Faith & Ministry

It’s 1:30 in the morning. You’ve been Djing for the past hour and a half. Your set is almost over and just about the entire time, you’ve had this girl staring at you from across the room. She’s fixated on your every move. She’s dressed very provocatively. She slowly starts moving toward the booth, dancing seductively as she comes. She finally works her way up to the booth. You know that as soon as you stop your set, she’s going to want some kind of attention from you. From the perfume, the clothes, and the body language, you know she doesn’t just want to compliment you on your DJing ability. You’re a Christian, you know that you’ve made commitments to God, but what’s the harm in talking right? You know it’s not really going to go anywhere. She seems nice and lonely... and maybe a bit vulnerable. She probably needs a friend. Nothing could go wrong. It’s all so innocent. You wonder if she’s a good kisser and you’ve already lost the battle before it even started.

Last time, we took a look at the first four commandments. All four of those deal directly with our relationship with God. As Christian DJs, this is vital. We work in a subculture where people often hope to become the focal point. In some regards, just about everyone wants to be DJMag’s top DJ. We have songs about how the DJ is a god. We have DJs who stand up in front of crowds demanding praise. So much of this subculture of dance music runs counter to our place in God’s creation and what we should be striving for as Christians. Our job is not to become a god, but to reflect God.

 

Here’s a thought. As Christian DJs, we are witnesses to others about our faith in Jesus Christ. This is regardless of what your position on evangelism is. One thing is certain; there are days when we are going to succeed as a witness in this area and other days where we fall flat on our faces as hypocrites. It might seem a bit trite, but the reality is that when we focus on God’s basic commandments and apply them in our lives as guidelines to live by when we’re out at a club as either a patron or a performer, we can limit the degree to which we might fall. It is these Ten Commandments that God gave Moses to help guide his people and even thousands of years later, they still hold true.

When I was younger I used to have vivid dreams and visions of places and events that were safe parties. I still have many dreams and visions but not all of them relate to rave culture. Many of them have come true while others are of heavenly places I have never been.
Picture this, like the room you are in is glowing. Everyone is filled with an energy, the very breath of life, given by God. We are all luminescent, glowing with this energy, the essence of life itself. And deeper inside, some of us are filled with a white light much like a torch of fire: life-giving Spirit, the very life that leads to eternal life in heavenly places with God.

In 1997 a Christian nightclub opened up in a seaside town not far from my, then, home.  Its vision was to provide entertainment for young people in a safe and credible alternative venue.  Three years after opening, when I was old enough to go, I was given the opportunity to DJ one Saturday night.  This resulted in me being a regular performer and provided the venue with an alternative to rock music. This opportunity led to me getting bookings at other clubs and events. During this time I also did one to one DJ tuition with young people and in 2005 I was asked to run DJ workshops at three different music festivals around the UK.   At the workshops participants learn the basics in DJ'ing from mixing to scratching using all the latest DJ equipment and technology.

Solomon started right. Right after being crowned king over Israel, God asked him what he wanted. Solomon said he wanted just one thing, wisdom. God loved this response and gave him wisdom and more. Solomon ruled for many years, but eventually something happened. Something changed. See, Solomon loved women. And when I say he loved women, I am really not kidding. The Bible says he had 1000 wives and concubines (2 Kings 11:3). God didn’t want Solomon to marry outside of the nation of Israel because they would lead him astray, they would become an idol. God knew Solomon better then he did and warned him about a temptation he couldn’t withstand. The combined influence of 1000 ungodly women was too much for him and Solomon began building alters to other gods to please his wives and lovers.

Mark 8:34
"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'”

“Deny himself.” “Take up his cross.” “Follow me”.
I want to start off this new section with small article about counting the cost of following Jesus. I don’t think I really need to say much more on this verse. Jesus, as usual, makes it pretty clear what the cost is in this verse. But what does it mean for us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Him.

It was dark and raining harder by the minute. I was in the center lane of the freeway in a car that wasn’t mine. Usually I don’t mind freeway driving, but on this particular night the rain, the mist from a hundred tires and the glare from the streetlights were making it nearly impossible to see the lines on the road. This may not have been a big deal if the highway was a straight shot, but this road was curving around the edge of the city and had numerous sweeping turns to navigate. In short, driving conditions were dangerous and I was driving an unfamiliar vehicle. 

I used to chuckle at a Calvin & Hobbes comic that my mom kept on our refrigerator when I was a child. It had a picture of Calvin making a grumpy face with a caption that read, “God put us on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. At this point I am so far behind I will never die.” But somewhere along the line, one of my parents had crossed off “number of” so it read; “God put us on earth to accomplish certain things…” It was a silly little comic, but I never really forgot the concept behind it. As I began to get to know and love God on a personal level, I always kind of wondered how much truth was behind that. Did God really put us on earth to accomplish specific things? Did He really give each person only a part of the puzzle?

Shiloh. Andy Hunter. Kubiks. Uberzone.

What do you think when you hear these names? Do you think, “Man, that guy is certainly doing the work of God”? Do you think, “That is where Christians need to start being”?