Audience

ByHal Hammons

I don’t know Amy Petty, and I barely know her music.  (I’m not much of an indie guy.)  But I appreciate what she wrote in a blog recently about why she is not going to try out for The Voice or one of the other half-million competition programs out there these days.  She says she is not interested in “making it big.”  She is interested in making music — her music — and bringing it to whatever audience may be drawn to it.  Making a living is nice, and making a better living would be great, but the joy is in the work and not the paycheck.

            I feel the same way about writing.  I am aware I could pander to a mass audience and have a better chance of being on bookshelves nationwide.  But that’s not my thing.  And I have nothing against my fellow writers for whom mass-market publishing is their thing.  Go for it.  Cash that check.  But (and I hope this doesn’t make me come off as being self-righteous) I’m looking for something else.

            I write to give an audience what it needs in a package it will like.  What it needs is the gospel,  “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).  Getting a bigger audience would be nice, but I won’t cut God’s corners.

            If I find a way to do the work I am good at (he said modestly) for a wider audience without hindering my larger obligations to my family and the local church, I would be a poor steward of God’s gifts not to take advantage.  And if others can and do, I’m thrilled for them.  This is not a competition.

            I am content in my current state, to paraphrase Philippians 4:11.  May God keep me from any “success” that might threaten that.

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Maybe they found comfort in character assassination, or muddied the waters with irrelevant information.  Maybe they just threw up their hands and left the room.  Maybe they even took a swing at you.  What they didn’t do, though, is change their mind.  Facts had nothing to do with their position, either before or after the discussion.

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Some people have two talents.  They are not as privileged as the five-talent people, obviously.  But we still admire them.  They get the most out of what they have.  They do not envy the five-talent people for their success and the glory that comes with success.  They just do their job and do it well.  Sometimes they even wake up to find they have become five-talent people themselves.  And good for them.  Good for us. And then there are those with only one talent. 

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Harriet Tubman, the great warrior of the Underground Railroad, is quoted as saying, “If you hear the dogs, keep going.  If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.  If there’s shouting after you, keep going.  Don’t ever stop.  Keep going.  If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”