Are you struggling to handle the reality
of being a creator or performer while
holding down a full-time traditional
job? You're not alone. In so many ways,
it can feel like your traditional career
is a step back or even a punishment from
God for not having faith enough to step
out and do creator work full-time. But
there's another side to this common
struggle. And we're talking about it on
today's episode of the God and Gate
Show. And by the end of this episode,
you'll see that having a full-time
nine-to-five job might not mean that
you're only giving partial effort to
your God-given creative goals.
For the last two weeks or so, this has
been showing up on my feed of people
sharing how difficult it is to make that
mental and emotional shift from
everybody cheering with you, singing
with you. Maybe if it's not performing,
maybe it's uh speaking, maybe it's
whatever in your creative element that
you're just enjoying yourself. And then
flip the page, it's back to Monday, it's
back to a 9 to5 corporate, it's back to
n those two people who are gifted
singers and friends of mine are in
corporate situations. They're filing,
they're health insurance, they're doing
office work. I've seen many where people
are doing pool work, doing manufacturing
in a warehouse, they're in a retail
situation. That's just regular full-time
9-to-five work. And it's always feels
weird even when I say regular, right?
Because I don't want to and I you'll see
this in my points in a second. This is
not to demean those other forms of work
cuz many of you are in those forms and
you're saying that's what I do and I
enjoy it. It's not lower, but this is
where so many of us, the way that so
many of us performers struggle is
because of the disconnect between the
artist and the responsibility of I got
to pay the bills. I got to do this
totally different job that I'm either
good at or I have to do, but it does not
fit what I feel God has called me to do
in the creative realm. Now this literal
platform God and gigs is written or
created was written and a book was
written because of this dichotomy
between religious spiritual work in the
church and doing secular/ mainstream
work as a creative as a musician. So
this entire platform has always been
about how do you balance the two worlds
of doing one thing and then doing
another thing or how do you keep your
values intact as you do both. Now this
is not necessarily switching between
music and you know music inside the
church and music outside the church as
my first book was but it is about trying
to keep your mindset clear between doing
what you do as a creator and what you
most likely are doing to pay the bills
or whatever either reason that you are
lifestyle. So good to see Micah in the
building and um he said my church is too
good to be ashamed. I love it. Look,
he's already talking real. We are
already talking real. So Michael from
Jacksonville uh has been on the podcast
by the way. I want I can't remember
which episode you were on, but you
shared about your lifestyle about how
you have managed to work in your
creative lifestyle on your clothing
brand even while also keeping your other
full-time job which is also in the same
industry. Go check that out. If you go
look up Micah's um look up Micah's
episode and you'll be able to see what
we're talking about. So, I do have some
points on this. So, I want to make sure
you guys follow me here. I'm going to
try to go both spiritually in terms of
how creators and artist performing
artists generally. We're talking mostly
performing artists, but that's okay if
we're not talking about specifically
performing artists and you feel like,
okay, this doesn't have anything to do
with me because I don't sing. But most
likely you have some creative gift that
you have to set aside at times, right?
You start with this is what I love to
do. I love to sing, write, dance, play,
whatever that is creatively. And then on
the other side, I got to pay bills. I
got to be in the office. I got to do
this is the first PL point I want to
make sure that we make clear. Um, so
we're going to kind of make sure you
have a a term for this. And what we're
talking about is biocational life. When
I say biocational, I simply mean doing
two different jobs. So when you see
this, I want you to make sure you all
feel the understanding of a biocational
life. You can be called to more than one
thing. A vocation is literally that. It
means to call vocal, right? So Latin
means to be called. So your vocation is
a calling. And here's where I want to
make sure that you guys hear my heart on
You are called to be a creator. But
before you're called to be a creator,
you're called to live a life of
fulfillment, of productivity, and of
giving honor to God. That's truly our
calling first before you have the
specific callings of a particular job or
career. So God didn't call you to be
just a creative. He called us to be sons
and daughters of him and his his plan
and purpose in the world and then we
walk it out in certain ways. So first I
want to make sure that you see that a
bio vocational life is an asset not an
indictment. Just because you have to do
or find yourself in two different areas
does not mean that your first calling
whatever you want to call it which you
feel is your highest calling what might
be to creative life to creative work to
singing to playing to dancing um to
theater right just because you are
called and you have a certain skill set
and God gave it to you does not mean if
you adopt another career and another
vocation that you have suddenly alien
alienated yourself from the first one.
And I've got scripture to back me up on
all of these because there are so many
prophets and teachers and major
characters of the Bible who were
We could easily start right beside
Genesis and Moses and Exodus, right? We
can start right there and say right
there that Moses was called. But of
course, before he was called to be the
leader of Israel, he was a shepherd,
right? He was out there, what my
preachers like to say, on the back side
of the desert. before he was even a
deliverer of people, he was also a
prince and he was learning all the ways
of Egypt, which is the only reason that
God, not the only reason, but one of the
key reasons that God was able to call
him to be this one to speak to Pharaoh
was because he knew how Pharaoh worked.
He had been raised in the Egyptian
courts. So his biocational nature was an
asset, not a liability. So this is where
I want to make sure that you guys are
seeing already that in scriptural is and
and the way of looking at scripture
doing two different things does not mean
you're alienated from your calling. It
actually might be the thing that you
should be leaning into understanding
that God's called you to these two
different areas, but you can still
operate in both. So I can go to again,
let's jump ahead to Jesus. If you look
at what Jesus did, Jesus was a carpenter
son, a artisticians, right? He was the
carpenter in the Hebrew, the way that we
looked at it in the Bible, wasn't really
like just like making wood. It was more
like a mason, more like someone who
built and created things. So you think
of someone who was a woodworker, a stone
worker, a stone craftsman might be a
better word for it. So even Jesus was
biocational. It makes it clear even when
they started his ministry that other
people supported his needs which means
other people had to stay in their
business. Even though Paul I mean Peter
and James all them left their fisherman
nets other people had to do the work
that a normal person would do to raise
funds to be able to do the work of the
ministry. And again we're not talking
about only ministry. I'm just giving you
where bioivocational life is the
pattern. It's the pattern. Even the
priests in the Old Testament that were
when when when they aged out, I guess
you could say, the Bible says they went
back to their fields. So priests even
even in the Bible had this understanding
that hey if I'm not working in the
temple I'll be working over here outside
of these particular areas of ministry.
So if biocational life is acceptable
for the preachers for the prophets and
even for Jesus why wouldn't it be
acceptable for the creatives? Why
wouldn't it be understood that creators
aren't always going to be in a creative
space? That it's actually the assumption
that at some point each one of these
faith leaders was also called and
basically told I guess it's total were
forced to work in other areas. So that's
the first kind of like foundational
thing I want to make sure that we say
that you have to be clear with yourself
inside yourself that being in two
different areas and this is where we
kind of talk about identity versus
worrying about feeling like you are not
called to be a creative if you've got a
full-time job. This is about mindset.
So that's the first thing that being a
biocational person is an asset not an
indictment. The second thing, doing work
with a spirit of honor honors God.
Why am I saying this? Because once
again, we got to make sure that we don't
have the wrong picture of the work we're
doing outside of our creative work.
Here's where I can tell you a little bit
about about my story. So, as some of you
know, I started uh after college
straight into I gave up any idea of
performing and my my band had kind of
broken up and it was just like, okay,
we're not going to make money doing this
being a, you know, being trying to be
like Prince and the Time and Earthwind
and Fire like that's not going to work.
We're going to go ahead and just break
up the band. And I went straight into
teaching as a full-time teacher. Now you
might say, "Okay, that's close to being
creative because I was a music teacher."
But as you all the teachers know,
there's very little music. Music that
goes into the music profession is 99.9%
just teaching and tests and lesson plans
and maybe there's a tiny bit of
creativity that you can do when it comes
to working with the kids and writing
music for them and sudden such. But that
wasn't really my creative bent. Right
now teaching was as all intents and
purposes a traditional job. All this
time, of course, I was performing uh
well, not performing, I was ministering.
I wasn't doing gigs yet. So, I was
ministering in church. So, that was my
creative outlet was in church.
All that to say that as I started to
realize that, wow, okay, I'm in these
two areas, I need to make sure I give
while I am in the area that I'm in. So,
I could not give half of my attention to
teaching while trying to think of, you
know, um, oh, what are we going to sing
tonight? What are we going to play
tonight? I needed to be fully present in
my classroom to give the students what
they deserved. I had to be fully
present. Now that I do um, church work,
but I'm in the office is again might
say, okay, well, you're a creative and
you get to be inside the church. That's
great. like doing receipts and all that
kind of stuff is not the creative part.
And so there's so much of this where you
have to say to yourself, okay, I'm here.
I have to do this. I am in a place where
I'm paying the bills. I'm taking care of
this. How do I show up and honor where I
am and do what the Bible says, which is
do everything as unto the Lord. So, I
would love to hear some comments, by the
way, whether you've ever struggled with
showing up inside a noncreative space
fully present. Because the reason I'm
saying doing work with a spirit of honor
honors God means whatever work you're
doing if it's corporate if it's
warehouse it's whatever if it's not your
the why the the way to get out of that
kind of feeling that you don't belong
and that is so hard to put down your mic
and pick up a uh a spreadsheet is
whether or not you can show up fully in
both areas not feeling like you're
missing out on something. If you're
doing the work with a spirit of honor
and that you honor God, God gives you
the understanding that you're not
suddenly less loving, less loving, less
loved. You're not less honored and
you're not honoring God less when you
are operating in a noncreator
atmosphere. So, doing that work with a
spirit of honor means you show up with
your full self even when you're not
doing the work you're passionate about.
And this is where, like I said, it may
be a kind of like a harsh reminder, but
I hope Thank you so much. See you,
Terry. Thank you for joining us from
Columbus, Ohio. Um, this is where I want
to make sure that again that I address
not whether you should work a full-time
job to survive or whether artists should
make full-time incomes, but let's
address where you are. Let's address
that you are working a full-time job,
that you are trying to balance all the
things that are going on in your life.
And if you see it through the right
lens, God can use it as an asset to your
creator lifestyle. And this is why I've
used this term for like the last year
now, maybe a year and a half. When I say
my creator lifestyle, your creator
lifestyle can include full-time work and
not have anything to take away from what
God called you to in that creative space
as a musician, as an artist, as a
singer. That does not take away from
your calling. Your identity is not just
in your creative work. Okay? So that's
why I want to make sure that you have
this mindset that doing work with a
spirit of honor, you honor the work that
you do. You honor the boss that you're
performing for. You honor the person
that you are doing the spreadsheets for.
You honor the person that you show up to
do the taxes or do the the warehousing.
And you don't show up with kind of like
this, oh god, you know, I can't wait
till I get out of here so I can finally
go out there and play and sing and do
what I was called to do. Because I just
mentioned, you're called to pretty much
any area that you're working in for that
moment. It may sound very, very, very
presumptuous for me to say this, but I
think I'm on good ground to say if that
you are called at least to give it a
spirit of honor and to show up 100% even
if it's not going to be your full-time
job for a long time. So, that is where
God really can show up and show you how
to build the character that will sustain
you should you go into full-time creator
work. Because trust me, full-time
creator work is not all bells and
whistles and fun and singing on stage
either. It is a lot of drudgery, a lot
of things that don't feel like a lot of
fun. And so, God could be building your
character to prepare for that, but you
have to do it with a spirit of honor to
honor God. So, that's the second step.
Okay. Here's a third thing for those of
you who are working full-time jobs to
make sure you're not feeling this timer.
It's driving me crazy. I apologize. I
just don't know why this got set up for
everything. Don't forgive me as I
connect because I get, you know, all
thrown off by just little things. All
I want to make sure again that people
who are working full-time jobs, you're
hearing me as a creator. If you are
trying to get on tours, if you're trying
to work for bands, if you're trying to
work as a solo artist, if you're working
on your creative, you're a songwriter,
you're a writer, and you're feeling
like, okay, I'm not making enough income
as a creative, so now I've got this
full-time job to kind of pay the bills,
and I feel like this is like a
Let me be clear that working a full-time
job is a key to creator success. I see
you, Terry. I'm going to bring up this
comment. I love this is literally on the
point that I'm on right now. Now, if you
feel that doing full-time work in terms
of a 9 to5 is a distraction from your
creator lifestyle or the work that you
want to do, the passion you want to do,
what you need to understand is unless
you have that stability, you're going to
be so so so so stressed in being able to
focus on being a creator full-time. And
again, it's kind of like a dichotomy, a
weird kind of like, you know, irony that
if you are more stable in terms of your
full-time job, you will have more
ability to kind of farm out and and and
try things in your creator work because
you're not depending on the creator work
to finance itself while you are working
on things. This is the benefit of those
oils who have these full-time positions
while we're working out our creator
It let it it keeps Lese and I just had
this discussion uh a little while ago
about our different businesses. The fact
that you have another income source
gives you freedom to make mistakes, to
try things out and your creator work so
that it doesn't kill you if it doesn't
work out. So being financially
responsible and having those bills paid
by other areas is actually a key to
success because it gives you maybe not
the time you want, but it gives you the
the foundation and the safety net. And
some people might call it a plan B, but
I want you to get out of your head.
Doesn't mean that you're just doing this
because you have to. Means it's
Strategically, you're saying, "I'm not
going to give up this particular
position until I figure out which way
will be the best way to build income
from my creator work." And while that's
happening, I'm bringing 100% of my best
work to my full-time position. And I'm
seeing this not in the lens of either or
versus, but I'm seeing this as a this is
a doorstep, a stepping stone,
continually developing my entire
being and identity so I can do the work
that I want to do and do the work that
I'm called to do. but never feeling like
it is like a step back when I have to
step into these full-time positions to
make sure that I'm financially
responsible. So, that's kind of a
message. I hope that I'm saying this in
the right way to kind of give you a more
nuance and a more a more balanced
perspective on the full-time positions
that you have to take. This does not
mean that I'm trying to say that singing
is is like the same as, you know, doing
They are two different different
profession. They do bring two different
emotional connections that obviously
many of us in the creative space we want
to feel and connect with the creator
work that we do because that what makes
us feel more fulfilled. But I want to
make sure that we never get so enamored
of the creator work that we forget that
it is technically just work.
We get so f so much desire to be
fulfilled by the work of being a creator
that we realize we forget that it's
still work and the work that you do for
someone else is just as anointed just
can be just as fulfilling maybe not in
terms of creatively but in terms of
serving others as the work that you do
for your creator lifestyle. So I want to
bring up this comment from Terry.
working a regular job has actually
opened up opportunities to use the
musical gift as a musician to share in
particular events in the workplace.
That's so true. Isn't it interesting
that like when people realize that
you're a musician, you're a creator,
that usually inside your workplace, you
become a little bit of a mini celebrity
because so many people love the fact
that you are doing something else other
than just the work and they love to see
that, hey, you have this other part of
your life. I saw this um mentioned by
some of the other people on some of
these memes uh in Instagram that their
workers co-workers wouldn't even
recognize them if they saw them in their
performer personas. And I think that's
kind of okay because sometimes you don't
want to share with your your co-workers.
But there are other times that you
should be okay with them knowing, hey,
when I'm not here, I'm doing poetry, I'm
doing art, I'm filming, I'm doing this
other stuff in my creative work that is
not necessarily going to be something
that actually benefits the the company.
I maybe I won't be doing this inside the
company, but it gives me more skills. It
gives me more perspective. It gives me a
wider view of the world that again can
help you connect with people inside your
business, outside your business and so
on. So I want to make sure that you guys
see this as an asset, not a liability.
And we had a lot of great discussion on
this. I want to finish it off with this.
Remember, remember remember because I
have felt this the same way when I left
my full-time position in the school
system to start homeschooling my kids,
which was my full-time job back then.
And then I left doing that to do
part-time in our church and then
full-time in our church. And then after
that, I went part-time once again to
being a musician and then full-time back
to being in church. At every point, my
identity did not determine my destiny.
My identity, in other words, was not
based on where I was right then. My
identity was solid in I am a child of
God. Now, what I do with my identity
changes with the environment that I find
myself in. So, as a creator, there are
sometimes I found myself in a nineto-ive
position. It didn't make me any less a
creator. I was just a creator in that
position doing something else where I
was exercising other parts of my skill
set. So, I think one of the biggest
issues is our mindset. If I'm in an
environment, my identity has shifted.
That's not true. Your identity is the
same. Your environment has shifted. You
do different things, but you're the same
person called by God, still called
bivocational. You are multiaceted, and
you are able to navigate these other
areas of your life without feeling like
you have lost something because you are
financially taking care of your bills or
just pursuing another skill inside a
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