Some years back I stumbled on a scripture in the book of ROMANS where Paul said even though he is an apostle unto the Gentiles but that he magnified his office.
Paul clearly understood what a privilege it truly is to be a minister of the gospel and sincerely I believe this is the greatest of all privileges for God to trust you with the lives of men. Yes it is that serious. Your assignment here on earth has direct impact and influence on the lives of men.
Maybe you don’t know this, but music directly feeds the souls of men. The nutrient in your songs will determine what the souls receive and whether they are fed with life or death. Do not take this LIGHTLY. You must have this understanding that your songs as a gospel artiste, ministers life or at least supposed to minister life, because truth be told, some of the gospel songs ministers nothing even to the owner self.
Once you have this understanding, it will affect what you serve the world as songs. In the class on SOUND DISCOVERY which I am currently teaching, one of the things I teach my students is that an artiste must clearly understand what exactly he wants his or her song to accomplish before it is even recorded and released, and I taught them practical examples of how to get to this level of ministration. It is a must for every artiste. But it is quite unfortunate that most of you were never taught this and so you don’t know how important and powerful this is and the impact this can have on the listeners.
Having a clear knowledge and understanding of what you want your song to accomplish, give you a clear understanding of what food you are feeding the souls of men through your music.
Being a gospel music artiste is a rare privilege and honor, in fact it is an enviable privilege. Read that again!! Many of you don’t know this and so you carry yourself like a disadvantaged person or a less privileged person or handicapped. As a matter of fact, I tell people that if God gave you a music gift, especially the gift of singing, You are indeed privileged but when you choose to use that singing gift for the gospel, it is both a privilege and great Honor sir. Let this mind be in you today.
There are a few reasons why I chose to write this article and one of the reasons and the most important too is to correct certain mindsets I have noticed amongst many gospel artistes.
A few days ago, someone came into my inbox to appreciate me for the value I have added to his life through my articles on music. Then he requested that I mentor him and be his coach, I appreciated him and forwarded my course outline and the fees to him to sign up and be mentored / coached by me. The next thing I heard shocked me. He said to me sir but I am a Gospel Music Minister na and you are asking me to pay you to be mentored?
At first I didn’t know how to respond to him, whether to delete and block him or to help his mindset. Then I asked him, what has being a gospel artiste got to do with paying for knowledge? As a gospel artistes didn’t you pay to buy a keyboard? Didn’t you pay to record a song? Didn’t you pay to get your flyers done? What is wrong with paying for mentorship? He still insisted that gospel music is ministry and so I should consider my mentorship ministry too.?
Omo, see me oooo. This brother wants to force ministry on me lol. He further explains to me that as a gospel artiste they don’t have money and they don’t have sponsors bla bla bla. I quickly corrected him there. When you speak about gospel artistes sir, don’t say “WE” don’t have money and we don’t have sponsors. Rather say “I” don’t have, stop dragging every gospel artistes into your error mindset.
Peter and John were together at the beautiful gate when Peter spoke to the lame man, he said Silver and Gold “I” have none. He didn’t say “WE” have none. He spoke for himself.
Being a gospel artiste is not a licence to be broke and attract pity party. Do not do that. I have students who signed up for my Coaching and mentorship Program with 50k and they still send me recharge cards on their own. Gospel artistes are not Broke so refuse to be labelled. Carry yourself with pride and honor in humility. Do not present yourself pitiable. You are given an enviable privilege sir. Kings don’t beg. Pay for the knowledge you need for your next level and do it with a smile. Just yesterday, I paid for a course and I discovered something amazing I will share with you later.
Finally as I come to the conclusion of this message, I want to speak to those who say if not that I am sold out to the gospel, I would have gone into secular music. Lol. You know you are ignorant right? If you knew what privilege and honor you have, you would never wish to go secular or even threaten the church with it. First of all, there’s no guarantee that you will have sponsors if you do secular, there’s no guarantee that you will succeed as a secular artiste. There are millions of secular artistes who are frustrated too. They got no help or sponsor and you leaving the church doesn’t mean you will make it in secular.
You see those people you hear that they left church for secular and succeeded, they are those who were already succeeding as gospel artistes but needed more or they are promising artistes before the secular labels come for them. Again there are also those gospel artistes who left gospel to secular and are still struggling.
Carry yourself with pride and honor in humility sir. Esteem your ministry, magnify your office. You are blessed, you are privileged, you are honored, you are gifted and soon your gift will bring you before kings and queens all over the world. You are not disadvantaged. You are blessed and I call you blessed too.
Amachree Ikijana Alex (AIA)
Celebrity Music Coach
Music Content, Influence and Business Coach.
