“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NKJV)
The welcome season was over. Finally, I got to start my job as IFI’s music coordinator, which was a vague idea for me, because IFI didn’t have any established music ministry at that moment and I had never even been to the Friday groups at UALC where IFI’s only music activities take place. I needed to start from scratch. And with the vision of outreach, we apparently needed more people on the team.
After the recruitment at the welcome events, the music team had the first get-together (an “audition dinner party”) on September 10th. I had a lot of concerns for the gathering beforehand— musical ones, cultural ones, and spiritual ones. In the email I wrote to those who were interested in joining: “Please don’t be intimidated by the word ‘audition.’ It’s pretty casual and we just hope to know our starting point and then work it out together.” But actually, I was the one who was intimidated. I thought to myself: What will the team be like? What can I do with them? What can I do for them? How to make the upcoming gatherings spiritually meaningful for both believers and non-believers? I had absolutely no idea about what’s to come, and therefore, no concrete plans for the team either.
On the day before our audition party, God reminded me through the speaker at my church’s annual mission conference that “Missions start with worship (me worshiping God), and end with worship (people worshiping God).” The Bible verses ISEEDers read that week with MasterLife also reminded me repeatedly that abiding in Him, and He in me, (John 15:5) is the foundation of all ministries. I realized how much I worried about this ministry and hoped to meet people’s expectations instead of being humbled and captured by God’s glory first, seeking intimacy with Him and more actively listening to His guidance on these matters.
There was another moment that turned my “heart of Martha” to “heart of Mary” right before the audition party started. The party took place at 4C South where my previous Bible study group got started and had met for years. So it meant a lot to me to begin a new ministry exactly here again. I still remember vividly when the group cleaned the building together and turned the abandoned place into our homy nest. I also remember the numerous prayers I had said here for the Bible studies before everybody arrived. I was so thankful that one year later, for a different ministry and with different coworkers, I could be back here and pray just like one of those old days. God reminded me how great He is and how many good works He had done among us. That was such an encouragement for me and made me ready for the party that night.
Although at this moment I am still not sure what God will do with this music team, I believe that He has a good plan, as He always does. I trust that since He has started this ministry and got me involved, He will be with us and bring His work to completion one day, no matter whether it will be completed in my hands or not.