Serving the Voices Blog

Posts from March 2014

Voices from the Road: Sydney Fontaine // de la CroiX

Sydney Fontaine de la croix

Broken Down
By: Sydney Fontaine 

It was our first real tour and up to that point nothing had gone right. From losing the fender of our trailer, to shredding tires, to locking our keys in the trailer, to breaking down completely. Spending hours in repair shop waiting rooms and truck stop parking lots, having to cancel shows and facing the financial strain of repairs and delays.

Looking back, I remember feeling like my prayers in those months were falling on deaf ears and that my tears of frustration were being ignored by the Lord. In retrospect I laugh at my unrelenting hopelessness towards circumstances I couldn’t control. I can’t exactly blame myself. I didn’t know what to expect from the road, but I knew it wasn’t this.

Sydney Fontaine de la CroiXWe were in Wisconsin when our RV broke down for the second time that week, only two hours from home where we were going to stop on the way to our next show. After spending 8 hours the day prior in a repair shop where we thought they had fixed the problem. The week had already put us on edge, and we really couldn’t afford the delay of another day at a repair shop. To make a long story short, we (after a long day of pacing, praying and hoping for a reasonable solution) ended up getting towed back to our home town (praise God it was only two hours from where we were stuck) and we finished the tour in our Suburban with a couple tents thrown in our trailer. It wasn’t ideal, but we laugh remembering before we had any means to travel saying we’d camp out if we had to, feeling strongly that God wanted us to be mobile. Apparently He wanted to see if we meant it.

That tour was just the beginning of our adventures, and many worse break downs and struggles have we walked through since then. For a while we thought our calling might be to tell mechanics and tow truck drivers about Jesus because of how frequently we encountered them! Things haven’t really gotten easier, but I think the more you pursue what you’re supposed to pursue, the better you understand yourself, your calling, and the Lord.

See, before I started touring I thought that ease was a direct result of success. I thought that if we were obedient, that God would make everything a cakewalk and that the repercussions of our obedience would be instantly visible. But over the past few years I’ve found that when you turn your life over to Jesus, success isn’t always marked by the tangible result of your obedience but often by obedience itself. Even if at the end of the night you’re feeling beat up and have nothing but busted guitar picks in your pocket.

Sometimes you might not know why you did it till days, weeks, years later. You might never know. But resting in the knowledge that you did what you were supposed to do is a pretty sweet feeling.

This is my encouragement to you: most of us want to see mountains moved and tides turned when we give God room to work. We want to see the whole picture fabricate before our eyes, and it makes me wonder how often we discount the times where there seems to be no resolve, no ‘fruit’ of our labor. But how beautiful to be able to rest assured that He is faithful, and that his power is perfected in our weakness?

When you find yourself in a season of life where you can’t see the big picture, take heart. He is working in and through you in some capacity, even when you can’t see or recognize it. The Lord never sleeps, He never turns a blind eye to your pain or your efforts. Trust that His heart for you and the causes that you’re passionate about is so much bigger than ours could ever be.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9

Serving the Voices at SXSW

HM Magazine Music for Good Showcase

Serving the Voices at SXSW
By: Taylor Adkins

When I found out about a year ago that I would be moving from Virginia to San Antonio Texas, I knew that I would only be a couple hours away from one of the largest music festivals in the world: SXSW. Having just come on staff with RYFO as the Artist Coordinator, I began working on a plan with our staff to have a presence at SXSW in order to build new band relationships and deepen our existing ones. As we began working on plans for SXSW, I reached out to David Stagg (owner and CEO of HM Magazine) to get his feedback about the needs he sees most with the bands he interviews. Before I knew it, he was offering RYFO the opportunity to be a part of their SXSW Showcase. This was the door into the festival that we’d been looking for!

Fast forward a couple months and I am arriving at The Ranch in Austin, TX to kickoff a day full of great music. The showcase lineup included performances from Yesterday as Today, Darkness Divided, Silent Planet, Phinehas, Everyone Dies in Utah, ’68 (first ever live performance), and Sleeping Giant. As a long time reader of HM Magazine, I couldn’t have felt more blessed to have a role in the showcase. I got to the venue around noon and met David Stagg for the first time in person. He expressed how excited he was to have RYFO partnering with them for the showcase.

Shortly after my arrival the Harvey’s (shown below) arrived, RYFO’s Host Home family in Cedar Park, TX, just north of Austin. While I was the staff member at SXSW, they were the seasoned veterans! The Harvey’s have been hosting bands long before RYFO began, they run their own venue, and Ian Harvey is in the band UGLYTWIN who has had the opportunity to share the stage with many of the bands RYFO serves. The Harvey’s arranged to order and pick up all the food for the bands that day and even brought care packages in the form of a plate of home made cookies for all the bands in attendance.

Taylor and the Harveys

Before and during the showcase I had the opportunity to speak with many of the performing band members about our desire to have the church walk alongside them as artists and for RYFO to be a medium for that opportunity to take place. Between the hugs, prayers, and even some tears shed by members of bands I spoke with, one thing is for sure…these bands need RYFO! I don’t mean RYFO as in our staff, RYFO the brand, or RYFO the website, but RYFO in terms of the missionaries that make up our organization.

There are many temptations, struggles, and obstacles that plague bands with doubt, depression, and loneliness out on the road. The time spent away from close friends and families can be incredibly tough. These bands are pouring everything they have into their art with few opportunities to be poured into. I want every single person involved with RYFO to know the impact you are having on the lives of these musicians and the ripple effect in their own lives and the multitudes of people they reach with their music.

Thank you to all of our volunteers, the Harvey’s, David Stagg, HM Magazine, the bands who allow us to bless them, and to God for giving RYFO the vision and the opportunity to show the love of Christ by being a servant to these bands. We look forward to many more opportunities to continue Serving the Voices!

Host Home Spotlight: Meet the Petersons

Meet the Petersons host home spotlight

This blog post is the first in a new series of blogs through which we plan to gradually introduce each of our Host Home families. Our desire is for you to be inspired by the testimony of their experience as a Host Home. As described by the men of Silent Planet, “The heart of the Gospel is truly alive in these revolutionary families.” They are Serving the Voices!

Meet the Petersons
By: Cathy Hill

As I begin to introduce our RYFO Host Homes, it seemed logical to start with Doug and Michelle Peterson, since they have been hosting bands even before the start of RYFO. The Petersons, along with their children Mekahla and Kendon, live in the Kansas City area and have been serving the voices for 7 years. They estimate that they have welcomed more than 40 bands into their home.

The Petersons have been able to dedicate their entire basement to serving the bands. It’s full of beds, made and ready to sleep in. They have a lot of towels (“they don’t match but still work!”). And there is always a lot of good food for everyone. “People always appreciate food and it puts them at ease,” says Michelle. “Doug loves to smoke pork ribs or roast for pulled pork. I make cheesy potato casserole, salad and dessert to go with it.” And, she adds, there can never be too much popcorn: “We love to introduce people to our favorite topping which is Hidden Valley Ranch Dip powdered mix. It is awesome!”

When I asked the family to share a meaningful Bible passage, they chose one that clearly articulates the RYFO vision: 1 Peter 4:9-10. “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Before becoming involved with RYFO, the family did not recognize hospitality as a gifting. Michelle says, “I thought of it as something we just do (be hospitable). Now I understand that it truly is a gift and we are blessed to have it! Our family has been blessed to meet all of the people that we have over the years. Isn’t it is just like our God to provide blessings back to the people who are just trying to serve! Our families thought we were crazy for opening our home up like this; they worried that our kids were going to be abused, illegal things were going to happen, things would be stolen. Absolutely nothing even close to their misgivings has ever happened. Our involvement with RYFO has witnessed to our families in a way that a church service never could. We are grateful!”