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TWIST - but don’t shout
Mark A. Hadley
August 11th, 2005


Church musicians should not view their music ministry as more important than other types of service, Dubbo Presbyterian minister Bryson Smith warns the annual TWIST conference.

TWIST - The Word In Song Together - is a joint initiative of Emu Music and Anglican Youthworks aimed at providing Christian musicians with a strong biblical framework for their ministry.

Mr Smith, who has written popular congregational songs such as Consider Christ and Nothing Can I boast In, believes Christians can be tempted to develop a disproportionate view of their musical gifts because of the highly visible nature of their ministry.

“To have a good singing voice, to be able to play an instrument well - they are glamorous things that people will notice and admire,” he told the sold-out TWIST conference last weekend.

And the world promotes that kind of attention, he says.

“The creeping temptation is to carry that thinking into our churches and to see the music ministry as somehow better and more important than perhaps the cleaning roster or the mowing roster,” Mr Smith says.

“Please don’t miss out on all the other opportunities of ministry by seeing music as perhaps more than it is.”

The third annual TWIST was held last weekend at Trinity Grammar School, in Sydney’s Inner West.

The conference’s 650 participants honed their musical skills while being challenged to serve God more effectively in this ministry.

Seminars included worship in the Bible, song writing, band workshop and music for ministers.

On the Saturday night participants were involved in a live recording of Emu Music’s next congregational CD.