Save Your APPLAUSE. -_-

Minister, not entertainer.

“Kwiksie, look, I totally get your point…but we both know that’s not what people like to hear.”

“Seriously? How on earth do you hope to get fans if you keep doing things like this?”

“When you have all it takes to make folks love you, why not just give them what they want?!”

How about, because it’s the exact opposite of what God wants? Eh pal?

My name is Okwukwe Ifediora, generally referred to as Kwiksie. I am a born-again musician. Do you want to know what that means? It means that my musicianship is ALWAYS secondary to my call as a follower of Jesus Christ. Alright? Get it! I am not (and NEVER will be) first a musician and then a Christian. Music will always take the back-seat to my service to my risen savior. Period.

#sigh. Really though, when are we going to stop this?- Living for the applause i mean.

Many of you might be convinced otherwise, but the few (‘few’ because I could probably make a decent book of them) questions I quoted above weren’t even directed at me by those who are foreigners to the faith or ‘secular artistes’, as we like to put it, or folks like that. The people asking me things like this are Christians --- according to them at least. I mean, seriously, do we even listen to ourselves sometimes? When on earth did the focus become what they want and what the fans like to hear and all that garbage?!

Is it the media and the fans who have given us life? Are they the ones responsible for our possession of whatever ‘gift’ we may have that is musically inclined? Did the fans and the public sacrifice their most precious to save every single undeserving bit of us, in exchange for our undivided, undiluted love for and devotion to them?

Think about what you’re saying and doing! There's more to life than folks clapping their hands every now and then when you amuse or entertain them.

Each and every human being has got a purpose for being created (a purpose one just might remain clueless about until he/she chooses to buddy up with Jesus) and for those of us who are members of the body of Christ there is a call on our lives. I am called to minister to others through music – amongst other things – thus music ministry is my primary calling. Now from a study of Romans 12:1-8 in a teaching by Bob Kauflin titled > ‘The Call of The Christian Musician’ (I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU FIND IT AND LISTEN TO IT!!!), I have come to the deeper understanding that my basic call, as a Christian musician, is to:

“Faithfully make music – in ANY context – that reflects a grateful servant’s response to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Before you sniff your nose at this point or close the page, please take time to sit and meditate on this word (and please do get the teaching ASAP…you’ll love it). Ask yourself whom your creator is and for what purpose you were created. Have you seen anyone who’s more stable than God or anyone who loves you more? (If you said yes, I promise you we are not talking about the same person). Do you really want to dedicate your time, energy and LIFE to pleasing the crowd? The world? This fickle, fluctuating, inconsistent, deceitful, confused and oh-so-temporary world?! When did ‘going with the flow’ and ‘dancing to the beat’ become our motto as believers? We have obligations to the person who actually runs things (sorry B, it’s not girls after all) and who demands that every breath of air He’s given us permission to consume be used to honor Him and instead what do we do? We ‘do it for the fans’ (or the vine – story for another day).

It’s just so pathetic.

I’m not saying fans are evil, I am not saying become religious and sanctimonious, I’m not saying you shouldn’t enjoy the gift music is. I’m saying when we take our focus off God and decide to zero in on doing things solely for their ‘commercial’ worth or for the accolades to be recieved; when we get to producing things which are supposedly ‘appealing’ to the majority with zero regard for our Lord; when we do things just because people expect it and we don't want to 'offend' the sensibilities of someone or the other – that’s when we hit the ‘self-destruct’ button. If we don’t serve and praise Him, He’ll get others who will; but if we are honest with ourselves, we’d realize there’s none more deserving of our service and adoration than the Almighty. So why work yourself to the bone for things as temporary as a flash of lightening, and for folks who won’t hesitate to stomp you as soon as they’ve drained you to nothing?

This is the truth; I’m on any and every stage on this earth to perform for an audience of One – everyone else is warmly invited though - but the primary reason I have got to make it good is to please Him.

Folks think I’m naïve, boring or too ‘strait-jacket’? *sighs*

That's just too bad.

xxx, Kwiksie.