‘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
Author:
Kayode Olusoji
A Performing Artists/ Music Business Consultant
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