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By Jeremy | June 4, 2007
Saturday night I had the privilege of speaking at the 3rd annual
Beats-N-Blessings fundraising gala at New Life Fellowship in Queens. Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson profiled BNB in their book,
The Hip-Hop Church, for their innovative use of music and production classes as an effective youth outreach and development strategy. I experienced that effectiveness first hand this weekend. Thanks, Craig and Zola, for the new friendship! I look forward to working together in the future.
Being at the gala was especially meaningful for me because I had previously visited
New Life on a Sunday three summers ago, shortly after the church had moved into its new (old) building. Pastor
Pete Scazzero commented on the sweltering July morning that the adult congregation would have to endure a lack of air conditioning for the rest of the summer because the church's first investments in the new facility would be to renovate its children, youth, and community spaces rather than its sanctuary -- because reaching kids and the unchurched is God's priority and therefore New Life's. I was inspired to hear a senior pastor make such a statement publicly, and now even more so after experiencing the fruit of that investment first-hand.
Here's a flava of what BNB empowers kids to do. (Listen to Track 3 first, "It was all a Dream." The vocalist wrote the song when she was 16, based out of her own experience with a drug-addicted father. The song was produced by a BNB grad (19 or 20ish) who is moving overseas for a year to open a BNB studio at a London church this summer.
Visit them online for more.
Topics: beats-n-blessings, new life fellowship, schedule, speaking, youth ministry | 2 Comments »
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(Two chapters)
(Commentary throughout)
(Study questions throughout)
June 6th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
hey read pastor Pete’s book
“the emotionally healthy church”
it is great
June 11th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Jeremy you did a great job helping the people understand the purpose of Beats N Blessings from a biblical context. Thanks again!