Sitting on the Porch

One of my favorite serious singers, Pierce Pettis is an incredible lyricist, and has the whole package – great guitarist, and a truly honest delivery of the goods.

Both secular and Christian songs on the same projects, and I promise that this is the only Christian music I really like and listen to regularly.  He is also an extremely regular guy.  You should get this guy to come to your place.  And this is not a paid endorsement.  He doesn’t even know I’m doing this.

Do yourself a favor – visit www.PiercePettis.Com.

If I joined a fantasy football league, it would mean that all three of these statements are true:

1. I know something about football.
2. I care about football.
3. I want to play make believe.

But here are three things I really do know for sure:

1. They play football when it’s cold.
2. There’s a halftime show.
3. Bourbon tastes better when it’s cold outside

Rah Rah.

I have big boxes full of CDs that perhaps should not have been made, including some of my own. They represent many thousands of dollars and hours, not to mention the passions and sweat of hundreds of musicians.

There’s the old “Christian kindness” thing when you ask someone, “How did you like that song?” Well, who’s going to tell you it sucks? Since nobody is willing to be the Simon Cowell of Christian music, everyone tells you it’s great, and they also tell you that you sing great.

Five grand and hundreds of hours later, you get a thousand CDs back from Discmakers that will most likely hang out in a closet for years to come. Well, maybe you suck at this type of thing.

Believe it or not, I’m an incredibly optimistic person. I’m also smarter than I look, and a whole lot more fun than I seem.

There are great singers, regular singers, and really really bad singers.

I say things like this knowing well that everyone who reads this will think I’m talking about someone else. Maybe I am talking to someone else. Maybe you’re the “one.” Maybe you can sing great, and are a great musician. Maybe you just suck at marketing, or one of the many other things needed to get somewhere.

There are great singers, regular singers, and really really bad singers. Maybe you are a great singer – maybe you’re somewhere else on the scale. Everyone should know where they are.

If you suck at singing, does that mean that there is no place for you in ministry? Absolutely not. “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Not everyone can be the head, or the eyes, or the voice. But that doesn’t mean that you are any less vital to the Body of Christ.

In a sermon called “A Tool in the Hand of the Master,” I remember Chuck Swindoll saying that it is not our job to know the whole plan of God. A screwdriver is supposed to do one thing well, and that is to turn the screw. The screwdriver doesn’t know that it is assembling a Rolls Royce, only that it does its job well. The screw it turns it is no less important than any other part, but the sum of the parts is beautiful.

“A hammer makes a poor screwdriver.” We should all find out what kind of tool we are in the hand of the Master. If you find out that you really do suck at something, you may be trying to drive a nail with a screwdriver, or turning a screw with a hammer.

Maybe this will turn into a discovery of who we are in Christ, and which part we play.

Some tough questions to answer truthfully before you invest in that new sound system, or that new CD you want to make.  Or you may re-evaluate what it is you’re supposed to be doing.

What’s your passion? Is it really your passion, or just what you’re interested in now?

What would you talk about if you could not sing songs or play an instrument?

Is there a need for what you have to say, and who needs it?  How do you know?

What’s your geography? Individual? Small group?  Large group? Conventions?  Travel or close to home? This one is critical for a lot of reasons.

How much are you willing to give for the ministry? Success (see below for definition) requires passion, hard work, sacrifice of time, money and prayer, opportunity, good connections, good decisions, talent (more on that below), honesty, integrity, humility, vision, resourcefulness, proper timing, and above all, a legitimate calling (see below).

Are you talented in this area? You can have drive, vision, and integrity, but sooner or later you have to deliver the goods.  People will only come to see you if there is a direct benefit to them, and it has to be good.  Your audience is investing their time and money in you, and if they don’t think they’re getting a bargain, word gets around.

Granted, even Moses spoke with a lisp and had terrible social anxiety (he made Aaron do the public stuff), but Moses had the direct backing of the Almighty, who wasn’t afraid of crowds at all.

Are you called to do this particular thing? Being called to do something doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, popular, lucrative, or even noticed by anyone but you and God.  It doesn’t mean that you will be happy, self-fulfilled, artistically satisfied, or even feel closer to God.  So how do you know you’re called to this thing?

How do you measure your success? Is the goal financial, personal or something else?

I’ll post more as I dig further in to my own journey as a Catholic, a musician, and a bidness person.

JC

Robert L. Short explains what our dogs can teach us- check out The Gospel According to Dogs on Amazon.  Here’s the Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-According-Dogs-Four-Legged-ebook/dp/B0035K77OO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1281493053&sr=8-2