Leadership

The Voices in Our Head

We had just finished our church service with worship and communion.  As the music team was slowly unplugging and turning off their equipment, we felt encouraged by how God had used us. Just as I was turning to one of our vocalists to thank him for singing, a visibly angry woman approached the stage.

With pierced eyes, she sternly said, “Kim, I need to talk to you.” Realizing that I was being lead into a potentially unpleasant conversation, I came down off the stage and walked to a corner of the room. What I experienced for the next ten minutes was an onslaught of hurtful accusations and emotionally charged characterizations of who she believed me to be.

The next Sunday, I found myself struggling as I was trying to lead the worship service again.

Was I really the person this woman thought I was? Do I really have the characteristics she claimed I did?

Whether you are a music director, pastor or a volunteer, you most certainly know what its like to fight the voices you hear in your head that negatively impact your ministry.

So what do we do? How do we affectively battle against them?

I believe these three simple, yet immensely important, actions can radically change how we handle those internal voices.

Know WHO you are

Its always important to filter what is said about us. When someone accuses us of being something we know not to be true of our character, we need to dismiss it right away. The process to do so can be difficult, but the longer we dwell on false labels that are put are on us, the more we will struggle with keeping them. Its also very important to ask those who work with us or those in leadership above us for feedback. If there truly is something in our lives that needs to be worked on, we must willing ask the hard questions and receive the potentially hard answers.

Know WHOSE you are

Dig into scripture and remind yourself of who you are in Christ. The book of Ephesians is a great place to start. Remind yourself you are chosen (1:4), you are a child of God (1:5), you are redeemed (1:8) and you were made for a purpose (2:10). The Enemy would like nothing better than to try to take away your identity in Christ. When we remind ourselves who we are because of Jesus, we put those lies to rest.

Remember You are CALLED

Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1 that we should “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” We each have a calling on our lives. Your specific calling may look different from mine, but we are all to be a light in the darkness. I heard it once said that God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.

When facing a challenge, we can ask why it’s happening TO us, or we can embrace it and decide that it might be FOR us and grow through it. Ask God to use the hurt you may be experiencing to strengthen your ministry and the mission He has equipped you for.

Words are powerful, but when we embrace these three simple truths we will have the tools to overcome the internal voices that threaten to discredit us. Don’t allow the words of others to define you, allow GOD to.

Live out your ministry in the light of “the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant” and who will “equip you with everything good that you may do His will.” (Hebrews 13:20,21 ESV)

KIM PORTER
Music Director / Creative Arts Director
The River Church | Liberty Township, OH 
HitTheRiver.com

Kim has been surrounded by music her entire life. She led worship in church settings as a young teenager through her adult years and continues to feel incredibly blessed to do it now as a profession. She has been serving as Worship Leader and Creative Arts Director since 2010 at The River Church in Liberty Township, Ohio.  Besides leading the congregation in music each week, Kim also spends time building stage designs, brainstorming sermon illustration ideas and whatever else she can do to keep her creative mind entertained.