Terry Dashner………….Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:” says Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV). God gives us natural laws to convey spiritual principles. For example, there is a natural law of seed sowing and harvest. If I plant a seed in ground during right season, I will reap a harvest in due season. This natural principle illustrates a greater spiritual truth: If good is sown, in due season it will produce a good return.

The properties that apply to natural laws may foreshadow spiritual truths also. Again I illustrate. The properties of farming are known by every good farmer. For example, an experienced farmer knows that there are only four seasons in year. Only certain things can be done during a particular season. In winter season, farmer can’t plant seed. The land is fallow. During spring farmer doesn’t go to field, expecting harvest. During spring season ground is turned over and made ready for planting. The farmer has seasons to work in, and they continue throughout his life.

This brings me to crux of this writing. The people of God go through seasons throughout their lives. This is normal, and it is God ordained; however, many become discouraged in their walk with God because they do not understand this truth. If one does not understand seasons of faith, discouragement, even shipwreck, is a real possibility. Let me explain.

There were four of us who played guitar in a small country Baptist church. I know one song we dreaded was "Rise and Shine"

('God said to Noah there's gonna be a floody floody...'). The chords were simple, but strumming rhythm was a real wrist breaker.

After church we would retire to one of our homes and listen to latest Larry Norman or Randy Stonehill album, and try to work out chords and guitar licks. As Bryan Adams sang, 'I played it till my fingers bled...those were best days of my life'. The songs were simple and we'd try and embellish them with influences from progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd and Yes. However there's a limit to what you can do with a $20 nylon string guitar. Sometimes this went down well. At other times some of elders would warn us of dangers of getting so caught up in music that we forgot main game. In their quirky country ways, they had a point.

In years since then I have enjoyed being part of many different music teams. My studies meant I moved around a fair bit, so I was part of a number of churches. Some were well resourced and it was a struggle to get to do what I loved, whereas others were small and welcomed whatever help they got.

When Willow Creek team first came to Australia I witnessed what was possible with a dynamic, creative and well-resourced team. However, my frustration was that models of music ministry I was seeing presented by big, well-resourced, upper middle class churches was simply not achievable in majority of churches.

This sparked my interest in training and developing churches without these kinds of resources. The problem was to distil from 20 years of experience 'what things really mattered'. What were issues that could make or break a music ministry, whether in a mega church or a church struggling to survive as demographic change followed its course?

Since then I've had privilege of speaking with hundreds of music ministers and team members here in Australia and from overseas. From those conversations, these are what I believe are 12 "biggies" for creating an effective music ministry.