Džiugas Širvys is the worship and production leader at his church in Lithuania.
When did you trust Christ?
I made my personal decision to follow Jesus after the Holy Spirit touched me while I was watching a baptism during a Christian summer camp. It was that moment when God came alive for me; it wasn't just some theory that I'd heard all my life. A year later, I decided to get baptised and willingly follow Jesus Christ as my God.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
My dad is the pastor in my local church, and he has been the one since I was little where I could find my answers or share doubts. While I was studying at Lithuania's Music and Theatre Academy, I got distracted from my faith by my personal focus on arts, theatre, and career. However, after marrying a Christian woman and restructuring my priorities, I returned to Jesus Christ, much stronger and much more mature.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I would like to gain more knowledge on how to guide my ministry not only in practical but also in spiritual matters. I often find it frustrating that taking care of all the little technical nuances in this ministry can lead to forgetting that we serve not only others but also our God.
What is your ministry?
I joined the production ministry at my church to solve its problems. First of all, I made this ministry accessible to many more people by making shortcuts and easing the process of sound engineering, lighting, slides, live broadcasting, and recording. After that, we started to teach others how to serve in this ministry. Our ministry has grown with new people who know how to properly make this ministry function. Also, this ministry is closely attached to the media ministry because we started editing sermons and remixing worship songs to make them available in our language to listen to and worship at home. Since that time, our church has received much more attention in following and engagement, especially on YouTube.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I've been leading worship on Sundays and Thursdays on and off since I was 16 years old. I started participating in this ministry with my close friends, and since then, I have gathered a lot of experience in how to guide the whole worship band to the best of our ability in our ministry. After that, this love for music evolved into a professional music band, and now I'm its lead vocalist and leader. It is called JAUTI. For two years, I worked as a school drama teacher. I was also a church summer camp organiser.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
I love my local church, and I believe that God is working in our Sunday services. I want to lead my team to worship and adore our Creator, and not forget that what we are doing is for His glory.
