A few of years ago, Jeanna and I were invited to Wesley Methodist Church in Singapore to teach for two weeks at Jimmy & Carol Owens' School of Music Ministries. At 12 Midnight of the first day of our trip to Singapore, we found ourselves standing in the hot, sweaty international concourse at Los Angeles airport. It was Sunday night, we had been up since 6:00 am, we were checking in for the next leg of our flight, and things were not going well. We had to change airlines in LA, and the first airline had lost one of our bags.

We watched painfully as the gal from the previous airline would, with all the slowness she could muster, drag her cart with one or two bags over to the counter, drop them off, and s-l-o-w-l-y walk clear over to the other concourse to get another batch of luggage. We watched this process for an hour, hoping to see our missing bag. Finally, in order to get on our plane in time, we filled out the paperwork so that the new airline could continue the search after we left.

We were new to international flight, so being in the air for 23 hours was something of an adventure in itself, but I've never forgotten the painful slowness with which that baggage handler did her job. Maybe she lacked a passion and fire for her job because she didn't feel good that night, or maybe she just got some bad news, but maybe she simply didn't want to be there.

I have noticed at some churches a similar lack of passion and fire exhibited by the worship team, especially the technical volunteers. Enquiring minds want to know, so I usually find myself asking myself questions (oh boy are we in trouble) like "I wonder why that person is doing their job so slowly." or "Gee, don't they realize how their lack of fire for the task affects the performance of others on the team."

It does you know. Would you be inspired to worship the God of the Universe if the worship leader is singing a song describing the abundant life God wants for us on this earth while wearing an "I'm bored and I don't want to be here" frown on their face? Well, the tech ministry is part of that worship team. Every bit as important as the worship leader. Granted, the tech crew is a behind the scenes group. But they do still represent the vision of the church as they serve God in that ministry. Our service to God should be a diligent pursuit of excellence, not one of "Why do I have to do this? That trumpet player can't play in tune anyway."

I once watched a church sound engineer notice that he had forgotten to place and connect a mic for a musician who would be performing during the worship service. I think it was one of those pesky trumpet players again. The service was due to start in about ten minutes, but gee, the sound booth was way up in the balcony and that was an awfully long walk down there to the stage and back just to hook up one microphone. He allowed that he usually did mic that instrument, but just didn't feel like bothering with it that day. Excuse me? That's serving God with one's best!?! I don't think so.

Isn't it true that, for the most part, we all want to give the task at hand our best effort? Why is it that we get lazy or complacent at times? We have probably all been guilty of it at one time or another. If you love what you're doing, then you probably exhibit that contagious kind of energy to others in your ministry team. Keep doing so. Maybe it will rub off.

But if it appears that your motivation for the job has fallen off and it's been that way for a couple of months, maybe it's time to re-examine what's going on. There are a lot of reasons why a person might have a temporary drop in their motivation to serve in the sound ministry. I wouldn't want you to bail out of that ministry just because you're having a temporary problem with how it fits in your life right now.

Still, if this seems to be an ongoing lack of drive, if you don't have a real passion for the job anymore, then you should probably be asking yourself one of those painful questions. You know the kind. Like "should I really be doing this" and "am I really where God wants me to be" and so on. I think that sometimes God prompts us to make slight course corrections, even 90° turns. It's up to us to recognize His prompting, and to take that turn with him, lest we get off course and lose our way. That kind of exploration is never easy. Sometimes it really hurts. Maybe it hurts because we got ourselves into something that God never really wanted us to be involved in. Oh sure, it might have been a noble cause. Others may have commended you for your efforts. But how well do all the pieces fit for you personally? Is it really God's best for you?

Don't lose your luggage on the trip.

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