Category: Articles

Life After Craig Lewis: Let us move on

October 9, 2006
The Ambassador
· Articles · Carousel

Casualties of War

It has been quite some time since Craig Lewis and Ex Ministries came on the scene and launched an assault on the whole of secular and Christian Hip Hop. Many of us laboring as indigenous missionaries to the hip hop community found ourselves ripped by the shrapnel of his claims. Internal bickering and disputing erupted within the church resulting in many casualties of this “war.” Sadly, there has been much damage to Christ’s body. Some people have been convinced that regardless of how Christo-centric and biblically laced a person from the Hip Hop community, he or she is an accomplice of the devil. Therefore, certain Christian Hip Hop heads have been repeatedly insulted by their Christian leaders, banished by their church family, boycotted, and despised because of their form of Christian ministry. Our CD’s have been burned in bonfires, and some individuals have been forced to renounce their affiliation with the Christian Hip Hop mission field.

In spite of this, others see how totally ungrounded this perspective is, and, based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, have decided to be even more dedicated to Jesus Christ and His lordship. Based on the truth of God’s revealed word, we are more confident than ever that God has graciously opted to save individuals within the culture of Hip Hop—like He has from every other fallen category of people. He has since taken us converts and dispatched us to a world that sees Hip Hop as a social phenomenon capable of affecting the urban and suburban scene one way or another. When you are passionate about seeing the Hip Hop engulfed urban landscape affected for Jesus Christ, you get excited at the thought of a redeemed community of hip hoppers being one of God’s tools to change the spiritual tide. So, whatever skepticism has come our way since Craig Lewis began tricking people, we take as “par for the course.”

Calm After the Storm

As divine providence would have it, after causing almost universal skepticism of Christian Hip Hop, the “minister” himself came under the eye of suspicion because of certain allegations and skeletons in his closet. All of this has caused a wave of confusion that has neither honored the Lord nor brought credibility to His church. Yet I sense a settling to the whole thing—a calming of this unnecessary storm. Indeed, immaturity keeps some people battling over “this and that,” but the lines seem to have been drawn, and “it is what it is.” With that being said, in the words of Paul the great apostle, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).

If you’ve been distracted from the Lord’s commission, it is time to get back to business. In spite of any momentary set-backs, confusion, and trouble, life after Craig Lewis goes on. He’s probably permanently apart of the church scene now, accepted by many as the tool of God to “stomp out the devil.” This should not surprise us. The Scriptures say, some in the church will “…accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). This is surely what has given Lewis so much momentum—he teaches what many already believed (because of their social prejudices)and wanted to hear. Even though Hip Hop was something they never studied (from a social and theological perspective), engaged in, or cared about, they allowed a “false word” about it to thrive in the church. The result: he became a hero, and his myths became “doctrine.” That’s ok, things are settling down, and those who have “ears to hear” hear, and those who have “itching ears” are having them tickled.

Back At It

God never promised us that in this life all hostility would cease. Those who have withstood Lewis’ deception live on; and we must stop arguing about things that don’t profit. The mission continues—we must not only glance at what is in the rear-view mirror, but focus on what is outside the windshield. Forget what’s behind, in a sense; let us plow ahead in obedience to the Great Commission. A world is dying and in need of God’s missionary agent called the Church. Cities are in a worse state than ever. Philly has over 1 million people that don’t know Jesus, and 75% of the men in jail are African American males who undoubtedly love Hip Hop culture. Urban and suburban kids are exposed to godlessness at such early ages that today’s most creative and spunky sinners are often “young” people. Kids (Christian and non-Christian) are more ruthless, more disobedient to parents, more relativistic, and more self-absorbed than ever. Secular Hip Hop is a leading influencer of this mentality and someone must lovingly, but aggressively contend for the faith among that group of people.

So, returning to my original premise—my “thesis”—the church must be the missionary agent who carries the message of reconciliation to hip hop-filled cities and suburbs. The godlessness of hip hop is a perfect impetus for dispatching Christian missionary agents who are indigenous to that context so that the church will honor the need to both contend for the faith and contextualize for the culture. We need more than rappers; we need Christians who care about people who don’t necessarily look, dress, or act like them. We need believers everywhere to directly or vicariously (through someone else) “tabernacle for awhile among them.” Who could have the guts and the gall to hang out among the sinful Hip Hop context? I believe if no one else will, at least the convert who has been delivered from the clutches of godless hip hop. This would be considered indigenous missions.

We Need Jesus More than Ever

Cross Movement has always been an advocate of Christo-centrism in everything including Christian rap. More than ever Jesus must be the focus of this mission, and the message of these missionaries. Although it seems that most people today prefer mindless rap—being entertained by simplicity such as “chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side,”—the deep things of God must be offered during times like these. May we never let our message spread further than His message, nor our fame eclipse the fame of the One who sends us. Mark 6 documents the sending out of the disciples for ministry, saying that after they had gone out and come back,“[Jesus’] name had become known” (14). Their “going out” resulted in the His name becoming known (14). Most hip hop artists want their names known, but the type of missionary I’m talking about determines to go out and blow the name of Jesus up.

We Need Life More than Lyrics

Many of the accusations levied against the Christian Hip Hop community are true. For this reason, I believe that Paul’s admonition to Timothy is an appropriate admonition for all young Christian leaders (hip hop or not), “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” The way to combat people like Lewis is not with arguments on a message board. We must display exemplary Christian behavior so that those who judge us by our externals would be ashamed when they see the Christ-likeness of our internals.

Again, Paul tells Titus in regards to younger believers, “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (2:7-8). You see, sadly, your youthfulness is a strike against you in today’s culture, just like it was in Paul’s. The only way to combat this is to be boomin’ in your Christian character, and not just churchy or nominally Christian.

Let Us Move OnSo, we continue blessing the name of our God, praying that he separates the wheat from the chaff, the shepherd from the hireling, the true pastor from the false prophet, and the useful Christian hip hopper from the useless one. Life goes on and so does the call of God. No more fussing over clearly bogus teachings, which don’t profit anyone. We must all remember that “the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition…” (2 Tim 2:24). Let us press on to maturity in Christ, and declare His name among every context that God graciously allows—from Hip Hop to the ends of the earth.

Paul vs. Peter 2006

January 20, 2006
The Ambassador
· Articles · Carousel

LOOK AT GOD!

God is something else! I would have never guessed that two years ago as I was desperately seeking God and surveying the culture for a topic to write my master’s thesis that I would have struck gold with the topic “The Theological Implications of Hip hop Culture.” One of my professors, Dr. Lawson, rightfully pointed out to me that I couldn’t force people to seriously consider hip hop, but if it could be determined that hip hop has theological implications, then every Christian would be confronted with having to choose a response to those implications. In light of the debates that have been raging in churches and on websites, God’s providence is obvious. We are not just debating about hip hop, WE ARE DEBATING THEOLOGY and its practical applications and lifestyle implications. The question that we are asking is, “who and what does God accept or reject?” Who are God’s people and what do they all look like, act like, talk like, dress like and listen to? This is the crux of the issue, yet it is obvious that the church’s problem with hip hop is deeper than its disdain for a people group and their culture.

WHY I STAY INVOLVED IN THIS DISCUSSION

Many people in the church suffer from either a misinformed and/or underdeveloped theology or no theology at all. As I listen to Craig Lewis and company—along with the people who urge that we stop all this targeting and educating about hip hop—it becomes evident that many people think that it is spiritual to ignore or disrespect a people group strictly because of its sinfulness. To treat the hip hop culture like it is somehow outside the scope of God’s grace and message of salvation is basically saying “to hell with you hip hoppers!” If that is too strong, perhaps it seems more palatable to say, “…to hell with all of the things about you hip hoppers except the things that are exactly like me.” Either way, this is exactly what is being forwarded due to the ignorance that prevails among us. Hip hop or not—I want to distance myself from this unbiblical sentiment, and that is the only reason why periodically I add a log on to the already raging fire of debate.

I can still hear my seminary counselor saying, “Duce, write something that will be helpful for you in ministry after you have left this school and gone into the mission field that God has prepared you for.” I had always approached hip hop as strictly an evangelist/emcee. Little did I know that as I approached hip hop from a social, theological, and scholarly level, I would actually unearth biblical credence for using Christian hip hop missionally, and biblical support for embracing the Christian who maintains non-sinful hip hop traits (don’t miss any of that—read every word carefully). After much prayer and thought what became obvious was that I could do a thesis that sought to expose the theological implications of a 30-year-old global movement that has the world under its sway. In complex urban settings (i.e. NYC, ATL, Philly, etc.) it is one of the most inescapable realities of the common people and the primary discipler of those born after 1968. I thought to myself, “Why not? The church could use the education, and Christians from the hip hop generation could use the biblical support for what they were already doing.” As an evangelist I had spent over a decade ministering as a Christian from the hip hop generation to more than just hip hoppers. I had developed a reputation for being faithful to the Christian faith as well as relevant to the “hip hop times.” After all of my recordings (The Thesis included), I didn’t even think I had to validate my total, complete and fervent commitment to the cross, the faith, and the people of God. I also thought that all talks about reaching hip hop would be evaluated in light of that prior faithfulness. But that proved to be idealistic thinking. Many, not all, of the naysayers do not know of my/our prior track record, so I must continue to set the record straight.

IT’S NOT ABOUT HIP HOP

No matter how hard we try to delineate between engaging a culture and embracing the sins of the culture we still find ourselves being accused of defending, promoting, or pledging allegiance to something other than Christ. Do the research; Cross Movement and all of its affiliated entities and artists have been elevating Christ over hip hop for more than a decade. We have become known for insisting that Christ and his cross be central in the Christian rapper’s music. However, because of our passion to see God save and use converts from the hip hop community, we cannot idlely standby while someone wrongfuly distorts the truth about the issue of hip hop and the Christian hip hopper. Hip hop is not a creation of the devil and the Christian hip hopper is not trying to Christianize a demonic invention. The devil is not a creator of anything. God is the sole source of all creation. Under God mankind was given a similar responsibility, the authority to cultivate. Mankind takes what God has created and cultivates it. In the Scriptures Satan never creates anything. He merely corrupts, deceives, and taints everything that God intends for good. The devil didn’t even create sin. He sins and he convinces us to sin, but he cannot create sin for us. Please don’t misread me, this holy hip hop feud is not personal. I’m not in the least bit concerned with how Craig Lewis’ slanderous remarks and bogus messages affect me personally, but I do care about the church fulfilling her mission. I also care about the image of the people of God in the eyes of “outsiders” (Romans 2:24). The church is already known for being slack in engaging and evangelizing emerging cultures. This is in part why hip hop does not see the church as its friend or its helper. In fact, they perceive the Nation of Islam as a friend, partly because the Nation affirms them and doesn’t only chastise them. I do not want the church’s marred image to be extended any further as the church finds an unscriptural reason to alienate one of the most influential people groups of our times.

IT’S NOT ABOUT CHRISTIAN HIP HOP

Understand this–to use the term “Christian hip hop” does not make a person guilty of exalting or “fondling hip hop.” If a white Christian used the same logic against the “black church” that I have been hearing from some of you, we would have a riot on our hands. To accuse the person who refers to “the black church” of wrongfully exalting and promoting his ethnicity or culture would be to start a war that everyone would regret. We all know that there is only one true church of Jesus Christ and it is neither black nor white. Yet we may refer to the “black church experience” or a “Korean church.” These terms are used to describe some of the distinguishing ethnic and cultural characteristics one would find among the church members—the adjective simply modifies the noun. Christian hip hoppers know that we are Christians and that “Christian hip hop” is not our identity. The terms are joined together in order to help others to describe the observable solidarity that is exhibited by Christians who come from a hip hop culture context. (I wish people would stop making us state the obvious.)

DO WE REALLY LOVE THOSE “OTHER” PEOPLE?

I never imagined being ensnared in a theological and “missiological” debate about a culture (hip hop) that I have been countering for nearly 15 years. To listen to me in sermon or on CD, or my inner-circle of ministry partners, and suggest that we have an allegiance to godless hip hop or Christian hip hop culture is ABSURD! To listen to us and hear anything other than an appeal that the church embrace the saved and converted people of that culture is to hear what you want to hear. To hear anything other than a plea for the church to engage and evangelize the unconverted of the culture without dumping personal preferences on them is to hear what you want to hear. We are all under obligation to love God and man. Don’t tell me that you love me or you accept me, but yet you reject everything about me that distinguishes me from you and your preferred group. To accept a people means to allow them the freedom to be different (assuming those differences are not sinful.) Every one of us want to be accepted without having to become something or someone that we are not.

WE DO MISSIONS NOT LAUNCH CRUSADES

During the Crusades, conversions were forced by the sword of a man. Real mission work is conducted by the sword of the Spirit (the word of God). We are not supposed to be forcing people to become like us. We are supposed to be urging them to become like Christ—the robe and sandal-wearing, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek speaking, carpenter/rabbi who followed Jewish customs perfectly. We do not want them to wear what he wore, speak like he spoke, and observe any custom that does not transcend all cultures for all times. We want them to embrace this one Lord by grace through faith.

So for the record—Jesus is God in the flesh, second person of the triune Godhead. He is 100% God and 100% man and as such, He provides us the perfect example of true humanity. After living a perfect life—dying a substitutionary death for sinners, RESURRECTING, and sending the Holy Spirit to indwell believers—He commanded His people to go into all the world and make disciples. As a motivating promise, He said that He would be with all who fulfilled this great commission. Since that time, believers have been seeing this commandment as both a privilege and a responsibility. It’s a privilege to think that a perfect God would enlist such imperfect people to carry out His plans. It is a responsibility because He gave us a great commandment and not a great suggestion.

Since the missionary journeys of Paul and the like, so much has changed and so much has remained the same. Though Paul was a Jew culturally and religiously, it is worth noting that he did not add to his gospel message the cultural baggage of Judaism.

IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE

We plead with you out there if you have spiritual eyes to see—and a heart for He preached Christ. Yet, due to the opposition from Jews who did not want Gentile culture “polluting” the church, Paul did have to preach reconciliation of the Jew, Gentile, barbarian, slave, and free. He actually preached about the Gentile’s freedom to participate in the kingdom of God, and argued with his friend Peter about confusing this issue of free access to Christ for the non-Jew (Gal 2:11-14). So he preached the Gospel, but also he preached freedom from Jewish culture. lost people groups of the earth—stop distorting and confusing the issue. This is about more than just rappin’ or wearing fitted caps and Timberlands. This is about more than just going to church. This is about more than “just being Christian.” This is about the church’s responsibility to be the sending agent into every people group until Christ comes back. This is about indigenous missions—people doing missions among those that they are socially native to.

All these arguments prove is that there will always be a group who acts like their cultural expression and their norms are right, and therefore superior to someone else’s. The hip hoppers, along with other emerging groups within our pluralistic and postmodern society, are minorities within today’s church circles. There will always be some who think that they have a right to force these emerging groups to culturally assimilate. I believe that we ought to proceed with the mission to reach out and engage all peoples both cross-culturally and indigenously.

DON’T BE A MISSIONARY IF…

I pray that you prayerfully reconsider your participation in urban missions:

If your understanding of the devil’s involvement in the origins of hip hop is more aligned with Craig Lewis than reality
If you are not able to perceive and appreciate the damage being inflicted by the misunderstanding Craig Lewis and those like him have of the hip hop missionary movement
If you think God perceives your culture as the highest and best culture in the world
If you think that culture is unimportant and only spirituality is
If you think that God rejects non-sinful aspects of every culture except yours

In this state you are a hazard to the missionary enterprise. You will burden people with your preferences and forge God’s signature on your personal tastes and styles. You will unload your logic and your made-up laws, while simultaneously claiming that “God told you to do it.” You will be proud of yourself when people from other contexts look and act like you in every way, and you will give them spiritual a “thumbs up” for what is really only an external change of wardrobe and musical style. You will trick them into thinking that they are internally righteous because externally they have burned a couple of CDs and stripped off their hip hop gear.

I’m not being sarcastic or insensitive—I mean this as a sobering caution. God is glorified when the diversity that He intended is promoted and even celebrated. Paul argued in favor of the freedom of the Gentiles. He even opposed Peter when Peter started acting like it was a Christian crime to act like a Gentile (Gal 2:14). This is a theological problem and Cross Movement and others have been wise in trying to reason with the larger Christian community about this collective mission. The mission is the transmission of our faith, not the downloading of our culture.

Recommending cultural modifications is ok, but degrading non-sinful—yet different—ways of existing in Christ is a crime. God does not support this and even a glance at Scripture reveals this.

Please people; understand the issue and the Scriptures. I will NOT write a response to the responses to this. I will seek public venues to discuss this for the sake of those who have an ear to hear. I have resolved to continue joining with all who desire to bring the gospel and floss the life in Christ within the cities of America. This means I will certainly be in contact with the hip hop community—serving it, preaching to it and making disciples out of those who place faith in Jesus Christ by grace.

From the Concert, to the Classroom, to the Corner

September 30, 2005
The Ambassador
· Articles · Carousel

I am currently in a season in my life where I long to see the power of the Christian hip hop community manifest itself in something other than a CD or mix tape. I wonder if the Holy Spirit is really at work in us or are we just lyrically and musically talented? I keep thinking to myself, if the power of the Spirit has given us victory on the mic, then shouldn’t we see that same power off the mic as well? We are not in the Old Testament times where God the Spirit came on people for a quick task and then jetted; these are New Testament times where the Spirit permanently indwells his people to be a continual recourse for empowered service. We are told to keep being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) so we know that our spiritual energies can be depleted, but the idea is that we do not have to wait for God to zap us again, we just have to refuel.

I have always thought to myself that a true healer or miracle worker does not only heal in some big arena when it’s show time, but a true healer and miracle worker demonstrates this power from God off camera, and in the real world. He could go into a hospital and clear it out, and walk on the street and touch the vast number of sick people. Something is fishy when the only time their “powers” are at work is when they are putting on some well-televised, well-planned event. Well, as Christian rappers, we can become just as lopsided; just as staged. We can become showman, who minister with passion and fire at a show, but, have either no motivation or no energy to labor just as passionately off stage.

A vision that I have always had for Cross Movement was that we would hit the road hard to awaken our nation’s Christian hip-hop reserves to the idea of boldly representing Jesus Christ as a full-time mission. By God’s grace, to some degree we have done that and we have loved all of the perks that have come with that aspect. The challenge for us has been, when we are not on the road—continuing to minister? We formed a nonprofit organization so that we could facilitate other ministry efforts that were not necessarily “mic-oriented.” However, the drive and ability to do the “other things” has been greatly challenged by a number of internal and personal things as well as some external things. Admittedly, we have not been the force off the stage that I had hoped we’d be. For many reasons our onstage performance has far outweighed our offstage service. Some of you are probably gloating right now, saying, “I knew it, they’re not on the streets like me and my friends.” Well, you probably are on the streets because you have no choice. You don’t have to balance the limelight or being on the road with offstage ministry, because you have little or no limelight and you have a very limited traveling schedule. However, I still think we have not done a good job balancing these two and so I was moved to encourage us to get back on point. Internally we have to see this as necessary, especially as leaders in the Christian hip-hop community, and we have to want to lead by example.

There are other things that frustrate the desire to get something crackin’ offstage, and that is the appetites of the church. First, we can’t seem to move beyond “the concert.” Speaking for the African American slice of the hip-hop generation, I find that it’s getting to the point where rappers and preachers are the only two ministry platforms that can draw a crowd. Prayer meetings can’t draw a crowd, evangelism can’t draw a crowd, and mentoring opportunities don’t draw a crowd. We either flock to the mic or flock to hear those who’ve got the mic. Not many Christians of the hip-hop persuasion make it beyond the concert. For those of us who make a token appearance every now-and-then, we don’t bring our A-game. The best of our energies show up when we are on the mic, in the studio, or in a concert-crowd, while our left-overs show up sporadically in a church service, at a prayer meeting, or at some obscure service project. Peep it and weep–at the concert—thousands; in the classroom—hundreds; on the corner—tens. This goes for the Christian hip hop leaders as well, because we get to the point where we just don’t have enough of ourselves left to hit the classroom or the corner.

If we are not careful, we will allow our popularity and our prominence to replace our responsibility to do the small/hidden necessities of every Christian. We will preach but not study. We will rap but not evangelize. We will move the crowd, but not rally with the community of faith. We will be served, but not serve. It’s real subtle—we will unknowingly and unwillingly become a shell of what we seem to be during that hour on stage. We will have the right spill, but not be an incarnate example of the things that we are passionately communicating. And we will not intentionally be a fraud, but in hindsight we will look back and have to admit that we are almost none of the stuff that we say that a disciple should be.

We would tell a disciple that they should be sharing their faith as a way of life—but we either can’t or don’t. We would tell a disciple that he/she should regularly gather with a mature community of believers—but we either can’t or don’t. We would tell a disciple that he/she should be involved in laboring along side of a group of God’s people—but we either can’t or don’t. We would tell a disciple that he/she should be individually and corporately faithful, prayerful, studious—but we either can’t or don’t. Sooner or later, we have to lead our generation by example, and I believe that our Christian hip-hop leaders must model the other aspects of Christianity for those who have become fans/disciples.

I keep thinking and wondering what it would look like to see the same power that is at work in us on stage, flexing in full effect off the stage. The only dilemma is, “who wants to get off the stage?” After all, that is where both our spiritual gifts and natural motivations converge. We can become so intoxicated with this one aspect of service that we do not want to venture into arenas that are more sobering, challenging, and less likely to produce immediate personal payoff. I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE.

Some people are doing all they can, and others are doing all they like to do. I believe that the Christian hip-hop community which includes more than Christian hip-hop artists can be a community that becomes known for broadcasting an array of expressions of Holy Ghost power. We need more that rap and rappers. We need more than simply the four elements of hip-hop. It pains me to see Christian hip-hop artists who seem to have a passion and commitment for rap that does not exist for basic Christian fundamentals. They record until the wee-hours of the morning, fly great distances, sign hundreds of autographs, make crowds say, “hooo!” but rarely if ever spend serious time in a theological learning context, attend a prayer meeting, go on a missions trip, join an evangelistic blitz, attend a bible study, or anything for the body of Christ besides take the stage or pulpit.

In ministry there seems to be at least two main types of ministers—those who primarily minister in the limelight, and those who minister in the recesses of virtual obscurity. There are those who minister to what becomes a fan base, and those who minister to the “market place.” One group ministers to people who idolize them, buy their products, and cheer them on; the others minister without many perks. They are forced to look forward to the payoff of souls and an eternal reward. If we stray from being the latter, we must beware. This is a wake up call to my people—those who do hip-hop art and those who consume it. We must move beyond CDs and concerts, to classes and corners.

The reason for this is the need. There was a time when the world was not ready to follow us into a class or to a corner. Neither the world, nor the church was paying us any mind. We were like David, in the back with the sheep while everybody else was around the dinner table. Society needed a ram’s horn strategy. In the past, to get the attention of a town or a community, a horn or trumpet was blown. Well, the horn has been blown. We have awakened a large contingent of people up to the fact that Christ is Lord of hip-hop and Lord of all. We have their attention, and many of them like us enough to come to our concerts, visit our websites, and buy our product. Don’t we have more to offer them? The current times call for us to become teachers and the students who hit the classroom where the mind can be renewed (Rm 12:2).

Who will teach? In addition to the pastors and teachers of the former generation who we desperately need, we need teachers from the Christian hip-hop population as well. Like the writer of Hebrews said of some of the Christians “by this time you ought to be teachers” (Heb 5:11). I know too many of us who have Bible degrees, or we’ve sat in churches for over a decade, our parents are pastors and ministers, we’ve been to conferences galore—yet we are not becoming the teachers. Spirit empowered rappers and non-rappers—we just need hip-hop missionaries who know Christ and the culture enough to educate the hip-hop oriented society we live in. As for those that do rap, some of us who teach in our rap need to also teach without our rap. One reason for this is simply that there is more in us than just rap. Secondly, the world needs to see the same cats they idolize, pouring deep truths into them. Because of the times we are in, we have to supplement the rap with basic teaching because rap can’t do it all. In fact, sometimes rap is a hindrance because it keeps people in a “concert” state of mind. We run the risk of stunting their growth so that they never advance from a fan to a follower.

After the classroom, where our zeal is aligned with accurate biblical knowledge, we can be entrusted and spirit empowered to bum-rush the corners. Drug-dealers shouldn’t be the only ones who make the corner their headquarters. Street theologians and evangelists should also make the corners their mission field. We were designed for this. Paul spent much time in both the synagogue and the market place (the corner of his day). Can you imagine the impact that the Christian hip-hop community of missionary minded people would make on this world as we demonstrate affection for God’s classroom and the world’s corners? Even the secular world would appreciate our example. By God’s grace we would be more effective teachers, better students, peacemakers, role models, anti-drug and anti-violence advocates—all while still maintaining the hip-hop elements that don’t clash with our identity in Christ.

Our society needs role models – those who model a commitment to learning, leading, and serving. Life is bigger than us and our personal fetishes. Our CDs and concerts are appetizers. May we roll up our sleeves and lead people to the main course. Let’s take them from the concert to the classroom, to the corner.

Seven Reasons Why Craig Lewis and Ex Ministries Has Duped the Church into Believing Him

September 6, 2005
The Ambassador
· Articles · Carousel

He brought a scrutiny and a critical eye to a sinfully secular hip hop culture, and a very loose and unaccountable Christian hip hop genre.

Even though Craig Lewis and Ex Ministries are fueled by a poor understanding of hip hop, culture, and God’s redemptive purposes, they still exposed things that were true and not addressed in both the secular and Christian genres.

The most obvious way that Craig Lewis gained initial credibility with people in the church was he rightfully exposes and frowns upon the intense godlessness of mainstream hip hop culture. Stevie Wonder can see that hip hop is an offense to the holy God, and too many Christians seem to be in love with, or at least not offended by, the grand world secular hip hop. In addition to rightfully exposing secular hip hop, He places Christian hip hop on blast for its many shortcomings. I have to admit that there are many things that I agree with, but his basic premise is faulty and unscriptural. Christian hip hop is not only reasonable, but biblical since God is reconciling all things to himself (Col 1:20). Of course he is not reconciling Satan or demons, but hip hop is wrongly accused of being inherently demonic. Hip hop, at its core is founded on a set of amoral artist expressions. I do not have time to unpack this now but I am releasing a book defending this issue.

He fueled a pre-existing skepticism and antagonism towards hip hop and it’s infiltration in the church.

Many people who were already opposed to hip hop and who had little or no desire to see it saved and conformed to Christ’s standards, took Lewis’ unfounded, incorrect assertions and saw them as confirmation for the distaste that they already had for the culture. While they had every right to dislike where hip hop is and what it is primarily doing, they should have allowed the Scriptures to give them a vision of hip hop no longer in rebellion to, but submitted to Christ.

Those of us who desired to teach the church about the Truth about Hip Hop were indigenous to the culture, so we looked too much like the culprits for them to trust our ability to view and report on hip hop biblically.

Unfortunately our external appearance betrayed us and made parents and pastors unreceptive to us. They could not see themselves as students to a group of teachers who looked like us. Consequently when a man that looked like the preachers that they have no problems receiving from, came with a message that further incriminated hip hop—they were all in. When we would offer seminars and workshops about hip hop, no one except the kids would come (many of them were forced). When Craig Lewis came with a message that hip hop was demonic and Christian hip hop was an oxymoron, then bishops, deacons, ministers, grandmothers, grandfathers—everyone showed up.

Craig Lewis and Ex Ministries simplify the remedy to the hip hop dilemma by getting rid of it, rather than skillfully, prayerfully, biblically, and missionally going to work to evangelize hip hop.

To engage hip hop culture and see salvation come out of it, the church would have to do what they do when reaching any foreign group that needs the gospel. They would have to send people to live among the target group. They would not send someone who knew a little Bible, but hated the target people group. They wouldn’t even send a missionary that loved but didn’t understand the people. They would train the missionary to learn the language and culture of the people, and then send them to lovingly work among the people group for the glory and advancement of Jesus Christ.

Rather than trusting indigenous Christian hip hop missionaries to work among the hip hop community, the new fad is to buy Craig Lewis’ DVD and then declare hip hop culture to be off of God’s redemption list. Sad, but true.

Craig Lewis’ powerful stories about casting out demons and people surrendering weapons and burning CDs is far more appealing than the sometimes more hidden miracle of conversion.

Craig Lewis’s DVD, and his stories, and his sermons, are full of dramatic stories and funny tales, and powerful testimonies. I will not try to judge the veracity of these, but I will say that every hip hopper that is genuinely in Christ is a miracle. Now some of us, in the still of the night, were converted from darkness to light; some in the quietness of their soul trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior and without any fireworks crossed over from death to life. Since Cross Movement has not had any encounters that make for a good action flick, some churches are not as turned on by the humble work that God is doing through his powerful message of the cross (Rm. 1:16). Help us Lord for when we are weak—you are strong.

Hip hop apart from Jesus Christ is so wicked that it is easy to believe that it is an invention of Satan, and Christian hip hop is so similar to the culture that it’s easy to dismiss it along with the secular version.

For certain Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air and has demons who are at work in the sons of disobedience, is active in hip hop but that does not make him owner or sovereign of hip hop. Satan is at work even among God’s people and he by no means is our Lord. But often people would like to credit the worst of human behavior to the devil because we forget about how wicked the natural man is. Hip hop is full of natural men and the sinfulness of hip hop is not due to a demonic origin, but rather an unredeemed humanity. Sure Satan’s uncontested influence in hip hop makes matters even worse, but that is precisely why God wants to demonstrate through Christians who culturally have visible hip- hopness, what hip hop would look like if He controlled it, rather than Satan and the natural humanity.

When Christian hip hop values and practices the same sins as the unredeemed culture, we then become a target for those who already despise our differences. My advice to my brothers and sisters in Christ who have detectable hip hop cultural distinctive is that we reduce the chance of people despising us by displaying beefy Christianity. Like Paul says, “…in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” (1Tim 4:12).

Craig Lewis brought the churches focus to one of the most necessary subjects of our times—hip hop.

Sadly Lewis and company are a poor and unreliable source that many seem to believe because they are either unaware or skeptical of the more credible sources in the Christian community, but God still used them to bring the church’s focus to something that the church needs to understand—hip hop. Sociologists use hip hop to describe an era that was ushered in after the Civil Rights Era. The Hip Hop Era is the era that several generations will have found themselves in the midst of, and missions has often not been the churches response to this new generation. The church ought to dispatch indigenous Christian workers to the culture of hip hop, and this would require more than rap concerts. It would mean launching an intergenerational and multicultural missionary campaign to present Jesus and the life-changing gospel to a world that is plugged into hip hop like an I.V.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the things that he did do, has made people forget about or not care about the damage he is doing. Some good can come out of his campaign, but there are more reliable sources on the matter. There are examples of Christian hip hop (not just Christian rap) that are pleasing and useful to the Lord. The hip hop community is a ripe field for harvest, and we know that God will continue to snatch people out of the worldly hip hop circles and place them in his body. That doesn’t mean that they will come to church in the suit, but it does mean that they will be the church, fully robed in the righteous garments of Christ. Pray for us as we seek to be exemplary Christians, and win the love and support of our Christian family. It’s bad enough that the world does not want us. Imaging if God’s elect does not want us either.

The Thesis: Hear the Rhymes and Here’s the Reason

July 6, 2005
The Ambassador
· Articles · Carousel

Trust me—I don’t rap to hear myself, I don’t rap to be the best, and I don’t rap because I am seeking to get rich (or I would not be a Christian rapper). I rap because there is probably no greater means of access to such a wide variety of listeners who tune in for the primary purpose of hearing what the MC has to say. Since God has decided that He will save through the foolishness of what is verbally proclaimed, rap, for me as an evangelist, is the most well suited platform. Thus, The Thesis, my latest CD release… let me explain it.

To the pre-hip hop generation (pastors, parents, Christian gatekeepers, etc.) and the current hip hop community:

Meet a Missionary

As you seek to find out the truth behind Hip Hop I pray that you will let a missionary to the culture give you a social and biblical understanding of one of today’s most controversial and influential urban realities. Inherent in my name is my function—Ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20). Like all of Goad’s servants, I am a representative of his kingdom, sent out to communicate God’s biblical prescriptions and preferences. Also, like all of God’s people, I display the marks of being part of a sub-cultural context. Based on when and where I was born, my sub-cultural preference is biblically filtered hip hop culture. When I say “hip hop culture” I do not refer to the wide array of unbiblical, unethical and immoral practices of many hip hoppers, but rather the neutral aspects of the culture (i.e. forms of artistic expression, slang, fashion, music flavor, etc.), which are subject to the person who is in control of them. When Satan is in control of any of these components, then his agenda will be forwarded. Place a Spirit-filled individual in the context of any of these components and the glory of God is reflected through the proper use of earthly resources. Christians have always had to dwell within this tension—we are in the world but not of it (John 17:15-19). As Israel did, we will look very much like our neighbors accept for where transformed by our theology. Believers have always had the responsibility of not retreating, but rather penetrating godless societies to infuse them with biblical theology. To insure that the whole world is reached, God burdens our hearts differently, and crafts our frames for different mission fields.

Meet My Mission Field

The hip hop community is one the most needy, yet one of the most neglected by the community of faith (the church). Sadly this is often justified in the name of holiness, because at first glance it would seem noble to flee from such a godless people. I plead with you to remember Jonah who was sent to preach repentance to the most aggressive, godless, and vicious people of his day. Jonah did not want to go because he hated the people so much, but even more he knew that God had a tendency to forgive even the foulest group that repents. “Ah Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:1-2). Jonah wanted Nineveh judged, not saved. Sometimes it seems like the church wants Hip Hop destroyed, not cleaned up, but God will have people from every culture worshipping Him before His throne.

The Motivation for the Music

The Thesis is built on the premise that Hip Hop needs a robust witness of Jesus Christ. Hip Hop has rarely seen one who unashamedly identifies with the people of God, while at the same time dwells among the hip hop community as an indigenous missionary. One of the most beautiful scenes to witness is a person who is clearly of the hip hop persuasion in appearance, but is even more known for dominating Christ-likeness. Faith does not negate culture, it informs, improves, and corrects it. Therefore Hip Hop before Christ may be a mess, but Hip Hop in Christ can be as glorious as the treasure in clay pots (2 Corinthians 4:7). There are efforts that I currently know of that encourage church people to evangelize hip hoppers only as long as the hip hoppers agree to forsake everything about hip hop culture. Missionaries have been known to go to other countries to transmit Christianity only to transmit more than their theology, but also their cultural preferences. The church is in danger of doing the same thing with regards to Hip Hop. They are trying to give a new generation their Christian faith as well as their “church” culture. Even worse, this narrow-mindedness often leads to a failure to accept the hip hoppers who are in Christ, and their ministry contributions. This is a sad commentary, but even sadder, it’s not new.

As a hip hopper who has learned to sift this culture through the filter of Scripture, The Thesis is one way for me to address both the church and hip hop culture. I want to see churches offer liberty where they can and unity where they should. One of the attractions to the Nation of Islam for many hip hoppers is the fact that they embrace and esteem the hip hop generation and all their achievements. They affirm the culture where they can, but the Nation of Islam still speaks out against things in hip hop that should be discouraged. Sadly they understand Hip Hop better than the church and they promote a better integration of culture and faith than the church.

To overstate the case slightly, the church will make the hip hopper trade the MPC drum machine for a tambourine, the fitted cap for a bonnet, a baggy pair of cargos for a three-piece suit and street slang for church jargon. This is most discouraging because as a Christian who clearly connected to hip hop, I see no inherent biblical glamour to these things. These are cultural preferences that were meant to be freely enjoyed or denied. We are to achieve unity of the faith, but not dress, dance style, lingo and the like.

I used the platform of a CD for multiple purposes and to reach a couple of audiences.
I wanted to display a biblically sifted hip hop understanding so that the church would become open to my counsel and the culture would become open to my message.
I wanted to explain the origins and essence of Hip Hop so that people would be able to distinguish between what Hip Hop is and what Hip Hop is used to promote. There is a vast difference between what it was and what it has come to represent.
I wanted to admonish the people of the hip hop community since so much godlessness does exist in it. I wanted to champion Christ’s rule in Christian Hip Hop and proclaim this as both an antidote and an alternative to what is provided in most secular Hip Hop.
I sought to elevate the personal worth of Jesus Christ in the eye of the hip hop community.

I wanted to direct people’s attention to the root of hip hop’s problem, which is not the “hip” or the “hop”, but the heart. The sinful condition of us all guarantees that when we come together with other sinners, godlessness is certain. The only hope at this point is the gospel’s changing power. That’s why in CM fashion the gospel is clear in The Thesis.

My desire is that moms and kids could love this project’s message. If Hip Hop is driving a cultural and generational wedge between parents, pastors, and young adults/youth, then some reconciliation needs to take place. I pray this album can create an atmosphere for this kind of reconciliation.

A Mission’s Mindset

It is easy to abandon what you repels you, or demonize what you don’t like or understand. However, the Great Commission does not afford the church that prerogative. Some would rather throw Hip Hop out along with the sin that easily besets it rather to play catch-up in getting a proper understanding of it.

As a whole, The Thesis follows an Isaiah 6 pattern. There Isaiah lumps himself in with the unclean people of society, but God cleanses him. Then God announces that He is looking for someone that He can send to the sinful society, And out of gratitude and inner zeal, Isaiah requests to be the ambassador sent to his people. What you then have is the cleaned version going to the unclean version to proclaim the way to be cleansed. The Thesis is the work of a hip hopper who has been cleansed by God’s grace, and who now has something to say to his natural surroundings.

Page 2 of 2« 1 2