Pursuing Excellence

Rory Noland has some awesome things to say about pursuing excellence that I believe needs to be heard without paraphrase. Why "recreate the wheel" when it's already said so well? Here is what he has to say: (You can find this passage on pages 136-137 of your Heart of Worship book)

By now some of you might be saying, "Now, wait a minute. Didn't the masters and the great artists of history have a perfectionistic streak that catapulted their art into greatness? Wasn't perfectionism part of their genius?" It's my observation that pursuing perfectionism is destructive to the artist and his or her art. Perfectionism is unhealthy. It inhibits performance and stifles creativity. I think the best artists pursue excellence, not perfection. In fact, I'd like to propose that perfectionism is more or less the evil twin of excellence. While perfectionism is destructive and man-centered, pursuing excellence is constructive and God-honoring. Instead of pursuing perfection, we need to pursue excellence.

Nancy Breach, our programming director here at Willow Creek, defines excellence as "doing the best you can with what you have." No matter how much or how little talent we've been given, we can all try to do our best. For all of you perfectionists out there, note the word TRY. God understands that we're not perfect. All He's asking us to do is to try. No matter where you are in your development as an artist, we can all try to do things with excellence. You don't have to be a professional to do the best you can with what you have. you don't even have to be an accomplished artist. you just have to be willing to try to do your best.

Pursuing excellence means we do our best with what we have, to the glory of God. He is worthy of our very best. We serve an ultimately creative God. When He created the world, He imbued it with breathtaking beauty and awe-inspiring majesty. God didn't just throw things together when He created the universe. He modeled creative excellence for us. Seven times during the Genesis account of creation, God stands back, looks at what He's created, and says, "It is good." It's obvious that we serve a God who delights in creativity and values doing things with excellence.

Excellence is also a powerful witness for Christ. Most non-Christians who ever end up in church expect the music to be lousy and outdated. They don't expect to be moved by drama or dance or the visual arts. Wouldn't it be great if they were to come expecting the worst but instead found the arts produced with creativity and excellence? Wouldn't it be great if the local church were leading the way in artistic excellence for our culture? Proverbs 22:29 says, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before Kings; he will not serve before obscure men." When we do things with excellence, the world will sit up and take notice, and we can point them to the God who created us, gifted us, and loves us.

Noland outlines several different points in the above passage that need some consideration:

1. Perfectionism is destructive and excellence is constructive and God honoring
2. We must always TRY for excellence no matter what
3. As Christian artists, we have a powerful tool at our fingertips that can engage non-believers and begin their Christ-centered conversations

Reflect on this passage by giving your insight on one of the major points. It would be valuable to hear how one of the points may be practiced in our worship team, how we may continue to move forward and be "current", or even personal success stories of how we have achieved one of the points.

Thank you for sharing!

The Big Picture

As we continually strive to honor God with our gifts of worship, we need to set realistic expectations. Even though we may desire perfectionism, we have to acknowledge the fact that we will never be perfect and that God does not expect us to be perfect. He can take our imperfections and use them for His good. What we really need to do, then, is understand that there is a greater purpose at work than ours; a "big picture" per se.

For a small portion of us, this realization that we don't need to shoulder the burden of making sure that we worship perfectly in order to bring about God's will is a great relief. For a larger portion of us, we need to work on the extremely difficult task of stepping back, becoming vulnerable, and allowing God to use our imperfections for His good.

The first step in this is realizing that our expectations need to come from God; not from our own prognosis of what we think worship should look, sound, or feel like. Noland states, "We need to give our expectations over to Him and exchange them for what He expects, not what we expect. We might be expecting artistic perfection, that might be the furthest thing from God's mind. Try to keep the big picture in mind. God cares about all the details of our artistic endeavors, but He's also in the business of saving souls. What's more important? That our efforts come off perfectly or that God's name be praised and that lost people come to know Him through our ministry? Try to keep things in His perspective" (Noland, 135).

Yet, this doesn't mean that we now get to play Parcheesi during rehearsals instead of working diligently through our worship music. Conversely, this means that we need to ever work harder on opening our ears to hear what the Lord is wanting of us and our spiritual gifts. "He expects us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him (Mic. 6:8). God expects us to grow spiritually. The end result is His responsibility. Our job is to cooperate with the process. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect (the end product), when God is more concerned with the process (that we walk humbly with Him)" (Noland, 135).

There are countless examples of ways that we have become more concerned with the end result than with allowing God's process to work in our lives. Unfortunately, many of these examples come with some embarrassment of knowing that we caused the uncomfortable conundrum by not following God's direction. Sadly, many of these lessons were learned in hindsight. This prompts our reflection questions:

How do we know that we are following God's big picture of saving souls instead of our own unrealistic expectations?

What can we do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to ensure that we are in a place to be able to hear what God is saying?

He Likes Me! He Really Likes Me!

If you participated in wearing neon hammer pants, drinking TAB cola, watching the Goonies, could sing all the words to "You Give Love a Bad Name,"scrunched socks and styled scrunchies, played with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, aspired to be Doogie Howser, and rocked mullets, then it was safe to say that you conquered the coolness factor of the 80's. SIKE!

It is very easy to look back at the different generations, styles, and ideals and think "What in God's name was I thinking?!" (Quite literally). As hard as we may have tried to fit into a certain persona of the time that we were growing up, none of it would matter in a few years. Fads, clothes, food, and pretty much everything that creates the coolness factor all change over time. For the perfectionist in everyone of us, this sucks! This means that at the point where we finally felt that we could rock a certain era (including the times when we have purposefully chose to not participate in the fads out of principle, hence jumping on another fad of resistance); all the rules changed and we had to start over. Bummer! Noland states, "If you base your self-esteem on what you do instead of who you are, your-self image will go up and down depending on your latest reviews" (131, Noland).

Instead of building our self-worth on things that change over time, we need to build it on the very fact that we are a child of God. Noland states that "the key to a healthy self-image is not about doing. It is about being; being a beloved child of God" (131, Noland). This means that we need to understand that God absolutely loves us for who we are; every part of who we are... yep that part too. As Christians, I believe that many of us already know that God loves us. It is quite literally mentioned in the Bible hundreds of times. Yet, sometimes the real question we are asking when we ask "does God love us" is "does God like us?"

All of us have children and we all wholeheartedly agree that we love our children tremendously, but that we don't always like what are children are doing at different points. Does this mean that God loves us, but that he doesn't like us sometimes? If this is the case, according to the list of sins that I fall into every day, does this mean he doesn't like me most of the time? Noland argues that this is not the case!

One verse that Noland relies on to prove that God likes us very much is Psalm 18:19 because it states that 'God delights in me.' This message is also shared in Psalm 37:23 and Psalm 41:11. Noland states, "Did you know that God delights in you? He created you and He enjoys being with you. He enjoys seeing you grow. He enjoys watching  you be what He created you to be. He enjoys watching you use your talent - every time you perform or create. He delights in you" (132, Noland).

Another verse that touches Noland about God liking us is Romans 8:38: "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This verse has become so meaningful to Noland because "it reminds [us] that noting - absolutely nothing - can separate [us] from the love of God. Even if [we] are having trouble feeling His love [or that he may even like us], it's still there. Nothing can take it away" (132, Noland)

So, next time we are feeling rather fad focused or, conversely, like the scum of the earth, we need to realize that God doesn't judge us the way that we judge each other. He loves us and likes us unconditionally. Take a look at Ephesians 4:32. It tells us to be "kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." What if we applied that same verse to how we treat ourselves? We need to begin to be kind to the artist in us AND we need to realize that God really does like us, no matter what. In the words of Journey "Don't Stop Believin'"!

For the reflection part of this post, write something that you want to start "savoring" as a part of who you are that God has blessed. This is a trait that God has given you so that you may serve Him better, this is not an action or a responsibility that you are in charge of.

Potluck Perfectionism

 

 

"The amish, whenever they produce any of their crafts, purposefuly put a flaw somewhere in their work. It could be one piece of thread that's out of line or a part of a quilt that's slightly off center, but it's there to remind them that only God is perfect." (129, Noland)

 

Ah yes, flawed on purpose. Now there is an idea that will be hard for each of us and our perfectionist tendencies to grasp. Yet, there is something great in knowing that even though our free will causes us to fail time and time again God continually uses us and our errors to bring about His will.

 

Since we perfectionists tend to focus detrimentally on the negative, we need to learn to savor the positive. Truly, we need to become practiced at "celebrat[ing] anything and everything positive that comes our way" (128, Noland). In our culture, we often are led to believe that we should not rejoice in our successes, but this is not what God wants in our lives.

 

Noland shares the story of David to remind us of this: "In 2 Samuel 6 David had defeated the Philistines and returned the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The whole nation celebrated, and David was so overjoyed that he danced "with all his might" (v.14). And why not? He was savoring a great work of God that he'd had the privilege to be a part of. David danced before the Lord with humility and joy. He wasn't taking the glory for himself. He was worshiping God. David's wife, Michal, on the other hand, wasn't into savoring, and she sharply criticized her husband for his outlandish celebration. But God was not pleased with her negative attitude, and He cursed her with barrenness (v.23). So you see, God doesn't like it when we pass up an opportunity to savor Him. He delights in worship-filled celebration" (128, Noland).

 

There are several key components to savoring the positive. First, we have to recognize that if God uses us to do His will and something fantastic comes out of it, it is "okay to celebrate what God's doing through us" (Noland 128). This is not us patting ourselves on our backs, instead it is us rejoicing that we were able to do God's will. We are letting God's joy at accomplishing what He's equipped us to do into our lives.

 

Do you think that our team does a good job of celebrating when God uses the team in a special way? What are some instances that you think we should rejoice over because God's Will was actualized in the past couple days, weeks, and/or months?

Just Coating It A Little

Tommy: Forget it, I quit, I can't do this anymore, man. My head's about to explode. My whole life sucks! I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know where I'm going. My dad just died, we just killed Bambi, I'm out here getting my butt kicked and every time I drive down the road I wanna jerk the wheel into bridge abutment!

Have you ever made a mistake in a performance before and played it over and over again in your mind? Have you done this recently? Even though scripture continually reminds us that we are not perfect and can never be perfect, we somehow find ourselves trying to squish into a little jacket that will never fit. As artists, we need to be even more aware of our perfectionist tendencies because they can cause us to become unable to use our gifts they way they were intended.

Noland gives us 4 negative indicators of perfectionism:

1. Maximizing the Negative, Minimizing the Positive

"Have you ever heard of the dot syndrome? Look at the newspaper photograph and notice that it's made up of many dots of ink. Now focus on only one of those little dots. See how you miss the "big picture"? The dot syndrome is just like that. You make a little mistake and keep replaying it in your mind, crucifying yourself over and over for it. It's a loss of perspective. Instead of looking at the big picture, you're obsessed with one tiny dot. For the perfectionist, one thing gone wrong means every thing's going wrong." (124, Noland)

2. Black-and-White Thinking

"Something is either all good or all bad. My performance was either all good or all bad. I'm either a good artist or I don't even deserve to call myself one. There's no in between. Perfectionists tend to be very critical, and they can come down very hard on themselves when they fail. As a result, perfectionists engage in a lot of negative self-talk." (125, Noland)

3. Self-Esteem Based on Performance Instead of Identity

"Many artists are extremely insecure because they're overly perfectionistic. Because they criticize themselves over the smallest of mistakes, perfectionists struggle with self-esteem. When it reaches the point where your talent makes you feel no good or worthless as a person, your self-esteem is too wrapped up in what you do instead of who you are. Perfectionism can also be a way for artists to get people to like them. If people think I'm perfect or better than I really am, they'll like me and I will be important - so goes the perfectionist thinking. (126, Noland)

4. High and Unrealistic Expectations

"The more work I have invested in something, the higher go my expectations for it to come off not well but perfectly. So I walk into rehearsal expecting perfection, and I'm disappointed. I come to the service expecting perfections, and I'm disappointed. This is different from setting goals. Setting goals can be motivational and can bring significant growth. Even if we don't achieve all our goals, we're almost always better off for having tried. Now contrast that with constantly browbeating ourselves and others because we're not living up to perfection... If you and I set up unrealistic expectations, we're setting ourselves up for frustration and disappointment every time. That's why the perfectionist lives with a lot of "if onlys." If only I had said this or done that. If only I had gone to that college. If only I had studied with that teacher. If only I had made that audition. If only I had married that person instead of the person I married. We somehow feel that all our expectations would have been met "if only." ... People with unrealistic expectations often end up sabotaging themselves." (126-127, Noland)


Let's face it, we do need to have hard work and set lofty goals, but trying to be perfect in our performances and our life is more "man-centered than God-centered." Noland suggests that we need to change the spelling on "perfection" to "perfiction" because perfection is honestly just fantasy. God is the only one who is perfect. "For those of us who expect life to be easy all the time, perfectionism is also a way of being in control; if I can control my environment, I can protect myself from pain and disappointment." (127, Noland).

Since perfectionism exists in all of us, comment about a perfectionist tendency that you have and how it has influenced your life.

As you ponder this week's reflective post, it best to end with a quote from Tommy Boy because it is through our imperfections that we can grow as a community and share in genuine laughter:

Tommy: God, you're gonna remember this the rest of your life. Can't believe you've never been cow tipping before. Get ready to live. Huh, huh, huh, ssshhhh. She's sleepin'. What you do is, you put your shoulder into her and you push.
Paul: And?
Tommy: They fall over, hee, hee, hee.
Paul: And this doesn't strike you as kinda' dumb?
Tommy: We're family, we're gonna be doing lots of dumb stuff together. Wait 'til Christmas.

Put on a Happy Face

At the end of the day, the success of our teamwork depends on our ability to submit to authority without losing our autonomy or artistic identity. This means that we must follow our leader(s) and listen to our Father about how, when, and what spiritual gifts to use. CS Lewis states this concept fantastically while discussing the arts. He states, "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence about how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

This means that we can still stand out as artists and fulfill our purpose while submitting to authority. Noland states:

"Submitting to authority can be difficult for some of us. We artists don't like anyone telling us what to do. But assuming your leader never asks you to do something contrary to God's will, you have a responsibility to submit to his or her leadership. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." (110, Noland)
"Submitting to church authority is a sign of character. You may think your leader is wrong or incapable or even unfit to lead, but don't add to the problem by being immature yourself. I've seen people get so agitated over the littlest things, and I've seen people leave the church over relatively petty issues. Stubbornness is not a virtue and pettiness is not becoming. Don't be a thorn in the side of the leader. If you disagree with your leader or don't like something he or she is doing, go talk to that person. If you still disagree, pray that God will change your leader's mind or yours. But if nothing ever changes, you still need to submit and cooperate with the person's leadership." (111, Noland)

Yet, even through this submission, we should never lose our autonomy or artistic identity. Noland states:

"It's important for the artist not to get swallowed up completely by the team. When we lose autonomy, we stop taking responsibility for ourselves. I've seen too many artists try to get lost in the crowd and not take personal responsibility for the development of their gifts and the nurturing of their souls. I've also seen too many artists hide behind the spiritual reputation of the leader and not take responsibility for their walk with the Lord or for the sin in their lives. I'm talking about the choir member, for example, who doesn't take the development of his or her gift or spiritual life seriously, thinking that those things go unnoticed when you're part of a large group. Doesn't this person know that any team is only as strong as its weakest link? There is a side to being an artist that is solitary. We need to practice on our own, or we need to write in solitude, or we need to find the inspiration to create on our own. We have devotions and fight temptation on our own. Even though I'm trying to raise the value of teamwork in arts ministry, the arts are not exclusively a team effort. It's our responsibility to do the along part on our own." (111, Noland)

"When we lose individual autonomy, we also start living for the team's approval instead of the Lord's. A group mentality sets in that can be very dangerous for a team of artists. When that happens, we go along with the group without questioning. We don't take creative risks anymore for fear of losing our status with the group. We don't speak up if we hold an opinion different from that of the group. We become man pleasers instead of God pleasers. What was Aaron thinking when he misused his artistic abilities and made the gold calf? (Ex. 32:21-24). He created an idol for people to worship. He lost his sense of personal responsibility and listened to the group instead of listening to God. He gave in to peer pressure and betrayed his faith. It is dangerous for any artist to live for the approval of others and stop listening to God." (112, Noland)

For this post, respond to the following statement:

It has been said that fellowship, or community, is the art of knowing and being known. What is the difference between knowing and being known? Are you better at one than the other, or are you pretty good at both?

Heat, Light, and Magic

Have you ever taken the time to really look at our worship team? We are a bunch of neurotic, quirky, passionate, intelligent, and deeply devoted people! Each of us brings something completely unique to our team that we would be absolutely lacking if a person were missing. No matter how small or large our contributions, they all play a role in the bigger picture of bringing people closer to Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:22-25 says, "Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor... But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other."

In order to develop all that we have to offer into something that God can edify in our team, we need to bring all of our spiritual gifts to our team. Noland states:

"I've seen too many artists neglect their other spiritual gifts. They perform and that's it. What about an artist who also has the gift of mercy or encouragement or helps or shepherding or evangelism? The team is incomplete without these gifts... There is such a wide variety of spiritual gifts, and we we need to look for opportunities to use those gifts whenever the team assembles. For example, rehearsal is more than just practice. It's yet another opportunity to use our spiritual gifts and raise up our fellow artists. Even if you think you don't need rehearsal, you always need the fellowship and the fellowship needs you. If you have the gift of encouragement, you can come to rehearsal looking for someone to encourage. If you have the gift of helps, you can be on the lookout for someone to serve in this way, someone who just might be sitting next to you at rehearsal. Instead of asking, "What do I get out of this?" we should be asking, "What can I give?" (108-109, Noland)

Hebrews 10:24 tells us to "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." This means that we need to see our role on the worship team as using our gifts to lift others up by asking ourselves "How can I use my spiritual gift today to stimulate my fellow artists spiritually?" or "Is there anything I could do or say that could benefit someone else on the team?"

The result of this is that our role on our worship team is valuable not matter how small. Noland states:

"Every team has members who know their roles on the team and perform them well. They're content to play their roles, because they know that if they don't, the group will not function as a team. The best team leaders are the ones who help their members identify their roles and set them up to be succeed in those roles. Some roles are more behind-the-scene than others. Some are more prominent than others. But the mature team player knows that a team can't function without all members pulling their own weight, without all members performing the roles they play to the best of their ability." (109, Noland)

In addition, being a part of the worship team means that we are all actually a part of our Church's mission and success. Thus, we may be required to step out of our comfort zone and help out in the church in other ways. We may find ourselves helping Grounds and Maintenance fix a wall or serving food with the Deacons on Wednesday evenings. Noland states, "We need to do our fair share whether it's in our job description or not."

Next, we need to give of our spiritual gifts without caring about who gets the credit or the glory. Noland states:

"If you really believe in the cause of [our] team, does it really matter who gets the credit or the glory? Is it more important that you get the credit or that the work gets done? It's typical for us to want to receive all the credit and glory for something we have done, but if you look below the surface, there's almost always an unhealthy, self-serving motivation behind this desire. In many cases there's a craving for attention that drives us to seek the spotlight. And nowhere was this more prevalent than in the world of the arts." (107, Noland)

"Sometimes we get all bent out of shape when someone else gets all the credit we deserve or glory we covet. A wise man once said, "It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit." (108, Noland)

No matter how much we try to not care about attribution, eventually we may come to a point where we feel the need to say something. Noland states:

"If credit is constantly attributed wrongly, it can be very demoralizing. It's true that God sees in secret, but it's the wise and sensitive leader who makes sure credit is given to the appropriate people. Sometimes people are not looking for a large display of public recognition. They just want to be thanked and appreciated for their contribution, so let's be sensitive to this on our teams." (108, Noland)

Conversely, if you are unhappy with your perceived role or you're unclear about what your role really is on the team, "I would suggest that you talk to your team leader about this right away. If you don't, you will end up frustrated, bitter, and resentful. Don't let this happen to you. If you're confused or disappointed about your role on the team, please talk to your team leader." (110, Noland)


If this conversation feels like we have come full circle, it's because we have. As a team, we need to make the members of our team feel valued and have a specific role on our team. Think about members of our team whom we have seem to lost some contact with, members of our team whom do not seem to have their own role and purpose, and members of our team who may be feeling overworked. What can we do to incorporate them into our team? What can we do to give more roles and areas for ownership? What can we do to take away some of the stress of other members?

In the comment section, write about a specific thing that our team can do to help utilize everyone's gifts on the team by using the previous rhetorical questions as prompts.