How God Called Me
into
the Worship Ministry
by Timothy Huang
18 September 2006
It has been really
amazing how God called me into the worship ministry looking back at
the past. It has been a really long and special journey which I
would certainly like to share and as I do, please do forgive me if I
leave out any important bits.
My whole family started out in the Chinese congregation of SAC and
it began when my sister moved over to the English congregation to
help out as a youth leader. I then followed my sister together with
my brother into the then Youth Fellowship in year 2001 and during
the first worship session, something felt strange. It was a feeling
that I had never experienced in 13 years of my life. It was a sense
of awe, power and closeness. As I began to search deeper into the
meaning of all that, I found through my cell leader who was the
worship ministry head at that time that it was coming close to God
through worship. Coming to think of the feeling then, I would like
to share the lyrics of a song called Obsession by David Crowder I
had recently found to be really meaningful. They go:
What can I do with my obsession
With the things I cannot see
Is there madness in my being
Is it the wind that moves the trees?
Sometimes You're further than the moon
Sometimes You're closer than my skin
And You surround me like a winter fog
You've come and burned me with a kiss
And my heart burns for You
And my heart burns...for You
And I'm so filthy with my sin
I carry pride like a disease
You know I'm stubborn, Lord, and I'm longing to be close
You burn me deeper than I know
And I feel lonely without hope
And I feel desperate without vision
You wrap around me like a winter coat
You come and free me like a bird
my love for You
my heart for You
my life for You
all I have for You
I began my search for more and more of God, more of that goodness.
It was unbelievable ! I began to listen to many worship CDs by
Hillsongs and United Live and I began to read the Bible. It totally
transformed my life from an ardent fan of 98.7 FM to having a diet
of purely Christian music. Secular music didn’t make much sense
anymore with lyrics that were senseless. God guided me through every
minute spent with Him and opened my eyes to His truths. However, it
wasn’t until the first YF camp that led me to picking up my first
instrument. My cell leader was very good in the guitar whereas I
only had a few sessions of guitar lessons after PSLE in primary
school and decided guitar was too hard and chucked it aside.
However, as worship in the camp proceeded, my interest in the guitar
began to grow and I wanted to worship God with music. God really
guided me in picking up the guitar as I began to learn quickly
without much external instruction unless I had questions for my cell
leader. I learnt largely through worshipping and determining to
learn a certain song to worship God with. It all began from there.
My personal worship time with God was really a blast each time, and
I made a prayer to God dedicating all that He had blessed me with
only for His purposes.
God provided me with my first acoustic guitar through my cell leader
and it subsequently replaced my classical guitar. God led me through
that as well until a point whereby I felt that the worship team was
my calling. At that time, YF worship only consisted of one keyboard
and one guitar and considering my heavy strumming on the guitar, I
could fill up the slight emptiness in the sound. It was God’s plan I
guess as I grew even more while serving and experiencing God for
myself. I then served in many places like Citykids and a few times
in Cityteens. Chosen Generation was another huge part of my life as
I attended service there as well, and had been inspired by the
musicians there in the way they sought to bring the congregation
into worship each week.
I only began leading worship at the confirmation class and God
guided me through, though I was really afraid, God was in control
all the while, supporting me. Crunch time came when my cell leader
left to serve in another church and being a young boy, I was asked
to lead worship regularly for YF. As YF and CG merged, I had the
privilege to work with a team that was newly formed and all and we
began to work on leading worship, learning through experience. It
was the short 8 months in 2005 before the church announced to close
CG and YF that I truly learnt a lot from God and the team. God
blessed me with even more technically knowledge in certain
instruments and most importantly, sound mixing. I then had the honor
of closing the worship for the 8 year history of CG, being the
youngest around there. God was truly the center of all that happened
in that short span of time.
I subsequently joined LYnC after my O levels and helped out with
worship and followed by the Bridge of Faith at the 9 am service as
well as the 9 am sound crew. God again helped me to gel with the
bands well and He continued to provide for my every need. He also
provided for the LYnC worship team during Encounterfest and worship
sessions at the 9 Am service.
I guess worship is really a personal experience for each one of us
to explore with God, desiring more and more as we worship. I guess
it was really the personal worship experience and God’s guidance
that led me into the worship ministry. I believe that we should
always strive for the best in worship upon God, however not
forgetting that the Holy Spirit is indeed the greatest worship
leader.
“Not unto us, O lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory
because of Your mercy and because of Your truth.” – Psalm 115:1
Tim
