July/August 2015
BE AUTHENTIC
Pastor Marquis D. Johns keeps it real presenting doctrine in contemporary fashion
GC ISSUE
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BACK2BASICS WITH MICHELLE WILLIAMS & KB
JULY/AUGUST 2015 CONTENTS
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volume 4 | number 2
B2B Tip: Be Authentic. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 When we invite Jesus into the midst of our messes, our lives can then become lives of authenticity in which the whole family desires a growing relationship with God’s and to live in God’s purpose. In this issue, we get back to basics with Pastor Marquis D. Johns and recording artists Michelle Williams and KB. Believing that you are enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic. When we don’t have that, we shape-shift and turn into chameleons; we hustle for worthiness we already possess. God wants us to be authentic. He wants us to be free. Don’t let your struggle become your identity. I’ve come to understand that our authenticity (or lack thereof) is made evident by the fruit that our life is bearing. What fruit are you bearing?
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Publisher Brittany N. Winkfield Contributors Akande Davis, Elizabeth Jones B2B Logo: Advent Analog Media LLC Web Development Marcus Winkfield Advisory Board Tracy Augustin, Philip Baptiste, John Boston, Ramona Davis, Dean Dennis, Juanita Farmer, Kymone Hinds, Marisa Jackson, Timothy Olaore, Donald Rolle, Terri Roston, Michele Solomon, Jennifer Stone, Samuel Thomas Editorial and Advertising Inquiries 303-351-8180, info@back2basicsmag.com Information is correct at press time. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the official company policy. Copyright Š 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without permission is prohibited. Back2Basics Magazine is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit in the United States of America.
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To inform and inspire young people in their walk with Christ
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years ago, I was on the last tour of Destiny’s Child, so young, spunky, just excited about life and the future and the possibilities and I still am actually, I just have more wisdom now. I been doing this 18 years and I look at so many people that have come and gone, who’s dreams have been shattered and I just see God’s hand working in my life just daily, letting me know that I’m on the right path. I want people to keep persevering, keep pushing, keep striving. I might not have done everything right or perfect, but I thank God that He is giving me the chance to do it all over. Embracing the arts, being able to do Broadway and taking the stage with a million people in Nigeria to hanging with people like Stevie Wonder. It’s not even all about those things, but this is just stuff that as a little girl I would think, oh my goodness, I just want to sit at an awards show let alone be nominated, let alone performing, so I always tell people really dream big and just consult God. My favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:6
“In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Go to God about it and if it’s in your spirit, if it’s in your heart, God placed it there. Now go to God about how we (you and God) are going to make this work. Ask Him, “what do you want me to do?” I was just praying that prayer today. I know I’m in my journey but I’m like, OK God, what exactly do you want me to be doing right now? Because I always want to make sure I’m in alignment. I always want to make sure that, with all of the cool opportunities that come my way, what I do is going to be a chance to shine for God. I’m really going to try to be more intentional with those opportunities. If I drew a relationship with God, just doing the basics, I would first make sure I don’t do anything crazy. When I wake up in the morning, it’s time with God. I actually deleted Twitter and Instagram off my phone a few weeks ago; I was like OK, this is getting in the way of things. It got me back into the place where, that’s not the first thing I look at in the morning anymore. If I’m on my phone in the morning, it’s because I’m looking at the daily devotional that I subscribed to or looking at the bible verse of the day. I’m in my Word and I’m praying because to me that’s back to the basics. That’s setting the tone and the foundation for my day and then throughout the day I’m saying little prayers and singing worship songs that direct my spirit, so to me it’s an all-day thing.
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It is no secret that education is the most valuable treasure that we can give our children. For this reason, the LOJ community is working diligently this summer to raise the needed funds to get our school ready for the upcoming school year. Please help us ensure that our students receive the ultimate educational experience! Your donation, of any size, is most appreciated. Each child will benefit from your generosity. Visit LOJCA.org for more information.
“it takes a village�
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with
B
Marquis D. Johns words by
Brittany Winkfield
photos by
Elizabeth Jones
orn and raised in Los Angeles, California, Marquis D. Johns grew up in the streets. He dropped out of high school, sold and did drugs, and did a stint in jail. A love for learning and reading also led him to write poetry, lyrics and eventually landed him a record deal. Despite some early success in the music industry, Johns eventually returned to life on the streets, though his love for reading and learning stayed with him. It led him to learn about and explore many different religions, including Christianity, which he initially rejected. However, in 2002, the Holy Spirit spoke God’s call on his life through a friend. After accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior, Johns committed himself to literature evangelism and Bible work. He attended and graduated from the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism, and began working in several evangelistic series. He eventually fully accepted his call to ministry, and graduated from Oakwood University in 2011. Currently he serves as the associate pastor of the Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, and in his “spare time” is an active member of the North American Division’s Young Adult Advisory (NAD YAL) Committee, which is why we thought it would be a good idea to see how he gets "back to basics."
God calls everyone because of what they bring to the table
An experience early in Johns’ ministry helped him realize his unique ability to minister to young adults. He was working as a Bible teacher and chaplain at the Miracle Meadows School for At-Risk Youth. A 16-year-old boy that he was trying to “reach” abruptly ended one of their conversations by letting Johns know that he (the boy) couldn’t see anything worthwhile in himself, and walked out of the room. Johns realized, to his shock, that he had become the type of person who couldn’t reach the boy he had been at 16. This inspired in him a deep desire to become a more authentic person, and to use his life experiences to connect with the young people he was working with. “God calls everyone because of what they bring to the table,” Johns says. He firmly believes that God uses things that are unique in our backgrounds so that we can reach His people.
This belief and experience informs Johns’ passion for evangelism and young adult ministry. In constant demand as a speaker for evangelistic series and revivals, he tries to present doctrine in a contemporary fashion to make the gospel more appealing to young adults. Why? Because he is convinced that if our young adults are engaged, educated, equipped and empowered they can finish the work of spreading the gospel.
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ou can hear the passion in his voice when he speaks about his faith in the ability of our young adults. "Of course I have faith in the Millennials," he says. Johns believes that generational gaps are closing, with the difference between generations being closer to five years, than the standard 20. There is a group of young people, he says, whose needs we have yet to identify. In the next few years, these young people will be voting and shaping the face of our nation and the world. We haven’t even given that generation a name yet, he says. Johns’ concern is whether the generations that are currently in leadership will provide the leadership opportunities for Millennials and the generations following them to reach their peers with the gospel. As part of his work with the NAD YAL Committee, Johns has been privileged to see firsthand and work with the results of a study that the Barna Group did recently on Adventist young adults, that warns that we are in danger of losing our young adults. How does Johns, who is no longer a Millennial, stay current with young adults? With that love for reading that has stayed with him through his life. "I refresh myself by reading constantly so that I can stay current on evangelism topics and on maintaining relationships with young adults." He is generally reading several devotionals at the same time, and he lets God weave them together to share His message. Johns also believes that we should have a consistent, ongoing conversation with Jesus throughout the day. "Ellen White says that we may not always be able to be in the position of prayer, but our thoughts and desires can always be upward," he said. He also told us "Our devotional life should never have a benediction."
Our devotional life should never have a benediction
Reading, his passion for evangelism and young adults, and his life motto "memento mori" (remember you must die) keeps Marquis Johns on a constant quest to get back to the basics with Christ.
Listen to full interview on the B2B App
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#b2bmag IMPACT San Antonio July 2 – July 11, 2015 Marriott Rivercenter 101 Bowie StSan Antonio, TX 78205 Back2Basics will be exhibiting giving copies of the magazine and selling B2B gear! Impact San Antonio(iSA) is for Christian young adults and their friends ages 18- 35. This is a leadership and discipleship experience concurrent with the 2015 General Conference Session. Adventist delegates from around the world will actively engage the great commission and great commandment in training, ministering and worship. We are prepared for 5000+ general attendees for the Ignition Congress on weekends. iSA delegates will discover opportunities for servant leadership and experience discipleship, equipping and empowering them to expand God’s Kingdom in this city and beyond. Featured Speakers: Jose Rojas, Eddie Hypolite, David Asscherick, Rebecca Davis along with Gilbert Cangy and James Black with the closing challenge.
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B2B FEED JESUS IS SOON TO RETURN
FOCUS UP IN FLAMES
Across the South, several predominantly black churches have been damaged—some completely destroyed—by fires since June 21, just days after a racist gunmen killed nine people at South Carolina’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Investigators believe that at least three of the six were caused by arson. At one church in South Carolina, no cause for the fire has been found, and though the two other fires appear to have causes other than intentional arson, investigators are still looking into them. A fire chief in Gibson County, Tennessee, told his local news station that though lightning is thought to be the cause of a local church burning, “We want to be sure, 100 percent sure, that this was an accidental fire, not on purpose.” The FBI is investigating the fires, though at this point they are not sure any are linked, several are believed to be the work of arsonists. This Sunday, members of Charlotte’s Briar Creek Road Baptist Church met at the site of a large fire that resulted in its main building being demolished. There, Rev. Rhonda Kinsey told the congregation, “I am standing on your shoulders. I am leaning on you. Part of our heart was consumed. Thank God, He is a heart-fixer."
Karen Ehman When it comes to spending time with God are you easily distracted? Have great intentions of carving out time to meet with Him but life gets in the way? Sometimes it is so hard to hear the Lord’s voice through all of the hustle and bustle of our day. We stress and obsess about our to do list and all of our many appointments. The best way to focus in on our time with God {and to leave our to do list behind} is actually to take our to do list along with us! Get alone and get quiet. Ask God to bring to your mind all that you must get done. Make a list of these things. Then, spend time praying through each item on the list. As God brings more tasks to your mind, write them down. Don’t worry that it is unspiritual to stop halfway through a prayer and jot an item down. It helps you to clear your mind and then allows you to focus better on your time alone with God. He is concerned about all of the details of our life even if it is our plan to go grocery shopping or run to the dry cleaners.
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Darryck Farmer Sr. As I begin to start reading the comments on my FB page of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage, I could not believe the distaste and anger from my religious right and began to ask myself a very important question that I propose to most Christians I encounter; “Do you really believe what you read in the Bible”? They normally look at me with a strange look on their faces. I say that only because I feel that no matter what religion you may profess, if it does not coincide with the basic Bible practices, you are an abomination. The big problem that they fail to realize is that that is not their job. The Bible clearly states that their job is preach the “Good News”. What has happened is they have become the judge and executioner; when that is God’s supreme position and authority. So for me if you want to be the good Christian that you profess to be, remove the hate, anger and disgust from your tone. Because if you really believe the Bible is true and the only divine guide; you would take solace in the fact and rejoice that based on your belief, Jesus is soon to return. But that’s only if you truly believe what you read.
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Tomorrow We Live
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erhaps the most influential jazz musician ever, Louis Armstrong was born to a mother who often turned to prostitution and was son to a father who abandoned him soon after he was born. Johnny Cash, the “Man in Black,” was born into a family of sharecroppers and by the age of 12 was spending his days hauling heavy loads of cotton. If one inspects the formative years of artists and musicians often a common thread he would find is that early on, music appeared as the last thing on the list as an ultimate destination.
Kevin Burgess, now better known by his stage name KB, is a rapper. His latest EP 100 debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Christian Album Chart, #4 on Billboard’s Rap Chart and respectfully at #22 on Billboard’s coveted Top 200 Album Chart. He’s won a Dove Award (Nominated twice), been a Recording Academy featured artist on Grammy.com and has received critical acclaim from his peers and media such as Billboard Magazine and The Blaze. He’s toured nationally with Tenth Avenue North and is scheduled to join Trip Lee for the upcoming “Rise Tour.” But like so many musicians that came before him, KB, the rapper, almost never happened. At birth, the doctor didn’t think he’d ever be able to talk or even speak clearly. Fortunately, KB was able to overcome this ailment, but hip-hop was frowned upon in his household, forcing In my the youngster to seek a safer instrument for musical expression. “I grew up in a house, you structured military family. In my house, you couldn’t listen to hip-hop,” KB explains. couldn’t “I used to hide in a closet and listen to it on my Walkman.” KB hails from Tampa, listen to FL by way of an Air Force base close to East St. Louis. Along the way, KB, thirsting hip-hop for an outlet for his love of music with a desperate need for expression, picked up the trumpet. Fast forward to the present and KB has already released a mixtape, a widely
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successful debut album and is working on his second hip-hop studio album. And in what was once considered the disfavored music of his childhood, KB has discovered redemption. KB was barely a teenager when his parents divorced and seemingly overnight he was ripped from a structured safe family-first environment to a single parent household in a rundown community in Southside St. Petersburg, FL. “All of a sudden it was just me and mom smack dab in the middle of the hood,” KB recalls. It was an overwhelming stressful situation for everyone but especially for a teenager. KB struggled to find his place. A naturally skilled learner, he was at the top of his class. But for all his effort, both positive and negative, there came opposition for a young man trying to tackle his own demons – The biggest obstacle being the loss of a father to a nasty divorce. KB tried to fill the void with anything from sports and gambling to dabbling with drugs and everything in-between. Struggling with anger, he’d often get into street fights. It wasn’t until he found faith and rediscovered hip-hop, the contraband music from his childhood, that KB would find his place. Ironically, at first, it came in the form of dreadlocks. Despite his personal struggles, and with the love of a strong mother, KB was a gifted student and through an accelerated program, he entered college early while still technically only in his junior year of high school. “My mother is and was an incredible women, who I respect deeply and her faith has had a profound impact on me,” KB explains. Quite literally being the youngest man on a college campus made it difficult for KB to find friends with similar interests so when he heard about another student that was really into hip-hop, KB promptly sought him out and challenged him to a battle. KB says, “I remember him saying, ‘I don’t do that. I do Christian rap.’ And I was struck by that and blown away that he didn’t qualify it. I never in my life met someone our age that would lead with their Christianity.” Two weeks later, KB approached the kid again in the lunchroom. He noticed a CD on the table. On the cover of the album was a rapper with tattoos everywhere, your standard hip-hop gold chain and dreadlocks. KB challenged his new young friend. When I “Dude, I thought you were a Christian, why you listening to Lil’ Wayne?” He was discovered shocked with the response. “No. This is Christian. This dude’s a believer. Listen to God, I felt safe for the this,” his friend replied. KB took the album home and was surprised to experience first time in his first Christian rap album. And it was good. In fact, it was great! The music was a my life, bridge for KB. Through the music, KB discovered the message. And in that moment, KB realized that he wanted to know God for himself and soon after he enrolled in Bible College. “We find ourselves looking in dumpsters for food, but really the true bread is God. Nothing could make me feel safe, not even weapons. The very thing it’s supposed to be providing which is safety makes you feel more in danger. When I discovered God, I felt safe for the first time in my life,” explains KB. KB spent four years at Trinity College studying theology with plans on missionary work in Brazil. But in the latter part of his time at Trinity, KB would be pulled in another direction, back to the music that was the bridge to his salvation. With a group of friends, KB formed a rap group titled His Glory Alone (HGA). HGA would create quite the following. Among the growing flock of fans were Reach Records’ founders Ben Washer and Lecrae. KB was invited to join Lecrae on tour and within a year had inked his first recording www.back2basicsmag.com | 15
contract with Reach Records. In 2011, KB released his debut mixtape Who is KB? He followed that debut with his first studio album titled, Weight & Glory in 2012. He’s been featured on his label mates’ projects including Lecrae’s album Rehab (“I Used to Do it Too”), Trip Lee’s The Good Life (“One Sixteen”) and on Andy Mineo’s Heroes for Sale (“The Saints”). And he’s since toured the world over. His last EP, titled 100, a message focused collection, had fans celebrating the belief that what you do isn’t nearly as important as who you do it for. And as they say, the rest is history except in the case of Reach Records, KB and his label mates, it isn’t. It’s history-making. Reach Records sales are approaching two million records and the label has acquired a distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment’s RED. Its success rivals any contemporary hip-hop label. Reach Records dominated 2014 with three Grammy nominations, chart topping releases, high profile television appearances and performances and worldwide touring success. KB is on tour with his highly anticipated album titled Tomorrow We Live. He calls its theme a “mantra of the struggle.” And since no one is exempt from the struggles of life, he hopes it’s a soundtrack of inspiration. It’s this idea that one day the struggle will end and Tomorrow We Live. “On a grand scale that’s along the belief that God is going to wrap up history with a grand finale that will make sense of all the suffering throughout human history and it will show that good overcomes evil where we’ll be in perfection throughout eternity. But also the title works thematically in a practical sense. Nothing is devastating. Hope is bigger,” KB excitedly shares.
One day the struggle will end and Tomorrow We Live
He’s traveled as far as South Africa to get perspective for this album. Together with his production team “Cobra” and the incredibly talented songwriter Natalie Lauren, KB escaped to Capetown and began working on Tomorrow We Live. “We went up into the mountains overlooking the ocean and just started writing. We’ve been working with local musicians too. We created this beautiful sound that I’m calling World Trap. It’s a combination of a big world global sound combined with a South Florida trap element.” Through music, KB has found direction, a mission and a calling. Tomorrow We Live just may be someone else’s bridge to salvation.
Listen to full interview on the B2B App
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Davis Absolute is a hip hop artist with a message far from the media’s inaccurate representation of life’s true meaning. When I look back at modern history I see three main events that have shaped society and the Earth as we know it. The first major event was the Flood which drastically altered the way the Earth is and creation as a whole. It was the purification of a creation that God had put on Earth and was subsequently discouraged by the incredible transgression and depravity experienced in Noah’s time. The second huge event was the Light, Jesus Christ/Yeshua, coming down and then ascending back into heaven, leaving His creation with the testimony of Him through the Good News. Not only did Yeshua’s arrival and ministry shape the course of modern day Christianity but also the world which we live in. Yeshua’s ministry could easily be described as the single most powerful period of time in Earth’s existence. Finally as time comes to a close we will step into Forever. Forever is the last major event to take place and is reflective of the time that we currently live. As we endure these last days of a Flooded creation, holding onto the Light which is Christ, we lock our eyes on Forever. This EP is going to be a unique dissection and take on these three events and how they play into the Christian’s walk. The other meaning of this title though is our job as creations of God: we are designed to flood Light, forever! The testimony of Christ is not one that stops once we step into eternity but is an ongoing privilege in which we are blessed to spread Light and worship the Lord our God for who He is and what He’s done! As these three events play into the testimony of the Christian walk they also define a lifestyle that we all understand as we grow closer to Yahweh!
kickstarter.com/projects/davisabsolute/flood-light-forever-the-ep
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