Am I gifted for music?

[d1sturbanc3]

Okay. So this is my first post and I guess it's my introduction also.

I've been struggling for this for a while. It's something that's been bothering me. I grew up playing piano and baritone/tuba through middle school and high school. I played in church orchestra and such. I enjoyed it. I wasn't really that successful at it. I think the highest I made was 2nd chair. But I enjoyed music.

I hit college and stopped for a while with focused on classes and such. Around junior year and senior year I picked up music again. I had tried to pick up taking piano lesson again, but all I got was classical music (which I grew up playing). I wasn't too successful at it either and gave up after 6 month (I was stuck on one piece for 6 months).

I recently graduated moved to a new spot and picked up guitar. It was relative easy for me. I really enjoy playing it and daddle on my keyboard.

I guess my question is: should I pursue worship such as singing and playing guitar? I've seen many churches where the leader is not that gifted, and in some cases I don't think they should be singing. It's not an offense to them, but they need to take lessons.

So how do I know I am gifted? I can play on my guitar and keyboard for hours without getting bored. I guess I'm more conscious of my singing. Here is actually a new rewritten hymn I've been working on.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mzzqqm3ztdj

How should I approach this? I've wrestle with God in my prayers. I don't like sound of my voice. Part of me says just don't pursue it, b/c I'm not that talented. Part of me wants to play for my church.

[Mike Darley]

I don't know, man, if you're not that great then maybe music just isn't your ministry. If you don't have a good voice, but are decent at guitar or piano you can play that on a worship team, just don't sing. I'd say stick with practicing and such and see what God does. I know that when I first started playing and singing, guitar can much easier to me than singing, but now I'm pretty decent at both. It takes practice and waiting on God.

[ignite]

Well, I had kind of a similar situation, I grew up playing sax, and that came very naturally to me. I got interested in guitar and was able to learn it well enough to play on our worship team. I had never really been a singer, but I started out singing a little bit, mostly with other people. I'll be honest, when I took over leading the worship team, my voice wasn't as good as it is now. It took me at least a year to develop more range and better control, but I did it with practice, not really trying. it turned out that God gifted me a voice and I just had to refine it a little bit.

So you may not be ready to lead worship yet, but keep singing. Maybe you'll have to work with a voice coach, or at least someone else that sings. Don't give up quite yet.

And just a side note, I don't really like the way my voice sounds recorded, but everyone else seems to like it. I never can understand that.

[milepost13]

A couple of thoughts:

1) I don't like my voice recorded either.

2) Leading worship well requires far more than good musical skills.

3) If God doesn't want you leading worship full-time, having skills right now doesn't really matter (and vise versa).

4) Gifting is not much use without passion.

5) If you've recently graduated, have skills and passion for whatever you went to school for and have the opportunity to put those skills and passion to work, do that and allow the worship leading thing to unfold on the side without the pressure.

Nate

[tlhartsfield]

And... there's nothing wrong with enjoying the gift of music at home. I know lots of people who like to play and sing, even if they don't feel compelled to do so at their church.

[russhutto]

Exactly what I was going to say ^^^

One of the most fulfilling and beautiful occurrences to me as a "worship leader" is helping people learn to play at a level that gives them personaly enjoyment and an outlet to worship in their own way.

I've personally had the pleasure of working with a handful of people over the years who probably won't ever be the worship leader of large groups of people, but at the same time are some of the most beautiful worshipers I have ever worshiped with.

Their venue? Their home.

[Korg4god]

I agree with all of the above and would like to add I'd be glad to help out with the personal music training. I have a music school and we're going to start teaching over the web so I can help you with theory, ear training, keyboard, or whatever you need. Just let me know,


Jeff

[windbag]

Do you have any technical skills? Quality people in the sound booth are jewels. Frequently, a musician has an ear for it that technical people don't. Maybe you could serve in that capacity?