I've always liked the way God boldly announces His own worthiness. There's no false modesty, no holding back about who He is. Declaring openly that He is a jealous God, He is unwilling to share His glory with another. He sees this matter of our focused worship as crucially important so it's refreshing to speak with someone who does the same, especially in this egocentric, celebrity-driven culture. Jami Smith is passionate about seeing God get His due, and she wants desperately to avoid taking even a moment of His glory. Her genuine humility blows across the molten altars of today's media-driven idolatry like the cleansing breezes that follow a summer rain.
At the time of our conversation, Jami had just completed a seminar with 30 high school worship leaders who may have felt fairly challenged by her straight-forward message: if you want to be a rock star, go be one. There's nothing wrong with being a rock star, but there's no room for that motivation in the church. There's only room for one Hero in the church and Jami is adamant about that decisive message.
"We don't need another Christian celebrity taking our attention and affection away from God," she declares. She's counting on church leaders to model this understanding from the front, so others will see this crucial lesson displayed powerfully, as she did herself at an early age. "I was nineteen when I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. I walked out of that show thinking not about him but about God and my relationship with Him. I was so struck by it that I still remember talking to the Lord about it the next day, telling Him that if He'd let me do music ministry I'd want only the same thing. I'd want the audience not to think about me or even my music but for their attention to be drawn completely toward God." Her voice softens as she says, "I have Steven Curtis Chapman to thank for that, and a lot of other mentors and people along the way who taught me the difference between a concert and a night of real worship."
Her humility touches something inside me and I share a thought I've long pondered. Who hasn't wondered what it might be like to have a great voice and sing for adoring masses? But I've also wondered about the problems that might create for my ever-ready ego. Jami knows instantly what I'm talking about and has addressed that very situation on her new CD, "Bravo God."
"We always struggle with our flesh," she laughs, "but we're stuck with it. Still it can be a "Happy Dying," referring to the closing track. "It's going to hurt each day to be crucified to what I want, but it's a happy dying when God uses it to change me. It was death to get here, but I'm elated that He's getting His way with me. Tomorrow morning I will wake up and say, "What kind of death do I need to go through today to experience the joy of having You all over me?"
Her lyrics affirm this philosophy of life:
It's going to hurt/ It's going to break me/ It's going to burn out my pride/ As You change my heart and mind to Your truth.
There is a noticeable absence of false humility as she tells me, "I know that I can't do anything for anyone. In me there is no good except Christ. But if I take the abilities and music He's given me and use them to point everyone to God, then it will be for good." She makes it sound simple but my own ego is strong enough to know that it's not as easily done. Still, my conversation with this focused, unassuming servant of God leaves me hungry for the scent of death in my own life. I realize that her mission has been accomplished even in the course of our own discussion, for I am left contemplating my own relationship with the Lord. Bravo, God.
