Attitude

Last night I felt somewhat prideful, no not somewhat prideful, most definitely prideful. I had had a conversation with my future mother-in-law and won (in my opinion). As I've been thinking about this over the past 24 hours I feel horrible for thinking that. She's supposed to see Christ in me, not some snobby jerk who just wants to prove to her that it's my choice, not hers about when and who I marry. Yeah, I was calm and that was totally the Lord, but this pride was not.

Before I talk about attitudes I have some confession I need to do first. I have not been the leader you all deserve. There are times when I get it right, but for the most part I've felt somewhat entitled to what I have. I'm not sure why, but I have. I've gotten frustrated. I've judged. I've put some of you down in my head for what I deemed as "lack of talent". I've allowed myself to somehow glorify my position and somehow think that I'm better at things than I really am. Trust me, I know how much I lack talent (I listen to myself on the recordings after the service, and there are a lot of ouch notes coming from my mouth). I've taken control of aspects of this ministry that others were in charge of and I never thought twice about how they would feel. I've pushed. I've reacted. I've sometimes allowed sin to really creep into my life and distract not only me, but made it a distraction for others.

For all of that I am sorry. You may not even know that any of this has gone on, but now you do. I truly and utterly am sorry. My attitude has not been right. You all give up your time and your efforts and abilities to come and do the same thing I do: help others worship the One and Only God. Because I get paid means jack squat. I really am thankful that all of you put in the time. We wouldn't have a worship ministry without all of you. If you didn't have God given talents and desires you wouldn't be here. Forgive me for forgetting all of that.

So as I continue in the post please remember I'm working on these things with you.

Now that we've talked about preparing our hearts for worship in the morning I would like to discuss our attitudes towards each other. This will not be as much a spiritual thing as more of a practical outflowing of our desire to create a worshipful environment.

I know 8:45am on Sundays can be early for some of you. Actually, probably most of you, especially those of you who have kids you need to get ready. When we come in I'm sure the last thing on our minds is "how can I have a good attitude towards these people I'm working with?". But I'm hoping it becomes something you think about (and not just on Sunday).

I've noticed that sometimes we react to things. There are 2 specific examples that I'm thinking about. The first situation usually comes up right after we've finished the first song and throughout it you probably couldn't hear the worship leader, your voice was too low, the keyboard was too loud, the piano drowned out everything, or heaven forbid that we heard the bass player over it all. As soon as we finish you shout "I need this in my monitor, or AHHH I NEED SANITY (ok, no I've never actually heard that one)". If you were the sound guy how would you react? I'd probably wanna tell YOU to run the sound board bucko.

Sound familiar? it should, it's happened. We should always be considerate of how we're coming off to each other at practice. Instead of all of us demanding our requests here's what we're gonna do from here on (it'll take some time to get used to this, and it may change):
1. We'll start with the worship leader (yes, because i'm the most important (totally kidding!), mostly because since I (or whoever it may be) needs to be able to direct and hear everything in our monitors
2. Vocalists. Since there are multiple of you sharing your monitor it may be hard to get a mix you all agree with but we'll try. Just calmly let the sound guy know what you need (it helps if you talk into your mic so he can hear what your asking him to change)
3. Piano. Again, same thing, just ask for what you need.
4. Keyboard.
5. Bass.
As we get more/better equipment all of this will become more routine.

Scenario 2: Joe is trying to tell everyone what's going on, but people are late, talking out in the hallway, talking on stage, etc. I encourage this kind of community. I love that we are all friends and can talk about some powerful (and some strange) stuff. But when practice starts it starts and we need everyone's full attention. As a side note, practice STARTS at 8:15p on wed. and 8:45a on Sunday. Starts, as in you need to have yo bum where it needs to be before the clock strikes those times (otherwise i'll take your glass slippers and pretty gown away). Joking aside, it wastes time when people aren't prompt. Sound/video guys should be there a minimum of 5 minutes early and realistically should be there in time to check all mics/speakers/batteries etc. Musicians should be seated and have all music out and be tuned by these times. If you're not, your attitude says "my time is more important than yours".

Ok side note aside, showing each other respect on stage is the key factor in all this. That doesn't just mean not doing things, but it also means encouraging each other. When someone does something creative that just sounds sweet, let them know you liked it. If someone looks nice, let them know it. If you think joe looks better shaved, well, ok you get the drift.

Our attitudes always need re-evaluated and I hope this helps you to think. Maybe you've noticed some other thing that you think are worth mentioning here. Feel free to email me ideas or comment. I'll be working on my attitude and I hope you'll be working on yours and through all of this we'll look back.... and worship.