Hired guns
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Magnificent Seven. It's a classic tale that itself is an Americanized remake of the Japanese movie The Seven Samurai. The story: a small village is being marauded by a ruthless bandit, and they're tired of it. A small group of villagers travels to another town where they assemble a group of men to help defend their village. In the end, the village is saved, freedom restored, and the hired gunmen ride off in to the sunset.
That's all well and good in Hollywood - but what about church? My home church was in the habit - and still occasionally is - of hiring musicians from the local college for special Christmas or Easter musicals. While the sound quality was there, was the intent? Maybe it's not my place to question that, but in my opinion, having been on the performing side of things for years, a heartfelt performance is what is called for. We're offering our gifts and talents up to God for his glory, not ours. However, there is a flip side to this argument...
What about the people attending? Who's to say they will take more - or less - from the performance if it's accompanied by professional instrumentalists as opposed to local church talent that can run the spectrum from amateur to almost pro? Or, what about sports? Church softball - especially at a baptist church - is a realm all it's own. I've always remarked at how many guys I didn't know went to my church that showed up at softball time. Funny how they all disappeared after the season was over, too.
We have friends who do a lot of youth work. At their church there was a debate over allowing a young man to play in the youth praise band because he had not made a profession of faith. The praise band was regularly used as worship leaders in youth services. Can you be part of a group that serves a function as a worship leader if you haven't made a commitment to Christ? Will the audience know it?
Are we really glorifying God when we "hire guns?" Is our ultimate goal to reach others? Or are we so concerned with putting on a top notch performance that we bring in others, possibly non-believers?
That being said, I have to take a moment to brag about our church orchestra. We had our Christmas concert last night, and it went great. No hired guns, but plenty of great talent including some who could play for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. We have teachers, proffesionals, high school students, even a couple of actual music teachers in the bunch. Our motto: "If you held the instrument before, that's good enough."
That's all well and good in Hollywood - but what about church? My home church was in the habit - and still occasionally is - of hiring musicians from the local college for special Christmas or Easter musicals. While the sound quality was there, was the intent? Maybe it's not my place to question that, but in my opinion, having been on the performing side of things for years, a heartfelt performance is what is called for. We're offering our gifts and talents up to God for his glory, not ours. However, there is a flip side to this argument...
What about the people attending? Who's to say they will take more - or less - from the performance if it's accompanied by professional instrumentalists as opposed to local church talent that can run the spectrum from amateur to almost pro? Or, what about sports? Church softball - especially at a baptist church - is a realm all it's own. I've always remarked at how many guys I didn't know went to my church that showed up at softball time. Funny how they all disappeared after the season was over, too.
We have friends who do a lot of youth work. At their church there was a debate over allowing a young man to play in the youth praise band because he had not made a profession of faith. The praise band was regularly used as worship leaders in youth services. Can you be part of a group that serves a function as a worship leader if you haven't made a commitment to Christ? Will the audience know it?
Are we really glorifying God when we "hire guns?" Is our ultimate goal to reach others? Or are we so concerned with putting on a top notch performance that we bring in others, possibly non-believers?
That being said, I have to take a moment to brag about our church orchestra. We had our Christmas concert last night, and it went great. No hired guns, but plenty of great talent including some who could play for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. We have teachers, proffesionals, high school students, even a couple of actual music teachers in the bunch. Our motto: "If you held the instrument before, that's good enough."
posted by misawa at 11:46 AM
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