by Nate Sakany
Do you know your Unique Core Ministry?
Have you ever thought about what really creates demand for a performing music ministry? I’m talking about substantial demand that develops enough enthusiasm in the local church marketplace to generate the kind of financial revenues that make a part-time or full-time music ministry possible. Most people jump to the most obvious conclusion: the songs and music of an artist. But there are thousands of independent Christian artists out there with tens of thousands of songs. How can you cut through that mass of music? I believe what really creates vibrant demand is deeper than just the music and presentation. That only serves as a “wrapping paper”. It’s the “gift” inside the artist that really counts.
Creating demand is absolutely crucial to short-term and long-term success with your music ministry. A ministry or business that knows how to create demand for itself will never lack for opportunities or financial support. The most solid and long lasting way to create ongoing demand with your music ministry is to stay focused on what I call your Unique Core Ministry (UCM). That is what ultimately creates demand for your music ministry. When you use your UCM as the springboard for songwriting and stage presentation you will indeed have songs and music that connect with your audience at a deep level.
At the core of Incubator’s entire music ministry system is the concept of founding your music ministry upon expressing God’s grace through your own personal story of brokenness. Your life doesn’t need to be some spectacular story of tragedy, debauchery, or visible and obvious pain. Very often, the vulnerable telling of our story involves what might seem almost mundane from a casual outside observance. But, it has likely been excruciating or terrifying to us personally in discovering and developing our testimony.
As artists, we need to understand the essence of our human story. That is God’s grace to a sinner who would rather trust in themselves, an addictive or compulsive behavior, mental gyrations to avoid pain, or a host of other substitutions for an imperfect and unpredictable relationship with the living God. It is truly understanding, embracing, and building our public ministry upon that common human condition. Choosing a basis for ministry strongly connected to a core human condition is what makes your ministry relevant and desirable. It provides the rock solid foundation for a music ministry that deeply touches people and also provides a stable financial basis for a sustainable ministry.
In the early stage of developing a music ministry, success is rooted in gaining insight into your own life and expressing yourself in a vulnerable way through your music and stage presentation. It’s not hard to find teaching on how to succeed by focusing on your strengths. But discovering and accounting for your weaknesses and brokenness is the other half of success seldom talked about. This is particularly true in a Christian subculture fixated on the impossible concept of perfection in a fallen world. In a ministry context, our brokenness (i.e. the stuff that’s wrong with us) is usually more important than all our great gifts and strengths. The apostle Paul said it simply in explaining how God’s strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. The power of the resurrection only has merit when it’s connected to something dead. The best foundation for a Unique Core Ministry is founded on the scripture from the Book of Revelation (Chapter 21) where it’s explained that we overcome the world by, “the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.”
Remember, a self-discovered person stands out in a crowd. The art and music that they create will carve out its own way and will attract its own audience. Even if it doesn’t attract a large audience, it’s always a loyal audience. This process of self-discovery will lead you to a scary but wonderful place called vulnerability. Vulnerability will drive you to God. God mixed with your vulnerability will make for some great art and music. And that great art and music will connect with people at a deep level. And people who have connected with you at a deep level will be long time supporters (and customers) of your ministry. Now that is creating demand!
Setting to a true and authentic understanding of our humanity and our desperate need for God can be a scary process. Well, it will be if you’re really doing the job right, anyway. Doing it with true courage. My definition of courage is not measured by the magnitude of what I’m facing. It’s measured by how much fear I have when I face whatever it is I need to deal with. So understanding your core issue from which to minister has nothing to do with the specifics of the story. More dramatic testimonies are not more effective than more ‘mundane’ testimonies. What makes a testimony powerful is the degree of authenticity, vulnerability and courage displayed by the teller.
I love a good movie (I can pull a great spiritual theme out of almost anything). In the closing scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” a troop of Nazis have captured the Ark of the Covenant (along with the hero and heroine of the movie). It is set up on a makeshift “altar” in the mountains. Indiana Jones’ archenemy is dressed in priestly robes. He leads the troupe in a ritual to remove the lid from the Ark to discover its true contents. As the lid is removed, the fire of God begins to rise from the Ark. It inflames and consumes ‘the priest’ then proceeds out from him – like so many jaggedy lightning bolts – to race throughout the ‘congregation’ shooting through the mid-section of each of the soldiers like a bending and fierce laser beam. The image is powerful. The all-consuming fire of God doing a righteously good job of consuming.
How would you like to see God move like that in your concerts? Well, maybe not exactly like that (the all-consuming stuff would kind of have a way of limiting your return engagements!). But wouldn’t you like to see the fire of God burn within you, then race out among your audience members finding its mark directly in the heart of your audience members like some kind of holy heat seeking missile?
Well you can. But first you’re going to have to pop the top off the Ark. And you’re going to have to let the fire of God examine you and first pierce your heart before it proceeds on its way to the audience. The amazing thing is that this level of experience with God’s grace and your personal authenticity yields an irresistible spiritual force to connect with audience members. It’s a spiritual force that allows God to follow on that ‘carrier beam’ directly to the heart of the listeners. It hits people right in the mid-section just like that lightning bolt.
Think about it. Just like those stoic Nazi soldiers, no matter how much an audience member might like to avoid being ‘touched’ by God, His powerful ‘fire’ would be unavoidable. It would cut through all the mental defenses to the very core of their spirit – just like that lightning bolt. Can you picture it – the fire of God traveling on your own story expressed through simple human vulnerability and authenticity? You’ve probably experienced this kind of irresistible effect if you’ve ever heard someone speak or sing with this kind of vulnerability.
The scariest part about all this is that ‘fire of God’ must first burn its way through us as the spokesman! He must first do a work in us before the ‘lightning’ will jump out into the congregation. So, preceding this kind of ministry working through you, you will need to work through the ‘burning’ process in preparation for Him to use you in ministry to others.
Isn’t it funny how the Lord seems to choose the oddest stuff from our lives to use in ministry to others? It’s sometimes as if Jesus looks at my life He says, “Hmm. What’s the least likely thing that anyone would expect I could use to bring glory to my Father?” It seems the more dead, decayed and corrupt – the better it is. After all, He’s pretty familiar with bringing dead stuff back to life. As a matter of fact, you might say it’s His main gig!
Too often, we have the idea that God does his best work through the wonderful talents and gifts He has given us. As musicians, we often think that people are bound to be touched because we are committed to being excellent in our craft. Or, that God has given us some special spiritual gifts for a communications ministry. Granted, He does work through His Spirit to do the supernatural through us. We do indeed hold a treasure in earthen vessels. More often, God chooses the weak and helpless areas of our life to do that ministry in the lives of others. When God works through your strengths it’s a very satisfying thing. When God works through your weakness it’s satisfying, in a very humbling kind of way.
When I talk about focusing on the core method of ministry, I’m talking about using this method of allowing God to reach others through the vulnerable telling of your human story of God’s grace. Figuring out what that story is and how to mold it into a powerful ministry presentation is not a quick thing. It takes some time, some courage, some good objectivity and a caring coach and guide (that’s one of the most enjoyable aspects of my work at Incubator). Sadly, the more indoctrinated you are in the church or Christian culture, the harder it sometimes is to get to a truly authentic foundation. But building on that solid foundation will give you a powerful core ministry. It will create ministry ‘fans’ that connect with you at an amazingly deep level. These are loyal fans that will grow over time to become a great spiritual family and solid and long lasting ‘customers’ for your music ministry.
This principle of the Unique Core Ministry is central to what I consider Secret #2 for success in music ministry. That secret is “focus on the core method of ministry.” By that, I mean keep your focus here, don’t get distracted from this foundation. There are countless ways to be pulled off this core method. There are lots of folks out there with myriad ideas about how to do music ministry, how to build your music career, or whatever the latest fad for the indie artist. Don’t be distracted. Stay on this course. By keeping it a central point of your ministry building process, you will not dilute your efforts. And you will naturally make wise decisions that will contribute to building a sustainable and stable future.
You can discover all three of my secrets (and a bunch of other great stuff, too) in my free nine-week online course entitled, “Successful Music Ministry.” It’s a combination of email lessons and online audio and interaction. You can actually complete the course in less than nine weeks if you want to zip on through it. Sign up at the Incubator Creative Group website (
Incubator Creative Group). Just click on the “free stuff” link.
Nate Sakany Founder & President of Incubator Creative Group
Copyright 2009 Incubator Creative Group. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Nate Sakany is the founder and President of Incubator Creative Group. He is Christian music’s top expert in emerging artist development for the local church marketplace having served as a full-time professional for 30 years. Nate has founded and managed three artist development companies including his own agency, a non-profit educational organization, and Incubator Creative Group (the Christian music industry’s only incubator organization).
