One Simple Message that Cuts Through the Noise
“What are we even doing here?”
I furrowed my brow slightly and pulled at the tight collar of my button-down shirt but refrained from speaking the question out loud. The flimsy plastic chair underneath me shifted precariously with the slight movement and I willed myself to stop fidgeting.
It was late evening and the windows were open, but the air inside the white plaster-walled room was still warm and thick with humidity. The smells of jungle vegetation, bitter woodsmoke, and cooking spices permeated the space.
“As the deputy chairman, it is my honor to introduce our guests from the United States…”
“Hey guys,” as the translation came, I dipped my head and whispered carefully out of the corner of my mouth to my team, “I think it might be our turn to do something here in a minute.”
Beside me, a few heads nodded slightly in reply.
“Tonight, we gratefully acknowledge the presence of the chiefs, officials, and government leaders of the city of Sanya Ju, and we are proud to meet with honored leaders from Tanzania and the United States to discuss ways that we can work together to help protect the environment.”
I shook my head ever so slightly in disbelief - what WERE we doing here?
It was our first trip to Africa as a band, and we had spent the last several evenings performing in large-scale events and sharing the message that had transformed our lives - the message of the freedom available through Jesus.
But now we were participating in a POLITICAL event? It made no sense to me, and I was still trying to figure out what we would even be able to add to the discussion - it seemed so far outside of our focus and skillset that I was truly and deeply confused.
“In a minute we would like to invite the members of the White Ribbon Band to perform for us…”
I smiled, ignoring the mistake, and waved slightly as several city officials glanced in our direction.
“…but first, I would like to invite our honored guest, Evangelist Keith Cook (in the speaker’s thick accent it sounded like ‘Keet Coke’), to share a few words about how we can work together to help the environment.”
I watched as my mentor smiled graciously and stood, walking first to the chairman and shaking his hand in thanks and then moving to the podium. He waited for a moment for the smattering of polite applause to finish before speaking.
“My dear Tanzanian friends,” he smiled broadly, “I am so honored to be here to talk about how Tanzanians and Americans can work TOGETHER to help the environment.”
I watched carefully - I had already learned that Keith was a powerful communicator but I was very curious as to how he would handle this situation.
“When I think about the environment, I can’t help thinking about God’s original intention for all people - the Bible says that when God created the Earth, He placed the first man and woman into a PERFECT environment…. But then it says that they disobeyed God - they ‘sinned’ - and evil entered the world, polluting their perfect environment…”
I watched, stunned, as he concisely shared the simple message of Jesus - how our sin has separated all us from God, how Jesus chose to pay the price for our sin with His perfect life, and how we can receive forgiveness and reconnection with God by saying “yes” to his offer of freedom.
Minutes later, he concluded his talk with an opportunity to respond to Jesus - and in the middle of a still-sweltering meeting room in the middle of the Tanzanian jungle, many local government workers and officials raised their hands, publicly indicating their desire to receive Jesus’ offer of freedom and forgiveness.
What had begun as a political event had concluded in life-changing encounters with Jesus for some of our beautiful new Tanzanian friends…
And it was all because my mentor Keith had focused on the ONE thing that could cut through the noise and confusion of our political environment - the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 1:16, the apostle Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…”
And we believe this.
We are living in a time of nearly unprecedented turmoil, confusion, and emotional conflict, but we believe that this simple message is STILL the answer for a broken world - and it is the one message that can cut through all of the noise that assails us all on a daily basis.
And this is why we do what we do.
More. Committed. Than. Ever.
2020 has been a year of incredible challenges, but we are more convinced than ever that Jesus is STILL the answer.
We've had to reschedule many of our upcoming outreaches (Zambia, India, and Haiti) until early next year, but we're still committed to the goal of reaching as many people as possible in every nation with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and we can't wait to get back out there!
We’ve also been using this time to create content designed to introduce people to the love and message of Jesus. This is the goal of every song, blog, podcast, and video that we produce, so please feel free to use our content as a resource if you know someone who needs to hear this message.
If you'd like to help us share the love of Jesus in 2020 with a tax-deductible monthly donation or a one-time gift, simply click the link below for more information. We're deeply thankful for you, friends!
THIS ONE MEANS A LOT TO US…
Our brand new music video is streaming now - COME BACK was filmed on two continents over the course of six months…