Integrity Music: What has
been the greatest challenge you've faced since you began
pursuing music as a calling and a career?
Paul Baloche: Balancing ministry and music with
marriage and family. Ministry and music are very "consuming"
endeavors. They require lots of emotional time and energy that
has to come from somewhere. It has been a lifelong pursuit to
keep things in balance.
Integrity Music: What has been the most profound
lesson you've learned about worship over the past few years?
Baloche: That worship is a journey and God is
always the goal. That real worship is our relationship with God
and how we live our lives in the context of a 24/7 relationship
with the person of Jesus. Singing, dancing, making music, etc.,
are simply "expressions" of our love affair with our Creator and
Savior.
Integrity Music What is the most profound lesson
you've learned about life over the past few years?
Baloche: That busyness is the enemy of
intimacy. Our souls long mostly for intimacy with God, but many
of us are choking on the busyness of life. I'm constantly
looking for ways to simplify my life and make time to just "be"
with God, to just "be" with my wife and children. I'm overcoming
my "Martha disease." I'm trying to be more like Mary who sat at
the feet of Jesus. THAT seemed to bless Jesus' heart more than
Martha's constant activity.
Integrity Music: What is the most common
misunderstanding about worship you see in the current worship
climate, and how have you tried to reshape it?
Baloche: That worship is music. I'm only trying
to reshape it in my life for now. Music is such a powerful
force. I can see why it is so easy to make "it" so important,
but we have to keep reminding ourselves to focus on the Giver
more than the gifts.
Integrity Music: What does 'worship lifestyle' mean
to you?
Baloche: Worship lifestyle means pursuing the
greatest command: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind,
and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That’s
easier said than done. My focus is to daily surrender
my will to His, trying to live a lifestyle of repentance,
keeping short accounts with God and asking forgiveness all
through the day if need be. Also, loving my wife and children.
Before we can "love the world," we have to start with those who
live with us first.
Integrity Music: This is kind of the desert island
question. What are the five ministry essentials you could not do
without?
Baloche: Love, humility, commitment, a servant
heart, laughter, transparency and music (oops, that makes
seven).
Integrity Music: How do you explain the powerful
connection between music and worship expression?
Baloche: It is a mystery why music is one of
the most powerful and most meaningful ways to express what is in
our hearts. It has a way of short-cutting past the intellect and
aiming right for the heart. There is a deep emotional part of us
that longs to "experience" rather that just "know" something
intellectually. Music is one of those gifts from God that helps
us connect to Him on a deeper level.
Integrity Music: Describe one of the most compelling,
most powerful worship experiences you’ve had and tell how that
affected you as a worshiper and as a leader since that time.
Baloche: I can't seem to put my finger on just
one, but I have been in a corporate worship many times and have
been overcome by the strong presence of the Invisible God. In
the early days of playing guitar with Kelly Willard, every time
we would worship together, there were moments I could hardly
stand. I would find myself crying and/or laughing as we sang our
heartfelt prayers to God. That kind of experience ruins you for
anything else, kind of turns you into a "God-addict." It makes
you want to spend the rest of your life encouraging others to
"go there" with you.
Integrity Music: What compels you to write new songs
for worship?
Baloche: Writing songs is like "God therapy"
for me. It has always been the main way that I can work out my
salvation with the Lord. By journaling, writing out my prayers,
and putting them into simple songs, I find it easier to sort
through the stuff of life and keep my relationship with Him
fresh. I also love the privilege of putting words in the mouths
of God's children towards Him. To know that a person is
connecting with Jesus in a deep way by singing one of your
prayer songs to Him is very satisfying.
Integrity Music: What person has influenced your
ministry/your music the most and how?
Baloche: Kelly Willard, Lenny LeBlanc, and my
wife, Rita. They always display an honest humility. They are
real in their walk with God and in how they express it in their
music and ministry style. They also pulled out of me things I
never knew were there. They have been "Jesus with a skin on" to
me by their encouraging words and lifestyle.
This article courtesy of
Songs4Worship.com
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