Serving the Voices Blog

For The Love of Music(ians)
By Julia Saites, RYFO Storyteller

The circumstance drives the relationship.

My confession is that I love music.  I love it.  I love it.  Like many others, I just love it.  There is nothing on this planet that can affect me like music.  Nothing.  Dance comes close, then visual art (any kind) and nature, but not quite like music.

The song, the melody, the lyrics, the rhythm – every piece of it pulls something out of me.  A song can evoke a powerful reaction from me – it can stir a memory, showing me a face from years past – a face I miss dearly, a face that can take me back to a forgotten day.  A song can draw out a love from within me that may be hard to express otherwise.  The words I sing along with can roll off my tongue and into the air as a fragrant offering to my King.  A song can fill my heart with empathy and compassion allowing me to offer those things up to one who may need it.  A song often times wrings my heart, the contents flowing out – making room for something better, something more.

So do I love music?  Yes.  But what I also realize is that the music comes out of someone.  A musician.  An artist.  Those are their words, their melodies, their rhythms.  The song is of them.  The songs I love, the songs most powerful are the contents of the artist’s soul poured out onto sheets of music in the form of notes and words.

This also explains my love of dance, visual art and nature.  The most beautiful dancers utilize not only their physical talents, but also leave part of their soul exposed out on the stage.  The same goes with paint on a canvas – the art draws out my emotion because I know a part of that artist’s soul is literally on that canvas.  And nature?  Well, that’s the work of a true Artist.  The most creative Being ever.  So as I watch the golden specks of sunlight bounce along the top of the ocean, I experience a part of the Artist’s soul.

The music, the art, the creation is part of the artist’s soul – good or bad, joyful or full of anger, pain or hope, love or lust.  It gives us a window into the soul of its creator.  If it were not for the courage of the musician to pour out themselves into a song, would we have a desire, a calling to share the love of Jesus with them?

Any music fan will tell you that the music is what drew them in.  They became interested in the musician because of their music, i.e., ‘The circumstance drives the relationship’.  The type of relationship we are driven to is what delineates the fan from the fanatic.

Being able to receive the music for what it is but also being able to look at the artist as an individual, a human being, and not a celebrity elevated on a stage is what makes us different.  The fan has become rebranded.  The Rebranded Fan doesn’t forsake the music.  We can handle that separation.

We can go to a concert, sing along, dance around, scream and shout, even ask for a photo but we also help load gear, ask if they’ve eaten and feed them if they haven’t, put gas in their vans, ask about their families, pay real attention, pray with them and talk to them about Jesus.  This is our calling – this is how we share Jesus with them.  Others minister to musicians in different ways than we do.  It’s the beauty of the body of Christ.  God explains; ” The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body.  So it is with the body of Christ.” (1 Cor 12:12, NLT)  Each one us is a different part of the body, complementing one another.  Not one is more important than the other.

Perhaps as Rebranded Fans we are the fist – able to offer a fist pump in the midst of a song, and then open it up offering a helping hand or hand on the shoulder when the music stops.

Where Are They Now?
By Julia Saites, RYFO Storyteller

When I first saw a copy of HM magazine – I was intrigued to the point of purchase. I saw it in a Christian bookstore back in 2005. After that first purchase, I was hooked and became a subscriber. HM served as my insight into the music I loved so much. I have kept all my issues.

Often times I flip through my back issues rediscovering bands and insights. Today, as I flip through Issue #130 from 2008, I look at the bands and I wonder: What has happened to these men and women? Are they still around? Do they still make music? Do they still tour? Where are they now?

The reason I pulled out HM Issue #130 is because an interview was brought to my attention with Shiny Toy Guns. The editor asked, “What do you think of Jesus Christ?” Jeremy Dawson (synthesizer player/programmer) responds, “Jesus Christ? Sadly, no one’s asked me that in a year.” He continues, “I think that… It sounds selfish, but it would be neat to have like a mobile … like a band bus you could go to and there’d be people there, like accountability people in there. When you’re on tour it’s really… There’s all these things that are around, loaded with temptations and all the fun things of this world. And you have people that you phone back to for accountability, but it’s like a penpal. It’s not the same. You don’t have a buddy with you all the time…” Dawson continues explaining tour life, “…But it’s tough to be in an environment and not have somebody with you when it’s like: ‘Should I get in that car and go to that party? I probably shouldn’t,’ but it’s just me all by myself to have to make that decision.” His last words hit me hard. “So, as far as Christ goes…it (touring) really creates a wedge in a direct relationship or a regular prayer life or fellowship with others that believe the same. It makes it really tough. It really does.”

Where are they now?

I am not asking about where they are now on the charts, or what success they have had or not had in the world, I am asking the hardest question I can’t even answer completely for myself, Where are they now in relationship with Jesus Christ?

All the success in the world – on the charts, money in the bank, arena tours, buses instead of vans, planes instead of buses or all the perceived defeats of the music industry – broken-down vans, playing for a crowd of twelve, no radio play, debt, and finally break-ups – none of those scenarios are as important as the health of one’s soul. But I ask you, how do we contribute to the health of their souls?

Whether we realize it or not these men and women are tired of sleeping in moving vans. They have to utilize those gross gas station bathrooms daily. They may have little money and time to feed themselves with proper nutrition. It may be an easy fix for us to come to the rescue to meet some of those needs. Clearly, meeting those needs are essential to the health of the artists. But, we also somehow inherently know their souls are in need of nutrition as well. For many of us, it’s not that we are ashamed of Jesus, but perhaps we are not sure if we should “go there.” Do we consider that we need to go there? How often, during your struggles in life, do you walk up to a stranger and blurt out, “I’m sinking! I’m a mess and I’m empty! I miss my family and I may be looking for fulfillment somewhere I shouldn’t be! Please help me!”? Really, what stranger has run into your living room vomiting their pain all over your floor? So, how can we expect an artist to just spill their guts to us without provocation? Usually, relationships take time – trust needs to be built so we can begin to bear each other’s burdens. But time we don’t always have. Minutes maybe hours, or a day or two if we’re super lucky – that’s all we get with these travelers.

What is the answer?

1) Use your voice.

2) Learn from each other.

3) USE YOUR VOICE.

How difficult is it to ask, “How can we pray for you?” or “How is your family back home?”? Many of us don’t ask these simple questions. If you do, you are to be commended and are an example for the rest of us. We must want to contribute to the health of these men and women who we may only get minutes with. We should care and want to know that they broke up not because they were spiritually drained or empty, but because God was taking them in new directions. We can be the “band bus filled with accountability people” or the voice on the other end of the line offering Jesus, not by a meal, but by real love, prayer and encouragement. We are the chosen people. You are chosen by God to share your love with your gifts and talents and with your voice.

We may be serving the voices, but let’s also literally use our voices to serve. We must. If we don’t then when we think of every musician we so silently loved, we will be haunted by the question: Where are they now?