This week, I had the privilege of interviewing someone really close and special to me about what it means to serve within our home church, Crossroads. My dad, Steve Dietrich, has been one of the main bass players on the worship team for over five years. I asked him a few questions about how he got started serving, how it is impactful to him and others, and why he believes serving is such an important part of our Sunday church life.

E: How did you first get involved in serving at the church?

S: I was taking a bible study class and Jennifer, the girl that sang with the worship team, was in the same class with me. I had talked to her before but we started talking about my best friend Eddie, who she ended up knowing as well, and she goes, “I used to serve on the worship team with him at another church. Do you play an instrument?” I said, yeah, me and him have been in bands together since we were 15 years old. She goes, “Oh my God, what do you play” and I said bass guitar. And she said, “So you play bass? You have to try out for the worship team!” And I was like nah, I love the music but I’m a heavy metal guy, I don’t see myself playing Christian music. And she goes, “You got to try out for the team.” I was like yeah I don’t think so. And she said she wouldn’t leave me alone if I didn’t try out for the team. So I said okay fine, I’ll try out for the team. So that’s how I tried out for the worship team and of course I failed the first audition and it made me upset because the situation was a little weird. They threw me up there, and I didn’t know how to work the equipment and I was all a mess. Matt, the worship leader told me I didn’t make it and I reached back out to him saying that this stuff is easy because I've played Zeppelin and Rush and all these bands for years. This stuff is pretty simple and I learned it how it was played on the recording. I said, Joey, the bass player you guys have now, plays it different than I did but I played it like it was on the recording. I said if you want, I can play it like Joey plays it but it’s different. And he messaged me back and said “Hey dude, yeah I listened to the recording, you’re right, you were playing it exactly like it was on the recording. I apologize, would you mind coming back out again on Wednesday?” So I learned the new songs, played with just the recording and he said I nailed it and I made the team!

E: What’s something you’ve learned about yourself through serving?

S: With playing bass all my life, I always wondered why I learned how to play bass and why God gave me the talent to do that. When I played up there on the stage for the very first time and I blew out my leg because of the excitement, I realized then and there that’s why God put the bass in my hand was to play for Jesus. I just knew right then and there. I learned that I’ve been playing bass all my life for one reason. And that was to worship God with it. And it took me 40 years to figure that out.

E: Can you share a time when you realized your service was impacting others, even in small ways?

S: That’s a hard question only because I don’t like to bring attention to myself I guess? It was different when I was playing in the band with Eddie. You know, we were there to have fun and to look cool in front of the girls and stuff like that, you know, when we were younger. So that was for me. I was playing for me. I wasn’t playing for God then, I was playing for myself and for the people I was playing for. But being on stage now, I mean, I hear people coming up to me all the time and they say, “Wow, I love watching you play and I could just see that the Holy Spirit is all over you when you’re up there jumping around and you could just feel the joy coming off of you when you’re on stage playing.” So I mean, I actually had one person come up to me and said that he felt God, the Holy Spirit, come on him when he watched me up there on the stage playing. But I shrugged it off when he told me that because I don’t like to bring attention to myself because yes I’m doing it for me because I feel closer to God when I’m playing on stage, then I feel any other time. But I’m not doing anything special, I’m just doing what God has me do. But evidently, it’s had some effect on the congregation that watches me up there for some reason. I can’t explain it, that’s just what they tell me and it’s hard for me to take any credit because it’s not me that’s doing it, it’s God that’s doing it. God’s using us as a vessel to bring people closer to him. They feel the Spirit through the music.

E: What would you say to someone who’s nervous or unsure about getting involved in serving?

S: Well I was! What would I say? Well sometimes, people need a kick in the butt like I did. But you shouldn’t let that stop you. When you’re serving God, it makes you feel closer to Him when you’re doing something for Him. In other words, you use a talent or something you know that you’re doing specifically for Him. It just gives you that feeling that you can’t get any other way. So why would you not want to have that feeling if you can get it? If you can feel closer to God doing something that He gave you the talent for. It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s working a soundboard, playing a bass guitar, singing or just taking care of a kid because you’re good with kids. Or even if you’re great at making coffee and you give somebody a wonderful cup of coffee and it makes their day just that much better for having it when they’re there at the church. You can make people feel special by doing something special for them and doing it for God in the process. It just gives you that feeling that you can’t get doing anything else so why wouldn’t you want to do it? It’s just a matter of taking a leap of faith.

E: How has serving changed the way you see your church family?

S: When you serve on a team of people whether it’s in the cafe, or on the baptism team, on the worship team or production team, you feel like you’re part of a family. It makes you feel even closer to the people that you’re with because you’re all doing it for the same purpose and goal. And it just makes you feel connected with those people because you have that same passion. Especially if, you know, you’re a musician or a vocalist on the worship team, you feel more connected to that group of people because you’re working together to get the same goal across. So it makes you feel apart of the family.

E: Why do you think serving is important to the church as a whole?

S: Well if people don’t serve, how does the church work? You can’t have a church without people that serve. I mean obviously you have to have a preacher and elders, people that take out the trash and clean the bathrooms. You have to have people that watch the kids or teach the kids. The more people that you have serving at the church, the better the church is and the better the church can do for people. I mean, I’ve been to small churches before, really small churches with like 15, 20 people and that’s it. But even with a church that small, you need people to work together to provide that atmosphere where you can worship because if you don’t have that, you don’t have a church. I mean, you can worship from your house, or just with your family but how do you get up and sing a joyful noise to the Lord if you don’t have a band leading you or somebody leading you with a guitar or something like that. Without people in the church working together, to accomplish that goal, you don’t have a church.