When We Worship Part II - Melissa Wolliston

We're bringing this conversation BACK! You voted 'When We Worship' as one of your favorite episodes from last season. This time we're talking to the musicians!

Listen as Dr. Aljoe and special guest Melissa Wolliston continue our discussion on the importance of maintaining a life of worship and consecration as a musician, whether should musicians be paid, and the power of music in a service.

Chapters

• 0:23 DIG DEEP Conference commercial
• 2:05 Introductions of Guests
• 7:52 Should musicians be paid to play at their home church?
• 14:48 How has the role of church music changed over the years?
• 25:07 How do you find balance when selecting songs for worship services?
• 29:52 As a musician, how do you prepare yourself for worship?
• 48:18 Advice for people that want to become a musician
• 57:22 One takeaway from the conversation
• 59:39 Stay Connected with Melissa
• 1:02:58 Prayer

Transcript

0:33

Hey everybody, this is Dr. Daria C. Aljoe with your Dig Deep Conversations with Christian Leaders. I am really, really excited to come and talk with you all on this evening, this morning, this afternoon, whenever it is that you are watching or listening to this. As you know, we not only have a Facebook live session, but we also have a podcast session as well. So shout out to all my podcast listeners. I'm so thankful for you all that you have downloaded, that you have subscribed. that you are listening to the episodes. I hope that they are encouraging, inspiring, and helping you on your journey to a deeper relationship with God. And also shout out to those of you that watch on Facebook and on YouTube. Make sure that you like, that you heart, that you share. This conversation this evening is actually another part two. And I wanted to split this up. I know a lot of amazing church musicians. And so I felt like it would be great to have just totally different perspectives. And so you all asked for a part two. The first part was when we worship. And we talked with praise and worship leaders. We actually had the praise leaders who were going to be leading us in praise at the Dig Deep conference. That was last year in October. This year, you asked for the conversation again when we worship. And so this year, I thought it would be important to talk with musicians. So we know praise leaders, you know, they get up and they sing and they minister through song, but there's another piece of worship, right? That happens. And that is with our musicians. And I wanted to talk with someone who is not only a church musician, but also is walking this walk with God and deepening their relationship and building their relationship with God. And so I am very excited to bring on my guests tonight. Let's bring them on. Everybody say hi to Melissa. hi how are you this evening morning afternoon I'm good I'm good hello everybody um blessed to be here truly an honor I'm doing well awesome awesome well thank you first of all for saying yes um I reached out splitting her dms on instagram and was just like hey I've got this show this podcast and you know you came to mind whenever I thought of this topic so Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying yes. For those that do not know you, would you mind just telling our listeners a little bit about who you are, what you do, and about your journey to becoming a musician? Yeah, of course. So my name is Melissa Williston. I am first and foremost, a child of God. God is the head of my life. I was saved and baptized at the early age of 13 and I've been walking with the Lord or he's been walking with me ever since. And I started off a musician at shortly after age 13, age 14 in my home church. I come from a family of musicians. I'm a PK. My dad and my parents, they're the leaders of our church, Living Word Empowerment Ministries in East Hartford, Connecticut. And my father, he was a musician, drums, guitar, bass, guitar, keyboard. My mother, she played guitar, keyboard. My grandparents on both sides were musicians. And my siblings, we are all in some sort of capacity, either singers or musicians. So it kind of just embedded into the family bloodline. And so I started when my sister before me, she was playing and she was going off to college. I was like 13, 14 at the time. And my dad was like, OK, your turn. And I'm just like, wait, what? I didn't sign up for this. But I kind of just got thrown into it. And one day, he just put me on the keyboard in a church service. And I kind of just had to fend for myself. It was so bad. I was not playing all the right chords. It was gross. But I literally just said, OK, God, since I'm now given this responsibility, let me not work it, whether I have to take the lessons, whether I have to study the music. And so I just thank God for YouTube University. Because definitely that played a huge role in how I got started as a musician and then taking it a step further, paying for lessons and really learning from my grandparents who took time to help me study the craft too as well. So that's kind of how I got started, kind of got thrown into it and then just had a love for it ever since. And just God has just been doing great things I'm also an entrepreneur, kingdom entrepreneur. I have my own business, Faith Fitness Nutrition. It's personal training, health and wellness. So in addition to spiritual health, I also like to prioritize physical health and the body of Christ. I love that. I, oh my gosh, I just, I got like secondhand hand embarrassment when you talked about, they just threw you on the keyboard one Sunday. I was like, yep, do it. I was like, oh gosh, no. So besides keyboard, did you, do you, are there other instruments that you play at all? Um, other than like, you know, singing in choirs or things of that nature, no other instruments that I took upon. Um, I would say I can do drums, but that's not like my forte. Like I just play around. Um, but mostly I'm just a keyboardist, uh, for my, my home church. Okay, awesome. Excellent. Yes, I am a fellow PK. So hello to all that are listening. We all know what it is like to be a PK. You are doing just about everything. Aaron's church and you know, it helps you to kind of one figure out what your gifts are, what you're anointed to do what you like to do. But certainly understanding kind of filling in, I think, playing an instrument has never been something I've had to do. My brother is the drummer. We do not have a keyboard player in the family. I can kind of, you know, pick notes out by ear, but, and I tried to do YouTube university and I just was not patient enough. No, I need to learn this now. So. Um, let's get into our questions for the evening though. So what are your thoughts speaking of being, you know, a PK and playing for your home church? There's been a lot of back and forth that I've seen just amongst musicians and just church leaders, um, about musicians being paid to play at their home church. So what are your thoughts on musicians being paid to play at their home church? Yeah, I definitely have friends in the music industry who do get paid to play. I personally, I can only speak for my own self because it's my home church and our father's ministry. We don't personally get paid as the kids of our church. But we do get like appreciation services, stipends here and there. They do give us monetary gifts and they do reward us and appreciate us for what we do. And my father has been blessed to be able to have a family of musicians that, you know, he doesn't have to go on the outside to get what he, what God has blessed him, you know, God has blessed him with a family that you have praise and worship leaders, you have singers, you have guitarists, bass players, drummers, like a full band. But he does recognize that, I'm not taking advantage of your gift and talent because you're my child, but I'm still appreciating you for the work that you do. So although we're not on official payroll, and we do have musicians in our church on the outside who do get paid for their services and stuff, but I don't take it personally and say, hey, I'm not getting paid. I see it as ministry. I see it as, okay, God has given me this gift. I'm able to aid my father in ministry to be able to less stressed on him to have to find somebody on the outside to get paid to play when I can render my talent in service for the Lord. Now I have friends who are just like, oh, you should be getting paid this and that. And I hear both arguments. Right. And, you know, musicians that are paid, I think there's a lot that gets into it. Right. Your professionalism, how committed you are. um fairness right there's some ministries who just don't have the budget to pay um there's some ministries who can't sustain you know the type of talent that they want to bring in so where they have to you know maybe I can only afford this much and if that musician isn't willing to see that it you know it's hard and there are some of my friends who all they do is is music that's their full-time job so as an entrepreneur I understand you have those and things of that nature so When musicians say, well, I get paid to do here and there, I see it. I understand it because the Bible says a workman is worthy of their wages, right? You have this gift and talent. You're appreciated for it, especially if this is your full-time craft. Some of them, they go to school to enhance their musical abilities. They have a track record of their performances or individuals who they've worked with that shows their credibility. And I know sometimes they get discouraged when they're not compensated for the work that they do. But then again, on the flip side, right? I think it's in Colossians. The Bible talks about work willingly, not onto man, but onto the Lord, which we receive that reward. So even if you're not getting the compensation, I truly believe that the focus should be like, okay, God, you gave me this gift and talent. I'm not going to limit your ability to play through me. because I'm not getting a check. I'm not going to limit my ability to go and share the gospel. I may not be able to go into the four corners of the world, but I can go to this local church and dedicate an hour or two hours to service if that means that I'm ushering in your presence, even if I don't get a paycheck. So it's having those conversations with the ministry. Hey, is there any way that we can work out a payment plan? It may not have to be weekly. It could be biweekly. It can be monthly. It's just having those fluid conversations that's kind of how I see it. You know, I typically, I hear the arguments back and forth all the time, but I definitely don't discredit those who, you know, this is all they do. This is their full-time job, you know, the same way of a pastor getting paid for what they do, right? You know, they got to eat, they got to work too as well, the same way with musicians. So I truly believe that, you know, my father is one of the rare individuals who, you know, has a family of musicians to where it works out for them. But those that don't come from, you know, backgrounds like that, I actually believe that, you know, Someone should, you know, be able to have that conversation for their, their benefit, but let it not be about the money only. Right. Let it not just be okay. Well, I'm just gigging here. I got my second service here up. I'm because I get $5,000 at the end of the week playing at four different places. Right. But let it be that God, thank you for this blessing. Even if they don't give me a paycheck, I'm just glad that I was able to usher in your presence. I'm glad that I was able to even have the ability for this ministry to be blessed with the gift that you've given me. I feel like that is one of the more, so I serve on our praise and worship team. And so we rotate every different Sunday. There's a different one of us that leads praise and worship, I sing in the choir and that sort of thing. And one of the most challenging things that I know, not just at my church, but as you mentioned, there are musicians that sometimes will play and that is their full-time job. And so they're not just playing at just this one service, but they have to hop off and run across the town or run across town to go to another service to play and then go to, you know, a third church and play. And so I think that's something that's really challenging as like a worship leader. And, you know, just I think in general for churches is because you have to sort of be mindful of the fact that, okay, at this time, you know, so-and-so has to leave service. So we want to make sure that we kind of get through everything that we need to get through. And there are times when I feel as though, you know, the spirit is really high and the spirit is moving, but we're always just so conscious of, this person has to leave. If this person leaves, like who is then going to step in? Is it going to be no one? You know, do we need to have music and that type of thing? And then also too, I think you talked about having an understanding of, you know, I'm doing this because it is my, is the gift that God has given me and I'm giving it back to him regardless of whether or not I get paid, but certainly understanding people that, you know, would want to be paid and people that are going to school and bettering themselves and bettering their gifts that they have. I think of the story of the three men and the talents that they were given. If I'm just going to church, but I'm not cultivating my gift, but I want to be paid and increasingly more and more and more paid, but I'm not doing anything to better my gift or better the ministry. That's very different than someone who's, I'm going off to school, I'm taking lessons, you know, that type of thing. So I think it's an interesting conversation. Again, I'm not a musician. And so in my mind, I'm always just like, well, you know, I don't get paid to lead praise and worship, nor do I want to, you know, it is a gift that God has given me. It is something that I love to do that I feel anointed to do. And I truly do enjoy ushering in God's presence in my local church, in wherever it is that I'm able to do that. if I were to get paid great and I have before, but it's not something that like I require. So sometimes I think like, it's a little bit disheartening, I think for smaller churches, smaller ministries where people are charging, you know, six,$700 a service. And it's like, you see, we have like 10 people here. So I feel like that question is always something that, you know, I talk about with friends and everything. So it's really, really interesting to hear your side and your point of view with that one. Definitely. So how has the role of church music changed over the years? I was just having this conversation with someone earlier as well too. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I listen to what's up and coming and new and I'm just like, goodness gracious Lord, what is this? And you know, I say, well, I'm like, God, I'm just going to start making my own songs. We'll just start making my own worship music because it, it has seen that sometimes or some, you know, different sounds and stuff. It's more of a performance rather than, inviting his worship or you know inviting the presence of god in this midst it's more of okay who has the best you know music or who has the best sound or how can I draw the best crowd how can I make it all about show performance right I love those songs that are bible based that you know you get your freedom you get your deliverance you know some of them the words just sound good but is someone really getting free from this is are the chains really being broken and I you know Maybe I have an old soul or whatever, but I love those old school hymns and those songs that really, you know, that our grandparents and those. And I feel that we can incorporate some of that still in these day and age to where, yes, we can talk about our challenges and our struggles and things of that nature. But ultimately, like the glory should not be on self, but it should be ultimately given that back to God. I love those, you know, worship songs and sounds that, you know, you just are so vulnerable before the Lord. Like, you know, you're broken and you're just, you know, great for the feel good, jumpy, jumpy ones as well, too. But I feel like over time it has become more of just. A more of like a showy kind of, and less of like, okay, God, the goal is you. The goal is inviting your presence. The goal is letting the chains be broken through this sound. Even when David played, right? Demons were casted out. Souls were set free. Is that happening, right? The whole point of worship and music and what God created for was to give glory back to him. And, you know, there are some who dabble in and we see all throughout the music industry, gospel and the secular, that they're they're just they're mixing the two and there's no separation. Right. The Bible says they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. Are we doing that through our worship? And I think that, you know, it's it can be easy to get even we sometimes bring that into our services. We're trying to mix the culture and we're trying to mix it in just to, you know, be trending or just to, you know, to where all it is just noise. Or if you didn't shout that day, you know, you didn't get your breakthrough. Right. It shouldn't be about that. Did we encounter the presence of God or is it just tinkling brass? Right. Are we just making a sound or is it actual worship? So I feel that it has evolved. And, you know, if we're not careful, we can slip into the let's just have the best sound for a live stream or let's just have the best sound that, you know, worship, praise and worship was jumping today, but nobody got delivered or praise. And I like that church because the worship is great. But what did the word say? Did you find that? You know, so I feel like over the years we have kind of lost touched with. even if there's no music, even if the drummer doesn't show up or the musician doesn't show up, we can still clap our hands and encounter the presence of God. Without it, the whole church falling apart because the praise and worship leader didn't come today and you got sister so-and-so cracking on the mic, but we still trying to encounter the presence of the Lord. So I truly believe that if we're not careful, we can get so caught up in idolizing what culture wants the music sound to be. Not to say that we, you know, we don't, you know, flow with how, you know, times are or whatever, or how the spirit of God is moving, whatever, but let it not be so much of a putting on a show, but God, even if the music fall apart, let we were encountering your presence. And, you know, I I've seen also two Christian artists who think it's okay to play both sides. So now, you know, you have that, you know, those that are looking up to these individuals and, you know, speaking with, even working with the youth at my church, right? Speaking with, well, I seen this particular artist doing this and this particular artist doing that, right? And now they're going before the Lord, but it's okay to do this. So it's like, The media has portrayed this lifestyle of it doesn't take all that. You know, you don't have to do all that. You don't have to live a consecrated life. You can do whatever you want to do and still be on this church platform. You can do all the stuff that God advises against and still be able to play. But what are you producing? Right. What who sound who's getting glory out of that sound? Right. So I really caution, you know, up and coming musicians, worship leaders, not to get so sucked into the culture. But if God changes the program, let it be. If God switches your order, let it be right. It does. Everything doesn't have to be so cut and dry, like flow with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Let God move and change as it as it sees fit. And even, you know, in music and stuff like. Yes, you may have rehearsed the set this way, but if the spirit of God is moving flow, you know, and there's some musicians like, well, we didn't worship. We didn't practice it that way. Why did the praise and worship leader did this? Because she's flowing with the anointing and you have to make sure as a musician, you're in tune to what God is doing. You can't just get so stuck in. This is the format. This is the set. This is the stems. This is how we're doing it. But OK, God is moving. Let's let's move. So. This is, this is so, I, I love this because, um, there's a word that you, that you said, um, performance and I'll never forget. There was a guy that, um, we were at like a musical or something in, uh, in Bloomfield. And, um, I had run into a friend of mine and I said, Oh, like, are you performing tonight? He said, I don't perform like this is ministry. And he was like, you know, when you say like performance, when you say get up on the stage, like it sort of invokes a whole different vibe and a whole different thought process behind what it is that you're doing. He said at the end of the day, what I'm doing is ministry. You know, I'm not just getting up and putting on a mask and pretending to do something and performing. You know, he's a, this is, this is ministry. Me playing my music, me being a musician is ministry. And I've never forgotten that, you know, even again, as I, we get up and we go into rehearse and we have, okay, this is our set and this is what we're planning to sing. And we're singing it in this key and we're going to flow into this song. But I think, you know, like you said, you also have to always make room for the Holy Spirit to come in. I mean, there have been times when we haven't even gotten to the first song in our set, but the spirit of God is so high and the spirit of God is wanting to move. And we've ended up not even doing our sets and just calling altar call. And then the pastor's like, Nope, it's time for me to get up and preach. And so as you mentioned it as a musician and, you know, as worship leaders, just being able to be okay with, you know, things are changing. The Holy spirit is moving and changing. And yes, it's great that we are preparing ourselves. I do feel that preparation, um, is absolutely a part of serving in excellence, but also prepare for the Holy spirit to move and for things to be changed and be flexible with that as well. Yeah, I think that's really interesting, though, about gospel music and where music is today. And I think sometimes I can't tell the difference between an R&B artist, a soul artist, a Christian artist, an inspirational artist. I just don't know anymore. And then I think about some of the songs where the beats are or the music behind it is similar to songs that I know are secular songs. um and and so in my mind it's those songs are fun and it's fun to have and fun to listen to however you know if I'm spending time in like my devotion I want a song as you said that's based on scripture that's you know helping to helping me to usher in this the presence of god and I think we forget that music is so powerful music can completely alter your state of mind it can completely alter you know how your your mood for that day You know, if I put on X, Y, Z song right now, I'll be in a completely different mood than if I put on, you know, some elevation worship or upper room worship. Like I just got put up into upper room worship. I'm like, what is this? Where have these people been? Crying, weeping. I just want a straight church. And so, you know, so I think music is so powerful. And I think that we forget that as Christians and as gospel artists, I think we forget the power behind the music. We are trying so hard to appeal to a larger audience that I think some individuals are compromising, not necessarily compromising their salvation, but compromising their values and their beliefs and just trying to do what's popular and what's going to sell, so to speak, and forgetting that that's not what this is about. This is about ministry work. and so I I'm happy I'm so very happy that you brought that up I do I go to old hymns hymns that I know um you know different songs that I grew up hearing in church but there are other times when I'll listen to something that's a little bit new or something that's a little bit more different like a travis green or something and I'm like yeah okay like I can I can get with this this is kind of cool so I think just being mindful of what is speaking to your heart, remembering to be mindful of like what you're putting into your ear gates and the power behind music and not allowing some of that music to be like, oh, this sounds like this song. That's an R&B song. Let me go listen to that song real quick. And then you fall back into all these other things. So. Yeah, I think I think it's changed drastically. What are your thoughts on it's probably I want to say when I was younger, Kurt Franklin was just coming out. I remember the older saints were not having it. They were like, nope, this is not it. He's doing the absolute most. And I feel like. Kirk Franklin to, you know, the older scenes back then is like a tie trivet for like my generation, where I think sometimes I'm like, okay. I'll be back a little bit. So I just, I'm curious to know, like, how do you find that balance when it comes to selecting songs for like worship? Like, do you work with the worship team? Do you all, you know, say, okay, this song is really, you know, popular on the radio and we introduce it to our church. Like, how do you all go about selecting music? Yeah. So our worship leader, she prayerfully considers the songs that we choose. But also she gives us the option. We have a standing Google sheet where we can add songs that we may want to do. And we'll consider those songs. And depending on the difficulty of the song, which and when we will sing it. But she gives us the freedom to add our suggestions. She's not saying, well, I'm the worship leader. You do what I say. I'm singing what I want to say, uh, sing, but she gives us the ability to, you know, if we hear a song in our own personal devotion, like, yes, this song, this song is really great. And sometimes even when we would pick a song, like she even confirms that within her spirit, like, yes, this song was something that was on my heart too, as well. Um, so in choosing songs, um, how I, like, if I'm in my own personal time worship within the Lord and I say, Oh wow, this song is, you know, I feel the spirit of God through this song. I know that, you know, we can take this to our ministry. Um, genre wise there are some songs that just okay this this is a good you know jumpy song that you know make some feel good stuff that will help uh you know the ministry or you know just bring that excitement into worshiping um how we flow with our sets is usually depending on what service or what uh sunday it is like we'll usually do more of the fast songs in the beginning and then we'll take it down to like more of consecration leading into uh the other part of service to where you know we start off on a high, not say that we go to a low, but that we really start to consecrate ourselves and really invite, you know, the spirit of God. Sometimes, like you said, we don't even get to those songs sometimes, you know, or we will have a jumpy song in the beginning and she just like, nope, we're going into worship. immediately. So I think it's great that our worship leader, our worship team, you know, they live that, you know, lifestyle of prayers, consecration to where throughout the week, they're like, okay, God, what songs? They're not just picking, oh, well, this church did this that week. Oh, let's do that. Or, you know, I've seen this on YouTube. I think this would be great because they got a lot of views. So let's do that so our live stream can be jumping. But no, it's like, okay, God, what do you want me to play, to sing? Where do you want this to go? And if we're preparing for certain conferences or worship services, right, we're not going to be, you know, just singing anything. It has to flow with the theme and, you know, supporting the vision of our leader, what the, you know, the theme for the church is that day or, you know, whatever the vision is or what the goal is for that service. You know, if it's a night of worship, we're not going to be, you know, we, our goal is okay. At the end of the day, we want souls to be saved. We want deliverance. We want breakthrough. What songs are going to usher that, you know, we can't just be random. And, you know, there are times where I've been to other churches where it just seems like the songs are just random and there's no sort of order, right? We know that with God, there's order and there's no confusion in the body. So I feel as worship leaders, musicians as collectively we, We have to sit down before you're set before, you know, throughout the week when you have those. OK, what songs are going to flow together? What songs are going to get, you know, invite the presence of the Lord? What is the flow that God can move through us? Let's prayerfully consider that. And one of the things that I love with our worship team, even. I think I'll get to this like at the end of the questions, but just even in our preparation process, like prayerfully consider, OK, God, where do you want us to go? So that's kind of how we choose our songs. But our worship leader, she does give us the ability to add what we want in the in the mix. And, you know, we'll consider those options as well, too. I love that idea. We're actually, I'm, we're taking that idea. We're going to borrow that to the praise team. And just cause I know like, for me, I think all of us have just like a notes, you know, and we like write out all the songs that we've sung, whether they're worship songs or, you know, praise songs. And then I also keep track of like suggested songs. And so on Maya night, like every time, you know, I might hear something new and I'm like, Oh, this song has really ministered to me and I feel like, you know, we are able to do this song. And I also feel like it's, um, the song aligns with, uh, sort of the, the house, if you will. Like, I feel like there are some songs where even if the praise team and the musicians can sing it and can play it, it just does not match the ministry or vice versa. It might be a song that we're all just like, we do not like this song, but for some reason, The spirit of God just moves every time we sing this one song that we're all just like, oh, my gosh, not again. But and so I think there is an importance of knowing your ministry and knowing the church and knowing the congregation and knowing, like you said, like, what does God want to hear? And so we can absolutely go to that question about how do you prepare yourself for service as a musician, as someone who is professing salvation and living a consecrated life? How do you prepare for worship? Just as you were speaking, I just had to add one more thing to this like previous question. I would also add too, as worship leaders, I think it's important that we are assessing, as you said, assessing the crowd, because you don't want to do something that is so old school that the young people are disconnected or too new school that the older adults, and I know like, if your ministry is predominantly elderly or like older, more seasoned individuals, you're going to cater to that. And then the young ones, they're just like, well, you know, we feel disconnected. Right. So it's finding that balance, as you say, being able to know your house, know that ministry and where you can still have your hymns to cater to the older adults. And then, you know, still have your CCM, your younger upcoming stuff for those youth so that they still feel that everybody's feeding and everybody's being catered to. So I think it's also important just to continue to you know, assess the flow and, and, and see that we're not disconnecting, um, any group or status of people, um, by our, our song choices or selections. Um, so definitely. Let me jump, let me add one other thing to that. Um, because there's sometimes where we will do a song that is, you know, like an old school devotional song, but the music is different. And so like the style of the song is different. So the words are very much the same. The cadence of the song is the same. However, the musicality behind it is a little bit different. And I think sometimes that's how we're able to introduce, you know, we're able to flow from that to like a new song that maybe people haven't heard. But that's something that our music department leader has talked often about is, you know, we don't wanna do like two new songs one Sunday, people are going to be like, what is happening? What's going on? We might want to do like, you know, how great is our God, you know, one Sunday. And then we might want to do, you know, like a making room by Ricky Dillard. Like everyone knows how great is our God. Everyone sings that, you know, the older folks will really enjoy that. And then flowing into something that's new, something that's different. And we try to do a lot of like blending songs too, just so that way, again, we capture you with the, this is something that, you know, it's something that you're familiar with. Now let's introduce you to something a little bit new. I do think that that is incredibly important. Um, you know, again, as you're talking about music and what people are drawn to younger people, especially if, um, you know, they're newer to Christ, I think, um, the music does draw you, you know, that's, it's something that is perfectly natural. And I think normal music is going to draw you. It's going to grab your attention. It is the word that saves us. It is the word of God that sustains us. But it is, I think, sometimes sometimes the music that draws people to ministry and to coming into church. And so, again, like you said, you want to be able to sort of cater to the different folks that are in the congregation, whether they're younger, whether they're older, whether they're, you know, like myself. I'm relatively younger. I'm a millennial, so we'll just say that. I'm a millennial. But I love old school devotional songs. And I also do some of the new stuff, too. But you have people younger than me that are just like, I don't know what song I'm listening to right now. But I do know, oh, I know that one song, right? So I think it's yes. So that's all I'll say on that. That's it. Unless you have anything else. No, no, no. We could go to preparation. Yes. Yes. So tell us how you prepare yourself, how you prepare your heart, consecrate for worship. Yeah, definitely. So preparation isn't just when you get to service. Right. It's throughout the week. As a musician, I can't just expect to just, OK, now, Sunday, this is when I execute everything. No, it starts throughout the week. me I prioritize my relationship with god so it's having those morning devotions I'm an early morning person I'm waking up at the crack of dawn praying having my devotion worship sometimes I'll play my keyboard worship spend some time in worship um but I want to make sure that my spiritual aspect is great because I can have talent be an uh you know, have great skill, but if there's no anointing behind what I'm playing, then it's in vain and it's just noise. Um, so I want to make sure that I'm constantly housing the presence of Lord, of Lord in my own life, uh, be so that when I play that I'm not playing through the flesh, not playing, you know, out of my own fleshly will, but I'm, I'm able to be sensitive to the spirit of God, how he wants me to flow while we're worshiping, what chords to play, where to, where to flow, um, through the music. So throughout the week I have my prayer life. I'm, you know, I'm spending time with God, whether I'm fast in certain days, usually when we have, you know, services or conferences or, you know, delivering services and things of that nature, I'm preparing myself through fasting and prayer because I want to play like when David played, you know, souls are touched live and changed that they don't have to not to say that the preacher, they don't have to wait to hear the word that they can encounter God, even through the song and through the sound that, you know, sometimes God could just shift the order. Um, and if I'm not sensitive to the flow, then I'm just going to be in my own world, just, you know, playing because I have skill or playing because I can, I can play the run or the rift or whatever, but making sure that I'm presenting myself as a living sacrifice daily. I'm being mindful of what I listened to. I'm being mindful what I feed my spirit. I'm being mindful. Me, I'm not a believer of somebody who could just listen to secular music and listen to gospel music at the same time. The Bible says, you can't have old wine skin in new wine bottles. And I truly believe that music was a form of worshiping God. You're either worshiping one thing, the enemy or Jesus or God. So it's like, if I'm polluting myself, and I have these debates all the time with my musician friends, oh, well, there are certain genres, you got to listen to this style, you can't just limit yourself to gospel music. If I'm presenting myself as a living sacrifice, what benefit do I get from listening to Cardi B or listening to R&B singers or all these things, just because we're listening to the sound of the music? And I get it when you get to school, you study, you know, you study all genres, and those have their place. Yeah, I get it. But When you're making it a habit, I prefer to listen to R&B rather than Christian music or gospel music. That's when we've done drawing the line. So being mindful what we feed our spirit, because that's what's going to come out of you, right? If when David played, he had the spirit of God in him. If you're feeding yourself with the secular things and things of the world, what do you think is coming out in your congregation? What do you think is coming out into the people? right music is a form of worship and so I truly believe preparation is presenting yourself as a living sacrifice god didn't just give you this gift for you to be talented and to get all the gigs and make all the money but that you are presenting your gift to him god you have given this to me I'm going to steward this well I'm going to take time to practice I'm going to take time to not when I get to rehearsals trying to learn the music or learn the song, but that I'm doing that throughout the week. I'm going to take that time to make those sacrifices for you because you have given me this gift. I'm going to study. I'm going to practice my keyboard and try different sounds or usher in your presence to make sure that I'm hearing you so that when I play, I'm in tune with your spirit. that I'm making sure that I'm not having unforgiveness in my heart, that I'm making sure that I'm presenting myself pure before the Lord. Even when I get to church on Sunday, I'm praying on my way to the car. I'm praying in the spirit. I'm praying. I'm consecrating my mind. Sometimes I don't even listen to music on the way to service. I'm just praying and getting myself ready. When I get there, our band will pray together. We'll consecrate ourselves and we'll be able to just let God flow. But I truly believe preparation is very important. You can have skill and talent. You can have all of that stuff. But if you're not presenting yourself to God as a living sacrifice, God has given you this gift. How are you managing it? What are you doing with the seed that God has given you? If you're just sitting on it and saying, oh, well, I'm skilled. I got it together. I don't got to learn the song. I can just go off of what I know. Then you now take the glory off of God and you're making yourself the priority, but I truly believe that living a pure and holy life before the Lord as a worship leader, as a musician, as a singer, you know, wherever capacity is important because you're pouring that out into the congregation. Whatever spirit you have, hopefully it's the spirit of God, right? That is gonna be fed out to the people. whether you're engaged in things that are not conducive to God as a musician, as a worship leader, it's important to prioritize your own personal relationship with the Lord so that when you go to minister, it's not just, I can sing well. It's not just my gifting and my talents, but it's the spirit of God through me. God, use me to let someone else be set free. Use me, let the chains be broken. That I'm not just, oh, I'm a great singer. I have the, I can hit these notes, but that, There was a goal today. Someone encountered Jesus. Someone encountered his presence. Someone was able to get delivered. And we would just be oblivious to the fact that if we were just trying to do it out of our own strength. No, it's the spirit of God at work through us. It is not us, but him. He said, let your light shine. Let his light shine in you so that others can see that and glorify God. But if it's all about us and the spotlight on us and we got to do this and that, then we've missed it. And it no longer becomes pure worship. it no longer becomes spirit and in truth, but flesh. So I think you brought up so many good points with that. Um, one of them being, you know, the power of what you play is then going out into the atmosphere. And so if you are coming to the service and you have not prepared your heart, you have not prepared your mind throughout the week, not just Sunday morning, but throughout the week, you have not fed yourself the word of God and you have not been connected to the spirit of God throughout the week, it's harder for you as a musician to hear from God and to, you know, sort of be tapped in and connected to as a spirit of God is flowing. Um, you know, there was a, um, a post from our women's commission, my, my national church, we have a different convention. And so, uh, there was a post from our women's convention where the, uh, the choir was up and the choir was singing and, And when they were done singing, it was a beautiful worship song. They were done singing and the moderator came up to the, to the, um, to the microphone. And instead of immediately going into the next part of the service, they actually continued to flow in sort of where we were at right there. And you could just feel the presence of God. continuing to saturate the place and people you could see were just being blessed. And you don't know who in that room was being delivered in that moment. And I think it's important to remember, as you said, as a musician, it is important for you to consecrate yourself, to live a consecrated life, to come in with the mindset of this is a pure worship. I am a part of this worship experience. And so I'm not just here playing because I have the gift to do so and I have the talent to do so. but I am also actively participating in somebody being delivered, somebody being set free, somebody being healed, somebody being encouraged. I think there was one time, I had gotten up to lead praise and worship. And there was a song that I sang, you are my strength. And, you know, I think sometimes in your flesh, when you're in flesh, you could be like, well, you know, nobody really got with me with this song. And I'm thinking that, you know, this is a song that I know that we all love. And that usually, you know, the congregation really gets with me, but nobody really was getting with me like that. And so in my flesh, I felt a little bit discouraged. Now I knew that I had consecrated. I knew I had prayed. And that was a song that God placed on my heart to sing. And so when when our first lady had got up, she said, you know, I really want to appreciate the praise team for singing that song because it really touched my heart today. And she said it really helped me and encouraged me. And she had been going through, you know, I had been grieving and she said it really it really ministered to me. And I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, this is why. I'm this is why you need to be connected to me and not be worried about who else is getting with you because it's just at the end of the day if it's just that one person that was encouraged and I was inspired then I have done what I have been assigned to do for that day that is ministry work and so I think with musicians I think they don't always realize that like as you said as you're playing an instrument your spirit the whatever spirit you're bringing to the service to that instrument is then going out into the atmosphere so it's so important to Make sure that, as you said, you consecrate yourself, you're purifying yourself. You are making sure that you are ready to hear from God and be used by God as you are playing in an instrument. It's not just playing. It is, in fact, a ministry. I think it's so important that you said that. Just to touch base on that, too, and. I know sometimes the argument can be, well, not every musician that plays for a church is a believer or is a Christian or that goes, some of the most greatest skilled musicians don't just play, they play in clubs, they play in, you know, they do all these other gigs and stuff. And it comes down to the ministry, you know, do you want, is this what you want, right? Because that musician, they can go and get paid somewhere else or whatever. And I'm not discrediting because I do have some friends in the music world who don't just play gospel music. And a lot of them say, well, there's no money in the church. I get my money from here. This is my full-time job. So this is that and that. But it just comes to a point where, okay, yes. And I had a conversation with an individual that was like, well, I play in a secular arena and I'm also able to bring the spirit of God with me to that secular arena. I'm just like, OK, that's when we start mixing it a little bit. I wasn't judging the individual like that was their preference. You know, let the Holy Spirit convict you as as he will. But, you know, it's it's it's up to that house to say, OK, what are you willing to let into your ministry? right? How about we can train up those that have an interest in the ministry, right? Who want to learn music, whether you pay for them to get their lessons or, you know, bring in someone to help do some clinics to help perfect their craft so that you can start building up what you have in your ministry, building up those up and coming, those younger ones who have the desires to, so that you can continue to empower them to also not say, well, I've always got to bring somebody out from the outside to come in. Why don't we just, you know, train up those that are here so that we can create that environment and culture to where they can grow and feel like they're a part of, not just with music, worship leaders, right? We like to bring in other worship leaders. We like to bring it. And I'm not saying those have their place. And I'm sure you've probably been asked to minister other places. And our leaders have done so as well too, just on the anointing and stuff that is on your life and the call. But I think it also sets a good tone for the house to where they can see that maybe Youth Sunday, you could have the youth come up and, you know, do a little something or somebody from the youth can sing on the praise team or, you know, one of the upcoming musicians on a, you know, Sunday night or a Sunday morning service, you know, be able to hang out and to learn and to soak that in so that we are creating that culture within our own ministry that we can build up from within. That doesn't always have to be someone on the outside, but that we can create that culture as well. It's, you know, we had a guest speaker one time at my father's church and it's a smaller ministry. And, you know, we did not have like my brother plays the Jones and we did not have a set keyboard player or an organist. We did have one and then like he went off to college and then ended up moving and that sort of thing. And so as one of the guest preachers was there, who's a good friend of mine, he was preaching and he mentioned exactly like you said, you know, he was like, there's nothing wrong with going out. to bring someone to come in and to play and that sort of thing. But there's also nothing wrong with like raising up your own musicians and really sort of investing in the young people or older. Anyone who has an interest in playing, I've heard we had gotten out of praise team rehearsal the other day. And one of the people on the praise team said someone like, is it too late for me to learn how to play the organ? They're like, no, if you have a desire to, if you want to, if you have a mind to do it, yeah, you can absolutely learn how to play like it's never too late. But I think one of the most important things that you said about that is, what is the house willing to do and willing to sort of put up with, if you will? Are you willing to set a standard that your musicians and that your praise team needs to meet? And regardless of whether that means Um, if that standard means that, okay, this person is no longer going to be playing with us because they are not willing to meet that standard. Are you okay with that as a ministry? And that's something that your ministry leader has to determine. That's something that, you know, I would hope that they would pray about and think about, but you're so right. There's when we. ask people to come in and we ask different ones to come in and minister and to play or to help out. We have to be mindful of what spirits we are inviting into our house, into our ministry. And I think it's so, so powerful to think about that. And I think we don't always think that way. I think we're just like, this person's really good. They're not charging us too much. Let's bring them in and let's play. And it's like, okay, that's fine. However, you have have to be mindful of you're bringing that person and any other spirit that they're connected to, that they have within them. You're also bringing that to the house. And so being very mindful, very prayerful of that, I think is incredibly important as a Christian, as a leader, um, as a musician, part of the praise team, whoever sort of makes those decisions in, um, in your church. But I think, you know, if you had any advice to give, um, anyone that wanted to sort of go out and, and learn how to, um, how to further develop their gift of being a musician. How can you, what, let me ask this question. What advice do you have for anyone that wants to become a musician? Like, where do I even start? I know I'm okay with it, but I do think that like, I want to be a musician so I could be a blessing to my church. And where do I start? Like, what's the first thing that I should do? yeah um I would say to anybody who's thinking about being a musician especially any female out there who is looking to be a musician because we know that the music world and stuff as a musician is very male dominant and I say when I first started I was a little timid and shy because I don't see many female keyboardists around here, at least not in the Connecticut area that I'm in. There's a few of us that are out there, very slim, but not just females, but any musician desiring to be a musician stand on that. Like you would if you were playing a sport, perfect yourself at that craft, study that. You may have those musicians that you look up to. There were other female musicians and male musicians that, oh, they have great skill. Reach out to those individuals. Ask individuals if they would mentor you. I've reached out to a few musicians in my walk that were very instrumental in helping me and took the time to kind of develop me to help me develop my sound Find confidence and prayerfully ask God to lead you to those individuals. Talk to your leadership. Let them invest in your gift. Pray about it. God, lead me to who should be my mentor. Lead me to those. How do I go about this? And I would say for any upcoming musician, desire his presence more than the platform, because I know it can seem shiny. You go to the music, you go to churches and the band is popping or the music is popping and it looks flashy and it looks great, but it takes a lot to get to that point, right? It takes a lot of preparation. It's not just, coming up there and doing what you do there's a lot of behind the scene work spiritually and physically that goes into you know executing or you know being able to minister um and so I would say for anyone coming up literally let god lead you down that path but also not be afraid to take a step to reaching out to those. If you desire further education, develop that. Go seek out musical schools. Go take those music lessons. Go take singing lessons. Talk to other worship leaders. Talk to other musicians in your local area and see. I know there are many who are super busy, but there are those that will help you and dedicate their time to you. Or if not, they will point you in the right direction. But don't let fear hinder you from taking that step and be okay with failing. When I first started, I cried because I'm just like, why would you do this to me? I can't play this. And they're just like, no, it's okay. You'll get better. Just keep trying. I'm playing all the wrong chords. The church is clapping and singing. I'm just like, y'all is so fake right now because y'all know I sound terrible. But as a 13 year old kid, I'm just like, you know what, God, I'm going to just keep pushing. There were times where I literally felt like giving up because of I would get discouraged because, you know, especially if our ministry was asked to sing and play somewhere else. And, you know, I'm just like, I always I'm like, I don't want to go out there. I'm OK and comfortable just like, you know, being at home in the house, musicians and, you know, But going out there, it's just like, man, that musician is really better than me. Or, you know, I would have that mindset. I'm just like, how about I work on those things that I'm not great at to be able to have my sound, be comfortable with my sound, right? Sometimes we want to sound like other people, but God gave you your own sound and it's being in tune with that. I can't want to play like this one or that one. I need to know what God has given me because there may be many musicians out there, but God has gifted you for specifically where he has or where he's going to place you. So if we had all this imposter syndrome and, you know, wanting to compare and, feel like, well, they're so much better than me. We've missed it, but why don't we cultivate what is inside of us? Stir up the gift that is inside of us and say, for a while, I used to say, I don't like how I sound, but then God convicted me on that. No, I gave you that sound. Cultivate that sound to where I'm like, okay, God, I like my sound, to where I'm just sitting worshiping and he'll lead me to that. So anyone aspiring to be a musician, don't be afraid to fail, but be okay with what God has placed inside of you. Don't get lazy and just go through the motions, but If you really mean it, if you're really serious about it, you'll take the extra steps. Just like if you were furthering your education or if you were an athlete to try and be better at your sport or if you were, you know, whatever your achievement is, set some goals for yourself, right? By this time, I want to do this. Okay, I want to learn at least three songs by the end of next week. Or I want to learn at least, you know, this new scale. Or I want to be able to learn these chords. I want to be able to study this. You have to set goals first. but put in that time. I had a mentor who, who told me, he told me that, you know, even if it's an hour a day before you go to work or before put in that time, every little time counts, you know, we get busy and we're just like, well, I can't do this. I can't practice. I can't do that. And then that, that shows in your performance that shows in how you minister just the same way. If you were called to be a preacher or a minister and you don't spend time in your word, that's going to show on the pulpit. So the same way as a musician, you want to make sure that you are preparing yourself, you're putting in time for practice. But then don't be afraid to ask for help. There are times where I still call on some of my mentors that I worked with in the past, like, hey, can you show me how to do this song? Hey, can you send a recording of these chords? I'm just not getting it. And thankful for my brother-in-law and those that are in our music department that are able to have connections with other people to help us grow in our craft or even just point us in the right direction. Hey, reach out to this person. They can help you. And it's great that those older more seasons or those that have the talent are not always gatekeeping. You know, they're not trying to keep the information for themselves and afraid that the younger musician is going to be better than them, but they see the need that I may not always be playing for the rest of my life. There has to be somebody to succeed. There has to be somebody to carry on the mantle. There has to be somebody to be able to hold my place when I'm gone or, you know, I'm not in this position anymore. And I think that's one of the things that my parents did with us as, you know, growing up to where they realized that, OK, we got to instill that in them. We have to be able to develop and plant that seed because we're going to be doing other things as pastors, as you know, you know, you're all over the ministry, you're doing everything. So we have to recognize when it's time to step out into something else and place someone else in a position. And then as your music leaders, your MDs, being able to be aware of the skill level of your singer or your musician, right? You want to have somebody leading a song that, you know, has high anxiety or, you know, so fearful that they're going to be trembling on the stage and it's just they're just in the flesh and not led. So or as a musician where you know that they don't have the capacity to, you know, play this yet, maybe they need to work a little bit more. Maybe next month they'll be ready. Sit with the music, learn these chords, sit with the song, learn this music. And by next month, I'm expecting you to be able to minister this. So it's both ways on, you know, as a musician coming up overall, just say, don't be afraid to step out into what God has given you. If God has placed you to it, he will allow you to stay in it. He qualifies those that he called. So seeing music as a form of worship. Okay, God, I'm worshiping you with this. I'm going to cultivate this gift. I'm going to develop it and give it back to you. I want to highlight, because I had to write it down. So I was looking down because I had to write it down. I want to highlight what you said to desire God's presence more than the platform. And I think if I could sum up this whole conversation, I think that would be what I would say is to desire God's presence more than the platform, because it's Yes, you are talented. Yes, you are anointed. Yes, you are gifted. Yes, you have put in the time. Don't be like me and just give up after two days or what have you. I was like, this is too hard. I don't understand how people can do this. But putting in the time, but at the end of the day, knowing that the most important thing when it comes to worship and when it comes to being a musician is your relationship with God. That, yeah, that right there just blessed my whole life. Desire his presence more than the platform like that. Absolutely blessed my whole life. As we get ready to wrap up. One final question that I have for you. It's so tough because I feel like I didn't get a chance to really, and I didn't think about it, but I didn't really get a chance to talk to you about, you know, your experience as a female musician, because you're right. We don't see many female musicians that are out there. And so I, Yeah. I don't want to get into it. I'll have to maybe have you come back because it's so true. You don't see many female musicians, especially if you're in Connecticut. But the fact that you are a female musician, I know like one or two others. So maybe I'll have all of y'all come back together and we'll do another series about that. But one final question, I guess one final thought that I have for you tonight is what sort of one takeaway that you would want someone who's listening to this, who's watching this, what's the one takeaway that you would want them to have from tonight's conversation? Yeah, if you're a worship leader, if you're a musician, whatever capacity you serve in your local church, in the ministry of music in any way, The main thing is prioritizing your true relationship with the Lord, regardless of, at the end of the day, right? Yes, we know the gifts and the talents are without repentance, but at any point in time, something happens to your voice or something can happen to where you're no longer playing that instrument or you're no longer singing anymore. If we have cultivated so much time in the gifting, and rather than the gift giver, we've missed it. So being able to prioritize your relationship with God, a true form of worship, your devotion with the Lord, living a consecrated life, pure and holy, God will place you in places that you don't have to beg for, that you don't have to force yourself in those arenas, that you don't have to uh wish for those opportunities but your gift will make room for you and bring you before great men so I would definitely encourage anyone listening here whatever capacity stay in his presence be a lover of his presence that's if you're a worship leader god will give you sounds if you're a musician god will give you downloads from heaven to be able to to play that through your ministries to where his glory and his presence can be can be seen and very evident. So desire him more than anything, right? The Bible says in Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you. So when you seek God first, he will ensure that everything that you need, you'll have. Um, I, I cannot thank you enough for coming on and saying, yes, I knew that this conversation was just going to be so good. So incredible. So amazing. And it absolutely was. Um, I thank you so much for the wisdom that you shared. Um, I do hope that those that are listening, that are watching, um, are also encouraged and inspired, um, to, you know, whether it's to come a little bit higher to continue doing what they have been doing, um, But I really, truly thank you for your words of wisdom. Let me do this. Let us know how we can stay in touch with you, how we can connect with you. You mentioned that you're also an entrepreneur. So if you can type your information in the private chat, what I will do while you're doing that is I'll just go over a couple of quick things that are coming up. Latria Sine Ministry. So while you go ahead and type in the private chat, all the different ways that we can connect with you, I will just kind of make sure that y'all are aware of what we have coming up. So if you don't know, this is actually a podcast series. So if you're watching on Facebook Live, but you have to you know, turn it off or whatever. You can't watch the full thing. You can always listen to this on a podcast or via podcast, wherever you download your podcast, just look for a dig deep conversations with Christian leaders, search Dr. Dria C. Aljo. Uh, we are located everywhere. You get podcasts. We have the information scrolling at the bottom as well. Download subscribe. I think I have about one or two episodes that come out per month. We talk about all different types of topics, uh, being divorced, getting married, um, You know, we talked about social inequality in education. We talked about politics, a ton of different topics, all with Christian leaders from across the world, across the United States that come and just share with us. So make sure that you download and subscribe for the podcast. Also make sure that you stay connected with me. I would love to talk with you about deepening your relationship with God. Dig Deep is sponsored by Jerea Sine Ministries. We are a community of like-minded individuals who are intentional about deepening our relationship with God. We have quarterly Bible studies. We do a monthly 15 minute zoom prayer call where we go over, uh, we call it quick dig. So we're quickly digging into God's word all within 15 minutes. Um, we have a private Facebook community where we just encourage each other and hold each other accountable. Um, it's a great, great community to be a part of. And, uh, if you are not connected with me, make sure that you connect with me on all social media platforms. It's Jeria C. Aljo. And I will tell you how you can become a part of that community. Final thing, and then we are going to close out the evening, the conversation officially. Final thing is the Dig Deep conference that is coming up in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Friday, October 4th, Saturday, October 5th. Friday night, we have a worship service featuring Pastor Mishundahiri. She will be our main speaker, come out for a transformative time of worship and God's word. And then Saturday morning, we will be right back in Bridgeport 10 a.m. with our workshops for the day. We've got three workshops, Effective Evangelism Strategies in 2024, Navigating Your Call to Missions, and Discipleship Remaining Consistent in Every Season. That is the workshops happening starting at 10 a.m., followed by our women celebrating women brunch. We are celebrating co-pastor Jackie Powell, evangelist sister Kayla, not Kayla, Lord, that's her daughter, Kim Lilly, Lord Jesus. We're honoring Kim Lilly. And then who was our third honoring? My aunt, First Lady Swan. So we are honoring Christian leaders, Christian entrepreneurs, and Christian community advocates today. During the Women Celebrating Women's Brunch, this will be our second year hosting the Dig Deep Conference Women of the Word in 2024. The information is down at the bottom of the screen. Registration is open now. You should register. You can come to the worship service without registering, but you have to be registered to attend the workshops. I promise you do not want to miss it. I think we have all the contact information. We are ready to go. So Melissa, if you would do us the honor of praying us out. And then once you're done praying, I'll post your contact information so that folks can stay connected with you. Definitely. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God. We thank you for this fruitful conversation, Father. We thank you for your presence that was on this very call. We thank you, God, for the words that was spoken, Father God. I pray that whatever was said on today, God, will not fall on deaf ears. And God, that those will take the information, oh God, that they would root it deep in their hearts, Father God. and make the necessary changes that they need, Father God. I pray for those musicians and worship leaders, Father God, that are serving in whatever capacity they are serving, Father God, that they will take this call to action, God, to be a lover of your presence, Father God, to be able, oh God, to worship you in spirit and in truth, Father God. For those, oh God, that are listening, Father, that don't know you, Father God, we pray that this podcast, oh God, and all the streams connected to this podcast will be able to help them, oh God, to develop a closer relationship with you. Thank you for the host, oh God, Lord, I pray that you continue to bless her, bless her ministry, God, and what you're doing in her lives, God, to be able to invoke change in the body of Christ. We praise you and we give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Let's see. Here we are on Facebook. Let us know how we can get in touch with you, what we what we can expect from you coming up. Anything new, anything fun coming up? yes definitely so as coach melissa williston I'm a entrepreneur as I mentioned before nutritionist fitness I have a plethora of online programs I do public speakings I do workshops in different ministries to be able to help the body of christ build their temple god's way um and I have a uh a session coming up in new york brooklyn new york october 24th um at liberty hall cathedral of praise I'm doing a health and wellness segment there. And we're going to just be prioritizing spiritual and physical health in the body of Christ. We can be so spiritual that sometimes we neglect our physical aspects. So that's my goal, just educating the body of Christ on how to take care of their temple God's way. So Instagram coach Melissa Williston, Facebook coach Melissa Williston, YouTube as well. I forgot to mention that coach Melissa Williston, but you can find me there. Awesome. Awesome. So very proud of you and all the amazing things that you are doing. I love, love, love it. Thank you again for coming on. Thank y'all for tuning in. We are going to head out. Make sure that you stay connected with us for the next Dig Deep Conversations with Christian Leaders. I'll see you then. Later. Hey, you registered for the Dig Deep Conference, right? October 4th and 5th? Not yet. Oh. is because you haven't heard what workshops we're doing this year. So first, we have Effective Evangelism Strategy in 2024. Long are the days where the only modes of spreading the word of God are through tracts and pamphlets. But what practical tools can we use in this day and age to build genuine connections, to promote spiritual growth, and better yet, to ignite the passion yet again for spreading the word of God, okay? Secondly, navigating the call Have you felt a tugging, a pull, an urge to serve beyond your local community? This workshop is just thinking. You'll learn the various types of mission fields, as well as how to get started and where to begin with serving the world. Okay. And lastly, we have discipleship, remaining consistent in every season. We know that we serve the God of consistency. He never changes. He remains the same. His record is good. It's the same as when we go to the gym. on the outside. So how much more so do you think that will happen when you apply to your spiritual life? I'm ready. I'm so ready. And guess what? Whether you've registered to your one, two, or three, you have access to all of these workshops. Do you hear me? So if you haven't already, go to www.duriacaudio.com slash digkeepconference and register now. And, um, A little birdie told me that early registration closes soon, so you might want to get on that like, like now, like now. Oh, we would love to see you there. And guess what? We have no idea what move of God is about to take place, even in the midst of a workshop. Hey, Alyssa, what are you doing? I'm talking to my friend about the Dig Deep Conference Brunch. Well, what is that? You don't know about it? Let me tell you. Come join the 2024 Dig Deep Conference as we are hosting our annual Women Celebrating Women's Brunch on Saturday, October 5th at 1230 p.m. Now, the best part is, if you are a Tier 1 or a Tier 3 member, Your tickets to the brunch are free. However, spots are very limited. Now, if you only want a ticket to the brunch, your ticket is only $20, but we encourage you to register for the conference and experience the full thing the whole weekend because God has great things in store for us, and we want to see you there. So go to www.JariaCAlgebra.org slash DigDeepConference and get your tickets today. We hope to see you there.