Ronnie Murchison and Josh Powell | Preaching Mission-Mindedness Pt. 2

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome back to Words of Life.

I'm Bernie Dake. And I'm Cheryl Gillum. And with us again is Lieutenant Colonel Carol Seiler. Welcome, Carol. Thank you.

Good to be here. So last week we began a two-part discussion on how we encourage a congregation to be mission-minded through preaching and leadership. Today, we're continuing this conversation by asking the same question, but how we use worship and the arts to do the same.

Yeah, this interview was a roundtable discussion with myself, our friend Josh Powell from transmission and Ronnie Murchison. These guys have great insight to this because in Josh's case, he's been able to create music and lead music for people that are being prepared to be on missionary service. The Salvation Army has something called Salvationist Service Corps each summer. And Josh is a part of that worship leadership in the week before they get ready to go on their missions.

Yeah, the orientation. And Ronnie is a Salvationist from the Pennsylvania area and then lived in New Jersey. And he married a Panamanian Salvation Army officer's daughter. And he and his wife have been able to travel to Panama and other places around the world and minister in both Spanish and English with music specifically as the emphasis of their ministry. If you've missed any episodes from this series, subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Well, what an incredible privilege it is to be back on Words of Life and this time with some dear brothers of mine in the form of Ronnie Murchison and Josh Powell, who's the leader of transmission right here at the Salvation Army's territorial headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. But both of them have really an interesting story and a passion for worship leadership. And I want to talk to them about that. Tell everybody a little bit about where you've come from on a musical journey for the Lord.

Ronnie? I started maybe about my third year in college. I didn't have the wisdom to stay because I thought I was better off doing some other things, but a bit misguided in that area. But I found myself able to travel and sing and do some small levels of touring all over the country and leading worship and, I guess, cutting my teeth, if you will, in a semi-pro type of thing, opening up for various artists and just being a part of that community. And the Lord took me from that to sat me down for a while, and I began to just learn the importance of my fellowship with him. And it was a hard lesson, but in leading, I had to learn that first God has to be the one to lead, to take the lead, and for me to hold on to him as he transitions. Worship is not necessarily just through music, but it's my entire lifestyle, whatever it is, is that everything must be wrapped up inside of my worship orientation. We are grateful for your ministry, Ronnie.

Josh, same question. I mean, what's the musical journey that brings you here? Yeah, so I started getting the bug for playing guitar and singing and leading worship actually from what actually is the precursor to transmission. My good friend, Marty Michaels, was leading a group called Quarter Past Three back in, I think I saw them in 2002 at a youth conference. And there's just something that kind of stirred inside me, and I said, man, that looks like a lot of fun.

I would really like to do that. So I came home, bought a guitar, and I just kept working at it and eventually moved to Atlanta a few years later. And this dude, Marty, who I had seen as a young kid at youth councils, he asked me to come and play with him for a couple of things. And one thing led to another, and I started playing with transmission, which was really cool.

Then Marty moved on to take another opportunity, and this opportunity was here. And it just seemed like a good step for me and a natural fit because we already had good cohesiveness with the group. So I started leading transmission at that point.

So I've been doing this since 2016, I think. And yeah, it's been a whirlwind. I hope if you are out there, you're looking for something encouraging, check out Ronnie Murchison, check out transmission. Kudos to both of you for using your gifts for the Lord.

And you've certainly been an encouragement to me with all the things that you've let God do through you. Now, last week we discussed how we encourage mission mindedness from preaching and leading. But how do we do the same type of thing with worship in the arts?

Let's get into the deep end of this pool. Ronnie, how can we get into preaching and leading with worship arts and being mission minded? I think that it starts with from discipleship, from the beginning, learning what true discipleship is and learning what your role in worship leading and creative arts and just worship arts in general, as well as whatever your craft is, if you're a musician, if you're not, if you're an artist in some way, whatever it is, it's important to understand that, to research it, to do the work.

I've realized that in today's time, we don't really want to do the work that goes into it to make you just on the level, just like a better pianist or a better guitar player or a better drummer, whatever it is, you got to put the work in. But in that you have to the entire time, and here's what's dangerous, I believe, is that in putting, when you put the work in, you still have to remember that you are a disciple of Christ and you have to make sure that those walls of discipline stay around you to focus you and direct you into the direction of worshiping God. I would encourage anyone to recognize and know that it's important to maintain the connection with the Spirit of God because if you don't, you can lead a whole mess of people down a road that they shouldn't be going down because they're following you. And once you make that connection with your audience and with your band members and so on and so forth, we have to be careful, and it's a responsibility that comes with that, with the anointing of God.

Same question, Josh. How can you encourage mission-mindedness from a place of leading and teaching? I feel like worship is the chief calling of all creation. So, as worship leaders, we have the unique opportunity to basically build a platform for people to worship from. So, we create a united atmosphere, a united platform for people to jump from to worship.

But I also think that our mission is to worship, but our mission is also to make disciples of all nations. So, logistically, as I'm picking songs for our times of worship, I have to be thinking, there's going to be somebody here who doesn't know Christ, who hasn't made that commitment. So, there has to be some gospel-centric theme to the songs I'm choosing because the gospel will preach regardless of how it's presented. And one of the things I love about music in general is that it's the universal language. All cultures and nationalities have some form of music, and so when we incorporate the gospel into what we sing, I think it sinks down into people's hearts and souls and it stirs them.

So, as far as mission-mindedness, that's what I'm thinking. There has to be some sort of gospel-centric theme to the set that I'm choosing as we worship. Today, particularly in the United States of America, we work and worship in many different places, and it could be miles from one facility to the next or even from your home. How can we encourage our congregations to get outside of the walls of their own church?

I mean, I think part of our goal, and I mean, Ronnie would... I'll let him answer as well, but I think part of our goal as worship leaders is to encourage all people to worship. So, we have to sometimes get creative in the way that we approach this. And like I said, I try to choose songs that have the gospel within them, but there are a lot of other songs, particularly in the Salvation Army tradition, where we can be mission-minded in the songs that we choose. There's songs that speak about, you know, going out and reaching the lost and saving them and bringing the whole world to Christ. And, I mean, just in the songs that we sing, we encourage our own people, our own congregations, to think missionally, to think outside the walls, to think how can we take the gospel, take the message of Jesus Christ out of this place into my community, into my spheres of influence, and ultimately make an impact for the kingdom.

Ronnie, how could you address that? How do we get our congregations to get outside the walls of their own building? I think that the model that has been put in place is still viable. I think it still works. I just think that it needs to be revamped when we talk about open airs, when we talk about, you know, a lot of evangelism now up in Chicago, what are they doing?

What's his name? Kanye West having church in a park or what have you, and people come in droves, you know, and if you think of Salvation Army and its origins, this was what we were doing originally. You know, this is what the church was doing, and it's not a brand new concept. You know, it's just a matter of having the, I don't want to say the goal, but just the innate ability to remember, almost to say, remember who you are, not necessarily remember the way you did it, but remember who you are as a soldier, you know, in the army of the Lord. You know, you got to battle a fight. You know, real quick story, I remember being in New York City on the corner of when they used to let you be in Times Square, you know, Times Square, just setting up and playing weekend after weekend, and then all of a sudden, you know, people would come.

I mean, it didn't matter where they were from. It was, you know, everybody's traveling, and they would come in droves, and they would just gather around, and we're singing, Lord, I need your Holy Spirit, and these folks with cups in their hands, some folks drinking, some folks smoking, you know, they end up literally singing and jumping and everything else, and I know they're having fun, but there's a mission in that. There's something that we could grab onto, something that we could hold onto, and we still can do it. We just have to not be afraid, you know.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani I appreciate that. And a church that is only looking inward would have trouble growing. I mean, we have to do something outside our walls.

Eric Barger Yeah. There have been times where we've gone out like, for instance, we played at an event in Tampa at the Tampa Lightning Hockey Arena, and they let us set up outside on the small stage and as, you know, an arena full of fans were coming in and out of this arena, we were able to play songs of the gospel to these people. So they, you know, there may have been, you know, even if there were, you know, just a couple of people that actually stopped and just thought about what it is, what we were singing, that's the gospel reaching people in their world, on their turf. So we're taking it to them.

So that's the idea. I think today, especially after last year, we can't discount the value of virtual worship as well. So I think the virtual world like Facebook, YouTube, that kind of becomes the new open air for us, because we'll have, I don't know, a hundred people inside our core building, our church building, but we'll have people from all over the world tuning in with us to watch the live stream. Those are people that we would never have been able to touch before, you know, we started to do virtual worship, virtual services, but now we have an ability to reach people beyond the four walls of our church.

There's not enough time in the day for me to engage both of you, because I could talk to either of you for hours. Be encouraged, get out there, beat the drum for Jesus. Let's win the world in a real sense for the Lord so that more people can come to know Him in the right way. Guys, thank you so much for your support. Ronnie, we love you.

Bless you, man. Josh, we love you too. We're looking forward to what both of you are bringing to the airwaves.

And if you're performing anywhere, we want to get out there and support you guys so we can be encouragement to you and to those that will hear you for the good of the kingdom. Thank you for your willingness to give of yourselves. God bless you both. Thanks, Bernie.

All right. Bless you, man. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

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