Brother Musician Podcast
This channel was developed to give musicians guidance and proven solutions to help them navigate in the music arena. Full-time or part-time musicians can benefit from the knowledge given in this channel. Interviews and perspectives from other professionals will also be included.
Brother Musician Podcast
Faithful But Not Qualified
Faithfulness without skill development creates a ceiling on your musical journey. In this powerful episode, I share the eye-opening story of a church musician who showed up faithfully for 15 years but couldn't musically follow the pastor through key changes. The deacon defended him saying, "He's faithful!" But as the frustrated pastor pointed out - "It's faithful, but it has not made it to his hands yet."
This tension between showing up consistently and actually growing in your craft strikes at the heart of what holds many musicians back. Whether you serve in church or perform professionally, reliability might get you in the door, but skill keeps you there. Many of us aren't born prodigies with perfect pitch - we develop over time through dedicated practice. The question is: are you as committed to improving as you are to showing up?
I break down practical strategies to ensure your faithfulness translates to growth: setting achievable monthly goals, measuring your progress, writing down objectives, and praying over them. Remember that while God provides the gift, we're responsible for developing it rather than burying it. Your gift will make room for you, but only if you nurture it through practice, prayer, and preparation. When opportunity finally knocks, will you be both faithful AND ready? Let this message inspire you to bridge the gap between your commitment and your competence, because the musical journey requires both showing up and leveling up.
Thank you for tuning in to the Brother Musician Podcast. I'm Rico Anthony. Today I'm going to start by telling you a story. There was a preacher that was in a Baptist church. Newly appointed pastor had never been to the church and his first Sunday there they had a musician playing at the church. The pastor was preaching and singing. The pastor would hoop in the key of C. The musician would play in the key of C. Musician would play in the key of G. Pastor would go to another song in the key of F. Musician would play in the key of G. Pastor started hooping in E. Flat Musician played in the key of G. The musician had been serving at that church for 15 years.
Speaker 1:The pastor said to the deacon Deacon, I can't use that musician, sir, he can't follow me. The deacon said well, you're going to have to use him because he's been here for years and he's faithful. He said I'll talk to him. The deacon said I'll talk to him. Let me see what he got going on and I'll talk to him. Preacher came back the next Sunday. Same thing happened. Pastor preached in the key of E. Flat Musician played in the key of G. Pastor sung the closing song. Musician played in the key of G Pastor was in the key of B flat. The pastor went to the deacon and said look, it's either him or me. I can't do this, he said. The deacon said but the musician is faithful. He shows up every week. We've never had a problem with him. We've never had an issue with him. He's faithful. The pastor said he's faithful, but it has not made it to his hands yet.
Speaker 1:What are you saying, rico? What are you saying Rico? I'm simply saying that your faithfulness is not enough. You can be faithful and not doing a good job. You can be faithful, which is the start. That's how you get most of the opportunities that you get. But you can be faithful and not be the right person for that job. Your skill at some point in life is going to need to increase. We have to grow and get better.
Speaker 1:Everybody's not a prodigy Of course not, or it wouldn't be a word prodigy. Everybody is not just born with it. Some of us, it takes time. Everybody doesn't have perfect pitch. Some of us were tone deaf and then we had to develop our ear. It takes time and development and practice and practice, and practice and practice. Use the negative comments that you hear about you not being there as motivation to get you to that next level. But my point today is don't be that musician that was faithful but not qualified. Be ready when the time comes. Be ready. We know the stories. We've heard of stories where, just because a person was there and the musician was late, they finally got their opportunity to play. And when they got their opportunity, they were ready. Not only were they faithful, they were ready.
Speaker 1:Faithfulness and skill sometimes they go together and sometimes they don't. You don't know if the faithful musician can play or not, but if you're going to be faithful to something, be faithful to practice, be faithful to prayer, be faithful to preparation. Be faithful to prayer, be faithful to preparation, be faithful to those things and then, when the opportunity comes, you're going to be ready. You're going to be ready. Here are some practical ways that a faithful person can improve Set goals monthly.
Speaker 1:If you can only play in two keys, you only sing in a certain register. Set goals for yourself to get better and then measure those goals. You should set obtainable goals every month. Write your goals down and then pray over them. Don't just write it down and not give it to God. Allow the work that you put in to make room for you as well. He did give you the gift. Your gift is going to make room for you as well. He did give you the gift. Your gift is going to make room for you. It's up to you not to bury that talent, not to bury that gift. It's up to you to practice. It's up to you to get better. You got time to do it. I'm Rico Anthony. Thank you for listening. I hope you got something from this. If you did, drop it in the comments, hit the like, subscribe, share button. Let me know you're there. Appreciate your support. Have a great day.