to be on "The mission" (Matt. 28:18) not just a mission!