Honor
Your Gifts – The Breakdown
Honor
your gifts, which come from God. Period.
#4 Put In The Time
Put in the time. That is our ministry, we put in the time.
Putting in the time is what we
do. From the concept of a set list until
the last chords of the closing song ring, it’s all one big wheel constantly
turning. Our preparation determines our
worship. Being musically prepared means
being able to move from playing to worshiping. Songs flow when concern about song
structure shifts to the background so your ears can guide your sound.
When you’re secure about what to play, you’re
free to focus on how to play. All the tonal
nuance you have is at your disposal. Tone, timing, texture, timbre, you get the
idea. You’ve spent a lot of time just learning how to produce clean notes,
putting in the time with the song structure lets you focus on tone production. Another part of flow is how you move from one
song to another. Over time, familiarity
with a variety of songs will uncover similar chord patterns, which strengthens
your ability to make smooth transitions.
Putting in the time is the
preparation we do away from our instruments.
How we interact with others on the team, how we communicate with the
worship leader and the team, how we offer encouragement and feedback, how we
ask for help, all of that is what’s on the table when it comes to preparation
and focus. Putting in the time is
getting charts notated/amended for how you’re going to play the songs. Putting in the time is coming to practice on
time, prepared. Putting in the time is
taking the time from practice to service to fine tune what you rehearsed.
Putting in the time is what we do away
from music. What are you praying and
meditating about during the week? Who are you praying for? What are your prayers for this upcoming
service? Putting in the time means we
arrive ready to meet people where they are and take them into a spirit of
worship. Putting in the time is a
commitment to any and every one worshiping from you that says, “I’ve been
waiting all week to be here with you today.”
Putting in the time is the time we
spend on ourselves. What things elevate your
energy levels, and are you doing enough to keep your batteries charged? What things are an emotional drain? How can we keep those things from hindering
our preparation? Am I eating
properly? Am I getting enough rest? Do I
get enough physical activity? Am I
happy? Am I looking forward to the service?
So, put in the time.
