Many years ago, when Fellowship was a young, toddler-aged church full of hopes and dreams, we met in the cafeteria of Blackman Middle School. Aesthetically speaking, a school cafeteria has to be one of the most vibeless places on the planet— white tile floors…white concrete block walls…white fluorescent lighting. A Buc-ee’s bathroom is a warmer and more inviting space. But despite that, we brought in our chairs, tables, audio equipment, and children’s ministry supplies—and had church. We shared communion right there with the scent of square pizza still hanging in the air. And by golly, we were excited to be there. We didn’t even serve coffee then—oh, the humanity.
We were still meeting in that cafeteria when I made the biggest decision of my then months-old, part-time-what-the-heck-am-I-doing worship-leading career: we bought a drum set for the church. In our current context, the money we paid for that drum kit wouldn’t even be a blip on the financial radar. Our yearly hot chocolate budget is probably greater. But for a church of around 50 peeps at the time, it was not a trivial expense. I found a great deal on a used set of electronic drums and jumped on it. The fact that the drums were electronic (with a volume knob) was important—I feel sure that if we had unleashed the horror of real drums in that space, none of you would be reading this right now.
But then we had a problem…there was no drummer. The drums sat in the school’s storage closet for months. I wish I could remember who suggested this to me, but during that time, someone planted the idea in my head to simply pray that God would send a drummer.
I’m embarrassed to say that it was a novel thought. Just pray for a drummer to come along? A drummer? Really? You mean the person who hangs out with musicians? The one with the pizza delivery sign on top of their car? The one in the band you can make play quieter by putting sheet music in front of them? (*Editor’s note: Kevin’s first instrument was drums, and he still bears significant wounds from a lifetime of drummer jokes. Hurt people, hurt people.)
And what do you know—a drummer came along. A lot of them. We even had a drumline one Easter after that. In the auditorium, though… NOT the cafeteria. Since then, there have been many people we have prayed for God to send to our worship ministry—and many people throughout the church. Somehow, God continues to send them to this day.
In my opinion, one book rises to the top when discussing the worship of the church: “Engaging God” by David Peterson. It’s an intense read that I return to time and time again. But don’t mistake its title in light of present-day vernacular—this book about worship is not about singing. In fact, singing is talked about very little throughout the book. The purpose he writes about—to use language we often use—is answering the question: “Why is together better for the church?”
In the final chapters, he makes a statement in response to Paul’s letters that I absolutely assaulted with a pink highlighter at some point in the past:
…people who emphasize that they are ‘going to church to worship God’ tend to disregard what the New Testament says about the purpose of the gathered assembly. If Christians are meant to worship God in every sphere of life, it cannot be worship as such that brings them to church. ‘Corporate worship’ may express more accurately what is involved, but Paul’s emphasis is on coming together to participate in the edification of the church.
It’s a provocative and prickly statement for sure, but here’s the gist of what he’s getting at: You have something to give to the gathered church. Something to contribute. And we may tend to forget that in our approach to attending church.
We attend a lot of things—concerts, rodeos, weddings, Super Bowl parties. But church attendance was never the ultimate goal of the Christian life. You don’t attend being part of a body—you participate in it. Jesus said He would build His church. Then He went away and sent the ultimate help in the Holy Spirit, indwelling both the construction crew and the construct—who are one and the same: the church. The Holy Spirit has gifted you, and it does no good to hang on to that gift (1 Pet. 4:10, 1 Cor. 12:7).
One encouraging thing in this season of our church has been seeing people step into new places of participation and service. I’ve noticed people really finding some new life in serving—perhaps life and purpose they haven’t had in a long time. What a wonderful thing, because that truly is part of new life in Christ. A gazelle knows “together is better” out in the wild… believers know “together is life.” (If you get this reference, go ahead and say it like Dani Rojas: “Together is liiiiiife.”)
There are needs and places to serve everywhere. We would love more people in the worship-leading choir (especially tenors!). More people in hospitality, in our children’s ministry—basically anywhere. If our inbox overflows with hundreds of folks wanting to step into a new place of participation, that’s a fun challenge to tackle—albeit after a deep breath, a fist pump, and a generous amount of caffeine.
I bet there are quite a few metaphorical (and maybe literal) drummers out there. Just know—you are being prayed for.