Have you ever walked into a nice restaurant and had the waiter tell you "I think that today you will have beans and cornbread?" Since I am on a very low carb diet, I would be fussy with him and tell him that I can't eat that so I'll have to go somewhere else with my business. If I was stuck there, this rude waiter certainly wouldn't be getting a tip of any kind.
When I go to a nice restaurant, I expect the waiter to seat me at the nicest table, provide my silverware, serve me with water and ask me if there is anything else I would like before he takes my order. I expect him to wait on me, as in serving me, not as in me waiting to get service.
As a Gospel singer, are you a waiter who is serving people, or are you one who had people waiting for you to get to them? We tend to think that our listeners should just accept the music that we want to sing. We think that everyone should stay within the little box or frame that we have built for ourselves. We seem to think that if we let people wait long enough, they will finally come around and like what we want to serve them. This begs the question that could this be why Southern Gospel concerts only draw a fraction of the people that other genres of Christian music attract? Are we not serving what they want?
It is time that we started taking notice, and even asking what the people want. You see, we know what WE want but do we know what the listener wants? Music changes, music progresses just like styles change. Music trends of today are not still serving the Mills Brothers, or the Four Tops. Gospel music is not still serving the Sons of the Pioneers, or the Jordonaires. Even country music has changed.
It really is time that we stopped looking at what WE want to do in this the Gospel Music world, and see what is filling the concert halls. We need to become waiters and true servants. Am I saying let's all go Contemporary and totally forsake the traditional sounds? Certainly not, but let's stop fussing about the little things and start majoring on what we can be doing to get our music into homes and people into our concert halls.
I have watched as the Crabb Family have roused standing ovations from crowds that wouldn't take the time to go see four men in suits around a piano. I've watched as this young group has packed out churches and concert halls. I watch as they appear on television reaching thousands of people with ministry. There new motto even explains it more, "Leaving No One Behind." How are they doing this? By "waiting" on the people. They serve what the people want, you can find a little traditional, a little country, a little rock and a whole lot of ministry. Are they the only group doing this today? No, there are many others that are breaking barriers and "going where no gospel group has gone before." They are "waiting" on the people.
Recently I was discussing some things with a well known man who works with stage presentations. He said that he was trying to give some instructions to a SG group who was on stage in their bright purple, matching suits. He asked them to do certain movements in the songs to give it more dynamics. They were hesitatant, telling him that they were afraid they would look silly. Here they are on stage in PURPLE suits and they were worried that they may look silly. In the world's view they already looked silly. Let's stop worrying about how we look in our little box, and start being concerned about how we look to the world we are trying to minister to.
Is it all in our dress? Is it all in our sound? It is all in our attitude. It's the attitude of the servant's heart. The attitude of "I'll be what they need me to be" to get the message out. Let's become waiters who actually wait and serve the people.
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/
Written: 05/01/2004
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Category: Monthly ArticlesEditorials
Comments: 4
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Amen, Deon! Well said.
God is good all the time & all the time God is good.
Elaine Harcourt
Amen,Brother,Amen!We need to think outside the box! grin
While it is the job of the waiter to wait on the customer, the job of the chef is to make the best tasting food he can make. Some may not like the taste, but changing the taste of the food to suit everyone reduces the food's quality and value. Waiters are nothing without quality food to serve. So it is with Christian music. Someone needs to be producing quality music, not candy, else the singer(waiter) has nothing of value to serve.
Through my son, who is is a "sever/waitor", I have gained a little knowledge of what he does. Every waitor's persoanality is uniquely different, and that is so refreshing. All of our ministies in sgm have differences; but there needs to be some basics that we serve/live by. As most of us reach a certain age in life, we stop trying to please and/or impress everybody we meet. We just learn to be ourselves without being intimidated. There will always be a need to learn new ways to "market" the gospel. I am persoanlly not up on copying Hollywood in our [sgm artists] appearance, i.e, spiked hair, low cut blouses, short skirts, unbottoned shirts, etc.; however, I am for continuing serving the same meal that Christians have served for centuries--"the bread of life". I am very ademate about keeping southern gospel, SOUTHERN GOSPEL!
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