A Word About Backstage

Every Sunday morning, I get to lead The Classic Service at church. We have a wonderful group of committed musicians and singers. We help the congregation that’s gathered focus on God musically, with traditional hymns, choruses, gospel songs, and even an occasional contemporary worship song. We try to keep the focus on Jesus. But everyone in the room is facing toward the platform, or what a secular audience might call the Stage. Whatever is happening on the stage is what folks are thinking about and focusing on.

But some of the most important elements of what I get to do every Sunday morning don’t happen on the stage. They happen backstage.

Have you ever noticed? When you go to a concert, nobody cheers when the microphones are plugged in correctly. Nobody applauds the guy who’s adjusting the curtains or sweeping the stage after everyone has gone home. No. We’re accustomed to thinking as audience members that the people standing in the spotlight, or standing out front, or in my case, leading the service are the most important thing that’s going on. 

But as a Classic Service worship leader for many years, I can tell you: I know better. I know how many unseen hands it takes to make our worship time possible.

We live in a culture fascinated by platforms and stages. Bigger audiences. More followers. Louder voices. Even stadiums full of people raising their hands in worship, experiencing brightly lit stages occupied by well-known pastors or worship leaders.

But Jesus never suggested the kingdom would mainly move through celebrities or even people standing in the front who are well known.

When he taught kingdom principles, he chose common, ordinary things to describe impact potential in the kingdom: things like seeds, or bread, or yeast , or salt. or lamps that give light in the darkness. Jesus still looked at ordinary people and said, “You are the light of the world.” The challenge is not knowing what Jesus said. The challenge is truly embracing the idea that small things really do make a huge difference, that ordinary people, living godly faithful lives every day have an extraordinary impact on the world in which they live.

Most people will never stand before thousands on some stage.
Almost no one writes a bestselling book or become a household name.
Most believers — believers Jesus described as the light of the world — will live their entire lives in what they might perceive to be relative obscurity, unless … well, unless they embrace the reality that there are far more dark rooms in this world than there are stadiums. And the darkest rooms often need the steadiest lights. 

Some people are called to stadiums. Most of us are called to hallways, or dinner tables, or classrooms. We don’t stand on stage where everyone can see us. We’re backstage, plugging in microphones, or ushering people to their seats, or greeting people at the door.

But that is where much of the kingdom quietly advances. The light dispelling the darkness, one soul at a time one conversation at a time, one act of faithfulness at a time. It is a profound truth: When life becomes painfully dark, nobody asks where the light is coming from. Nobody critiques the style of the lamp or complains about its design.

They simply move closer to the light because it dispels their darkness. The light that has Jesus as its source of power and most often has its effectiveness from a venue unnoticed because its not in the lime light. It is totally committed to being the light of the world … backstage.