Categotry Archives: changing mindsets

I know this is ground I’ve covered before at some point on this here blog, but if you will indulge me…

A few years ago, during the height of our deconstruction, our family had a very serious conversation together. This conversation led to a paradigm shift for me, one that has informed my path ever since. Essentially, I was lamenting the fact that I had built my entire musical identity around the platform of institutional church, and now that we were feeling disenfranchised from the institution, I found myself having something of an identity crisis.  How does a worship leader function with no platform from which to lead? What do I do now with these gifts?  In the course of the conversation, I started to say, “We’ve spent our whole lives trying to fit our gifts into this box we call ‘the ministry’…”

Every once in awhile, Matt over at The Church of No People writes something that rocks my world.  A couple of weeks ago, he posted this gem about “The Poisonous Myth of Finding the Highest Calling.” It’s worth going over there to read it before continuing here.

I related to this post on so many levels: the whole idea that a perceived “high calling” makes a martyr of you, or even imprisons you. Then there’s the pitfall of getting your whole identity wrapped up in some aspect or expression of your calling, or simply feeling like you have so much to live up to.

So this morning, I was all like, do I write a post about chicken sandwiches, or do I try and finish this two-part blog post I started a few weeks ago that got interrupted? When I saw that Matt over at The Church of No People wrote a pretty cool one about chicken–and considering that Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sunday, anyhow, so there’s nothing you can do about it today–I had my answer. 🙂

Besides–perhaps getting back to a discussion about mission is the best response I could give to the Great Fast Food Chicken Sandwich National Controversy: a way to re-focus on the important stuff.  (Oops, maybe that statement was too chicken-sandwich-post oriented. Sorry.)

I had an interesting conversation this week with a band I was interviewing–a friendly young husband/wife duo. The guy had mentioned church roots a couple of times in prior conversations, and it came up again during our interview. My curiosity was piqued, so at the end of the interview I turned off the recorder (so he wouldn’t feel he was on the record) and asked him about his faith.

“I’m actually an atheist,” he replied.

So here I am, on a Sunday morning, blogging. For those who have been tracking with me, I haven’t been blogging much here lately because I have been helping out a congregation with their worship music while they are in between leaders, occupying my Sunday mornings for awhile (which is when I usually blog here). But today they are trying out a new candidate, so I have the morning off. Sweet. 🙂