Protecting the Unity on The Worship Team!

In this episode of Protect the Altar, we dive into what it really means to protect the unity of your worship team. We talk honestly about those moments when you feel triggered by others, how to navigate differences with grace, and practical ways to pursue peace without compromising truth. If you’re leading or serving on a team, this conversation will help you build stronger, healthier relationships that honor God and each other.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

And it's getting to the place where we die to what matters to us more than what matters to God. And if God requires unity, and even this psalm and that they would sing several times a year is all the tribes would gather together in one place.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_04 0:16

That is important to the Lord. It's still important to the Lord. Paul instructs so many times to guard.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I mean, Paul talks about it in multiple places. Uh Colossians, Ephesians, I've got Ephesians pulled up right here. It says, you know, to be eager to maintain the unity in the spirit in the bond of peace. You know, and peace is like that. Nothing broken, nothing missing. It's that true shalom. And it's it's because I'm not letting something come in and break this bond that I want to keep so that we can flow together and that the Lord can show up.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Oh Timothy Cody Rice.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Special and the full government once again.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

The full government. The last two episodes have been fun, a little spicier, especially this past one. We hope that you have been encouraged and you've listened to it, you know. And if you haven't, take your time to go back and listen to those because we really believe that they're so helpful for worship leaders in the body of Christ. And today we're gonna be a little bit on the you know, less hot topic side, but it's still an important topic because we want to talk about unity among God's people, and we want to talk about why unity is so important for worship teams, and it's not just like a clock in, clock out type of situation, it's legitimately a part of the fabric of being interwoven in God's kingdom. And so we were talking before we started recording about how when we first met, you wanna you wanna kind of tell tell everybody today a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah, so when we first met, there wasn't a lot of unity there. There wasn't any unity there. It's really funny looking back, and we were laughing about this off camera. It was just, you know, our the I guess the word we use, I don't necessarily know that it was really that, but the word we use is like how much we hated each other when we first met. Yeah. Right? Um, and honestly, it's just it's it's crazy how like um we're there was so much difference between the two of us, even our age, you know. Uh I'm the old man, and so like when we first met, we were just polar opposites. And I did some things when we first met that didn't really help that.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

It it was a little ick, you know, but it's okay. I was also still healing from the death of my brother, and uh, you looked very similar to my brother, and so it was a little triggering. So then I was, you know, and then you know, he told me the first thing he ever told me. I gotta say this.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

After you say the first thing, I'm gonna say the first thing I ever heard you say to me.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Oh Lord, oh Lord. Okay, so the first thing he ever told me was, Well, if you ever need a hug, you know where to come. And I was like, Oh, I don't want a hug from you.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

All right, so let me put this in context. I'm 20 years old, Deb's like 13, 14 years old. I'm in line at a restaurant, and I hear her and her mom talking, and she said, Doesn't he remind you of Stephen? Or he looks like Steven or something like that. So I didn't know who that was. And here I am, 20 years old, fresh from the street. I just snatched the the top six gold teeth out of my mouth because I thought that's how you had to come to church, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:48

You had to take the gold teeth out.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

You know what I mean? Uh at least that's the joke. I was anyways. The whole point was just like, what do you do when somebody and I'm is I'm here with the pastor for the first time. I'm out eat with the pastor. I'm trying to make like a good impression, you know. Like, I don't know, you know. And somebody says where you went wrong, right? Yeah, I guess, you know, and it's like just be yourself. And so I was like, who's Steven? And then the guy told me it was like, oh, that's her brother that died in a car accident. And I was like, oh shoot. Well, hey, well, if you ever need a hug, I died. That's when you turn around. That's when you turn around.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Because I didn't know what else to say, and then you dropped your voice real low. Well, if you ever need a hug, I would dive here.

SPEAKER_04 4:34

That thing was so hilarious looking back, but that immediately in my mind, as a little 13-year-old girl who like still needed a sozo. I needed to be healed through that trauma.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

That makes two of us.

SPEAKER_04 4:47

That I literally, yeah, we both needed sozos, but that literally was the start of like, I do not like this man, I do not like this man at all.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

And then it just manifested from there, it just evolved.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Yeah, and so I I know it's so funny now because we could see how the enemy was trying to use our differences and even like being triggered. And we laugh about this now, but how many people does the enemy do that to in worship teams? So true. We get like one bad first impression with somebody, or we jump to conclusions because of a personality difference or a misunderstanding, and then we allow this little tiny wedge between us, and there's not true like relational unity there. And I think that's what the Lord wants to get to the root of with worship teams because as we have matured, praise the Lord, and got healed and saved and delivered, we have also grown in unity.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

So true.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

So tell me a little bit about that. Like how through our journey as a testament, how have you seen our growth? And when did that start changing? When did you start really noticing, oh wow, we're not like hating each other anymore?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Um well, one is as I think for me, like growing up the way that I did, um, I had first first thing was there's a there's a bunch of preconceived notions that like that culture kind of gives you. And you and because that was where I came from, I had these notions in my mind that that because somebody's this or that, or because they're a pastor's daughter, or whatever the case may be, you have all of these, like these for for lack of a better word, maybe stupid thoughts in your mind without ever actually meeting somebody and like being around them, learning who they are. And so they become the filter that you already pre-put before you even get to know somebody, right? And so then uh, you know, for me, like, yeah, I think that the more we were around each other, the more we got on each other's nerves, right? Um, and but over time, what I what I grew to realize was that like um I this is gonna be funny, but I'm just gonna be, I don't even know if I've ever said this to you. So hot take for the for the crew. So like um your first car was the was the uh 2002 Blue Mini Cooper.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Your first car.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

That's when minis were actually British, and they actually were great before they became a German and company.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I remembered being there when you got that car.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

And I remembered like Oh, that thing was falling apart already, but I didn't not care. That thing was not careful.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

It was fly though. That thing was everything, yeah. That blue was popping. Um and I remember thinking to myself, like, because I grew up very like impoverished, and my parents did my parents could have never done something like that for me, or I would have never been in a position like that. And I remember thinking to myself, like, in that moment, like back in the day, you would hear people where I come from would say things like, see, man, like them boys got it good, you know what I mean? Like they can, they people can buy them things, you know, and and and stuff like that, or they're spoiled or whatever. But I remember being in that moment and seeing that, and the first thought that came to me was like, I want to do that for my kids. That's special, you know, and like the more I got around you and your family, right, and I learned what family actually looks like, what a functional family looks like. I learned what real love is. I learned what what a real father, what if what a real mother, what being a child is, the access that you have, and things like that. It changed everything about all of these stupid cultural preconceived notions that were in my mind. Um, and it caused me to be able to just see you as a person. And I got to watch you grow, like see somebody from 13 to 32, you know, exactly. Right?

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Like we don't need to say the age.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Oh, I'm sorry, 13 to now. Don't cut it out. So uh, but like you know, to see somebody grow that's true like that, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

And I think as we both matured in Christ, but also matured in life, we just naturally begin to seek out unity because we saw the value of it in in ministering together. And I think that a lot of times worship teams can find themselves lacking in unity when they're when they're jumping to conclusions like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

So true. Yeah, and those conclusions, you know, like to be fair, like I I didn't I would in my teenage years, I didn't grow up around church or anything like that. I was I was in what some people would call the hood or whatever the case was.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

You had the gold teeth though, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

But you know, and I mean I kind of still wish I had them, but anyways, I wish you did too. We're working on it. Uh but anyways, yeah. I just think that's for me, it was that and being around more and and like building that relationship and you know the access that we had, and and we were constantly in the same circle, you know. I never wanted to worship you and your mom saw the gold in me and my gift.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

Wait, what did you just say?

SPEAKER_01 10:00

You and your mom saw the gold in me.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

No, before that.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

I never wanted to be in gold.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Oh, you never wanted to be in worship.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yeah, I didn't want to be involved in worship.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

Why? Tell me why.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Well, I think the the root of that was just like I really don't like like being in front of people. I don't like the stage. I don't I don't like that part of it at all personally, which is funny because I think because some people think that maybe I'm outgoing or whatever, and they think that that's not the case, but it's really not. Like I just don't it's not my favorite thing to do. I'd much rather just be one-on-one having conversations and true, you know, and um but the other side of it too is also because uh singing was just something that was a thing of my past and you know, used for other dumb reasons and didn't really want to do that. So you guys saw the gold in me um and you know, called that out and you know put me in a position to give me an opportunity to use my gift. And you know, growing like that under your your leadership, being like the little big sister for me has been um been amazing because I've learned so much about worship. And I think during those times too, that began to really create something because we we beyond just like where we came from and all of the other stuff that's all funny and all of that, right? Really what I think was the it was the gift and the anointing on that I I knew was on you, and I think that you began to see that God had in me when I couldn't even see that, and we began to work together very closely, and um, you know, through that time period, I really feel like that was a big part of it. I I specifically remember conversations where like we kind of even went back to the whole brother conversation, you know. Right, and that was very meaningful to me, you know, like finding myself in positions where I was pushing you in your moments, and you were looking at me like, Ain't nobody pushed me like that since my bro, you know what I mean? And that meant something to me because I'm like, it's crazy, like, how did we get here? But we just kept being obedient to the thing that God put on our life, right? And and shedding this carnal nature.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

It that's it. So there's hope, y'all. If y'all don't like somebody on your worship team, that's a rough way to say it.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

If it's not a natural connection, you know, thank you, Pastor. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

If it's not a natural connection, then there could be a couple of things. Yeah, it could be I've noticed that the enemy tries to put a wedge where God wants to bring a harmonious, like um even like joint together situation. The enemy tries to bring a wedge against that relationship. And so it's a calculated attack. And so we have to think higher and more dimensional. And one thing that I'm always reminded of is Psalm 133, and I want to read it in the New Living Translation. How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony. For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron's head that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls in the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.

SPEAKER_06 13:23

Come on.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

There's so many symbolic things happening in this one little thing, in this one little scripture.

SPEAKER_06 13:28

Powerful.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

And it's so powerful to see this. And it's the part that really sticks out to me is that there is where the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting. And so we want the blessing of God and we want the anointing of God, but a lot of times we try to do it without seeking true relational unity. Aaron was the high priest of that day, and this was a song of ascent that they would sing on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem several times a year. And I love this because everybody would sing it, and then it's longing for restored unity. It's understanding the importance that oil, Aaron being the high priest, the anointed oil, is expensive and sacred. And it also was poured generously, symbolizing abundance, blessing, the favor of God being set apart. It flows from God to his people. It's visible, it's tangible, it's not just theoretical, it's not just uh an imagination or a fantasy, it's a real thing that happens when God's people dwell together in unity and harmony. It's beautiful. And so I think there is a war against unity on worship teams. So there's constant misunderstandings. So for us, our triggers, our pain from our past, from you know, my childhood trauma of the accident, losing my brother, yours of church hurt and all the other things that you went through. It was constantly being triggered. And so as we sought healing, then therefore our carnal natures were overtaken by the spirit, and we actually were able to dwell together in unity and see each other the way God wanted us to see each other. So there is truly there is hope. Yeah. Just because relationships aren't the most natural, like you said, the Lord can't actually bring them together, but both have to be seeking Him first.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Both have to be.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

It's crazy that, you know, I think sometimes we try to come up with so many of these like things of like uh, you know, the one, two, threes, and we try to like spot things, and we'll and we'll we'll even talk about that here today. But like, you know, uh it really is that simple. I I the the word of God is it can be very complex, but I think it in in its face value, if I could say it that way, not to make it seem you know shallow in any way, because this is very profound, but it's it is supposed to be that simple, right? It's not rocket science because rocket science isn't for everyone, but the gospel is the word of God is, and so like when you really think about like the things that could be birthed from that place of unity and how important that is and how special that is and how the world needs that, right? Uh, especially through worship, but even even more in a in a person's life, just the constant place of like dying to our carnal nature puts us in a position where now our eyes are open to see things very differently.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

Yes, you know, we become sensitive to the the realm of the spirit, and by doing what's moving, what may be moving, what may be moving in someone's life, what may be moving in their heart, what the enemy is trying to plant. So therefore, we don't just add, you know, coals to the fire.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Exactly. Yeah, I think, and I, you know, I know that maybe some people have heard it like this before where they use the the thing of trying the triangle when they talk about marriage, right? Like the whole thing is like God's at the peak, and then you have a husband and a wife at the bottom, and the closer they get to God, the closer they get to one another, you know, one another, the closer they are in in unity. Uh, and we use that in marriage because it's very true. You're gonna spend the rest of your life with this person. But there's sometimes covenant relationships, which is something we talked about on another episode. Um, that like again, certain relationships that you have, like the closer you, the more in unity you become, is because both of you are doing this thing that's called, I'm doing everything I can to get closer to God. And all of the crap and all of the extra stuff just gets shed by the wayside because it's all carnal, it's all things that don't really matter in the long run. Yeah, you know, and so it really is like that. The closer you get to God, you know, you you stop worshiping at the altar of self. Exactly, and you you you go to the altar of the Lord.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Everything doesn't have to go through the lens of they're doing me wrong. And this is the biggest, I think, help for me personally. And in fighting for unity is that I'm the type of person who I really do love studying personalities because I I feel like I can meet people where they are and I can kind of understand them and not jump to conclusions. But I I didn't always know what I know about the way God's wired people differently and the way different people think. And if when I didn't know that, I'm naturally a type of person who jumps to conclusions, justice, judgment, all this stuff. And I I've surrounded myself, thankfully, by the grace of God, with people who challenge that, who are like, Do you are you sure that's what they meant by that? Or do you think possibly they meant this? And it's like maybe it turns what I thought upside down on its head, and it's actually positive. And uh my parents, they always tell me when I'm like, What's wrong with this person? What's wrong with that? And they're like, Deborah, Deborah, we're going to believe the best. We're gonna believe that they meant the best by that. You know, and it's not blind ignorance, it's not like you know, just let Jezebel free and you know, roam around. It's not that, it's just different personalities and how different people can take what someone meant by that. And instead of jumping to conclusions, seeking for clarification, or if it's not even something that's a huge deal, just hoping for the best. And that's something that you taught me too. If if you know where I'm going, First Corinthians chapter 13. What is your your point that you always tell me?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Yeah, well, I mean, one of the things I think that's skipped over, well, there's a bunch of things if we're just being honest, but we're not gonna go there today. I think the main thing is just what we're talking about is love hopes all things, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:20

And what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

So because love hopes all things, when something, let's say something happens, somebody says something, right? When I see that, and I know this person, we're we're we're doing life together, and and like Jesus said, it's a possible that offense won't come, right? Certain things like this happen. Um, but because I know this person, it may have affected me in a certain way. They don't know that, and they may not have been in that way. So I'm going to hope, because love hopes all things, that and hope is the expectation of good. Exactly. I'm gonna hope and expect that this was actually meant in another way, and by meeting that feeling with that kind of love first, we automatically combat letting that thing come into our hearts and create some kind of crap or put some kind of wedge, as you said, uh, between people and create offenses and all kinds of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Because the anointing doesn't flow from that.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

That's right, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

That we're we we are divided, even if we're physically in the flesh leading worship with that person, that spiritually the Lord sees the division.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

So true.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

And there's something, a bitter root in our heart that must be dealt with so that the anointing and the abundance can flow in a worship set and on a team.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

We have got to become people who care more about that than we do about, oh, am I right about my accusation? Which is we could go down a long road with that too. But we have got to become people that are more zealous for like who cares? Like, you know what I'm saying? Something may have hit me a wrong way. But the last thing I'm going to do is put myself in a position to forfeit the flow of God because I want to be in disunity or I want to hold something, some kind of grudge, or something in my heart because something like that. Like, what does it look like to actually be the person? And some some could sum it up and say, Oh, take the higher road, or whatever you want to, what you know? But what I'm gonna say is I feel like it's that nothing matters more than the unity because this is where God shows up, God moves. There's nothing that's keeping us separated, and we're all focused like like they were in the upper room when the Holy Spirit and one mind, one accord, right? Right in that place of unity, like God come show up. You know, what's possible when they're in that place of unity, just waiting on the Lord, and everybody's got this one thing, and they're not letting, oh well, so and so's praying weird, or so and so's this, or but they're we're all just tarrying, and you tarry the way that you tarry, and we love and we honor you and and all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

And it's getting to the place where we die to what matters to us more than what matters to God.

SPEAKER_06 21:56

Come on, man.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

And if God requires unity and even This psalm and that they would sing several times a year as all the tribes would gather together in one place.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

That is important to the Lord. It's still important to the Lord. Paul instructs so many times to guard. And I'm sure that you you have a scripture reference, you want to share that?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah. I mean, Paul talks about it in multiple places. Uh, Colossians, Ephesians, I've got Ephesians pulled up right here. It says, you know, to be eager to maintain the unity in the spirit, um, in the bond of peace, you know, and peace is like that nothing broken, nothing missing. It's that true shalom. That and it's it's because I'm not letting something come in and break this this bond that I want to keep so that we can flow together and that the Lord can show up. And it's this be eager to do that, right? Like have this have this strong, passionate desire that I'd be I'd be willing to suffer, because that's really the understanding of passion, right? It's like be passionate about it, be eager about it to to keep the unity so that nothing would stop or thwart uh the flow that God wants to do. That's really good, you know. Like that's the point. Like what matters most? Would you be willing to like okay, like Jesus? Jesus wasn't offended, and he still had to deal, he had to hold our sin.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

He went to the cross, went through pain and everything, and he wasn't offended with us, right? But it was all so that the will of the Father could happen, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:23

Because that is so good. What you even just said, be passionate about it, meaning being willing to suffer. Yeah, like that means being willing to sacrifice our own agenda and our own preferences for the sake of the king and his kingdom. And that is hard. You have to truly love the Lord, not just by word of mouth, but also by your in your heart. Like your when Isaiah, when it says your your heart, your mouth says one thing, but your heart says another, and they're they're different. It in and so in to truly guard unity, those have to be the same. You have to be willing to put your money where your mouth is. You have to be willing to die to yourself, to die to whatever preference and whatever offense and br look for clarity, look for um that unity. And we need unity in leadership. We need unity um uh in our community, in our worship, in in our in our churches, in our worship teams. We need unity everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

So true.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

And um, God hates one who sows discord.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Golly.

SPEAKER_04 24:23

You know, Proverbs 6 talks about that.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

While you're pulling that up, you know, and it's one of the things I think about with the team is so important. It's like we see so many things that, you know, create that discord. You know, I think about if you're not careful, if you're not really guarding your relationship with the Lord, you're not you're not guarding your your walk with the Lord, it you know, you you'll be in a place where you can let comparison, you can let jealousy that's good. You can let uh and it's all stem from insecurity. Absolutely, and it's the areas that need to be healed. Yes, they're areas that God needs to touch. You know, it's like uh if you find an area that is creating um carnality in your life, it's just proof that this is an area that you haven't surrendered to God yet. Yes, you know, read that scripture.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

All right, so Proverbs 6, verse 16 through 19, it's talking about six things that the Lord hates. No, I love the drama, no, seven things he detests. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who sows discord in a family.

SPEAKER_05 25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

The Lord hates these things. And some people they they may feel justified by saying certain things, but it could even be a lying tongue if you're jumping to conclusions about someone's what what their intentions were in a situation. You're like, well, you know, they said this. Yeah, and that could be a lying tongue. That's an that's an accusatory spirit, and that is coming rampant in the body of Christ, moving rampantly, and we have to put a stop to it. And how we put a stop to it is say, No, Lord, let your will be done, yeah, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

The thought that comes directly to my mind is you know, the the person in scripture that's called the accuser of the brethren is Satan, you know, the father of lies. And if I'm if I'm not mistaken, you know, and maybe we have to fact check this, but like um there's the Greek word that they use for the accuser, there is actually the word where we that Greek word we get our English word stereotype from. And and we we like we get it's like accusations are creating like in a sense like a stereotype. So now it's like, oh, this is how I see this person through this lens.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

I I was I was sitting under uh some teaching one time, uh Will Ford. Will Ford Yeah, he was talking about that between him and Matt Lockett, and their story was amazing.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Tell now that you brought that up, give some g give everybody a little bit of uh Wow, the kettle pot tour.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, yeah, amazing. So uh Matt Matt Lockett and Will Ford are ministers who are in covenant relationship, love one another, do ministry together, travel, pray, all kinds of things. Powerful, amazing men of God. Uh, and especially on the subject of of unity, uh, through the through the lens of the of racism and things like that. Because Matt Lockett's family um actually owned Will Ford's family, Will Ford's.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

And they have the documentation. They have the documentation.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

And they didn't even know that before meeting one another. Yeah, they met one another and through digging in their family history, they found these things out. And and then finding it out, they didn't allow it to divide them. They said, see, what the enemy would want to do is create something here. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna give them a black eye, and we're going to come together and we're gonna tell this story, and we're gonna be the walking-talking proof that we don't have to become uh uh the sum of our carnal nature. We don't have to become um like the status quo of the world when you see stuff like that. You just create these offenses or whatever. We're gonna show how that there is the promise and the providence of God in all of this and how he brought this together to be a depiction of how he can bring unity. And Will Ford actually has the kettle pot that his ancestors had uh and they would they would pray into uh and they talk about the prayers of legacy. It's just it's powerful, it's such a powerful. I there's no way I can unpack it all exactly, but but it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

They do have a book where they tell all of this in, and it's called The Dream King by Will Ford and Matt Lockett. So the dream king, and it's an incredibly true story, true story, and it's incredible to see how even generationally the enemy tries to bring division, and because there is an agenda on the heart of God, and so the enemy knows that, and he's trying to divide, he's trying to conquer, he's trying to bring bitterness, he's trying to make the people of God ineffective in the works of God, and they have overcome that, and it is incredible. The story is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

There's a scripture that's coming to my my heart right now. Um, it's where Jesus is praying his.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Dude, I was about to let's go.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

John 17. Unity, yes, John 17. I'm opening. There it is, guys. John 17. You go ahead and read it then. Um, so John 17.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

We're in such unity right now. We're in such unity.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Um so John 17, Jesus is praying, and what he is saying is that we that verse 20, that that they would be one, talking about you and I, all those who will believe in the message of the apostles, the disciples, all of those who will believe in that and believe in Jesus through their message, which is you and I, everybody here, uh, everybody listening and watching, that they would be one as he and the father are one. And he goes on to say that that that oneness would cause the world to believe that the father sent the son.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

So there's something also to be said about how unity creates a faith that the testimony that Jesus is the son of God, um, that unity creates that and it causes people to come to belief in that. And it's weird because we have so many, we have so many things that the enemy tries to do to divide us as the body of Christ. And I I oftentimes wonder if we could get past all of these carnal things that divide us, what kind of a testimony would it be to the unbeliever that the church could actually be in unity and not divided by culturalistic garbage that brings us into a place of disunity, and then we really don't look anything like the Lord. We actually look more like the world.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

And then the world sees that, and they're like, man, then people can't, they ain't even in unity. They got this and this and that and the third. You got the white church, the black church, the Spanish church, you got all of this stuff. People literally do all of that, and it creates this depiction of the divided church when Christ's prayer is that we would be one and that that oneness would cause the world to believe that the father sent the son.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

That's right, that's right. So unity reflects God, the Trinity.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:17

And how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, and our unity reflects that. And that is so important. We're a walking witness revealing God to the world. And I think that in this season, we're gonna see so much breakthrough in this area as we all are seeking God and we're seeking his will for our life. This is a huge part of that.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

And so I just encourage you guys to pray for love for your team members. Yes. Ask the Lord to show you how he sees your team member. And he may show you what they're dealing with, he may show you where they come where they're coming from, yeah, to provide some context for some compassion. He might, you know, give you assignments to minister to them, encourage them to give them a gift, to whatever he does, whatever he tells you to do, that's a key. Do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

That's a key. If you feel anything, I want to encourage everybody as listen. If you feel anything about or towards anything, one of the best things you can do, don't feel your way into an action, act your way into a feeling.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

If you're waiting to feel something before you act, good luck.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Act your way into the place of the feeling. So if you're feeling something, then do an action. Go buy some, go do something to honor them. Yeah. Go pray for them. Get a get a word from the Lord to pray or something. Go buy them a gift, you know.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

And the key is for the for the sake of honor. Exactly. Not to like, you know, weasel away into some sort of position or whatever, but like truly just to honor them.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

It will cause your heart to come into the correct posture for the person. And it's you defeating your flesh and the defiance that the carnal nature has towards the thing that God actually wants to push because unity, supernatural unity, really does look like love and honor. It's the sum of love and honor.

SPEAKER_04 33:03

Exactly. I love that. All right, now we're going to our next segment of Praise or Pass, where we're gonna react to a viral video on the internet and see if we would praise or pass it.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

And it's to everybody in here that don't know Jesus as they say. I don't know what key I sing in, okay? It might be cute, but I sing it in one of them. And it goes like this.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

I don't know if I told you, but it ain't no water.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Ain't no water. The best part of the whole thing was wow. So praise her past that pastor, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:31

I'm praising it.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

I'm praising that.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

I'm praising it. You know why? I want that on a Sunday morning. She was that was that was probably a testimony or special. And they let her get up there. And I'm gonna tell you right now, they knew what time it was. You knew what time it was. You knew what you was about to get. Sister such and such was about to give it to you. That's what happened. Let me just say, real quick, for everybody listening to this that write music, this is the hassle bars. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

She said she rhymed lemonade with Gatorade. Come on. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Can we, you know, the it was the rapper of me that kind of did a little jump. You know, I was like, let's go. We need some more of that music, baby. That's what we need. Can we keep the rhyme?

SPEAKER_04 35:08

Yeah. Well, you know, I I appraise that as well. I think that's so funny though. Um the musicians.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

The musicians like locked in. It took a little while because she was kind of she was going in and out of the time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

It was in her key too. You had to find that key.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

She they found cue. They found cute. By the end of it, I could hear it. I could hear what key they were in. Oh man, I thought ain't no one of there. I'm ready to sing that.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Let's go. Don't play with me.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Don't play with me. It ain't no hot. Could you imagine the leadership? They would all be looking at us like, what?

SPEAKER_01 35:49

The spontaneous song of the Lord right here.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

You go to hell.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

If that don't put the fear of the Lord in you, something wrong with y'all now. She let y'all know hell is hot. And y'all ain't even gonna get no Gatorade. So there ain't no electrolytes in hell, they ain't nothing. So you better act right. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I ain't mad at her.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Yeah, so so we praise that. We we enjoyed that. Well, now we don't we don't have testimony time at our church. Not like that like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Not like that.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

You know what I mean? So, like, don't try that at the end.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

I'm getting ideas, though. I'm getting ideas right now.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

That we're not trying to encourage any ideas, but we definitely love that for them.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

I love that. I love that for you.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

I love that for you, and I love that for my enjoyment in the presence of God. Now, moving on to frequently asked questions, where we're going to respond to worship teams frequently asked questions. Okay, Timothy, here's our question for today. What do I do when I do not agree with my leadership's decision? I'm passionate about it, and I think they're wrong. What do I do?

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Well, um, diversity of thought is is a good thing, and good leaders love diversity of thought. Uh so be honoring and respectful because you want to do unto others as you would want them to do to you. Treat people with respect. And a lot of times what'll happen is uh it'll come from a place of just maybe a lack of clarity. Maybe you think the decision was made for a certain reason, therefore you disagree with it, or whatever the case may be.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

Or maybe you don't even know their whole train of thought and what led them to that conclusion.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Because maybe they've had different experiences in life than us, and you know, vice versa. So approach them and ask for clarity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Approach them and and and be honoring and respectful and ask the question. Don't be afraid to ask the question. The the the non-christ-like thing is to form an accusation that will create an offense and then act as if it doesn't exist because it will manifest in some way, shape, or form. And if we're more zealous about the unity and the presence and the anointing of God showing up in the room when we worship, then we go and we ask for clarity.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

That's really good. And I also think there's a a necessity of mutual admiration. Yes. So of course our leaders need to admire you know what God's placed on our life, but we also need to admire what God has placed on our leader's life.

SPEAKER_06 38:21

Very much.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

And sometimes we're different puzzle pieces to this grander, beautiful picture that God is putting together. And seeking that clarity can make all the difference in the world. And that's happened with me, where I I've asked questions like, why did you make that decision that I do not agree with? And then once I hear like how the leaders got to that conclusion and the complexity of situations and the complexity of people's lives, and and um even some decisions are made for the sake of unity. And I'm like, wow, I can get behind that.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Now I have clarity, I understand, and like wow, you've actually been in ministry longer than me. And I you can bring different things to the table and you can teach me different things, and and so you know, it's not for just to please people or something like that, but there's actual, you know, things that were decisions made for that. And so I I think that's a wonderful counsel.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, 100%. And if I could just add, like as in a sense of like futuristically, after that question, I think what happens is once you learn the leader's heart and you begin to understand that, you you begin to become less um kind of I don't want to say confrontational, but like you be you you begin to see decisions, and if your immediate thought is I don't know that, because you know who that person is and you understand that about them, you can trust decisions that may not have been like your first thought. Right. And I don't mean that in a way where we just act as if like, oh, just whatever, you know, but like it's different, and it's also different if we're talking about, you know, decisions being made that are unbiblical. I would hope leaders are not doing that. Right, right. But like uh, yeah, I I just I think that it's important and it creates a conversation.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

I mean, we can even be talking about set lists, right? Like let's just say let's bring an actual tangible experience. So like there have been times where leaders have chosen songs or have have um encouraged different uh genres or languages or that may have been outside of different people's comfort zones.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Oh yeah, the language thing.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

Yeah, yeah. And but because we trust each other and we're like, you know, you see something I don't see, and vice versa, then it ends up blessing our community by uh trying things that necessarily those decisions weren't our preference, you know. Exactly. And I've said that before. Songs that we've tried that were not my favorite end up blessing our congregation, you know, because I'm just one part of the body of Christ. There's so many other. And so if we think of ourselves like I'm one member of the whole body, that's okay. It's not all about me. Come on, it's all about the entire body. And so I think that's super encouraging. And so trusting our leaders and even asking for clarity from the place of I want to learn, like, how did you get to that decision? So that maybe one day that I'm put in a leadership position to make decisions, I want to be able to think critically in multiple situations to protect unity, protect the the body of Christ, and to shepherd the flock well. So true. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

Bars.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

And with that, that concludes this episode of Protect the Altar Podcast. We hope that you join us next week. Subscribe, comment, like, engage. This helps this be pushed to more people organically, and we would love your help to do that. So this is encouraged you, send this to somebody, comment your favorite part, and we can't wait to connect with you and see you next week.