Beauty Can Save The World?

To Know God...and Make Him Known

“Beauty is the gateway to goodness and truth.”Elizabeth Lev (Author and Art Historian) 

Aloha 

Beauty...

In Darrow Miller's book, "A Call For Balladeers," he speaks of the importance of the 'artists' role in evangelizing the world. He contends that in a post-truth and post-moral world, beauty is actually the most effective gateway to introduce people to goodness and truth. That the approach of moving from the beautiful, to the good, to the true is a more effective way of evangelism. Humans are created to cultivate both the physical world and the soul through various forms of artistic expression. He even goes so far to say that the Church should support (financially) and encourage artists (balladeers) as critical to the mission of discipling nations. In 1970, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. In a paper that he wrote, he described the prophetic role of the artist to speak truth to lies; to bring beauty in the midst of ugliness. He wrote, "One day Dostoevsky threw out the enigmatic remark: 'Beauty will save the world.'...Perhaps the ancient trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is not simply an empty, faded formula as we thought in the days of our self-confident, materialistic youth? If the tops of these three trees converge, as the scholars maintained, but the too blatant, too direct stems of Truth and Goodness are crushed, cut down, not allowed through - then perhaps the fantastic, unpredictable, unexpected stems of Beauty will push through and soar TO THAT VERY SAME PLACE, and in so doing will fulfill the work of all three?" Academically, this makes sense to me. My lived experience, as an artist, confirms this claim of Dostoevsky and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. Traveling through countries like Afghanistan and Myanmar, bringing the beauty of music, to these places: I've seen God use it to meet people, in profound ways, who would otherwise resist the Gospel of Jesus.

Nashville

A little over a month ago now, I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville for a 'Global Songwriting Retreat' with Integrity Music. Around 14 nations were represented at this 'retreat'. It was an incredibly rich time of diving deep into the concept of unity in diversity and allowing that to shape our songs in ways that a record label doesn't usually allow. Yes, there is a need for commercial viability in the music industry (it is, after all, a business), but this was about seeing songs bubble to the surface that don't just sound like every other CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) song on the radio. I was so grateful that God would open a door for me to become friends with some of my heroes in the faith musically. We worshiped God together, we ate together, we wrote lots of songs together (I was a part of writing 5 songs personally), and we grew in loving Jesus together. My biggest take away, however, was that my experience with YWAM has positioned me to help guide Integrity Music in the global work they hope to do. It's an ongoing journey and, more than anything, my prayer is that the Global Church will be equipped through song; particularly as I move into scheduling 5 regional songwriting gatherings across the globe in 2025 to see new scripture songs written in multiple languages and in the styles of those regions. The hope is to also capture new songs in places where they are just now getting an Oral translation of the Bible in their language for the first time. What an exciting season of the Church we live in!   

Missionary Anthem Nations EP

Today, November 1st marks the release of our long awaited release of the Nations EP of our song, Missionary Anthem, from YWAM Kona Music. This has been a labor of love for me as I managed this project from beginning to completion. From finding translators, to artists who could carry the song in their language, this has been a journey that has been a year and a half long. This song has truly become an anthem for YWAM Internationally. I'm very grateful that more people will be able to sing it in their own language instead of just english. To listen to the album, click HERE.

End of the Year Giving

The last few weeks I have been reflecting on all that God has done and provided for over these last, nearly, 8 years of missions work with YWAM. I'm humbled and awestruck at God's goodness and mercy over our lives and over each of yours. As we continue on in Quarter 4 of this year, I have a simple ask to make. Would you consider us in your year end giving plan? Year to date, we find ourselves, approximately, $20,000 below what we budgeted for income this year. We wanted to make this need known because we know how much you all care for us and pray for us. This feels like such a huge number, but we know our God is bigger than this number. The general cost of living has been the highest we've ever seen since moving to Kona...but we know we are not the only ones who are feeling this difficulty. While we've never been in this position before (as a family), we also know that God is stretching our faith and forcing us to dig deep for the future decades of ministry! Click HERE to GIVEFinal EncouragementsLiz and I cannot even begin to express our heartfelt gratitude for the team that God has gathered around us. Thank you for being missionaries around the world with us, praying for us, believing with us, trusting God in all things with us! God has birthed a 15 year vision for School of Worship that we recently rolled out to our staff team of 35 people. We are excited to share this vision of the future with you in the coming months and also believing that God will bring another 30 staff, here to Kona, for these purposes. We are expectant for many breakthroughs and we celebrate what God has done these past years through our simple obedience to Him. We pray blessing, favor, increase, and protection over each of you and your families in the mighty name of Jesus. May the Lamb of God receive the full reward of His suffering!! 

Peace be with you,Chris, Lizzi, Malakai, Laila, Rhema, Moses, and Zion ♥️

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