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FASHION: UNFADING PHOTO-SHOOT JESUS: KRISTA MCNABB TESTIMONY FASHION: KILLIAN ROSE PHOTOGRAPHER BIO JESUS: A BEAUTIFULLY UNIFIED PEOPLE JESUS: MASON RUNYON TESTIMONY JESUS: SEAN MELONEY TESTIMONY MUSIC: HARVEST NIGHT OF REVIVAL JESUS: LIGHTFORCE INTERNATIONAL JESUS: THE ROASTERY JESUS: MALLORY JOHNSON TESTIMONY FASHION: ANGELIC PHOTO-SHOOT
JESUS. MUSIC. FASHION.
ANGELIC - LEXINGTON DEBUT ISSUE
EDITOR LETTER Ionly towaserasetryingwhattoI’dthinkwriteof what words to write for my first introduction to you and I would type each time. And I realized what I really want you to know and what I
hope to convey is that Angelic Magazine is for you. We have a magazine name but we’re a ministry and it’s my goal as the creator of the magazine that our magazine becomes your magazine. That we become a part of Lexington and that Lexington becomes a part of us I pray for God to use Angelic however He pleases. Welcome to the debut issue ofAngelic – Lexington. May Jesus lead us all to know Him more. .
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World Changer
CHANGE THE WORLD IN JESUS' NAME
THE WORKSHOP LEXINGTON // 12.5.15 REGISTER ONLINE: ANGELICMAG.COM
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BY ANGELIC MAGAZINE
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Unfading B Y
M A C L O P H L
K I L L I A N
M O D E L : K E U P & H T H I N G : O T O G R A P O C A T I O N
K A F H
R O S E
R I S T A M C I R : S A R A O X H O U S E Y : K I L L I : L E X I N G T
N H V A O
A B B D R U R Y I N T A G E N R O S E N , K Y
KRISTA MCNABB
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L E X I N G T O N
have never lost anyone I love in my life to
death. For nearly six months I have become very familiar with anger, hopelessness, abandonment, depression, confusion, shock and grief (to name a few). Denial was my closest friend for a few months, my emotional anesthesia. Then the grief I held in accumulated and I could no longer mentally numb myself to the fact that my young, healthy dad passed away, with no warning. I have watched my close knit family grieve the loss of a son, a brother, and an uncle. We have comforted each other at the expense of ourselves, hid our pain, and cried out in protest and anguish together. Denial served as my mental cushion for months, but it lost its padding. Unimaginable grief came rolling in like a wave and I could not hold it back any more than I could hold back a wave in the ocean. My life was split into two categories: before and after his death. Everything after, felt like one excruciating day after another. Death paralyzed my life, although I am still very much alive, expected to keep on living. Every minute of every day is a battle for me. I hear a song, I see a picture, I have a thought. The devil is constantly throwing jabs at me to spiral me back into depression and self-pity. Our savior did, and still does hear my cry and He says “You don’t live by bread alone.” God knows I don’t. If I did, I would have died from the combination of my own heartache and that of my family. Over the past six months, I have seen God in a new, life changing light. Just as Job said, “my ears have heard you before, but now my eyes have seen you.” I thought I experienced hope and love from the Lord before. Never before, have I understood the yearning pain to see my dad although it is physically impossible. Never before have I known the importance of the promises from Jesus himself, that I will see my dad again. He loves me enough to tell me the story of Jesus
I HAVE THE HONOR OF SAYING “I
HAVE NEVER LOST ANYONE IN MY LIFE I LOVE TO DEATH” ONLY SEPARATED FOR A PERIOD OF TIME DETERMINED BY THE L ORD.
He loves me enough to tell me the story of Jesus taking his friends on a mountain, and conversing with the “dead” Moses and Elijah. Now I see, this is in the bible to comfort and illustrate to his followers that those who believe in him do live after death. He loves his people so passionately, that he doesn’t want us to be hopeless. Now I see, He used Paul to remind His people in anguish “to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord” . The words the Holy Spirit gave Paul remind me that if I presently have the capacity to recognize my dad, that ability will be magnified, not lessened, in the immortal state someday. Today, the hopeless would say “It has been 175 days since I have seen my dad.” His promises give me the ability to say “Today, I am 175 days closer to seeing my dad.” Our savior gave us John 11:33, to show us that when Jesus saw Lazarus had died, he groaned in the spirit. This hellish experience has given me something new to love about my savior. He hates death. What I love about my God is that He doesn’t expect me to be okay with it, and he understands that hurting with hope still hurts. He knows the pain of death and was so infuriated by it that he done something about it. He gave his own life to defeat death forever; So that His people will have the promises to see their dads, sons, brothers again, in eternal peace with Him. Because of Jesus, I have the honor of saying “I have never lost anyone in my life I love to death” only separated for a period of time determined by the Lord.
Photographer K I L L I A N A G E
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P A R E N T H O O D
A Beautifully Unified People "WE LONG FOR COMMUNITY,
BUT PUSH EVERYTHING THAT’S REAL AWAY. "
B Y KELSEY ACH - COUTURE 31
The coming together never makes sense until you’ve been
broken apart. The coming together never even becomes a reality until you’ve been the one shattered and isolated. And the mirage of the unity continues to inch its way closer, until we find ourselves right in the middle. I’ve lived in the same city my entire life. Born, raised, and now an adult, I’ve never seen a need quite like the one I walk in every day. School days, business days, and game days are false reflections of what really happens here. Because what is the norm here is the norm everywhere and we’re all just coasting through our days like we have it all together.
We don’t admit the mess because to admit the mess would be to deny perfection.
So here we are, a bunch of isolated human beings living together. And the world spins ironic as we long for community, but push everything that’s real away. The reality that the perfect family is struggling with their marriage. The reality that the beautiful friend secretly cuts at her skin each night. The reality that the president of the company has contemplated suicide on multiple occasions. The reality that people are broken and alone and we aren’t the only ones struggling. But in a world offalse perfection, we’re convinced we are the only ones.
So depression and addiction have the run of a place where everyone is secretly crying out for someone else to just be with them. We just need another to climb down in the rubble with us. But no one does, so we keep burying ourselves deeper until eventually, we will all fade away. And I just can’t let the story end that way. You see, we aren’t alone and that is the true reality. And it’s time we started acting that way. We weren’t created in eternal hands to keep to ourselves. We were created in eternal hands to reach out to those around us. We see pain? We reach . We see heartache? We reach . We seek depression? We reach. We reach because Someone reached for us. The simplicity of a walk with Jesus is plain: we reach in love because He reached in love. Caught in the rubble of addiction, He didn’t hesitate to search for us. Buried in a pile of hopelessness, He was the one to find us. Succumbed to the immoral
ANGELIC FAITH pressures of the world, He still came.
Jesus was the voice that finally called isolation a lie and to say we’re alone now would be to deny His very Presence.
And it’s this journey of isolation and then being found that drives our minds crazy. We can’t understand what it means to hear another speak the words, Me too. It’s been such a rare thing for another to reach out that we’ve gotten used to the breaking; we are comfortable in our pain. But we just can’t talk back to a Man Who left Heaven to break this lie and give us a place to belong. He literally vacated a throne to put on human flesh, walk dusty streets, and then die a criminal’s death. . . all for us. Because He believed in us and loved us and wouldn’t take separation for an answer. So my hope for this world is simple and straightforward: that we would reach and be just like Him. That we would look to Heaven and realize that we are truly never alone. Relationship with Jesus has changed all of that now. And so we can reach out and love others and be with them in their rubble. We can allow others to see our breaks and sit with us in our own rubble, too. It’s not perfection, but imperfection that brings us together. It’s a jumble of vulnerability and honesty that unites and creates wholeness. It’s hearts reaching up as Heaven reaches down to love, heal, and forgive. It’s admitting we’re sin stained and broken and suddenly falling into the two nailscarred hands that saved us. It’s crying and letting Him piece us back together. It’s receiving the comfort, peace, and love we’ve always needed. It’s us allowing Him to look us in the eyes, hands cupping our face as He whispers, You’ve never been alone. I’ve always been with you. I love you.
It’s our hearts resting for the first time in forever as we actually believe His Presence changes everything and responding to His love that binds and heals. And then? We watch streets, cities, states, and countries shift in response to the coming together. Children finding Father and then finding each other, we are now a force to be reckoned with. No longer a mirage, the unity is real, tangible, felt. We are a beautifully unified people. . . the body of Christ.
LightForce
International LEXINGTON
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KY
LIGHTFORCE INTERNATIONAL IS COMMITTED TO SEE THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN ENSLAVED BY THE WEB OF EXPLOITATION GAIN THEIR FREEDOM BY FAITHFULLY AND STRATEGICALLY EQUIPPING EACH INDIVIDUAL TO LIVE A TRANSFORMED LIFE THROUGH EDUCATION, EMPOWERMENT AND INTEGRATING THEM INTO A SAFE COMMUNITY. OUR VISION: RESTORING HOPE FOR A NEW LIFE TO INDIVIDUALS EXPLOITED AND TRAFFICKED BY THE COMMERCIAL SEX INDUSTRY.
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MINISTRY AND WAYS TO GET INVOLVED AT LIGHTFORCEINTL.COM
Harvest
S OMETHING BEAUTIFUL HAPPENED IN YOUR COMMUNITY THIS SUMMER.
D
B Y ANGELIC EDITOR
id you know that something beautiful took place in your community this summer? Maybe you were at this beautiful thing. Did you know that this beautiful thing is what prompted the idea of creating a community issue of Angelic Magazine in your community? Harvest happened. And it changed my life. At the time, I experienced it and sort of went through the motions of it all. But looking back, it’s a memory that I’ll always hold near to me. My friend and Lexington’s own, Kelsey Ach from Couture 31 let God speak through her that night. Harvest was her vision and is what God laid on her heart to create, and I was blown away by my friend. She preached her heart out. And through her heart, the hearts of so many came together that night. In a field in Versailles under the Kentucky night, some hundreds of people gathered for Harvest: A Night of Worship. The worship band played for Jesus and everyone in attendance just so happened to be there watching, listening and experiencing the Holy Spirit come alive. I visualized a community of people come together the weekend of July 11th, 2015 for one purpose: love. Everything that was done that weekend was done out of love. Love for Jesus and love for one another. There were God stories created that weekend that will be told years from now, like how 2 days before Harvest was to happen, a family friend of Kelsey’s, Craig Handman, spent thousands of dollars on an audio system because the original people providing sound that night couldn’t make it. Craig just wanted to do his part to help. Or how Sean Catherine Meloney who shared her testimony inside this issue used her artistic skill to hand letter a huge sign reading “The Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” that every eye would see that night. Or how Mason Runyon who’s also featured in this issue used his voice and boldness to pray in the group prayer right before Harvest was about to begin. Killian Rose who photographed the cover of this debut
issue spoke about Jesus in front of an audience for the first time that night. The same honesty and sincerity you read in Mallory Johnson’s testimony inside this issue, she exuded that same spirit to everyone who crossed her path that weekend. Community. That weekend I experienced it. It was greater and deeper than any type of community feeling I’d ever felt before. The names I listed were only a few of the people who took part in that weekend. And that weekend will forever live. My friend, Kelsey Ach, she and her family (Michael, Terrie, Bitty, Clay, Papa and Mimi) have a heart for their community, your community and for Jesus to come alive in Lexington. And that night is the first of more to come. The spirit of Harvest has awakened.
MASON RUNYON LEXINGTON - AGE: 24
Imycould hear the words echoing over and over inside head. One of my favorite Hillsong lyrics played on
repeat echoing louder and louder within me; breaking me down more and more with each syllable. Let me tell you, I have always been a ‘windows down kind of guy’ when I’m driving around, even on the hottest days. But more than that, I’m a ‘don’t let the people beside you in traffic see you crying your eyes out’ kind of guy. I could barely hold myself together in the middle of UK campus traffic. “Break my heart for what breaks Yours...” These seven words had been my prayer in the weeks prior to this meltdown. I was told that it was a dangerous prayer, but I didn’t really listen. And at the time I had no idea it would be something He would take me up on. There I stood with a couple of close friends on a beautiful Sunday morning, wondering just what I had signed up for. They had asked me to help them drive some kids to church the night before, and for some reason I said yes. So many doubts and fears were weighing down on me as I found myself right where I didn’t want to be. Then like the light chases away the dark, every persecuting thought subsided when I saw them. 5 kids have played a larger role in changing my life than I ever thought possible. 5 kids that have taught me more about love in just a few months than most church congregations will in a lifetime. God is sneaky like that though. We may sometimes find ourselves saying “God please send me and use me according to your will!” Just as long as your will correlates with the ideas and aspirations I have for myself. I know I’m guilty of this, even when I’m not aware of it. Yet, God loves to use our fears and insecurities to carry out His will for our lives. Before I had a chance to realize it, I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough of them and the neighborhood full of God’s children unaware of how desperate for love they are. But what I very quickly realized was that it was a two-way street filled with need.
"5 KIDS HAVE
PLAYED A LARGER ROLE IN CHANGING MY LIFE THAN I EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE. "
I needed them just as much if not more than they needed me. And I couldn’t figure it out; just what had I done with my life that had earned me the right to be there with them? And the the words of my prayer flashed through my mind: “Break my heart for what breaks Yours...” Queue the waterworks. I was suddenly and completely overwhelmed. It made no sense yet perfect sense all at once. He was opening my eyes to so much; what true grace was, just who He really was, and a powerful glimpse of just how much He intensely loves us. For years I was convinced because my story lacked any real tragedy or constant turmoil that it wasn’t worth telling. The truth about my story is that to the world it may not be filled extravagance, but to Jesus it is one worthy of extravagant love. The world says it isn’t one capable of inspiring, but Jesus says it’s a story worth dying for. The world says I haven’t overcome anything so I’m not worth being heard. But my Jesus says that my story and life were worth overcoming death for. I challenged God to send me and He did. He sent me somewhere I never expected nor wanted to go. And it has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. He never intended for us all to experience the same things. Each of our individual journeys are chosen specifically for us to trek, because we are the only ones who can. As a follower of Christ, we have to take faith in the path laid before us, no matter what it entails, because it is intended for us. Against my own will, my path brought me to these kids and this neighborhood. They are absolutely wrecking my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
SEAN MELONEY LEXINGTON - KY
WHAT I LEARNED IN INDIA WAS WHAT A LIFE OF REALLY FOLLOWING JESUS LOOKED LIKE—SPENDING TIME WITH THE PEOPLE HE WOULD SPEND TIME WITH AND LOVING THE WAY HE LOVES. “Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days The more time I spent in India, the more uncomfortable I grew. One day my friends and I decided to go see the of my life…” Psalm 23:6 red-light district in the city where we lived. The women In every moment of my life, whether I realized it or not, and children there were trapped, and I’ll never forget the God's goodness and mercy were pursuing me. From my despair that I saw in their eyes. My flatmate and I wandering to my returning, there's no doubt He was at returned to our hostel and cried. Now that we knew what work. My story is one of a Father who pursues was going on and we had seen it with our own eyes, we relentlessly, who runs to us when we are still a long way were in some small way responsible. One google search later, I was connected with a local off. Raised in the church, but surrounded by people whose NGO that aides women and children who are destitute lives did not match the faith they claimed, I always felt and rescues children who are being trafficked. I confused about religion. I grew legalistic and cynical, scheduled a week-long stay at their residential facility to and faith was a formula to keep from pissing God off. meet their director and volunteer. To my surprise, the director was Sister Lucy—a Catholic nun from Southern The funny thing was, I was pretty good at the formula. Early in college, however, the formula stopped India. She had given up everything to “look after working. I was still that good person, but suddenly bad orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). For the first time, I could reconcile what I believed things were happening. I couldn't reconcile the God that I knew with the pain and injustice I saw. I could no longer about God and what I saw happening in this world. Lucy say I believed in the God that I thought I knew—not if and her organization were God’s living kindness to the least of these in India. They pursued children who were He let things like this happen. Despite my doubt, I needed to believe that I was a part being trafficked, they rescued them, they fought for of something bigger, that life wasn't just about me. If life them, and they loved them. Lucy looked like the Jesus was just about me, it was a sad life indeed. I explored that I always wanted to know. My life and its course were altered dramatically by the other religions, particularly Hinduism. Just reading texts week I spent with Sister Lucy. I quit my dream job and about Hinduism wasn’t satisfying, though. They all felt shadows on the wall, and I needed to know who was moved 8,000 miles back to the U.S. to fundraise for nonmaking the shadows and where the light was coming profit organizations. Most importantly, I began from to begin with. I made plans to study in India and following Jesus. What I learned in India was what a life of really following Jesus looked like—spending time see for myself. But life in India presented me with the same dichotomy with the people He would spend time with and loving I saw in America. I studied alongside wealthy, upper the way He loves. God pursued me when I ran as far caste students who’d led lives of entitlement. Just outside away as Earthly possible, and He ran to me while I was the gates of the university, however, children begged for still a long way off. It only makes sense that I would money and food. Hinduism instituted the caste system; it spend the rest of my life relentlessly loving the people increased inequality and injustice rather than alleviating around me and working to facilitate justice, both at them. Nobody seemed to care. I wondered whether or not home and abroad. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw God cared. If “His eye is on the sparrow,” how did He him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to miss this? his son…” Luke 15:20
THE ROASTERY DAILY OFFERINGS: COFFEE WITH A STORY B Y JESSE ANAYA
I had heard they were from California and it caught
my interest. When I called them to inquire if we could feature their story in Angelic, something peculiar happened. We realized where Kristie and Lood Kotze came from in California was actually my hometown. My small community on the central coast of California that I assume most in Kentucky have probably never heard of, that’s where they lived too. Lood Kotze is originally from South Africa and being a wine maker, he found his way to the scenic wine country town of Paso Robles, CA which is twenty minutes from the Pacific Ocean with the perfect climate to harvest vineyards. So, why Lexington? Why coffee? Who are these people who left California for the sole purpose of creating a coffee shop in Lexington so that they can communicate more of Jesus? “What we prayed about, we just wanted people to gather at our place. People just coming and gathering and meeting. Talking about Jesus and leaving a better person. People are telling us we really love your place and they say they don’t know why. And I know why they’re saying it,” said Kristie Kotze. Located in downtown Lexington across from Rupp Arena, The Roastery is located to reach the heart of the city. Lood Kotze says, “We want to use our coffee shop to spread the word of God.” “God definitely has a plan for us and I think it is to build some form of ministry and to reach out into the community and have people know they have a safe place to come. Our vision was to sell good coffee and make a place where the community can come to,” says Kristie Kotze. On Wednesday nights The Roastery has worship nights with live music. Women’s groups and other organizations around Lexington are hearing more
529 W MAIN S T, LEXINGTON, KY 40507 (859) 940-2562 about this place, a coffee shop with a deeper purpose and story. A story of Jesus. The Kotze’s moved to Lexington with their 2 young sons in December of 2014 and this Christmas will mark their one year anniversary in the city. “People come in (to the coffee shop) and ask for prayer from me. I never thought I would have people coming to me and asking for prayer. They know that we’re Christian and are asking for prayer because we’ve been open about it.” The same knowledge and precision Lood put towards making wine in California, he’s translated that same practice to brewing coffee in Lexington. “We want to bring a new coffee experience. We focus on high crafted and produced coffee. We really focus on a premium product and bring really the best coffee possible. We focus on small producers and operate away from the conventional coffee market. We’re a quality first coffee shop. We’re very precise and everything has a method to it,” Lood Kotze said. Stop into The Roastery, order a cup of coffee and get to know more of Kristie and Lood’s story of Jesus and coffee. Coffee with a story. LOOD AND KRISTIE KOTZE WITH THEIR 2 SONS
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"HE GIVES ME THE UNWAVERING HOPE THAT SOME OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE HAVE YET TO BE LIVED. "
GEORGETOWN - A GE: 24
Hope is frightening. It is by far one of the most
frightening things we are asked to hold on to as Christians. It is often met by pain and disappointment and it is one of the biggest risks we are asked to consistently take. Hoping for love when you feel unlovable. Hoping for financial provision that seems all too impossible. Hoping for the salvation of a family member who wants nothing to do with God. Hoping for your dreams to one day finally become reality. Soon after graduating college I found myself lost with no idea what direction I was going. I stopped believing for the best. I numbed myself to dreaming. To hoping. There was pain that came from having expectations, only to see them shattered or unmet. So I retreated back to my own personal limits, my own well-kept yard of not risking. And my heart began to wither. I could feel it slowly losing heart beats. I let go of dreams, desires, expectations and the vibrant life in my heart began to dull. I couldn’t feel God and I couldn’t hear Him clearly. I felt abandoned and dry, like I would die of hunger for Him. Hope seemed all too risky. And keeping my heart safe within its walls was surely the way to keep it unharmed. Right? Why love? Why hope for the impossible best? Why hold on to dreams that are so far out of reach? My heart continued to fight back to Him. But God, always concerned for the health of my heart, never stopped pursing it. I felt everything I wanted to feel as He drew my heart to hope again. As he found me at my breaking point, weary, anxious, desperate. He breathed life into my heart and it began to beat like never before… Faith sees, and hope feels. Faith sees where there is nothing to see yet (Hebrews 11:1). It sees the invisible and looks past impossibility. Whereas hope, hope feels it coming. It’s that lurch in your soul. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know when, but I feel it coming. Something amazing is coming. I feel the provision. I feel the longing in my soul and I will not numb it with doubt. I will let the longing deepen. When I choose not to hope that there is the best in store for me, my heart becomes sick. And hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). That must mean choosing to hope gives my heart life.
That day it hit me. That day I will never forget. I felt God faithfully wrap His arms around me. And I gasped for air. Alive. I felt so alive. My heart began pumping again. Undone by my sudden lightness, I became aware of the necessity of hope. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of how many times I had been disappointed, regardless of the impossibilities that stood before me or the lack of visible breakthrough, I had decided to choose hope. Even when it hurt. That’s the thing about hope; t’s painful more times than it’s not. And many times we are tempted to block out the thing that hurts, insisting that our life would be better without the pain. The reality is that yes, hope is painful, but it keeps us alive. We can’t numb the hunger pains and the desires for the best to come our way. So I will keep hoping. I will no longer numb the hunger pain. I will continue to let hope grow, creating a light that shines of God and His promises. I will forever choose hope that is founded on the truth and goodness of The Most Holy One. Not all our stories will always turn out exactly how we dreamed them to be, and there are no promises that our lives will always be happy and without pain in this world. One thing we can be sure of is that our God will eternally be faithful. Our Father gives hope to the hopeless, and that is exactly what He has done for me. He gives me the unwavering hope that some of the best days of my life have yet to be lived.
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Mallory Johnson MODEL
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COURTNEY JONES
LOCATION
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ANGELIC MAGAZINE - LEXINGTON