Here we are again. New Years and all of the resolutions, promises, and commitments that go with it. Many people make the same ones year after year and never follow through.

My question to you is simply this. In another year, when you are looking back at 2011 and facing towards 2012, will you still be resolving to learn how to play the piano, bass or guitar (like you are doing right now), or you will be glad that you took some Apostolic Praise courses and learned how to play?

It only takes one year to learn. I had played for years, but in less than a year I learned how to play church music and began to be used.

What made the difference? 1) The right materials 2) commitment and practice 3) opportunity. In that exact order.

You see, I didn't have Apostolic Praise Books when I was learning (oh how I wish I had!). If I had, I might have been playing in less than that year.

I am still learning myself. I will never know it all. Whenever a musician gets to that point that he/she thinks they know it all, you watch...they will soon be stuck in a rut. I realized a long time ago, that when it comes to music, the more you learn, the less you realize that you know.

So why not make a resolution that you be thankful for at the end of 2011? Register for our upcoming Apostolic Praise semester and make your dream a reality. Face it...you know you want to play.

God bless,

Bro. Richard W. Smith

Apostolic Praise School of Music(.com)

The Fastest and Easiest Way to Learn Pentecostal, Contemporary, Southern Gospel, Black Gospel, Gospel Jazz or any Church-Related Style of Music

I once knew a person who loved to light matches and watch them extinguish. I personally have never had the desire to do such a thing. It seems dangerous to me and kind of foolish.

But let me ask you this, as a church musician, are you playing with fire, and if so...what kind?

You see, it can have more than one meaning.

I have known people who thought that practicing songs by secular musicians would teach them licks and runs and help them to play better for church. To me, this is the wrong kind of playing with fire. This is not only dangerous, but silly. Why would you want to try to use the things of the world to glorify and worship God? Surely God is not pleased with such an offering, for he killed those in the Old Testament who dared offer him "strange fire."

Yet, the kind of fire I want to play with is nothing more than that old-fashioned "Holy Ghost and fire." Also known as "the anointing." There is nothing more powerful than a musician who has dedicated and consecrated himself to God through much prayer and practice. One who refuses to lift up a sacrifice of "strange fire" or try to offer God "meat that has been sacrificed to idols." One who knows how to follow the leading of the Holy Ghost in a service. That is the kind of anointed "playing with fire" that I want.

Can practicing with or listening to secular (anything with lyrics that are not Christian) make a better musician? Sure, but it depends on what your definition of "better musician" is...and what kind of fire you want to play with.

God bless,

Bro. Richard Smith