Award is
synonymous to prize, honor, reward, gift, grant, trophy, decoration or medal. It
can also be in form of accolade, encomium, applause, ovation, praise, appreciation,
approval, approbation, esteem, admiration, respect as a form of consent to the
fact that someone has excelled in a particular field. It can be a motivating
factor to the receiver to do more, or a way of prompting or stimulating others
to also strive towards excellence.
I have seen many Christians debate the issue of awards among
gospel artists. Some believe it is good while some say it is bad, depending on
the perspective of those who are against it and those who are in support; both
may be right.
Last year, I had some mixed feelings about gospel music
awards when I got some nominations in Italy. My wife and I were nominated in
four categories and we were nominated together in three of those categories.
Apparently, the award body did not even realize that we are couple until much later.
When I saw these nominations, I said how can I be demanding
for votes and my wife will be doing same for the same categories? I looked at
it and said “are we really competing with each other? I said no, we shouldn’t,
we are meant to be complementing each other”. I said to myself, if she wins we
both win and if I win, we both win. After all, the awards will be coming to
same house (smile…)
I think same approach
should go for any award nominations among the gospel artists. That should be
the spirit. We are not supposed to be competing with each other but we should
be complementing one another. Look at the stars in the sky at night; they never
compete with each other. Stars don’t compete but they complement each other. We
are all stars and we can shine in our different capacity. As a matter of fact,
the more the number of stars, the more the illumination. Each star shines in
its own capacity without disturbing the other.
Haven’t said that, from my own perspective, there are
actually two sides to the coin, awards have some benefits provided it is not
abused. It can also be very dangerous if it is abused. Awards can open some
doors of ministries and give you the privilege to reach out to the lost souls
or people who you might not ordinarily have had the opportunity to reach out
to. In our world today, many take secular singers as stars and role models
probably because they are been celebrated more than the gospel artists. Many
youths take to their wrong slangs, styles of music, indecent mode of dressing
and even their ungodly lifestyle simply because they seem to receive the higher
applaud, encomiums and accolades. Looking at Gospel Awards in that perspective
should make you believe that, if those who are supposed to be the REAL role
models are celebrated, it is in order, provided the motive behind the award is
clean and the gospel artists are not distracted.
BENEFIT
OF FAME
Some years ago, the Holy Spirit told me that fame is coming,
that I should pray for the grace to manage the fame. Before this word came to
me, we have been laboring in obscurity for so many years and our music has not
come to limelight. I shared this with my wife and our crew members then, and for
some months, whenever we gather for rehearsals; our prayer was “God give us the
grace to manage this fame”.
There are benefits of fame. The main benefit is to use that
fame to win more souls to the kingdom of God. When God gives you fame it is so
that you can make his name more famous. I remember that after I won my first
award, I was still working in the bank then, a lot of non Christians who would
probably not have listened to my music at all, showed special interest. I had
more opportunities to witness to some friends. Those awards also opened some
international doors for my ministry.
However, we should not lose our focus because of awards. If
winning an award makes me feel that I am really better than others I will be
fooling myself. Just like God told Elisha when he taught he was the only Prophet
who has not bowed down to Baal, there are several thousands of people out there,
who have not won any award and they have not even come into limelight, yet they
are far better than me. Probably because they have not promoted their work well
and nobody knows that such good work exist or may be due to some other factors,
God might just feel it is not yet time for them to be celebrated. Some might
not even be celebrated at all here on earth but God saw all their secret labor
and their heavenly reward will be far greater than that of many who are being
celebrated here. So please tell me, which one is better? Is it for God to
celebrate you or for human beings to celebrate you? I prefer God’s celebration
over that of men.
As a matter of fact, our greatest reward is from God. The
award bodies here on earth might not be able to do justice to some things that
God will look out for when he is going to give us our awards and rewards in
heaven. So, many might win so many awards here on earth and have no award or
reward in heaven. Some might at the same time not be appreciated at all here on
earth, yet when they get to heaven, their crowns will be many and their stars
will be numerous due to the number of souls they have led to righteousness via
their music. So which one are better, earthly awards or heavenly rewards?
I will therefore prefer that I win no award here on earth
and make heaven and get so many rewards than to win so many awards here and
miss heaven. However, if winning awards here on earth will give me the
opportunity to reach out to more people and win more souls; let the torrents of
awards keep on coming in. In as much as that will not make me to lose my focus,
because heaven is my goal.
…watch out for the part 2 of this article
Kayode
Olusoji
A Performing
Artists/ Music Business Consultant
BB Pin:
28B2ED90