Nightmares

You are sound asleep.........zzzzzzzzzzzzz........zzzzzzzzzzzz......

The next thing you know, you're in church! Everything seems normal. You probably see the regular faces, the building feels familiar, and you are there to take care of your responsibility as Worship Leader on a Sunday morning. Then all of a sudden, something goes terribly wrong. Your guitar breaks a string, the projector doesn't work, you didn't run any copies of music, your microphone isn't on....and more than likely... you're aren't "dressed for the occasion" either! AND oh yeah, It's time to start and there isn't any time to fix any of it!!

How embarrassing!! How could this happen?? You work so hard and pay such close attention to detail that this couldn't possibly be happening to you!! Now what are you supposed to do?? Run? Cry?

How about wake up?

This has happened to me more times than I can count. I don't know why, but it seems like some of the things that I care about the most end up being the main storyline of my dreams at night. My work at WFRN, My family, and of course leading worship at my church...and it can be really frustrating! Why do the things that bring me so much joy in life also bring so much distress?

I take it as a good sign. Kind of.

What if I had that dream that I narrated above, and after all of those things happened, I responded with happiness, or even worse... indifference. I think that would "say" more about my dedication to my responsibilities than a response of distress does. Our responses to situations reveal how we actually feel, who we really are, and what we are made of.

When was your last "nightmare" and what was it about? How did you react? Most of the time after my initial reaction, I then resort to laughter. Mainly because after I wake up I realize how absurd my dream was, but while I was still in it, it seemed SO REAL!

"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life" -Matthew 6:27


Nope. 

But its hard not to. I think expressing a little concern over your responsibilities is a healthy practice. Just try not to lose any sleep over it.

Cody Collier is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and serves as Worship Leader at Goshen First Church of God in Goshen IN, and as Midday Radio Host at Family Friendly 104.7/93.7 WFRN.

Endurance Training

I run.

I run far.

I’m going to be running a Half Marathon on June 4^th. 13.1 miles through the South Bend metro area and finishing (hopefully I make it there) on the green turf of Notre Dame Stadium. As long as the weather cooperates and I remain healthy and uninjured, I will complete the biggest and most demanding physical feat of my life.

So how do running and worship ministry go together? Good question. I’m going to attempt make it through this entire post without making of those cliche' “run the race of life” analogies and rather suggest to you that your ministry has the ability to endure more and more as you become a solid team of individuals committed to accomplishing a enormous feat.

I’m talking about goals. Do you have any?

Worship Ministry is more than playing four or five songs on Sunday, picking four or five more songs for next Sunday, rehearsing, and making team schedules. Yes, those are some of the more managerial duties for keeping the ministry afloat, but it’s not anything that you can post on a bulletin board and say, “We want to get ‘here’!”

Find out where “that place” is for your ministry. Have conversations with your pastor about how the worship in your church would ideally look. Be realistic, but be adventurous too. Cover the entire process in prayer and let God show you where he wants you to lead His people. And once you set a plan to take baby steps toward that goal, maintain the passion, determination and vision until you reach it.

Like the body of a runner, as your ministry pursues its goals it will become stronger. Small tasks will become easier, and the next big test won’t seem so exhausting. When you reach a goal, celebrate… then set a bigger one. God wants to see ministries flourish and become stronger and He'll do all He can to help. He is the best personal trainer you could ever have when running the race of life.

…rats, I almost made it ;)

Cody Collier is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and serves as Worship Leader at Goshen First Church of God in Goshen IN, and as Midday Radio Host at Family Friendly 104.7/93.7 WFRN.

Music Prayers

The other day I had a great conversation with Mark Schultz. We talked about his family, his world tour, and why he always writes songs that make us all cry, but the reason he called me up was to let me know that he had just finished recording his very first instrumental album. (Many of you know that Mark is a very gifted pianist.) I was like, "Wow Mark, instrumental? You have such a way with words, why would you want to take them out of the music?"

He said, "Well, ya' know when I get a couple of extra minutes I like to sit down at the piano and, before long I'll poke out a melody that begins to well up so much emotion inside that I feel like the piano is a part of me... like an extension of who I am."

I bet that those of you who play an instrument  understand exactly what he means. I sure do. A piano player myself, I can feel the energy of God flow through my body, down my arms, into my hands, and through every fingertip; on its way to making a joyful noise that gives glory and honor to HE who makes it all possible.

VERY Long Story Short: When I was young I was sick. And ever since I've been better, one lasting side effect of that has been my ability to recall words. It's very difficult to say exactly what I feel and think of words that I want to use. For some reason the words don't come to me. So I shared this with a pastor back in college and he told me to think of it like this: "You are an artist... words are too limiting"

Since then, I like to play what I call music prayers. A music prayer is when you don't say anything, but just play music and speak to God though each note and progression. Music is such an expressive art, You can say so many things depending on volume, intensity, speed, style, pitch, expression, and the list goes on and on.

Try to play a Music Prayer this week. It doesn't have to be an improvisation. Maybe to start,  pick a piece of music that you like to sing, but just play the music. Concentrate on each note and let each one be a word in your music prayer. Let me know how it goes by commenting on this blog post. It might take a few tries to find your prayer style, and that's Ok! Grab your guitar, piano, saxophone, drum set, violin, harmonica, trumpet, what ever it is that you play,...and pray. I find that sometimes it's much easier to say exactly what I want to say, by not saying anything at all.

Cody Collier is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and serves as Worship Leader at Goshen First Church of God in Goshen IN, and as Midday Radio Host at Family Friendly 104.7/93.7 WFRN.