I recently had a chance to connect again with Mike Kim of Generation Holy Ministries.  Mike is one of those guys that take the stage and just exudes worship.  He loves God and you really see it when you are with him live.   He just released a new album on iTunes which is a project that always calls for digging deep into the creative center that drives you.

Whether you are leading a worship band, facilitating a Bible Study group or a working in any other ministry for the church, you need continuous inspiration.  I asked Mike to share with us some of his current sources for renewal and refreshment in creativity. . . .

On the other hand, I am also a songwriter and recording artist; the whole point of these things is to draw attention to my songs and myself. This is an even tougher issue for me personally because I really don’t like attention!

Despite that tension I still want to do what I’m called to with excellence and inspiration. Inspiration channeled through creativity, skill, and excellence glorifies God. I try to draw my main inspiration from the Holy Spirit, the place of prayer, the place of His presence. It’s cliché but true; if I want what I do to give true life to people, it needs to come by the spirit. Any song or sermon I’ve written that “worked” was birthed in the place of prayer and worship.

I also try to be very honest about my strengths and weaknesses. It’s not an arrogant thing to know what we’re gifted in. If we know our strengths, we can hone them and offer them in humility. Conversely, knowing our weaknesses forces us to stay small in our own eyes (check my blog on the Praise of Man) and get others involved in kingdom work. Majoring on the minors will cause me to run thin on doing the things I’m gifted at and prevent others from contributing.

My primary assignment right now is to help pastor a church by developing its worship ministry. I try not to be creative outside of what I’m called to; that just burns time and energy. Jealously keeping the main thing the main thing keeps me focused and allows me to soak up inspiration from other streams of ministry that apply to what I’m doing.

Here’s a quick rundown of some current sources of inspiration to me for what I do:

• Bethel Church in Redding, CA – my wife and I got to attend Bethel last summer for one of their conferences. My understanding of what is possible in a local church in terms of pursuing and hosting the presence of God was changed here. It inspired me to stay hungry for God and to see worship as a by-product of that pursuit. Jesus Culture is Bethel’s youth ministry; their worship band is quickly gaining mainstream recognition. I love how they press and stretch people in worship. Their songs are uncomfortably long, in a good way.

• Kent Henry in St. Louis, MO – not many know Kent by name but they know the songs he introduced to the body of Christ. Kent was the worship leader on many of Hosanna! Integrity’s early works and has recorded numerous independent albums. I grew up listening to his tapes (!) and CD’s and my style of leading worship was defined because of him. You can imagine how cool it was for me to get to know Kent personally…we’ve known each other several years now and he is a regular guest at my church. Kent always inspires me because he stays youthful and relevant (it’s pretty fun rockin’ out with a 50+ year old to Hillsong United tunes) and he continually challenges me to intermingle praise with prayer and worship with intercession. That’s had a direct influence on my songwriting as I want my songs to be launching pads for people to pray off of.

• Ross Parsley/New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO – Pastor Ross has given me a model of what a worship pastor is. I know a lot of worship leaders and even worship pastors by title, but I had a hard time finding people who took the aspects of pastoral ministry into the worship department. The title of “worship pastor” in some churches is merely another way of saying “primary worship leader.” I knew there had to be more. I got a chance to sit down with Pastor Ross recently and he shared about building a culture in my team and helped me see what ministry in a megachurch looks like-I wanted to know in case mine becomes one! He’s also been at New Life for almost 20 years, which speaks to me of consistency and longevity.

All this inspiration wouldn’t be worth much if I didn’t have an outlet for it. I gear my endeavors towards the needs of my circle of influence. Being honest with myself involves being honest about what field God has me working in. I write songs based on what we’re going through as a community of believers and try to write and record our albums with excellence so other churches can adopt them if so led. I ask God regularly to give me insight and skill to build our people and ministry like a master-builder. If what we’re doing is good enough to “grow wings” and be used elsewhere, that is great. If not, that’s fine.

What’s really important is that I tend to the field I’m in. It’s easy to focus on touching the world that we fail to touch home. God wants to use us to reach the world, but the road that bears the most fruit goes from the inside out.

I encourage you to pray, worship, stay honest about your assignment and field, staff to your weaknesses, and stay teachable. If you do you’ll be bound to be inspired along the way.

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Mike Kim is a worship leader, pastor, and songwriter.  He currently serves at Church of the Living God and is president of Generation Holy Ministries with the vision to empower and equip all generations through worship and life-transforming truth. Spirit-led and highly congregational, many of Mike’s songs are being sung around the world.