The path of Beth Champion Mason’s life has been a series of twists, turns, and surprises, from her early days on the piano, to the later, darker days of addiction.
But she who has been forgiven much loves much. Mason is back on track and her latest CD, the delightful "Postcards," pours out her joy to be home.
She laughed when I asked her about the pattern of surprises in her life, and was eager to share the latest one. "The biggest surprise the Lord has had for me lately is the way He is redirecting my thoughts for the future away from concert and performance type music, and leading me toward worship music. And that's a pretty big surprise to me," she laughs, "even though I love worship and have led worship for a number of years. But though a lot of my music is worshipful, it hasn't necessarily been congregational-worship style music. But over the last six to twelve months, every sign is pointing toward worship music. It's not the way I thought I'd be going, so right now I'm kind of waiting on continued leading."
I knew from reading about her that Beth had been serving God as a worship leader in her home church for a while. "Yes," she said. "I was the worship leader for several years, but earlier this year I stepped down, as my travel schedule had increased so much. I still sing with the praise band and lead worship on occasion, but I can't be the regular worship leader right now."
It does seem as though the Lord has his hand on that touring schedule as well. Beth shares, "It seems more and more of my concerts have become worship concerts, where maybe half the music is worship, songs that I'm encouraging the people to sing along with me. And I think that is the direction in which God is leading me now, to write more of those types of songs." Her warm voice is filled with wonder as she says, "I'm saying, Okay, Lord. What am I going to be doing with these songs? I'm not a regular worship leader in a church right now, so I'm not really sure what lies ahead. But it's really one of those times when if it's a God thing, it will happen. The doors will just open. As I look over my schedule for the next 6-8 months, probably 75% of my dates are worship events. Maybe I'll sing a few feature songs, but for the most part I'm leading worship. That's where He's put me right now," she says. I can't see Beth's face, but I have a feeling she is smiling as she adds, "I really feel like I'm most at home when I'm on stage but the people aren't looking at me. They're looking at Him."
It is the delicate balance of music ministry and music career, the balance that sincere Christian artists work hard to keep aligned correctly, not an easy task. But the music of Beth Champion Mason clearly flows first from the heart of a called worship leader, and after listening to "Postcards," I'm not surprised at all.
