Hello all,
Two Saturdays ago, I attended a worship seminar by Don Moen, courtesy of Integrity Music, not because I buy quite a bit from them, but because of the generosity of Francis Tay. I thought that there would be close to a thousand in the seminar but was pleasantly surprised that there were only 40 to 50 of us in the seminar – he had wanted it to be small “in the tens” so that he can have fellowship and interact. He shared freely about himself and his relationship to God”. I learnt a few points and would like to share these with you.
Don laid down five principles for his own worship ministry. I found Don to be a personification of these principles. The principles are:
(1) Authenticity – Be youself, don’t just copy or mimic others. He share that people would suggest to him that Don needs to be seen to be more “cool”, that he should embrace certain styles. I believe Don just wants to be the true Don – the Don that seeks after God’s heart and endeavours to bring people to worship Him. It is alright to learn from others, but ultimately, we need to stand on our own identity.
(2) Sincerity – be honest and open. Don’t have any hidden agende or ulterior motive. Our motivations must be pure. What we do must be from the heart ignited by our passion to serve because of our personal relationship with God.
(3) Reality – We should discover who we really are and then let our words and actions speak for themselves. What people see should be what they get, and what they get should be real … not a phony presentation. Is our worship a presentation to impress (uplift) our congregation? As Rev Rick Warren shares, worship is not about us, it is about God.
(4) Transparency – Don encourages us to let people see who we are. Let people see into our hearts just as Jesus walked in the open for all to see and approach him. We are to be imitators of Christ, not a worship style or a specific person.
In this regard, when asked how one keeps the church on the leading edge of worship, he advocates the following: “Do not hook yourself to a particular worship style.” Don’t try to be a “hillsong church” etc. Music styles change – it would like following a fashion trend and we ourselves become unbalanced after sometime. We should focus on things eternal – we should be a Christ-centered church. Build on an eternal foundation. Worship is not just music and having music does not mean worship. Be on the “spiritual cutting (leading) edge”.
He also added, that sometimes worship leaders find that God works strongly in a worship service and they try to analyze the elements that led to that. Was it the worship style? The choice of songs? The way the songs were ordered? The style of the band? If we try these things in a hope of igniting the Spirit to work mightily again, we would have misunderstood worship. “We should seek the giver, not the gift.”
(5) Vulnerability – We can be hurt when we open up to others. But closing ourselves off to protect our own feelings will leave us unfulfilled. God shapes us for service and in the process builds our character for heaven.
Don revealed that in 1984, Integrity Music asked him to lead worship on one of the first Hosanna! Music albums, Give Thanks. The project became one of Integrity’s most popular recordings ever and a benchmark for the genre. After that success, he was asked to be a Producer, After working on the plans for the next album, the executives fired him because they viewed his proposed ideas unacceptable and viewed that the total product would be “underwhelming”. By then he had already assembled a 200 person choir for the recording. He would have the unpleasant duty to let them off. As it turned out, the newly appointed producer proposed that he conduct the choir for the recording. For some reason Don agreed to do this despite the feeling that it would be a great humiliation for him, All 200 choir members would have known that he was fired as producer. On the night of the recording, he arrived at the car park and feeling a great sense of shame. He turned the car around to return home. 2 miles away, he felt the Holy Spirit prompting him to turn his car around – that it was God’s desire that he fulfill the task even though he felt he would be publicly humiliated. And despite his feelings, he returned to the recording. Ironically, today, he is the president of Integrity Music – i,e, the boss of all the Producers. He shared that if he had driven away, he would never be in his current capacity. God shapes us for service. He test us; he shapes our character for service. Sometimes the going gets tough but unless we are faithful with the little in our hands, God will not entrust us with more.
Finally, he began the session by sharing that he was terrified of public speaking. In the university he had failed his public speaking course because he did not show up for the final test where he had to go on stage and deliver a speech to the audience – he was too terrified, Don shared that it is truly God’s empowering that he can do what we does today, speak and sing to tens of thousands of people. Step by step, God led him. His musical gifts caught the eye of Terry Law, who asked Don to join his worship team, Living Sound, which ministered in communist countries throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. For 10 years, Don was responsible for much of the group’s arrangements and musical productions, and saw first-hand the power of praise and worship to open closed doors and hearts, and lead enslaved people into the presence of God. Nothing is impossible through God,
I was very blessed through this session with him. I hope you are also blessed through this sharing.