by Tim Swanson
Among the many excellent conversations that I've read on the Worship!Arizona facebook page this week are a few comments that caught my attention. They are about maintaining impactful worship in the face of Sunday morning technicalities.These comments stood out because I struggle there too. As I reflected on them this week, I was reminded of one of my greatest heroes. This is a little bit of his story.
I met Benhur Khamrang in Bangalore, India in the Spring of 2004. I was playing at a Christian coffee shop for a worship night type event. Throughout the evening people kept telling me, “Just wait until Benhur gets here. He’s amazing.” I was skeptical. In the past when people have talked about how amazing someone is, I’ve tended to find myself underwhelmed when I actually get to see them.
He walked in wearing pointy toed shoes on his feet and a great big smile on his face. As he took the stage I sat back in my seat with total arrogance thinking, “how good could this guy really be?”. I thought I was just hard to impress. The truth was that I was threatened and insecure. He had a mild manner about him as he picked up his guitar. I looked around the room and the crowd were on the edge of their seats. The twenty minutes that followed completely utterly astonished me. What I didn’t know about Benhur was that he is recognized as one of the best electric guitar players in the country of India (the same India that has 1 billion inhabitants). He can play more than eight hundred notes a minute in an improvised solo. When I met him in 2004, he had recorded on more than fifty albums. Benhur is, to this day, the finest musician I know. But that’s not the most significant thing about Benhur.
After his set was over, I rushed up to meet him. Stumbling to find the words, I told him that I thought he was great. I was further amazed at his response. With total humility, he smiled and replied, “oh, thank you very much man.” I couldn’t believe it. How could a guy that impossibly awesome be so humble? If I was as good as him and someone complimented me like that, I would probably say something like, “yeah, I know. I can play eight hundred notes a minute. Of course I’m really great.” Seeing his incredible ability combined with unmatched character (that I knew I did not possess), Benhur instantly became my hero.
We continued talking, and at some point he invited me to go to another coffee shop across the street where there wasn’t loud music. We sat and talked for the rest of the night. I got to listen to his story. He told me about the time he asked God to give him 12 hours a day to practice for a whole year. Then he told me how God made it happen for him. He told me about his home, where he took in orphan boys and taught them to play electric guitar. His only rules for the boys were that they had to read their Bibles in the morning and evening, and they had to practice electric guitar for 12 hours a day (there’s a good way to keep young boys out of trouble). He told me incredible stories of how God had used him to impact people through music all over the world.
I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could from Benhur. So for the rest of my time in India, I did everything I could to spend as much time as possible with him. As we went to gigs, recording sessions, guitar classes, and his house I noticed one important thing about Benhur. Worship was not something he seemed to have to put effort into. As we set up, and experienced technical problems (in India there are always lots of technical problems), and attitude issues with other musicians, he didn’t seem phased by any of it. That’s because worship wasn’t a job to Benhur. He didn’t view it as something he showed up to do. Worship was a part of every second of every day. He acknowledged God in every area of his life, and glorified God in literally everything. I had never seen anything like it. his dedication to worship meant that it flowed out of him. He didn’t have to focus on worshipping, or being prepared so that he wouldn’t be distracted from worshipping. He worshipped all the time, so preparing for music and performing music was and still is worship for Benhur.
God has worked through his incredible heart of worship to do some amazing things. His ministry has literally touched hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. And God certainly used him to influence me. Today, Benhur lives in Texas where he is a worship pastor. He is still writing music, and churches from all over the country order copies of his CDs when he finishes them. God uses him to teach young musicians in his community, who are lucky to be able to learn from him. And he’s still an excellent example of exemplary humility. I keep a picture of him and his wife up in my office, because Benhur inspires me.
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| Benhur and I still talk regularly. I call him when I need a good honest critic for my music. He is always willing to give it to me straight. |
He doesn’t inspire me to try to be a better worship leader. He inspires me to be a better worshipper. He taught me that worship begins when you wake up. It goes on throughout the day. It happens through prayer, reading my bible, investing in the lives of other people, and everything else I do. Worship isn’t something that I can show up to do on Sunday morning. It’s what flows out of me Sunday morning after I’ve been doing it all week. And God uses it to do great things.
What kind of dream has God given you for your ministry? I bet it involves having significant impact for Jesus. I bet you don't daydream about just getting by. If you do, then you probably don't belong in church leadership. However, if you are dreaming of having a significant impact for Christ, commit these words to memory:
"Your intimacy with God, (which is) His first priority for your life, determines the impact of your life."
-Charles Stanley
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