Playlist - March 2.0

A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend

Girl in the War by Josh Ritter - The Animal Years

Glass by Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Departure by R.E.M - New Adventures in Hi-Fi

Breathe Something/Stellar Star by Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

Sweet Song by Blur - Think Tank

Ch-Check It Out by Beastie Boys - To the 5 Boroughs

Everyday by Buddy Holly - The Best of Buddy Holly

Ji Yeon by Michael Giacchino - Lost Season 4

Shelter by The xx - xx

Happy Easter - SPOTIFY

dg

Self Projection

Carrying on from the thoughts about Self Promotion - I have been thing a lot about Self Projection - particularly through the ADHD-satisfying social phenomena of Twitter & Facebook.

What do we say about ourselves on Twitter & Facebook? What are we trying to tell the world about ourselves? What image of ourselves are we trying to project?

First of all there is the Profile Pic/Avatar. If you are a worship leader or rock star in waiting (they are not always the same thing - really!) you will probably have a profile pic something a bit like this:

Earnest worship face? - CHECK

Big Stage visible? - CHECK

Taylor/Gibson/Avalon? - CHECK

Converse Trainers? - CHECK

"Hey world - I LEAD WORSHIP. (sometimes on a big stage where people take photos of me)"

The visual nature of digital communication allows us to present ourselves in whatever way we choose. And many worship leaders want to project an image of themselves on a stage behind a microphone. I find that interesting.

Then there is the nature of updates, these come in 3 basic categories:

1. Blatant Self Promotion - (my new album/conference/blog post/book/video)

2. Mentioning the day to day of successful worship ministry (band practices/choosing songs/song writing/conference anecdotes/stories from the studio) - complete with pics from the iPhone!

3. The Good Father/Husband routine - ("I am a successful worship leader but I also devote satisfactory time to my wife & kids") - HOLD the PRESS! 'Father loves kids' SHOCKER.

There is also a sickeningly strange new trend on Twitter for ReTweeting your compliments; basically every time someone compliments you on your song or album or whatever then republishing that compliment so everyone else can see it. Tempting though it might be - we should remember - "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

So, what am I trying to tell people/friends/followers about myself in the images I present and the things of my life that I choose to highlight?

Is it my identity as a musician or a worship leader or even as a good father/husband?

Is it my intelligence, artistic taste or cultural significance?

Is it my importance to the wider Church?

I am just asking questions here, not throwing stones. Telling the world via the internet what your life is like (including the exciting cool bits) is part of our 21st century culture. And it isn't a sin. But if all we portray of our identity is simply a 'stage persona' then we are in danger. In danger of creating an image of ourselves we can't sustain. An image of success and importance. An image of identity based on our roles and giftings.

And the great danger is that we would believe our own bullshit and let what we project of ourselves become what we think of ourselves. And the problem with that is it isn't even half as good as the truth:

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;"

dg

Playlist - March 1.0

Put On Your Sunday Clothes by Michael Crawford & Barbara Streisand - Hello, Dolly!

Stillness is the Move by Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

A New Career In A New Town by David Bowie - Low

Arc of Time by Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

Fredag by Dungen - 4

Multiply by Jamie Lidell - Multiply

Siam Giunti... D'amor Sull'ali Rosee by Leontyne Price - Il Trovatore

Dr Baker by The Beta Band - The 3 EP's

Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad

Cochise by Audioslave - Audioslave

Did you say SPOTIFY LINK? Okay must have misheard you.

dg

God Will Raise You Up (So Relax)

"God will raise me up."*

Easy to understand, but it can be much harder to believe.

I hope I'm not the only person who has an internal dialogue in my head about where I am, where I could be, where I perhaps 'should' be and, of course where God wants me to be. All in relation to the measure of my influence, responsibility and progress.

Nope? Just me.

And time and again I want to help God out. Hurry things on a bit. Just to give Him a little hand making my influence larger and my responsibility greater and my progress faster. He is quite busy after all.

So it's east for me to end up shrouding self promotion in more appealing ways: 'We are blessing/resourcing/equipping/encouraging the church' - rather than 'flogging our latest song/CD/book/ministry'

But the more I think about what will really bless, resource, equip and encourage our churches, I have one conclusion: More of Him, more of the Spirit.

Books, CD's, Songs and ministries help. But only if they are full of Him and only if they point undeniably towards Him.

So when we feel like giving God a little hand raising up our products, efforts and ministries we can maybe think twice.... because....

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thess 5:24)

If I am called, really called, to lead worship for the thousands and write songs for the millions then 'He will do it'. It doesn't matter what I facebook or tweet or blog. It doesn't matter what marketing strategy I put in place. It doesn't matter what network I foster.

He is faithful and He will do it.

And He will do it in his timing.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:6)

Check out Kim Walker-Smith from Jesus Culture talking about Self Promotion, amongst other things:

I'm with her on this. I've never asked to lead worship at anything. I've never sent an unsolicited demo of my songs to anyone. And yet I've still managed to lead worship at some cool stuff and had a bunch of my songs published and used.

So the first question is this:

'What do I most want?'

Is what I want whatever God has for me, no matter how it ends up looking (all of which will be good, and fulfilling and utterly satisfying)? Or is what I want influence, responsibility, fame, success, money, status, recognition or a whole manner of other temporary and fleeting satisfactions?

And if I can answer yes to the former, the second question is this:

'Can I wait for it?'

Can I stick out the months and years of not having what I want yet, or even deserve, because God's timing is perfect? I know I can. But I have to choose it. Again and again.

God will raise me up, of that I can be certain, so I can just... relax and enjoy the ride.

dg

*This is a follow up to a post from November - 'Self promotion - Good, Bad or Ugly?' . Which if you read that may help you understand this post a bit better.