God and Gigs: Succeed as a Musician Without Sacrificing Your Faith

God and Gigs

Copyright © 2016 by Allen C. Paul

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2016

ISBN 978-0-9972703-0-3

www.GodandGigs.com

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Dedication

To my parents,

Dr. Marcus and Reita Paul, for giving me the gifts of faith, music, and the love of learning.

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Acknowledgments

The problem with making a list of people to thank is that the list will never be complete. It’s impossible to list the hundreds of supporters, musicians, and friends that have impacted my life, and therefore inspired this book. All I can do is attempt to acknowledge a few of them, and hope that all of you realize how much I value each and every contributor to this project. 

To my amazing wife, Lia, and our three kids, Chris, Marcus, and Naomi, thanks for allowing your husband and father to disappear into literary exile day after day. Your love and support have truly made this journey worth it. You are the reasons why I continue to strive for excellence, because you all deserve my best every day. Oh, and you are all hilarious too.

To my amazing church family, Metro Life Church, and my pastors Steve and Mary Alessi, thank you for giving me the confidence, guidance, and spiritual covering to be both a worshipper and an artist; never making me choose between the two. Your example has made my life richer and more meaningful, because I finally felt comfortable in my calling. Thanks also to those in other ministries I’ve served in throughout the years, most notably Jehovah Lutheran Church and Second Baptist Church, both of which were instrumental in my development as a musician and worship leader. 

To all the musicians, singers, artists, engineers, and audiences that have in some way contributed to this book, I cannot thank you enough. It was your support that allowed me to enjoy and sustain this career. I must stop and thank every musician that lent a quote, interview, email, or kind word toward this book. It really is about you more than it is about anything else. The light of your integrity, faith and belief in this occupation’s ability to bless people has illuminated my understanding of the power we hold in our hands every time we perform.

I must take the risk of overlooking some folks in order to thank others, so let me just mention a few major inspirations that started this journey with me. Khristian Dentley, you spurred me on both musically and spiritually with your great charm, authenticity, and enthusiasm. Thank you so much! Trent Phillips, you were one of the first musicians that inspired me to make this project more than a pamphlet handed out at a workshop. Thank you for lending your prodigious wisdom. Parris Bowens, you came in and took this project to a whole new level with your insight and encouragement. To all of the local musicians (too many to name) that provided support – this book is my way of honoring your work and your commitment to excellence. 

To all the people that contributed to the God and Gigs fundraiser, your financial contribution made the book you are holding in your hands possible. Thank you for believing in this project and making a tangible investment into it. I hope you’re satisfied with the results. I must give some special thanks to these Hall of Fame contributors who made sizable contributions:

Steve Alessi

Macky Diaz

Lillie Edwards

Joel Cristela Espinoza

Mory Martinez

Melton Mustafa

Charles W. Phipps, Sr.

Marcus A. Paul

Reita Paul

David Roman

Mike and Kristie Valdez

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the editors and writers who guided me through this brand new world of publishing. Katrina Holder (aka Poettis), it was your insightful eye and unflinching attention to detail that brought much needed focus to this book. Thank you for keeping me on track! Lee Stranahan, you are a dear brother whose clarity and honesty I value highly. Thank you for your attentive notes and encouragement. To Carol Banks Weber, your consistent support of this project acted as wind in my sails. Other writers who taught me the ins and out of the book business have asked to remain anonymous, but without their help, I never would have gotten a word into print.

You may wonder why I haven’t thanked God. The reason is this: if you do not sense my gratefulness to him in every word that follows, then I have done a very poor job of writing.

~ ~ ~

•         

Contents

Introduction

Part I: Your Connections

Chapter 1: Stay Connected To Church

Chapter 2: Stay Connected To Your Spouse

Chapter 3: Stay Connected To Your Children

Chapter 4: Stay Connected To God

Part II: Your Career

Chapter 5: Establish Your Priorities

Chapter 6: Respect The Business

Chapter 7: Visualize Your Goals

Chapter 8: Invest In Your Skill

Part III: Your Calling

Chapter 9: Challenge Yourself To Grow

Chapter 10: Evangelize Through Your Gift

Appendix

•         

Introduction 

The world never let a man bless it but it first fought him.

-Henry Ward Beecher

It’s one of those Saturday nights. You’re playing a gig that promised to be easy, but it turned out to be a nightmare. One person is playing the bridge, someone else is playing the chorus, and the leader of the band is in his own world, playing a totally unrelated groove that sounds like a horrible combination of polka and reggae.  Not to mention, it’s almost 1 AM in a casino lounge, thick with the caustic scent of cigars and the cacophony of slot machine music constantly in the background. A few intoxicated bar regulars are swimming in their drinks in front of you, but they’re totally ignoring the band. Other blank faced customers seated at the slot machines glance at the mess on stage every now and again, only to turn back around to pull the lever and stare at the spinning cherries and sevens. You’re amazed that they don’t even notice how bad it sounds.  On top of all of this, you are supposed to be ready for the praise and worship sound check at church tomorrow morning.

Your heart is heavy and your mind is anywhere but on the music as the band continues to miss chords on the chorus. You feel lost, unfulfilled, and unsure of whether or not this is where you are supposed to be. You’re talented and you want to play music for a living, not just on Sunday mornings. You also don’t enjoy playing gigs where you’re exposed to behaviors that you just don’t agree with. The question that’s constantly at the back of your mind is, Am I pleasing God when I perform this kind of music?"

What’s more, you are imagining the disapproving, sour-faced looks you’ll get in the morning from the church members that saw your Facebook post announcing the scheduled gig. They act as if they weren’t probably at similar places last night themselves; but that’s beside the point.

If you’ve ever experienced a situation where your faith and your music career created a conflict, this book is for you.

If you’re still with me, my guess is that you fit into one of three categories:

1. A musician that plays in a church or ministry;

2. A musician that plays or sings professionally or as a freelancer in popular music performances – aka gigs;

3. A musician that constantly deals with conflicts between number one and number two.

If any of these describe you, I hope you’ll continue reading. You may have thought no one else understood the dilemmas you face. You may think that the conflict I mentioned is just something you have to live with. My goal is to convince you that you’re not alone, and that there are ways to survive the challenge and become a happy and successful musician, no matter where you play your music.

WHAT THIS BOOK WILL NOT TELL YOU

We must start with two questions that will NOT be the focus of this book.  I often hear these questions from critics of musicians that play gigs, but they are distractions from the real-life issues we face.

Question #1: Should church musicians perform in secular environments?

Some Christians claim that musicians are excluded from using their gifts anywhere but within the church walls. This premise would take a whole book to discuss. Because it often dominates the discourse, let’s clear it up quickly.  First, let’s define the word secular. This word describes things that have no religious or spiritual value. The problem with using the term secular is that it divides our lives into two parts: things that are connected to God and things that are not. That’s a flawed view of the real world. God is connected, in some way, to everything we do. There is no facet of human existence that can be segregated from Christ’s influence.

Should Christian doctors only treat Christian patients? Is it possible for Christian contractors to only build Christian homes? Hardly. In the same way, it doesn’t make sense for Christian musicians to use their skills solely in Christian environments.

The legendary Dr. Charles Swindoll of Insight for Living said it this way:

When you have a sense of calling, whether it's to be a musician, soloist, artist, in one of the technical fields, or a plumber, there is something deep and enriching when you realize it isn't just a casual choice, it's a divine calling. It's not limited to vocational Christian service by any means. [1]

For the sake of clarity, I will sometimes use secular to describe music that isn’t explicitly Christian, but I prefer to use the term popular to describe the modern music industry. This definition includes any genre of music that is produced commercially, not just pop.

Are there times when Christian musicians dedicate their gifts exclusively to ministry? Absolutely! I served as a full-time minister of music for three years. During that time, I did not play any outside gigs other than wedding receptions.  However, this does not mean every Christian musician is called to full-time ministry. We use our talents to serve God, but also to provide ourselves with income.

Before we begin this discussion, you should understand that God gives us the freedom to exercise our talents both inside and outside the church. If you’re struggling with this notion, pay close attention to the Conversations with the Pros interviews throughout the book. You’ll gain valuable insights from successful musicians that have conquered the supposed conflicts between church and the gig.

Question #2: Shouldn’t churches pay musicians enough so they don’t have to play gigs?

While I wish every church had a music budget big enough to hire full-time staff musicians, this isn’t realistic. Despite the growth and professionalization of music ministry, hiring full-time musicians is not feasible for many churches and ministries. I do believe that music ministry