My very first audition was to play in my church's P&W band. I'd only been playing for about 10 months and while I had practiced enough to play the songs, it was my ability to read the music and "speak the language" that was my biggest problem.
I live in Nashville, and the church I attend is recognized as being one of the best churches in town for music. Our music pastor is an awarding winning musician, singer, and songwriter even charting a #1 song on the country charts back in the 90's.
He was very honest with me, and told me to keep working. I appreciated his honesty, but perhaps your pastor wan't good at rejecting people and came up with a flimsy excuse of the bass being "ungodly". I don't know all the factors, but there is no doubt that a church is a business. Period. I go to worship, and cultivate my relationship with God, but the church and it's staff has a mission to keep the church running, and expand its membership.
When I've had the privilege to participate in the worship service, it was never a "gig" or "performance" to me. It was worship, and it always made me feel more connected to God. But to many, the service is a performance. It's about getting butts in the seats and dollars in the collection plate. Those things are vitally important to a church. There isn't anything wrong with that and I'm not being cynical. The Bible commands us to tithe.
Recently I started attending another church. I really want the opportunity to participate in the worship service, whether that is singing, playing bass, or even delivering a lesson. God has filled my heart with the desire to be a worship leader. Now I just need to find a church that will foster that and allow me to grow spiritually. It may be necessary for me to attend a smaller church that would see it as a blessing to have someone who can play an instrument, sing, and has training as a formal speaker and would be honored to speak before the congregation. It seems that most churches I've visited have an over abundance of people with talent. So much so that they put restrictions on who can participate in the worship service. I think there is something patently wrong with this, but there isn't much I can do about it.
I did finally have the opportunity to play bass in church. I answered a Craigslist ad looking for a bass player. They were very grateful to have me there, however, the church differed too much from my beliefs for me to attend church there. To me, it's not about playing bass, it's about that perfect match that meets my spiritual needs and the church's needs. I've not yet found that match, but I continue to search.
I'm not going to jump on the "your pastor is an idiot" bandwagon or throw the proverbial stone. I'm going to take the stance that the Lord works in mysterious ways. When God's plan for me includes playing bass in church, he will deliver that opportunity to me. Things happen in His time, not mine. I continue to practice daily and try to improve my skill so that when I am called, I will be ready to lend my bass or voice to the worship service to hopefully inspire and move people forward in their relationship with God.
God knows my heart, and he knows how he would like to use me. I just have to continue to pray that His will be done and be unfolded before me.
Well dang...after reading this, I guess I just did some preaching.
AMEN!
