Where did my worship story begin? I thought about this quite a bit recently and I was tempted to tell the story about my old school buddy and I wanting to start a band and the road that took me on… but then I remembered being in grade six (twelve years old) and singing in a worship team and I was tempted to tell that story too. While these were stories from my early interest into praise and worship – I believe it started much, much earlier than that!
I’ve told you the story of the day I came to know the love of Jesus at the tender age of seven but my interest in praise and worship ministry started even before that. Being a part of a family that was committed to church (and being in a Christian school), meant I was exposed to a lot of church. A lot. We attended every service, every prayer meeting, every home cell… and when we went on holiday – we did those same things with different congregations.
Whenever we’d have these church gatherings, we’d always start with singing. The service would start out with these uplifting, fast-paced tunes with people clapping and smiling all over the room, and then transition to Largo (slow tempo) anthems with congregants’ arms raised and eyes shut.
Where was I during all of this? I was there, next to my parents with my eyes locked in on the people performing these songs. (I say performing because at the time I definitely had no idea what was happening.) My eyes would roam the blue and maroon carpeted stage of our local church in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa. I would see the lead guitarist who hadn’t cut off the excess strings on his guitar, the long scarlet red bass guitar (if you’ve seen me on stage, it might seem like I have come full circle on this one), the Pearl drum set or the massive speakers built into the walls… I was fascinated. It was loud, it was exciting and it caused the people around us to react.
Something inside me stirred up. I wanted to be those people on the stage. At the time, I never realized why or how…besides playing with the sound effects on a Casio piano at home – I had zero musical talent.
As a five-year-old boy, I decided it was time to start my musical journey! I would grab some old paint tins from our storeroom, a set of pencils and set them up on out veranda. This was my stage. This was my time. This was my moment! Well… until I saw a Daddy Long Legs Spider insider one of the paint tins.
I decided to learn – so I’d go to church with my folks and then I would sit down during worship time and I would imitate the drummer as best I can! I would watch his hand movements and his facial expressions and then I would proceed to try those things with my imaginary drumsticks and a “virtual” drum set.
Why am I telling you all of this? Well, I believe it was these building blocks that propelled me towards the praise and worship ministry. It was passion placed deep in my heart and when the time came for me – I cherished every moment. Yes, I had not come to salvation yet, but I believe that God has given us talents, passions and desires that can be used to bring Him glory. God stirred up these things in me way before anything would ever happen so that when I would be given the opportunity – I had NO HESITATION.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2 Verse 10 (New Living Translation)
Much love,
Hayden Hayl’
Who is The Drummer Boy at the top of this post. I was super inspired to post this entry when a friend of mine and genuine worshiper, Marika Joubert sent me a video of her little son jamming away on tins – JUST LIKE ME! I cannot wait to see what the next generation of worshiper accomplish for the Kingdom!
A Worship Diary 