As I travel for youth ministry events, there is one issue that I get confronted with just about all the time – Music and worship – I don’t intend to resolve this ninety seconds but just one perspective, my education in and my journey in music started very early, as a born-again young Seventh-day Adventist, after giving my heart to Jesus I had left behind things that I had succeeded with the world, I used to play in a soul band, I used to play bass guitar and so there was no way I was going to bring this into my worship of God because that was part of my previous life.  I only used the acoustic guitar and the piano regularly at church but one evening a bunch of friends invited me to go and attend an evangelistic program that was run by a group, Youth for Christ from South Africa.  When I went there I was really shocked because they were teaching Jesus with the backing of a band with all the instruments that I had left behind so I went and I talked to the leader after the program and asked, “What are you doing in my country?”  He answered, “Well, we are teaching about Jesus.”  I said, “teaching about Jesus with those instruments?”  And he said, “Well what do you mean?”  I said, “I left those instruments behind because they are instruments of the world.” Then he said to me, “You know what?  I have never used those instruments except for the worship of God and teaching about Jesus.  The problem is not the instruments, the problem is the association that you have with these instruments in your mind.”  That was the confronting question and he set me on a journey that caused me to review the way I looked at the use of instruments in worship.  Just a perspective for you to think about.

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