Drummer's are Supposed to Keep The Beat

Let's imagine that I was at a conference at some point where there was a drummer on stage. In this hypothetical situation you could imagine that this drummer was actually a very talented young person who had a bright future as a drummer and you would not think that this blog was in any way a slam on said drummer...

But here is one thing I understand about drummers: the fundamental purpose of drummer is to keep the beat...agreed? Sure, they add a lot more then just the tempo, but there isn't anyone else in the band that will pick up the slack on the beat if the drummer decides to play without a click track.

So if you were at this hypothetical conference with me trying to sing a great song like Hosanna (for instance) you might be a little distracted if the drummer started at about 60 beats per minute and ended at about 100 beats per minute.

He might have had great fills, an incredible amount of passion, he might have been worshipping and carrying the weight of the musical experience, but when all was finished he would have neglected his central purpose as the drummer...he would have failed to keep the beat!

One thing I have learned as a leader in my short experience is that it is easy to get caught up in the passion of circumstances, pressures, or exciting moments in ministry and lose sight of my main purpose - to cast vision and lead people. I might develop great systems, or put together phenominal reports. I might extinguish fires, or pull off great announcements, but at the end of the day none of that matters if I fail to keep the beat.

Taking a lesson from the drummer, keep the primary purpose in focus and if you can't do it all make sure to at least keep the beat...the guitarist can alsways jump in with a cool solo, but no one else is watching the metronome!