Serving the Voices Blog

Posts from November 2013

You Aren’t Good Enough

Music-Stage

You Aren’t Good Enough
By: Rihanna Teixeira

Rejection. It just might be one of the most emotionally catastrophic life experiences we all face.  As children, our peers reject us when they won’t let us sit with them at the lunch table. We go home and cry into the arms of our parents as they do their best to patch us back up.  As teenagers, rejection rears its ugly head when our crush goes with someone else to the school dance or when we don’t get chosen for the team we spent years dreaming of being on.  Unfortunately, even adults can’t outrun the occasional rejection.  We don’t get the job we interviewed for or the promotion we’ve spent years working towards. Rejection hurts. Badly.

Now, imagine facing rejection anywhere from 1-4 times a week for years on end. Imagine working 80 plus hours a week with zero to little pay and having to live off ramen and dollar menu items. Imagine having to hear that you’re not good enough and that you’re wasting your life away from friends and even family members. If you imagined all those things, you might just have a taste of what it feels like to be a musician.

Chasing your dreams is hard. So much so, that the majority of Americans stop pursuing their dreams and settle for a typical office job by the age of 23. The daily grind of actually actively pursuing a dream takes an emotional toll on a person, particularly for artists.  Musicians spend hours of their time creating music. They sacrifice sleep, time with family, and nights out with friends just to give life to a song that they carry within them. They sing at open mic nights to an audience of maybe 10, while dreaming of singing at a stadium. They get denied by agents and managers who tell them that their songs aren’t good enough. Their appearance isn’t marketable. Their voice needs more work. They are faced daily with the chance that all this work may quite possibly lead to nothing. Yet, they keep going. They sleep and travel in that stereotypical “band-van” that might not make it to their next destination. They give their all at every singing event despite the terrible sound system or audience turn out.  They pour their hearts out into every song knowing that the general public will have the opportunity to tell them that they aren’t good enough.

One of the many reasons I love RYFO is because it was started by two guys who experienced what it was like to chase a dream. They realized that musicians don’t have to walk this path alone, if they can help it. They understood the power of offering an aspiring band a hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in even if it’s just for one night. They decided that a “fan” can be so much more than just a consumer. A fan can actually stand beside them and actually give back.

So, the next time you go to see your favorite local band play or if you meet an aspiring musician, encourage them. Tell them why you love their music. If you can, offer to buy them dinner. Offer them a place to stay. Tell them that you believe in them. Tell them that they are good enough.

Home for the Holidays

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Home for the Holidays
By: Sydney Fontaine

I was taken aback the other day, when upon entering a local store, I saw that everything was decked out in Christmas decorations. It is after Halloween, but I’m somehow never quite ready for the Holiday Season to come. There is never enough time between the end of Summer and when everyone breaks out the Christmas music for me to prepare for it.

This is always a strange time of year for me personally, as well as for other travelers.  The lifestyle of a touring musician doesn’t really cater to traditions, or cozy holidays in familiar surroundings. Most years it’s difficult enough to pinpoint where home is, let alone figure out if you’re going to be there for the holidays or not. This is a challenge my family and I face each year, as we find a new normal to fit the season in life we find ourselves in.  We were created for community, and our desire is to be with people, to celebrate and live alongside them. This time of year brings much emphasis to this aspect of life that is often times missing on the road, or whatever city you settle in for the winter. When you feel the sense of anticipation growing each day, your thoughts begin to spin in the direction of your family. Maybe it’s blood relatives that you long to be with, who you haven’t seen in 6 months. Or maybe it’s the other ‘family’ that you’ve met on the road, and shared those trials with that you can only become familiar with by experience.  Where ever your heart may be, it’s not always possible to be there physically. The pain of separation is very real.

But, as He does, God always seems to remedy the heartaches that come with distance. Even in loneliness, this time of year is in place to recognize and celebrate the hope we have in Christ. To remember the incredible humility with which He came to save us. I pray that although we feel far off, and detached from the warmth of home and the cheerful voices that used to surround us often, that we would allow this hope to be our fuel. That it  would produce in us perseverance to continue to be a voice, and a light with every note we sing.  That we would be empowered to continue to lead people to a place where they too recognize the reason they are breathing. This is the greatest joy for me, in music and in life.

Rejected Grace

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Rejected Grace
By: Taylor Adkins

“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Romans 11:6

I recently heard a story of someone who was hosting a touring band (not a RYFO host home) and they offered the band their bed along with some other amenities for the night.  What did the band do?  They opted to sleep outside, in their van, on a night where the temperature was likely below freezing.  And what was their reason?  They said they wouldn’t feel right putting the person out of their bedroom for the night.  They said they felt grateful just to have a place to park and bathrooms to use.  The next morning, the host went to the grocery store and bought tons of food to feed her guests.  They came inside after getting little sleep and saw all the food before them.  They stated how thankful they were that their host had gone through the trouble but proceeded to eat only a fraction of the food.  Again, their reason was they felt guilty taking all the food for themselves.  Afterwards, the band hit the road and the host felt robbed of the opportunity to bless her guests.

Last week my wife and I had a similar experience. We received an unsolicited offer from a woman in my wife’s bible study, to pay for our flight home for Christmas.  Due to some unexpected financial issues we were experiencing, it was an answered prayer!  My wife and I could not believe someone was willing to actually pay for our flight home for Christmas.  So, how did we respond? By stating “no we couldn’t ask you to do that.  It’s so much money and we couldn’t possibly accept your offer.”  Immediately, the woman responded “You are not asking me to do anything nor am I expecting anything in return.  I want to bless you and your husband this Christmas season so please accept my offer and there is no need to continue to thank me.” We continued to ask “are you sure?  Are you comfortable doing this? Is this really something you want to do?”  She pleaded with us to accept her gift to us and to not say another thing about it. This was a need that we had and a need she could provide for.

So why did my wife and I continue to fight this woman’s generosity?  To be honest, I felt undeserving of it.

Why do we do this?  Why do we refuse to humble ourselves and allow someone to do for us what we can not do for ourselves?  Why do we refuse to accept things unless we have earned them?  Honestly, I don’t know the answer, but I do know most of us do the same thing in our relationship with God.  When Christ went to the Cross He did so for the sins you have committed, the sins you are committing right this moment, and the sins you will commit.  We are forgiven! We don’t have to earn God’s grace, nor can we earn God’s grace.  Yet, daily I continue to let the guilt of my transgressions keep me from the fulfillment of being in the presence of God.  When I dwell on my sense of guilt I am missing out on the opportunity to grow in my relationship with God because my focus is not on Him.

Having had the opportunity to tour as a musician, and serve on staff with RYFO, I have both perspectives when it comes to RYFO’s mission of serving the voices.  RYFO’s only to desire is to bring the Gospel to the music community.  Their objective is to do so by loving and serving musicians selflessly and expecting nothing in return…zip…nada…zilch…NOTHING.  However, the biggest obstacle RYFO has faced in serving artists is the artists themselves.  Most feel like they don’t deserve the blessings others want to bestow on them.  Others feel like if they accept the hospitality of others, they must do something in return to make up for it.

Artists pour everything they are into their art. But, how can someone continue to pour out without being poured into?  To all the artists reading this blog, let yourself be served.  Let meals be cooked for you.  Let your gas be paid for.  Let someone give up their home so that you can recover physically, spiritually, and emotionally from life on the road.  Refusing to accept grace is robbing someone of the opportunity to bestow the blessings God has given to them.

As the old saying goes, “it is better to give than to receive.”  But, it’s impossible to give if there is no one there to receive.

A Commercial for RYFO?!

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Have you ever wondered what a radio spot for RYFO might sound like?

Nick Lubs, son of Dave and Beverly, a RYFO Host Home in Indiana, made a RYFO commercial for one of his class projects. The commercial serves as an advertisement to bands about the care and support available to them through the RYFO Network.

A Soundtrack for Life

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A Soundtrack for Life
By: Lori George

At the beginning of our day, in the middle of our day, and especially at the end of our day, there’s nothing quite like listening to your favorite songs. An invisible reset button is pressed and we begin to rebuild our sense of self.

Three years ago, I had the opportunity to compose my first soundtrack for a short film.  I had new recording software I was teaching myself to use and decided this would be a prime opportunity to break it in. I viewed the short film multiple times before diving in to the composition. As I prayed under my breath for the Lord to grant me supernatural tenacity, I painstakingly matched the changing themes of the film with my music. When it was all said and done I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment.

As I reflected on the finished work I began to think about the musicians who had aided my creative process. Every sound on my recording software, every MIDI track, the mic I used, and quite possibly even those who assisted in the software’s development, were probably all musicians. I wondered who they all were.  I wondered about their personal lives.  Did they have spouses? Children? An elderly mother and father living their final days in a rest home? Were their bills past due in spite of their best efforts? Did they have health concerns? What was their spiritual life about? Did they believe in Jesus as their Savior? If they did, how were they growing in their personal walk with Him? Do they have an accountability partner in their lives?

As a musician, I appreciate RYFO’s desire to bring musicians from all walks of life, one step closer to their Creator, and to care for all aspects of their well being. In a day and age where technology advances can often leave people with a deep sense of detachment, RYFO understands the importance of maintaining real life relationships and communication. If you have an embedded sense of compassion for musicians, please consider becoming a Rebranded Fan. It’s a vital part of RYFO’s efforts to spread the love of Christ within the music community.