So while taking a small side-break from reading technical words in a product support log, I stumbled upon this video. (If you catch the "radio" portion: you'll find my friend Goose behind the microphone.)




First of all - I want to give props to Tenth Ave North for this amazing video of Lifelight! What a great band with a great perspective!

Second - there are several things that were said in this video that struck me.

I may not be in a band and sing or jam on the guitar or drums in front of thousands of people. But I do perform. As a dancer, especially during my years on the Northwestern College Dance Ministry Team, I struggled with finding that very same line that this band refers to between performance/entertainment and ministry. I'd struggle with wondering "Do I have an issue with pride?" "Is my dancing boastful?"

I sit here thinking to myself, I know there are times I was. I know there are times when I thought to myself that I am the best dancer on the team and I wanted to outshine everyone. I am ashamed and irritated at myself for those times.

But there are also times I realized that I was doing just what this band was doing. I was performing - not that I wanted others to notice just me, but the dance as a whole. I wanted them to feel something. I wanted God to use the dance to break down walls, to open up hearts, to show his love through this magical thing I do. I've seen how dance can become this incredibly powerful tool to change lives. What a gift it is that I have - that I may dance and entertain an audience only for them to realize a new facet about God. "The performance is there to make ministry happen," Mike Donehey says.

Then, something Donehey said makes complete and utter sense. He says "None of us are coming into this festival with pure motives. All our best motivations are tainted, all our best songs are still deficient. So that actually gives me great hope. Because at the end of the day I don't believe it's our putting on a perfect festival our putting on the perfect show our writing a perfect song it what's going to change people's lives. It's the belief that a perfect God is going to redeem it!"

What a life-changing thought for me. Nothing I make is perfect. No choreography, no leap or turn, no dance, is going to be perfect. Despite my desire to use dance to point people to God, I still go into a dance, or choreography session, with tainted motivations. They may not be all about me anymore, but to some extent, I bet that I'm thinking some of it is about me. But what a beautiful thing redemption is. What a beautiful thing to realize that no matter what I do, it will always come up deficient...because I am not God...but in the end, God redeems it! God redeems my work, my artistry, my talents!

May I always be deficient - in order to show God's proficiency!