Who's Waiting On The Other Side of YOUR Obedience?? #DreamsToReality

This is Abbie. After my first stop of the Dreams to Reality Tour, she came up to me all excited and nervous. Then she gave me a quick testimony. She told me that she first heard my music in Oklahoma (which was weird because I never knew that my music traveled that far) lol! She began to tell me that my music really helped her out during a dark time in her life. I was so happy to hear her testimony! It was truly a humbling experience to know that God would use something that I love to do in order to effect a real person! A lot of times, music goes into cyberspace and you never really know who it's impacting. I encouraged Abbie to keep living for God, prayed with her, gave her a big hug, we followed each other on Instagram and that was it. What an experience!

Me being so overjoyed and invading Abbie's space lol!

This is Madi. I also met her after one of my tour concerts in December. That particular night was incredible! The concert was awesome. The atmosphere was great. The youth leaders were on point. The ministry time after the concert was definitely on point! The Holy Spirit was truly changing hearts. I specifically remembered Madi because she was just so happy that day. She bought the same beanie that I had on and asked if we could take a picture together. So we did. I encouraged her, gave her a big hug, we followed each other on Instagram and that was it. A few months later, I found out that she took her own life. I was heartbroken. My heart went out to her family...especially her youth pastors and church friends. And you know that the enemy tried to mess with my head too. Thoughts like, "You're trying to reach a generation with hope in Jesus, but it's not good enough to stop someone from killing themselves." I was really discouraged until the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus was in the same situation and could have felt the same way. I'm glad that He didn't buy that lie.

Me and Madi being awesome!

Here's the truth:

I was privileged to be a part of God's overall narrative in the life of these two young ladies. God used my life to have a positive impact on their lives. At the end of the day, all that I'm called to do is to love Jesus and to obey. God, in His sovereignty, takes those acts of obedience and does what He wants to do with them. Those acts of obedience could help pull someone out of a dark situation. Those acts of obedience could be one of the last signs of hope to someone who is desperately trying to make sense of life. These two young ladies were positively impacted by my decision to step out and dream, conquer my fears, focus, and obey God. What if I didn't? What if my music never came out because I was too scared to pursue what God told me to pursue? Who ELSE is waiting on the other side of my obedience?

Who's waiting on the other side of YOUR obedience?? #GO!

To purchase my new CD "Between Dreams and Reality", please CLICK HERE

Thank you for reading!

Jarrell

My Success Nightmare

It happened years ago but I remember the night like it was yesterday. I was at a church retreat called the Encounter. While I was in small group, I cried and told the small group leader and rest of the men that I was scared of success.

The Encounter happened to be scheduled shortly after a few artists, who I considered to be role models, had fallen into adultery. They were so outspoken about their faith and then they fell...hard and in public. (They've since been restored but their influence hasn't really been the same.) Some other notable pastors were also found out to have been secretly practicing sinful lifestyles as well. Most of the issues had to do with sex - immoral heterosexual relationships as well as homosexual relationships. It was a crazy time.

When all of this stuff happened with the pastors and church leaders, I really got discouraged. I was thinking, "If these people can't live right and they seem further along in their faith than I am, then there may not be any hope for me." And then there was my ungodly drive for perfection. I didn't know until later in the Encounter that I was using music as a source for finding my significance. My drive for excellence was really so that I could feel good about myself. It was less about God's glory.

God really dealt with me about my perfectionism during the Encounter. It's the reason why "The Freedom Project" is just a 7-track EP instead of a full length CD. I felt like God challenged me to stop the project and stop doing music for a while. I was trying to get the full length CD so perfect that it was gonna take forever and a day to get it done. And again, there was a part of me that found my identity in music and not in Christ. It was hard for me but I released the project as is. I later released the other songs (except 2) which were supposed to be on "The Freedom Project". They weren't fully mixed but I put them out anyway. That project was called "Johnny's iPod". I also added 2 more original songs to "Johnny's iPod" - Social Suicide and Trippin. I haven't written another full length song since. In the past four years, I've only written those two original songs.

I've been doing a lot of stuff at the church since my nonofficial departure from music. I was still doing concerts and features but I didn't put new music out. God has been growing me and my little family up in some areas. I've recently felt the tug to go back to music. I still feel the fear of succeeding. And lately, I've noticed how that has affected by business practices. I've never really asked different places and promoters to go rap. People have just called. I thought that was cool...almost a badge of honor. I now know that this was happening because God was being gracious to me while I was dealing with fear. Even though I'm afraid, the passion is outweighing the fear. The "I can't" is getting softer and the "I can" is getting louder. I'm making the decision to trust God in all things. Please pray for me and my little family as God continues to challenge us to overcome fear.

Beauty Of Holiness

Before we get into this, let's define holiness. It's not really a churchy term. Holiness simply means "sacred or set apart". Ok, let's go.

Different people have different standards of beauty. For instance, if you ask 10 guys what a beautiful girl looks like, you will generally get different answers. The same goes for girls and...I don't know...clothes! (That is unless they have bought into the standard of beauty that the media pushes. And that's a conversation for another time.) But whatever the definition of beauty, when we see something that meets those standards we tend to set that apart in our minds. We call it valuable. We say, "That person/thing is not like everything else because THAT is beautiful and everything else is not." And what comes next? We want what's beautiful. We make efforts and provisions in our lives to acquire what we believe to be beautiful. That process is called worship.

Chasing beauty isn't all bad. As a Christian, I am called to pursue an infinitely beautiful God. And even God pursues His beautiful bride. Here's the real issue: we need to allow holiness to tell us what beauty looks like instead of allowing beauty to tell us what holiness looks like.

Let's step into a locker room for some guy talk. We'll say that most of the guys in this locker room think that this one girl in particular is beautiful. "Did you see Barbie today?" "Yeah, wow! She's hot!" And it's all good until that one dude chimes in and says, "Yeah I heard she slept with Ken two weeks ago. And she slept with Ken's best friend last week."
"What??"
"Yeah! In fact, we're actually hooking up tomorrow!"
What just happened to Barbie? Her looks didn't change but somehow she just lost her value and respect. The men in the locker room who are broken in their sexual life just received hope that maybe one day they too could hook up with Barbie. And the guys with standards just got turned off. Did their physical standards of beauty change? No. But there was one standard that they never factored in - holiness.

Here's the fact. We value holiness more than we think we do. Getting a new car is great because we like the way the car looks AND because no one else has driven it. Building a dream house is cool because we can build it just the way we like it AND because we will be the only owners. A relationship is great when you are with a beautiful person AND because that person has chosen to be exclusively yours. One of the social justice issues that has come to the surface (and one that tears me up every time it is mentioned) is the issue of sex trafficking. Did you know that in the sex trade, men put a higher value on virgins than on women who have previously been sexually active? Why? Because of one word. Holiness.

Let me wrap up with this scripture in Revelation 4:2-8:

2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne,were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,

Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come!”

John is in heaven and he is trying to describe the most beautiful and exotic sight he has ever seen! In this vision he sees four living creatures around the throne who are grasping for words to describe the same sight that he sees. But the creatures could only come up with one word - Holy! And they repeat that word day and night...for eternity...without rest. In looking at a Person so beautiful in a place so beautiful, you would think that the creatures would yell,

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful is the Lord God Almighty..."

They don't because they understand something that we often don't. At this moment, they understand that holiness is the only thing that makes beauty last. God is infinitely beautiful BECAUSE He is infinitely holy. Heaven is infinitely beautiful BECAUSE the standard will forever be that nothing that is sinful is allowed in its gates.

In our daily lives, let's look at beauty through God's perspective. True beauty will always be sustained by holiness.

Thank you for reading,

Jarrell

(Please check out my latest video and if you like it, please share it with a friend.)

On Passively Leading...

As I'm going through my leadership journey, I've begun to notice a few things about myself. One of the things I've noticed is how my leadership style has changed. As I stated in my last blog, there were some ideas that I had about leadership that were just off. I was young. I didn't know how to treat people right. It was kind of rough for those people who served in any ministry that I oversaw. But not all of my leadership qualities were bad. There's one in particular that I would like to regain. That risky, edgy, raw side of leadership.

The thing about me is...I am sort of an extreme personally. "Be ye hot or be ye cold!" Or something like that. I gravitate towards extreme characters in the bible like John the Baptist and Elijah. Dudes were just raw! I could relate. I had no problem confronting people or situations that needed confronting. And I had little to no fear of consequences. For example: in my early youth leader days, I shut down the entire youth band. I felt like they were up there for show & their personal lives didn't reflect holiness at the time. So we did what no thriving youth ministry wants to do. We went to CDs instead of a live band. And it was awkward. And in my zealousness, I did make poor decisions on the particulars of how it was handled. And kids and parents got hurt. And God had grace on me because He saw my heart. It was a radical decision but it was made for Him. And despite of my mistakes, his presence showed up and we had kids giving their lives to God, powerful altar ministry, kids prophesying and seeing visions. Our youth ministry began to grow...not because we had parties. God knows it wasn't because of parties. My mindset back then was, "Who needs fellowship to have fun? The altar is fun!" Wow! Man those days!

As I grew, something happened. I began to notice how I could grow in leadership. I realized the culture in which I was serving. Most everybody around me was so chill. Some were radical in their personalities but not when it came to interaction with others. And the ones who were radical with others were also immature in the way they handled things. The insecurities and the flat out wrong was so apparent that I began to despise the confrontational side of myself. I was like, "Look at the people I've hurt. Look at the people these radical people are hurting. I don't want to be that anymore." I was also grappling with some theological issues of grace and works at the time. "Does God do it or do we do it?" I decided that it was much easier if God changed people's hearts. But in extreme fashion, I leaned all the way to the "God does it" side. And that resulted in passive leadership. I became the nice guy. I sought to "understand rather than be understood", include everyone in every decision, and wait for the "right time" or for "God to move on their hearts" in order to make crucial decisions. And I must admit, it's easy and stressful at the same time. But things don't really get done that way. At least not in a timely manner.

I'm now beginning to walk in the balance. I needed both of these leadership experiences. I need to understand that collaboration is very important. I also need to understand that as a leader, it's my job to pull the trigger and make the tough decisions. I feel my edginess coming back. This time it's tempered with more love and compassion than I've ever had in my life. And about that grace/works thing...that may have to be a totally separate post entirely.

I'm still learning and still growing. Just keep me in prayer! And thank you for reading!

Jarrell

Redefine Babe

I was sitting here rocking my 3-month-old baby girl to sleep (who, by the way, was screaming her head off), and I started thinking. I started thinking about what a great example this is of "babes" in the faith.

For example...

1. She's passionate...especially about getting her needs met. (Her prayers reflect that daily.)

2. She has the cutest smile! The joy of a baby is priceless :)

3. She has no idea that her growing process tends to get annoying to those around her at times...especially to the ones feeding and discipling her. Like...she really has no clue. And she doesn't care. She just needs what she needs. And God grows everyone in the process.

4. She has no idea how much her family loves her...especially her dad :) She thinks she does. But she'll understand even more as she grows.

Defining "babe" in Christ should always be based on lifestyle. The question should always be, "Are you LIVING like Christ?" You can know a lot of things and you're life can still be looking like an infant. I know a lot of those. And I think I am that person to a lot of others. (Thank God for His grace.) The more you grow in God, the less childish you become. You can't grow from childish behavior to maturity in a few years. No one can teach immaturity out of you. Growing up is something you experience as you do life. Let's grow!

Anarchy vs Submission part 3 (My Writing Process For The "Submission 101" Curriculum)

As I'm continuing to lay out the curriculum, I'm running into what may be a tough bridge to cross. I mentioned in part 2 that the team and I will be discussing what submission to Christ looks like in spirit, soul, and body. All of these areas can be touchy but the most sensitive area that I think I'll run into is....drum roll...that's right, the body.

One reason I think that it will be the most sensitive subject is because when you start talking about how a Christian should treat their body, the usual knee jerk reaction is "oh no that's legalism". But ask that same Christian "what does submitting your body to Christ look like?" You'll get an "uh" here and a "don't have sex outside of marriage" there. So, really, what does it look like? Do our beliefs have any bearing on our physical being? Should what we believe govern what we eat, how much we eat, what we put on our bodies (clothes or tatoos), etc? Is this line of thought too extreme? Has God given us a "one-size-fits-all" standard or is it a loose law depending on whether or not you're convicted by that particular thing?

I think that coming at it from the right perspective is everything. When you talk about submission in any area, you can assume that there is a law that you must submit to. Then you can start questioning a person's relationship to the law. Is the law done away with or not? We're not gonna take that route in the video. We're going to present the reality that we as Christians are submitted to the Law Giver. And as we are submitted to the Law Giver we operate by the Spirit under the law of love. (We'll be exploring what the law of love is in the video.) I really think that this particular video is going to answer a lot of questions and stir up more questions. Not many people talk about what godliness looks like in our physical bodies...outside of don't have sex outside of marriage. And because most of the time there's never a clear distinction given as to what's right and what's wrong, many people are left guessing and in most cases anything goes. Here's a major question that we have to reconcile. If we are not obligated to keep OT laws regarding the body yet the Lord warns us not to be lawless, then what laws are we supposed to be obeying? Hmm. I believe the biblical answer is not as complicated as you may think. Can't wait to explore it more in the video.

Blind Side (A Note To Self)

Sometimes you don't know you have a pride issue until someone seemingly rises above you.
Sometimes you don't know you have an anger issue until things don't go your way.
Sometimes you don't know you're depressed until you see true happiness.
Sometimes you don't know that you need to be fixed until life reminds you that you are broken.
These reality checks often bounce around in my memory bank to remind me that I am human. I am not all-knowing. But praise God for the Holy Spirit! I have an unction from the Holy One. All things are able to be known to those who listen to His voice. I don't have live a life of being blind-sided by my flaws. I need communion with God. He will reveal to me who He is, and in that process He will reveal to me who I am.

"And Some Preach Out of Rivalry..."

I was listening to Philippians today and I ran across Philippians 1:15-17 which reads:

"Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment."

Talk about politically incorrect. In Christian circles, it's just wrong to flat out call someone an agitator. You're supposed to believe the best, right? What gave Paul the right to say, "This person is an agitator, that one is a hater. This one has good intentions, but him over there? Nah."

There are a few keys in the above verses:

1) The latter (the ones preaching from good will) preach out of love. When another brother seems to be down, they find out why the person is down (i.e. "Paul is not there because he did something wrong. He's actually there because of Christ. Let's be more bold in our approach too!")

2) The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry. They saw Paul's downtime in prison as an opportunity to get "one up" on him and become the next well known preacher. They also knew what that could do to Paul (i.e. "Paul's gonna hear about us doing it big while he's in prison and he's gonna get frustrated that he's not free".)

I've been on both sides. I wish I couldn't relate to #2 as well as I do, but sometimes these attacks do come. When I'm about to do something that I think will be highly effective, sometimes those thoughts come. They generally start out like this: "Man, when I do this or when this comes out?? Whew! People are gonna trip!" Then it turns to: "So and so already doesn't like me too much. So and so's might be a little upset when this happens. Oh well. Let them hate." Then, if unchecked, it turns into that person coming up in your thoughts on the day of your "big event" or during your creative process. (Sorry, this is just real. And if you have ever tried creating something in a market that you share with others, you've more than likely felt the same way too.)

Here's a little curve ball though. Most people who are in the public eye (or seek to be) are very emotionally fragile. We feel like someone is always trying to outdo us, make themselves look better than us, etc. When we feel like that in a situation, how do we figure out if we're being paranoid or if the other people are trying to be a pain?

Honestly, most of the time it's us! This is what I do: I examine my heart and say, "Why is this getting on my nerves? If they're preaching the gospel, why am I mad? What's in me that has me so agitated?" After I test myself and come to the conclusion that I should be happy as long as the gospel is being preached, I move on to examine the other party according to the scriptures. In Philippians, you'll see this common thread of selfishness in those who don't have the right motives for ministry. What does this person or ministry look like on a practical level?

1) They strive to do something big and can't wait to put their name on it (either exclusively or their name is at the forefront).
2) They generally try to set themselves in positions of influence, tell you that they are there and make you feel like all hope is lost if you get on their bad side.
3) You can tell by the way they treat you and talk to you that their concern is not the interests of the Lord. They're just interested in doing something big.
4) Who comes out on top in the end? Is their name shining bright, is there a struggle to see the light of Christ due to self promotion, or does God get all of the glory? (Not glory in word only but also in deed. Remember, if we say "God gets all the glory" but we treat people like trash then God is NOT glorified.)

A quick way to identify these people is seeing how they react to real unity. As a rule of thumb, people who are only concerned with their own things will never make time to connect with you on a one-to-one basis. Why? Because they're too busy trying to be "great". You never see them unless you happen to be working with them on the same project (which is not real unity). If they are in a public setting, they carry around a "network swag" instead of being truly personable. These are huge red flags.

The bottom line is that we should be okay with Jesus and the kingdom being preached...even if we feel the vessel is somewhat tainted with wrong motives. But we should also check our motives daily AND we should have a good feel for those who labor among us. Hope this helps someone!

More...

Yesterday was monumental for me. Last night I rapped at Hip Hop Sunday in Austin and for the first time in a while I felt like the old me...before the record label, the music videos, the TV and radio appearances, the constant requests to minister, booking processes, etc. Yesterday I just felt like that dude who was rapping with nothing to lose. I felt like I was speaking what God put in my heart to say - and I enjoyed it.

While I was driving up to Austin, I found myself reflecting on my ministry thus far. Recently God has put it in my heart to spend more time in preparation with him before I get up and say anything to anybody. I feel like before I say anything, me and God need to have a conversation about how the ministry time is gonna go. Even if I'm not the main person doing ministry and I'm a part of a larger schedule, I feel like God can tell me what the overall atmosphere will be like and how He wants to use me to strengthen or even change that atmosphere. If He decides to tell me, "Jarrell, just open your mouth and I'll fill it" then I will be totally fine with that. But we need to be in one accord about what ministry time is gonna look like. This requires consecration.

I remember, as recently as 7 or 8 months back, when I was so afraid to minister if I felt like the Lord wasn't with me. I remember a time before a particular concert when I said, "Lord if you're not going up there on stage with me then I refuse to go. I have no problem telling these people that I'm not prepared to minister." And in my heart I really would have cancelled. But somewhere in there I must admit...I began to believe the lie that people wanted good music with a message instead of the presence of God. God (in His grace) still showed up to concerts and people were blessed...but it wasn't the same. I felt God there but I didn't feel him taking complete control of the ministry time. I had control. It's during times of reflection like this that I have to ask myself, "What is the goal of ministry?" I had a guy prophesy over me once. He warned me never to forget why I'm doing what I'm doing. So when I get up there to minister, what exactly is it that people should experience? For me, I want people to experience the reality of God's power. I also want to speak the heart of God and watch it strike a chord with those who are in tune to His voice. I want to impact a generation with the voice of truth and a passion that reflects the reality of that truth. I know that God has called the ministry that I'm connected with to be marked by a John-the-Baptist-style of doing things (hence "Johnny's iPod", etc). Really radical and passionate. Really prophetic. But this kind of ministry demands some serious consecration. I've said this before and I'll say it again - I am not the greatest rapper. The only thing that sets me apart from other ministers has been my time with God. That's all. I've tried incorporating different styles in my rap and I've come to know my natural limitations. But there's just something about the Holy Spirit that reaches beyond the known boundaries and into the soul. By the time you're done ministering, people who don't know what happened will come up to you and say stuff like, "Your words are encouraging" "you're really good" "you, you, you". But after the concert is over and you retreat back to the quiet place to thank the Lord, you know that it was by His grace that anything good was shared through you.

That's what happened last night. I didn't want to go on stage unless God was with me...so I prayed. God gave me some direction as to what I was to say and do. I did it. I left the stage and went back to thank God. I came back out and talked with the people. I went home rejoicing over what God had done that night. One guy really encouraged me when he said, "You rapped really good. And you were really passionate and I could see in your eyes that you really believed what you were saying." That is how it should be. The moral of the story...I need more of Jesus. Yes, I need to practice my craft and do all of the label stuff. But what is the overall spirit of the organization? I'm striving for raw, passionate, Jesus-loving, people-loving ministry.

There are more things that play into me being distracted from staying before God's face! I'll talk about those distractions later and how God is solving these issues. I think that it will definitely help people put a few things in perspective. But it comes down to one thing - ferocious passion is contagious. If I devote myself to being a wildfire, then my whole ministry will catch on fire. And everyone who comes in contact with it will either catch on fire or watch me burn. It starts with me though. I have to be even more passionate about removing things that hinder me from being fully immersed in the reality of God and His power. Killing sin must be a crime of passion. At the end of the day, my goal is not good music. It's revival. It's preparing the way for the Lord. Pray that God strengthens me to guard the flame.

"Johnny's iPod" Artwork!

Just got this in!! This project will release November 23rd, a day before Thanksgiving! Excited!

Vandalism (pics)

We swapped cars with my parents yesterday. Late last night some vandals came and actually used one of our rocks from our front yard to put a hole in the back window :/ I cut myself while cleaning up the glass. I went to put on the first Band-aid I could find. These dog gone vandals got me lookin like Paul Blart (Mall Cop)!







Passion to reach the neighborhood becomes a little more personal when your windows start getting busted.

Joel Osteen says Mormons are Christians? (Video)

One of my elders passed this video along to me. I wish the whole thing was posted so that I could hear the full context with my own two ears. Maybe I could hear how he came to this conclusion? I really try to extend as much leniency as possible to Joel but I don't know...this doesn't help him look less suspect. It's tough because the guy really is positive and encouraging.

My reason for posting this is not to start a fire storm. Believers (like me) are faced with this situation every day. It comes in a different face but the concept is the same. How much grace do you extend to a person who says and does stuff that seems (and sometimes is) contradictory to the word of God. When do you say "that's enough" and write them off as not being a part of the body? Is it our place to do that? What do you think?

"MY CITY" by Litarodi featuring...me (NEW MUSIC VIDEO)

Hey Everybody! This just went up tonight! This song is called "My City" and was the official song for San Antonio's God Belongs In My City event. It was pretty fun working on both the song, the rallies, the video and everything else. It was definitely an honor to be featured on the song. For more info on God Belongs In My City, check out www.godbelongsinmycity.com. I'm also on a small team called reAction which basically headed up the event in San Antonio. Check us out at www.reactionnow.org. Finally, check out my bro Litarodi. This song will be featured on his next project. I've actually heard some other songs from his upcoming CD...very nice! If you'd like to visit his website, check out www.litarodi.com. Enjoy!

 

Soo...Flavor Fest!

As I mentioned in my blog post Monday, my next concert isn't until Flavor Fest in October! I'm really excited about this one! One day I was looking over some "CHH" (Christian Hip Hop) news and I saw the advertisement for Flavor Fest. Normally I just skip these advertisements and move on to more important stories :) But when I saw this one I felt a tug from the Lord and I knew I was supposed to be there. Registration for the conference had just begun. They also advertised that if you registered for the conference then you could register to be one of the performers at this year's conference. If I submitted my music and they liked it then I could perform. To put this into perspective, this is one of the biggest urban leadership conferences that I know of. Lots of artists are trying to get in because, honestly, there will be a lot of nationally known artists there. If you're chosen to perform, you get to personally meet these guys...etc.

Well, I was actually super excited about learning how to minister more effectively to my increasingly urban community. If you've been following this blog, you know that God has turned my heart towards trying to reach the kids in my church as well as my immediate surroundings. Getting the chance to rap at the same place I would be learning all of this cool stuff was really icing on the cake. So I applied...and they contacted me and told me that I was selected to perform! Crazy! What's more crazy is that they only chose 11 other artist that were not nationally known (out of the many that applied). More good news...the Lord actually provided money for us to make the trip!! Below is a picture of the "national" artist list. I put national in parenthesis because "national" sounds like popular but I'm quite sure that some of you may have never heard of these guys lol! Don't get me wrong, they are national. These artists travel all over the nation and 3 of them are from the UK. They're pretty well known in the Christian rap circle. That circle just happens to be a small circle right now. It's growing though. If you're interested in going with me, check out www.flavorfest.org to find out more info about Flavor Fest!

Here's the official commercial...


 


 After this, Jeneil and I will be headed to ATL. While there, we will be checking out a church called Blueprint Church. It is a relatively new church plant located right in the heart of Atlanta. I first heard about this church because a few influential Christian rappers helped plant the church. Since then, I've heard about the church's ability to foster genuine community and their efforts in reaching out to their neighborhood. Jeneil and I will be attending a small group session and church service! Hopefully we'll learn something that can be applicable here.

Please keep us in prayer. Pray that God allow us to learn, grow and bring something back that will impact our church and neighborhood. And please pray that God will allow us to build relationships. We want to build relationships over there in Tampa but even more so here in town. I'm not concerned with national attention right now. I just want to make a kingdom dent where I am...no, not a kingdom "dent". I want to take all of my resources, aim them at our neighborhood, and fire away until the target is no longer recognizable! (Pretty graphic!)I want this neighborhood to be blown away by the power of God. I can't do it alone. We need help with the label and other stuff so pray that God sends the right people along. And when they come, pray that we recognize them.

Thanks,

 Jarrell

Behind The Scenes of the White Rags Video Shoot!

Here goes some behind the scene footage of the White Rags music video! This was filmed in and around the Wheatley Courts. I didn't know how much was really going on out there haha! It was definitely an awesome experience. We took advantage of the opportunity to minister to some of the residents of the community a day or two before the shoot. We were also able to lead a few to Christ on the day of the shoot as well. Praise God! Hope you enjoy...

My Weekend (part 2)

Have you ever been in a conversation and said something that you know offended someone? You just feel it, right? Well this was one of those times. Most of these people were Hispanics who didn't look like they went to church much. In San Antonio, Catholicism is huge. I think it's safe to say that most of the Hispanic population here is, has been, or is very familiar with Catholicism. To most, Catholicism is their only concept of Jesus. So to say that Jesus wasn't "catholic"? True, but not very sensitive and not prompted by the Holy Spirit. Truth can be very offensive if not given at the proper time. Needless to say, the first half of my set was rough. By God's grace, the Lord assisted me through the rest of the set.

I was feeling totally useless after the evening was done. I was at our product table thinking, "I'm not coming back here." This is an annual event that I do...and I felt like I just offended about 200 people. So get this! As I was sulking in my mind, this dude comes up to me. (He was one of the few that came to my table that night.) He comes up and says, "I really like your music." I smile and say, "Thank you! What church do you attend?" "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", he says. In my mind I'm like, "Wow. A Mormon likes my music. What is he gonna say next?" Then he says, "I just wanted to stop by and tell you that you're doing a great job with your music. Don't ever give up. Keep doing it because you're definitely changing things and you're changing people." As strange as this may sound, I knew the Lord sent him my way to tell me that. God and His sense of humor! I was just discussing the Word with a few mormons that came to my house the other day. Those conversations always seem to go the same way. I ask questions, they can't answer, we agree to disagree, I challenge them to let the bible speak for itself, and I lead them in a prayer asking God to show us the truth. But this one was different! I knew God sent this man my way to encourage me. And I didn't say anything back except "thank you so much". (Note: This is not a Mormon promotion. I still disagree with the teachings of the Mormon church because they are contrary to the word of God. However, Jesus is Lord of all. He can use whoever he wants whenever he wants.)

Last night I learned my lesson, properly prepared and the Holy Spirit was with me. Huge difference! I did most of the same songs that I did the night before. The response was totally different though. I wasn't just ministering mind-to-mind or emotion-to-emotion. I was ministering "spirit-to-spirit" as my wife would say. This weekend was just another reminder that I'm nothing without the Lord. Christ is everything and He knows how to minister to His people better than I do. This was definitely not one of my best weekends but hey...the Lord taught me something. I'm gonna try to keep this memory in my mind and refer to it the next time I start feeling discouraged. I'm an artist and a human being. There will be a next time. Fortunately, I don't have to be ruled by emotions next time.

In closing, one other thing that helped me with my weekend was reading my friend Rachel Gallagher's blog. She's guest blogging for me this Thursday but she sent it in to me this weekend. Perfect timing, Rachel! Thank you. Make sure you come back this Thursday. You'll definitely be encouraged.

Thanks for reading,

Jarrell

My Weekend (part 1)

This weekend was a very interesting one for me. Very emotional. Let me give you a little reason for my "emo-ness". I'm an artist in between projects.

One day my wife and I were having a pretty deep conversation and she said that she read something that gave her some insight into my emo personality. She read that people who are creative generally go through a rough process in order to create something. After the thing is created, the artist (or preacher, or whoever) is on a high...but then the high wears off after a while. Then the artist goes into this state of mild depression until his/her creativity is sparked again. (Of course she told me this during one of my down moments.) Just a little FYI, this doesn't HAVE TO happen to all artists. It only applies to the ones who are choosing to be led by their emotions rather than trust in God. Since Jeneil shared that with me, I've been on the lookout for the devil's trap. It's really helped me to be aware of what's going on with me. Getting to the weekend...

So on this particular weekend, I was feeling a little less than excited about ministering. I found out that a concert that I was scheduled to minister at later on this year got canceled. (And I was really looking forward to that one too.) I couldn't get in the studio last week either. Nothing seemed to be going the way I wanted it to go. I was in one of those "why-am-I-even-ministering-through-music" kinda attitudes. I was like, "There are so many other ministers out there. I'm not needed. I'm not effective here anymore." I had two day block party that I was ministering at this weekend. It started Saturday night and ended last night. It was an outdoor event so I was already drained by the time I got up to rap. I prayed before I got up there but it wasn't nearly the preparation that I should've done...because I was in my mood, remember?

I will say this as a parenthetical statement. My preparation is everything. I am not the best rapper out there. I know of local talent who can run circles around me as far as skills are concerned. I'm talented but I'm not stellar. I know the only thing that separates me from others is my preparation. I ask God that His glory be seen and not mine. And I spend time with God until I know that He's up there with me. That's where all of the passion (an even on-the-spot revelation) comes from. Unfortunately, not a lot of artists do this. Most of the time they go up there in their own strength and arrogance and depend on their skills to win people over. Every time I've done that I've failed. And it's not a good feeling.

So I get up on stage...spiritually unprepared. I start off with the a capella verse. In that verse, I make a statement about Jesus not being Catholic...

(To be continued...)

Fame and Entertainment

So for those of you who may not know, I am a youth pastor at my church. This month our youth ministry will be focusing on being missions minded in the areas of music, sports, fashion and movies/media. I've personally been on a study about the Christian's role in the arts...pretty interesting. I've run across a subject that everyone probably has to deal with when talking about representing Christ in the arts. The subjects are fame and entertainment.

My concepts of fame and entertainment are really starting to change. God knows that my heart is pure and that He continues to purify it. But I'm starting to see fame and entertainment more as a tool and a mission field (respectively). I used to be very much against fame and "Christian" entertainment and entertainers. Let me explain my views about them now.

First let's talk about fame. What is fame? Fame is simply being well known. Being famous is being a person who's well known. Now I know that pop culture has portrayed fame as a certain lifestyle with certain benefits. And the truth is that when people become famous they tend to lead lifestyles of excess, glamour and so on. But as a Christian, we must separate being famous from excessive living. If we don't, we will always see fame as an enemy. Is fame an enemy. I thought so at first until I read that God planned to make Abraham famous. Now if you're a Christian and you're reading this, you probably understand that the reason for fame is simply to exalt the name of Christ. So that brings me to this: if fame has a purpose then fame is simply a tool. If fame is a tool, then it should be stewarded properly. But the mismanagement of a tool doesn't make the tool bad. It is the person who stewards the tool that will determine whether the tool will be used for good or for bad, for God's glory or for self glory. Now I don't believe that we as Christians should seek fame. In fact we should do as Jesus did and make ourself of NO reputation. (Um...that's pretty hard to do by the way.) I think that if God desires to loan us the tool of fame, then praise His name. If not, we are still content. But as we are being content, I also think that we should do our VERY BEST to cultivate our talents as a form of worship to God. When we do this, I believe that God will take us to wherever He wants us to go. If it stays local...cool. If it goes national and international...cool. It's up to Him because it's all about Him. Sometimes that's hard to accept, especially when my flesh gets mad and wants to go on a promoting frenzy. (I'll talk about promoting on another post.) I've really got to leave it all in God's hands, even though I know that this is partially my livelihood. It's hard man.

Moving on to entertainment...
"Seriously, do Christians need more entertainment?" I've asked myself that question many times and the answer has always been NO! But recently I've seen this in a different light. I still don't think Christians need more entertainment. I believe the body of Christ needs to focus on being who we're called to be so that we can change the world. But does that mean that Christians should not produce things that entertain others? I've been looking at entertainment from the perspective of art. I think this is something important to note about art. Art is meant to be enjoyed. Some people make art. Others are entertained by it. But if it's good art the maker and the admirer will both be entertained by it. They'll gaze at it, think about it, examine it, be amused by it, enjoy it...they will be entertained. Actually the definition of entertainment is an amusement or diversion provided especially by performers. Good art is amusing and will divert you from whatever you're currently focused on. The question is: what is my art communicating? Where is my art leading people? In any event, I've come to the conclusion that good art will entertain to some degree. As a minister, my goal should not be to entertain people. My goal should be to lead them to a deeper relationship with Christ. But again I think that using the talents and resources that God has given me in order to engage people is definitely a good idea.

So that's what I'm thinking about fame and entertainment...for now. Feel free to comment.

Blessings,
Jarrell

Prophetic Dreams and Visions (pt 3)

So before I continue with the story, I think that you shoud know that when I started part 1 of this little series I had no idea that this whole wallet situation was going to happen. I was actually going to share another recent dream that had (and continues to have) a huge impact on my life. I chose to talk about this dream and the wallet situation because this was so fresh and so relevant to our little discussion here. I should also let you know that the Lord has been dealing with me about the importance of a solid prayer life. And, of course, when the Lord wants to begin to teach you something, the enemy is always there to fight against that. I have been having an extremely difficult time praying and studying. I know we all struggle because our flesh doesn't wanna pray or read...and we have that struggle everyday. But this is not that. I feel that there is some extra hindrance there. So when I tell you the rest of this story, please understand that God in His sovereignty is trying to teach me the importance of prayer. I'm no prayer warrior...although I'd like to be. With that being said, let's get back to the situation.

I was in the car having a breakdown. The Lord told me that someone had my wallet (and for those of you who thought that the someone was me, it wasn't lol!) When the Lord told me that someone had my wallet, I asked the Lord to "crush" whoever had it. Mind you, I was pretty frustrated when I prayed the prayer. To my knowledge, this wasn't a "righteous" indignation. It was a "someone-has-my-wallet-so-I-hope-they-get-what-they-deserve" indignation. After I said that I figured, "No use complaining. What's done is done. Let me start cancelling cards and hope that there are no crazy charges to my account." I drove back to the church, and posted on Facebook that I lost my wallet and that I was now cancelling cards. You all saw it. You all showed sympathy. I thank you for that! When I got back to the church, I called a pastor friend of mine to tell him that I had to cancel my appointment with him because I didnt have a driver's license. We got to talking about a little bit of what we would've talked about had we kept the meeting. While I was on the phone with him, Faith (our receptionist/children's ministry extraodinaire) comes and tells me that there is a police officer on the phone for me. Now I received a call from a police officer last week. He wanted to rent the gym and I am the one that handles those requests. And because I didn't even make a police report about my wallet possibly being stolen, I just assumed it was the officer calling about gym rental. I asked Faith (yes, that's her real name) to forward the call to my voicemail. Thank the Lord she didn't. She instead asked my wife to take the call. I was still on the phone with the pastor when my wife came down. She told me to talk to her after I got off of the phone and said to me, "it's about your wallet." I thought she was just gonna encourage me to get the ball rolling on card cancellations and such. I'm a procrastinator.

After I finished my call, I went to go talk to my wife. Little did I know that the call was from a police officer who found 3 of my cards: my personal debit card, my business debit card, and a capital one mastercard. Now out of everything in my wallet, these were the things I was most concerned about. The police officer told my wife that he would come by the church and give me my cards. Crazy! But what's even crazier is how it all happened...

When the police officer came and dropped off my cards, he told me the story. He said that he was dispatched after the police station received a call from a cafe right up the street from the our church. He said that the cafe reported that there was a person sitting outside of the cafe that looked pretty sick. The officer who was dispatched happened to be a Christian. When the officer arrived at the scene, he asked the young man for some ID. When the young man gave the police officer the information, the officer pulled up some information on the man. Turns out the young man had warrants for his arrest. The officer then searched the man and, in searching his wallet, he found my cards! You're probably thinking, "How did he know to contact your church?" I told you earlier that this man was a Christian man, right. Well this same man went to a men's conference that my dad and I attended 2 years ago. When he saw the last name he told me that his thoughts were, "I wonder if this is the same Flowers that pastors Faith Outreach..." He pulls up the church information in his computer, calls the church, and ends up talking to Faith...who tried to tell me the officer was calling...etc. The young man who had my cards tried telling the officer that he just found the cards. The officer said that the young man was stoned on methodone and had weed in his pocket...so with that and the warrants, he ended up going to jail. When the officer pulls up, he's listening to KDRY 1100. Funny thing, I just did an interview taping on KDRY the day before. He told me that he remembered the church because he visited once and loved it lol! God is awesome.

Think about this! Had I not had that dream (and the confirmation of the God's voice), I wouldn't have randomly (and in my opinion quite fleshly) asked God for justice. And God in His sovereignty heard my request and brought justice to me. I still have take care of things like getting a new driver's license, etc. But you know what? After a miracle like that I have to believe that if God really wanted me to have my whole wallet back he would've given it to me. So as this relates to dreams, God doesn't do things haphazardly. God also cares about the little stuff...and will give you a dream to change the course of your life (like He did in my other dream) or to give you a simple word of knowledge about something seemingly insignificant. I might share the other dream with you sometime...much crazier than this story. I know this was pretty long. Thank you for reading.

Jarrell

Prophetic Dreams and Visions (pt 2)

So on Facebook I let everyone know that I lost my wallet, right? Well I didn't let you know how I lost it so here it goes...

I was actually doing a print job at FedEx Kinkos last Sunday afternoon. I had another shipment of CDs that had to go out so there I was...printing more CD covers & CD labels. (By the way, thanks to all those who have bought the CD so far. Also thank you for the great responses to it! I'm gonna get better at posting my events too...pray for me lol! And if you haven't bought the CD yet, go ahead and get off that $5 haha! www.freedommusicgroup.com :) The next day, I went to another Kinkos near my house to do more CD stuff. I think I left my wallet/planner at one of those Kinkos stores. Sad, I know. I was looking for it Monday evening and I couldn't find it. I thought, "This could be bad but I probably just misplaced it or something. I'll tear the house down tomorrow and find it." Great plan, right? I thought so too until the next morning.

Monday night I went to sleep thinking about what I could've done with my wallet/planner. It was pretty important because I pretty much carry my life in there. Sad, I know. My passport, my debit cards, my ID/Driver's license, my checkbook, my blockbuster card (very important), my Sam's card...everything. I went to sleep with this on my mind. Then I had a dream. I dreamed that I was at the first Kinkos I visited. I was asking the cashier who helped me Sunday if she knew where my wallet/planner was. (Her name is Kat, a very helpful lady by the way.) In my dream, Kat was telling me that she didn't know where my wallet was. That was it, the end of the dream. When I woke up I got the feeling that maybe my planner was taken. After the dream, I was pretty sure that I left it at Kinkos and if Kat didn't know where it was...then I had a problem. Even though I was pretty sure I wasn't 100% so I woke up and began to search (sort of frantically) for my planner. I went to the Kinkos near my house to find out if I had left my wallet there. Then I asked them to call the first Kinkos I went to so that they could check if someone may have turned it in. They called and could find it. I was unhappy with their answer so I went myself. I was like, "Maybe Kat is there and she'll remember me. If it's there, she'll know for sure." I think I left it on the check out counter so if anybody would know where it would be Kat would know right?? I went to the first Kinkos I visited and guess what...no Kat! I asked the people who were working there if the found my wallet. They looked in their lost and found and told me the same thing that they told me when I was at the other Kinkos...no wallet found. I asked them when Kat was coming in. They said she wasn't coming in until 2pm. (I don't know why I asked. She told me in the dream that she didn't know where it was.) So I went back to my truck and proceeded to melt down in the parking lot. I was asking God why He wouldn't tell me where my wallet was. I was so frustrated with Him. Then I remembered the dream. Then I got frustrated because I wasn't tryna decode a dream at the moment. I was trying not to believe that someone would take something that doesn't belong to them. Then that still small voice came and said, "Jarrell, someone has your wallet." Because I was sooo frustrated, I quickly said, "Lord if someone has my wallet, please crush them!" Be careful what you ask for.

(to be continued...)