Two Tickets to the Gun Show

2) Guns don't kill people, Hired Guns don't kill people either

As a student, I revered the worship band. David Parker was my hero. Then Charlie Hall. Then David Parker again, but for different reasons this time. My 17 year old self knew that he didn't have it all together, but believed that those men & women who played at the camps and retreats had it down. At 25, I still didn't have my act together, but there I was...leading others at camps and retreats. If there was one thing I learned in that time it's this. Don't ever assume the person leading you to Jesus knows Jesus any better than you. Now this may be the case. Maybe it's often the case. But I know of too many leaders in incorporated churches who wouldn't know the bible if it came out of the woods and mauled them...or drove a tent spike through their temples...or stabbed them in the stomach so their fat swallowed the sword. That last one hits a little close to home. There is so much emphasis on the work of the church, that many leaders neglect their own relationship with Christ so the next calendar event can run smoothly. Leaders are often neglected or actively neglect their own hearts.

This is especially true for the road musician. I don't know if you know this, but it is entirely possible to make a living playing drums for an itinerant worship leader. Not a good living, mind you, but a living...maybe with Starbucks' help. For the last 3 years I traveled itinerantly, I was at my home church maybe 3 times on a Sunday. I'm pretty sure I played at two of those. This is a great church and I highly recommend it but I starved spiritually for a solid year as a consequence of my own selfish heart. Had I not discovered monday nights at Celebrate Recovery (another amazing ministry) I would not have taken the time to engage with Jesus for the sake of engaging with Jesus. I shudder to think of the shell of a man I would have become had God not intervened through that ministry.

I say all that to illustrate this point. Being a "hired gun" for a church worship service is not enough. All over the DFW metroplex, musicians are paid to play at churches to which they don't belong. The spiritual expectations are minimum and the commitment level does not reach beyond the service or 3 they play on sunday. A lot of these musicians hang out in the same 3-4 circle of friends and may belong to a church here and there. But by and large, the church isn't doing much reach this group or insure they are cared for spiritually. It also seems that when a professional player does join a church, they are immediately expected to volunteer their professional services. I know of a great drummer who was being paid to play at one church. He loved the church and joined. Then they stopped paying him. It was handled quite poorly and he's since moved on to volunteer at another church because they care.
Most pastors and worship leaders want the volunteer band. My old home church has an AMAZING volunteer band. Seriously. Go check them out on iTunes. That's all volunteer, son. If you can go volunteer and have the talent to do it, go for it. The church I serve at and LOVE is coming from a decade or more of hiring guns to come in and play. It was known around UNT that we paid well. As our church has been in a state of transition, I'm confronted with these issues.
We want the people on our stage to be a part of our church.
We want the quality of musicianship to remain excellent.
We want to train future generations to lead the church to worship.

Thus the School of Jesus Rock. Have I shown you our logo?

Through this ministry, we will utilize professional musicians within our church to teach any and all willing to lead worship in various instruments and artistic disciplines. This means if you want to take lessons so you can play in a band, it's going to cost some money. But that money then funds these musician's pay. And there are expectations more than simply coming and playing. We're committed as a church to caring for the artistic community within our church, especially those who make a living playing music. One of the best attributes of our staff is this; We care more for the people God puts in our path than what that person can do for us. I want Blake to be Godly long before I want him to be a guitar god. My pastor wants me to be a Godly man, husband, and father LONG before I do any work at the church. This is the other primary purpose of the School of Jesus Rock; to care for the artist. We want to create an environment where they can know and serve Jesus without feeling used up simply because they can bang a drum.
That's what we're going for anyways. Hope you stuck with me on this, i know it was long.