Light A Fire

Sometimes lighting a fire feels like you’re using soaking-wet wood. It’s impossible despite your best efforts. Other times, the gas-lit fire practically jumps on you.

There’s a running joke my friend Allen and I have. We had a youth event, and all great youth events involve fires. We were first grilling and then planned to have a bonfire to cap off the night.

I was feeling rushed and really wanted the grill to get lit. Now, this wasn’t your average grill—no little propane tank Walmart jobbie. This beast was a cement block permanent outdoor grill measuring about three feet deep by twelve feet long by four feet high.

I had recently put a new wire mesh on top of the 3/4-inch rebar top that had, in years past, been used to grill a whole hog. This baby was ready for its newly upgraded maiden voyage of cooking delicious meats—well, at least the youth group version of delicious meats: hot dogs.

I had gathered the wood and was trying my best to light it. I hurriedly poured some gas on it and set the can aside. I struck a match and threw it into the gas-soaked wood.

To my surprise (but probably not yours), that agile fire flew from the pile of wood to my gas can! Whoa. I grabbed the can and threw it a distance away, stomping out the fire that seemed to be everywhere.

My friend Allen came over to assist and mumbled something about leaving the fire building to the adults. The nerve!

In case you didn’t know, gasoline fumes are even more flammable than the gas itself. You have to be very careful because gas doesn’t actually burn in its liquid state; it only burns when it becomes a vapor. So it may seem harmless, but it’s far from it!

Here are two important takeaways, the second being way more than the first.

First, when you’re starting a fire for this summer’s worship team get-together, don’t use gas. They make these handy fire starter bricks you CAN buy at Walmart. Or better yet, ask one of your knowledgeable outdoorsmen (or women) to build it for you.

Second, when you’re launching a new worship leader, make sure you set them up for an easy win. Something that feels more like lighting dry tinder than wet logs. Here’s what I mean.

I asked my then-16-year-old daughter Clementine to lead a song at church with us. She was unsure and a bit nervous (aka “No way, Dad!”), but after a little encouragement, she softened.

I chose her to lead a song I knew the congregation would sing. You probably have the same thing at your church - there are songs that the congregation sings louder than your band plays. The song Jesucristo Basta (meaning basically “Jesus is enough”) is one of those songs at our church.

The first line is “Nuestros corazones…” (our hearts), and by the time she sang the second line, “insaciables son” (are insatiable), the crowd took over. Louder and louder they sang in a steady crescendo to the chorus. As a first-time leader, she lit it up! This was a huge confidence boost. And when you’re launching new leaders, they desperately need confidence!

So the takeaway is when you give a new leader the chance to lead a song, make it one the congregation knows and loves. We owe it to them to set them up well so they don’t get burned.

-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)

Light A Fire (Nº 429)