'I Quit Playing in Church' Musicians are walking away! @Johnmike

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[KellBailey]

Please!!! hear the heart of what I’m saying and please don’t assume anything else. The heart of what I communicated in this video is don’t look at church solely to supply your income. If you are gifted/blessed enough to be paid by church be appreciative and get a job to supply more. God should always be the center that goes without saying.

[draedogglawson]

When they church folks don't want to pay, they hit you with the "YOUR REWARD IS IN HEAVEN" stuff 😂😂😂

[writesongs]

Thinking church should be your only or main source is what causes many musicians to resent playing in church.

[csharrisii]

I played at the same church as the "lead musician" for 25yrs and 3mos. I missed FOUR Sundays in that time. One Sunday we had no power, one Sunday we were snowed in, and 2 Sundays for surgeries, one was an emergency, I still tried to make it.... they NEVER paid me more than $150 a week, at one point I gave up half that for a few weeks to pay other musicians on staff. My Pastor decided to only have Worship Service on Saturday (the Sabbath), because of my job, I wasn't able to be there. I had no hard feelings until my replacement came in making more than twice what I received all those years. At this point I will never give another church that kind of commitment again. Very heartbroken.

[VRmission]

I’ve always found this to be interesting. Musicians who play for free for THEIR worship services have a 9-5 through the week and are quite financially stable. But musicians who live exclusively off their gigs have the most money problems, EVEN when they’re earning better than six figures.

This isn’t a Church problem, it’s a personal financial responsibility problem. It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing for, if you lack monetary discipline you’re going to blow through your cash. Professional artists have ALWAYS had this problem.

[Soundofjoy]

Leaving the church musician field freed me from a experience that soured over the 48 years I served. Once you seen the truth you can't unsee

[Melowdee]

This is a financial literacy issue. Wealth is not about how much you make, but how much you keep. Playing at church to get paid and solely relying on that money to live is wild.

[AceKeyz]

I play Bass at church in VA. It’s a relatively small church and we get paid very little. It’s never been about the money as it started off an a volunteer situation. Over time i started getting payments monthly. I’m blessed to have a decent paying 9 to 5 and what I make at church can put a meal or 2 on the table for my family.

[dripking]

I agree I only play drums at church on Sunday and practice couple times a week. With that I have a finance degree working on cause I only do this for fun and to praise the lord because this can’t help me buy a Porsche

[MandyGee]

You can say this about any job/gig. Musicianship isn't any different, but people treat it so because they think all we do is "press keys" and "bang the drums". People don't realize how significant music is and how much of a gift it is. Yes, there's people that go to school for it. Also, we have these major music record labels, which make money off of the music that they put out, so, what makes this different? I think a lot of people are excusing the actions of the pastors not being honest about pay. At the end of the day, we are all trying to make ends meet...doesn't matter how we do it.

[SamDiazCreative]

I never got paid for playing at church as a drummer but i definitely did burn out which after 18 years is why I stopped doing it.

The main problem in my case was how much sometimes these paid mega church music directors on staff would take advantage of those who volunteered there to play because they would require one to practice multiple times a week and then play 6-8 services a weekend on average (which became the norm for me). In my case, I was fine at first because I was starting out and genuinely enjoyed the playing and worshipping aspect of it but after a while I definitely felt the burn out and also the exhaustion of the time commitment they were asking for. I practically had little time to do anything else, especially on weekends with services on both Saturdays and Sundays.

And in my case, whenever I declined playing on a weekend through planning center just to take a break, they would sometimes completely flip out on me and make me feel guilty for not serving that weekend when they had no one else to go to. Yes, one can say I had a problem saying "No" but when you looked up to some of these worship leaders and musical directors, especially early on in your walk with Christ, that guilt stuff for not serving can really get to you.

Anyways, I can go on for hours about all the problems that I saw behind the scenes and had to live through at different mega churches while I served but I totally understand why some musicians do feel the need to be compensated when the church takes advantage of their volunteers in that way. I'm starting to notice that not much has changed at least in the megachurch scene because I feel they care more about putting on a "show" more than creating a genuine worship experience and the sanity of their music volunteers.

[DbiPro]

I work full time Monday to Saturday and the Sunday for church

[johnfollis]

I used to play Bass in Church for about two years give or take. I got payed maybe $30 for that Sunday but to be honest, I didn't care if I got payed or not. I told the Worship Leader that I did not want any money. But he insisted. Well fast forward and 2020 happened. And very bad situations and complications happened and I stopped playing in Church. This made me sit back and reflect on the songs that we were playing. And based on my convictions, I could not play music in Church ever again. Now if I tried, I would absolutely fail miserably. I would probably make a lot of mistakes in my playing. So the days of playing in Church at all, are completely over for me. Never again.

[GospelMusicLife]

I’ve been through some of it all as a musician. I struggled with the idea of getting paid as a musician for years and even the idea of only playing gospel music. Long story but God provided opportunities for me to get paid to play which slowly broke that mental barrier off of me. Even now I believe God has given everyone talents, gifts, abilities or however people want to call them for others and also to help sustain you. Not muzzling the oz is a principle.

Each person needs to seek God on how they fit the bigger picture of the kingdom and how we fit in it. The church is just one aspect of the kingdom and not the whole of it. God needs his people everywhere. No matter what God has given you it’s ok to enjoy the benefits of his blessings. Let the word, the Holy Ghost and your conscience guide you on who he made you to be. We all will make good and bad decisions.

[KevinJohnson-mesn]

I feel you bro! I have been playing drums at my church for 17 years. Yes...the same church. I always thought a lot of these cats that played organ an keys at a lot of these churches and these full time musicians had it going on. Little did I know.... In all honesty, years ago I discovered that a lot of great musicians that I knew were struggling. Their phones were always turned off. They faced evictions and repossessions. They bounced around with different roommates etc. I began to realize that even though I looked up at these folks musicianship, I did not wish to live the life that they did. I began to realize that maybe I should keep music as more of a hobby than anything. 17 years later I am in a career that I love. I do pretty good financially and I still get to play for my church on the side. No knock to the full time musicians. I admire their passion. I just can't do it. I would have progressed so much more musically if I had invested more time into playing. I found out that if you aren't on the big stage, in most cases the money doesn't make sense. Much respect to all of my full time working musicians. I respect the heck outta yall.

[mp-d]

I stopped playing drums at church, but it wasn’t about money. It started to feel like a job and I didn’t like that…I was starting to not like playing. Honestly, before watching this video, I had no idea church musicians got paid. I knew the music directors did because they’re on the staff.

[justanmpowereddude]

I play at church but I also have a full-time job so I don't really worry about church payments, all I ask for is gas money. I truly believe musicians should be paid, but I agree with KB, church is not a full-time job (unless it's a mega church). Your smaller to mid-sized churches realistically cannot afford musicians like KB.

[JTechxx_]

Love your content man keep doing what your doing love it💯💯💯🔥🔥

[Lawson]

Man kell I made $20 a Sunday & what I would never understood was How Many Musicians get paid low from church but speakers and pastors get paid Lots of Money. I Quit church in March and I make way more as a Music producer.

[yanzokikon]

There's a difference between being a paid staff member & a volunteer