Surrounding yourself with great teachers and mentors is one of the keys to learning and growing. Occasionally here on Worship Wednesdays, I want to share with you some of the lessons we’ve learned from our own mentors:
I first saw Allison Speer sing on a Gaither Homecoming video. I fell in love with her powerful voice and communication style. When I first attended Ben Speer’s Stamps-Baxter School of Music in Nashville, TN, I was excited (and admittedly, a little terrified) to subject my music and performance to her scrutinizing eye. Over the years in Nashville, Allison and her husband Brian became mentors and friends.
Early in our Nashville experience, I attended Allison and Brian’s Christian artist workshop, GodSong Music Academy, when a discussion broke out. One of the artists mentioned how much she wanted to minister to people from the stage. Allison quickly interrupted her,
“You don’t start ministering when your song starts. Your ministry starts the moment you step out of your car in the parking lot, and ends when you drive out of that parking lot at the end of the night. Everything you do, every word you say to people, every action you make is an opportunity to show Christ to people.”
These words rang through my mind. Had I been following this? Sure, I’d always been polite and professional when visiting a church, but this raised the bar.
Suddenly, being nice to people wasn’t enough.
Now, I needed to be Jesus.
Isn’t that what we’re called to be? It’s one thing to sing about the Gospel, but in really living it, aren’t we being asked to be Jesus to everyone we meet? And if we’re really called to a life of ministry, shouldn’t it be a ministering life?
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
This lesson changed the way I walk into a church. I’m certainly not perfect, and truthfully speaking, some days my cranky self wins. But if every Christian musician treated the church and its people with that kind of love, imagine the difference we could make.
You can hear Allison's beautiful vocals and Brian’s sensitive production on our duet of
In The Garden:
Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
Worship Wednesdays is a weekly series to encourage and equip worship leaders and songwriters. Bookmark this page & visit us every Wednesday!
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