Back2Basics Magazine - February/March 2017

February/March 2017

PURSUING PASSION The Juzang sisters encourag us to stay prayerful and continue to walk in what God has for you!

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* Have A Heart * Trendy Christian * Pick Your Victory * Next Steps * Know Your History

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and protector of our faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Publisher Brittany N. Winkfield Contributors Kymone Hinds, Mariam Kazadi, Ronald Pollard, A Allan Martin 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 2017. 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.

@back2basicsmag

A Christian lifestyle magazine designed to inform and inspire young people in their walk with Christ

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017

CONTENTS

volume 5 | number 6

features

6 Have A Heart by Kymone Hinds 9 Trendy Christian 10 Pursuing Passion with Juzang 15 Pick Your Victory ny Mariam Kazadi 17 Next Steps 18 Know Your History

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B2B Tip: Pay attention to the things you are naturally drawn to. They are often connected to your passion and purpose. Have the courage to pursue them.

passion

Do you make time for your passion or do you make excuses? We all get busy in the day-to-day activities, but the fact that you aren’t where you want to be should be enough motivation. A little progress each day adds up to big results. Don’t let work be the only aspect of your life. Pursuing your passion is powerful because it leads you to your purpose. I want to let you know that your passions are not random, they are God’s calling on your life. My testimony is that my passion became my purpose and is now my profession. The Juzang sisters share with B2B their passion to sing. They encourage us to have hope, stand strong and do great big things for the Kingdom of God!

FAITH | MUSIC | MOVIES | INSPIRATION | NEWS | CULTURE | FASHION

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I am the church SERIES By Kymone Hinds

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tart with Why is the bestselling book by Simon Sinek. In it he shares that great leaders inspire action not by beginning with the how and the what of the activity or plan. Great leaders, he says, get people to buy into the “why” - the reason behind the mission. Why you do what you do. It is fascinating to study people in whatever field of life and see what drives them and makes them get out of bed in the morning and pursue their goals. This is the heart of who they are.

Have you ever wondered what the heart of the church is? What is the why behind this body of Christ, that is powered by the Spirit of God? What should be the motivating factor behind our actions and our plans? What is at the heart of the church?

Although at times we may have various motives as churches for our activity such as paying the bills, increasing our membership roll and giving the appearance of success, the Bible seems to give a different “why” behind what we do.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, the author, Paul shares a compelling why and that is the GOSPEL. The reason he gives for all the gathering and sharing and serving and helping is the gospel.

Now what is the gospel? I’m glad you asked. The gospel simply is “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Cor 5:19).

The Bible starts off in Genesis with the story of a perfect God making a perfect man to live in a perfect world in a perfect relationship with Him. But then into this perfection comes this strange, mysterious alien concept called sin.

Sin separates man from God. It breaks the connection and the story of humanity is the story of humans trying to deal with that disconnection.

Some try to ignore it and pretend there’s nothing missing. But that doesn’t deal with the emptiness that is there because of the broken relationship. Some try to reconnect it by bringing God down to their level. Making God just like them. Making God so low that they can reach Him. But that doesn’t fix the broken relationship.

Then some try to reconnect by their own efforts. Some try to work real hard, and do a lot of ceremonies and symbols and live so good that their good deeds serve as rungs on a ladder. A ladder they use to climb up to reconnect them back to God. But everyone who has tried that realizes that our ladders are too short and they are leaning against an imaginary wall. Our good works and good deeds don’t reconnect a broken relationship.

So since there needs to be a perfect person needed to reconnect man back to God and no man was ever and could ever be good enough, God became man. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Jesus came down and holding the live wire that had been cut.

God through Christ connects God to man holding the live wire and the connection was restored. God becomes a man so that He could do for man what man could never do for himself - He restores a broken relationship.

Because sin was the thing that caused the separation, how does God deal with the separating agent? Sin has to be dealt with. There is a wage for sin called death. The gospel says it in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

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The GOSPEL Christ reconnects man back to God. The broken relationship is restored. God puts the punishment on Christ and we get the benefits he has earned. That’s the GOSPEL. So how does that relate to the church? What does that story of reconnection of a broken relationship have to do with the church? Everything!

The gospel is the heart of the church. It’s the reason we do what we do. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15 says it so well.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: That one has died for all, therefore all have died and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

The love of Christ is what makes us do what we do.

Because of what He did for us, we live for Him. What we do isn’t about what we want, it’s about what He wants.

The reason why we the church do what we do is because of what God has done in us. The church is reconciled people living out the freedom of that reconciliation.

We do everything because of what He did. The reason we as a church worship, is because of what Christ did. The reason we serve one another is because of what Christ did. The reason we give our time, our talent and our treasure, is because of what Christ did. The reason we do all we do, give all we give, go where we go, is because of what Jesus did. The love of Christ is our why!

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself. When we get an understanding of that and it rocks our heart and it fires us up as a church then we ‘run tell dat.’

Our job is to be agents of reconciliation and tell the world that reconciliation has happened.

We carry one message to the world. That message is BE reconciled to God. That’s different from the message people hear all around them. It’s different than anything they’ve ever believed before because all of life says, GET reconciled to God. Everything says, you’ve got issues and God is angry with you because of your issues and so you have got to get it right before you come to God. And in the midst of a world that says “Get” reconciled to God, He has sent the church with the message “BE” reconciled to God. It’s not something you work to achieve. It’s not something you have to earn. It’s a new reality that has been worked out for you. The reconciliation has already taken place between God and man. And God is inviting people to live out that new reality.

God isn’t out to get you. Reconciliation has taken place. Now come accept it. Come live like it.

Come receive it. That’s our why - THE GOSPEL!

It’s dangerous for us as to be motivated by anything else. If we make anything else the primary motivation for doing what we are doing it will fail. If we try to make fear the reason we try to make the church move it may work for a while, but it doesn’t change our heart and it will eventually stop working. If we are motivated by guilt people, it will only work for a while. Even being driven by some blessing we want to acquire may work, but only for a while. All of these lead to misery instead of joy in service. The only motivation that changes the heart is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They tell us that what’s inside your heart will come out.

It will come out in what you say, in your expressions.

If something has made a deep, lasting impact on you, it will flow out of you. The gospel will flow out of the church, you and me, to those we come in contact with. We will tell it and show it by our words and our actions. We can’t help but live out 2 Corinthians 5:20.

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kymonehinds.com Hear from leaders, innovators and creatives about the process of generating new ideas and putting them into practice.

Are You a Songwriter? and Big Umbrella Resources join forces on April 21-22 to present inSpire 2017 Innovator’s Conference, Loma Linda, California. Adventist creatives are invited to attend to network, share ideas, and show their skills.

Submit your best song.

Prizes will be awarded.

For details:

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VisitInspire.org/2017songwriting

Produced by Pacific Union Conference Creative Ministries.

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Pursuing Passion

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Pursuing your passion isn't for the weak minded. The young ladies of Juzang are pursuing their passion and setting themselves up to reach God’s people in the way they were created to reach them!

"When He gives you a calling, you have to answer the call."

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ontemporary Gospel recording artists, Guielle, Patria, and Marisa answered that call on their lives to praise God through soulful music. "We want to show to other people that you can still be cool and be in the church."

Sometimes you find an unquestionable anointing of the gift of music and performance. Couple that with the desire and passion to serve and praise God to the fullest, and uplift the Name of Jesus, and you've got the key ingredients to what makes Juzang such an awesome group! They have that 'sibling blend' that comes with common blood…but they are daughters of the King and covered in His Royal Blood which gives extraordinary power to every note sung and every word uttered!

Music has always been a part of their family through their grandfather who sang, played the piano and guitar, who wrote and rearranged Gospel quartet music for more than forty years. Little did their granddad know that three generations later that his granddaughters would continue his gospel music legacy by starting a group called Juzang.

With music in their blood and born to sing, the sister-trio has been singing at churches, concerts, special events like the 2012 Democratic National Convention Gala, and televised programs like the Bobby Jones Gospel Show.

TBH: "I did not wanna sing at all. My parents forced me to sing with the group and we would be taking lessons and I would not cooperate, I was probably the problem child when it came to the group, but now, I have such a passion for it because I know God gave it to us and I feel like that’s what he ordained us to do is sing." -Guielle

It’s about a good team, good connections and having a good gift as well, making sure your gift is where it should be so people will receive it well.

“You know getting yourself out there visibly helps you to book gigs. We’ve gotten a lot of gigs just from social media alone. People have seen us on social media and ask “Hey we want to get you guys to our church, so social media is huge.” Another key to success is having a good team behind you. You have to get people to believe in you and back you up and their connections are gonna help you get far as well.

Our main goal is to bring people to Christ and to keep our generation in the church. A lot of our peers are leaving the church. "I think our generation has potential. I’m not gonna say we’re perfect cause we’re nowhere near it. We have a lot of growing to do as a generation, we have a lot of maturing to do, but I think eventually we’ll get there to be honest. I think there’s still some good people out in this world even in the church. If we’re praying for each other as a generation, I think God’s gonna be with us. You just have to hope for the best and don't dwell on the things that are going wrong. You have to give people hope and look forward to good things. www.back2basicsmag.com | 11

MAJOR KEYS with Juzang • Spend time with God daily • Prayer is key • Getting advice from older people • Reading scripture • Take a day to reset and focus without distractions • Nature walks • Morning devotion #b2bmag • Work hard

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@juzangmusic www.juzangmusic.com

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Pick Your Victory

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You win some…that’s it! by Mariam Kazadi

ocus on your wins. I have found that yea, I can learn from my losses, but I am better encouraged by my victories. This article is for the hopeless days we will have. The days that we do all we can and seem to fail at everything. Key word is “seem” to. On these days, all we need to do is to pick one victory. One thing that we did accomplish that day.

As I grow closer to God He continues to bring the “not so beneficial” parts of me to my attention so that I can become all that He says I am. A long time ago God showed me who He wanted me to be and I have been striving for that ever since. There is one problem, I don’t always get it right. Big shocker, I know.

So we know this, but even in getting it wrong, there is a way to feel alright. The way is to celebrate your victories, daily. In the past I found myself being defeated if I didn’t meet my goal or if I failed the test.

The need to change and the desire for it can sometimes be so heavy. The feelings brought on by failing can overtake a person so much that they quit striving all together and even cause them to believe they are not and may never be what God says they are. I believe that along with celebrating the things we do right, the cure for this is also in just a little change of perspective.

“Celebration is central to all the Spiritual Disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity, the disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees.” ~Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

I have learned to pick my victory for the day, I still acknowledge the areas I need more help in and the areas I just can’t get right, but at the end of my day, I celebrate the victories and rest in them, instead of ending the day defeated. If it’s sin, then celebrate the fact that you are working towards change where others have yet to realize they even need to change. Maybe you didn’t react terribly to the first few people who irritated you today. Celebrate that! Even if you handled yourself poorly with the last person who irritated you. Today you are working on having a better overall attitude throughout your day.

Usually you’re irritated and not pleasant in the wee hours of the morning but look at you today, you have made it till 12pm. That may be funny to others or small but for you, it is big and it matters. Count your victories like you count your blessings and watch the failures rolls off your back! It is about knowing how far you have come. Realizing it is God who is changing you and then celebrating that you are getting closer. This is the only way to keep yourself from quitting, to celebrate the growth to remind yourself it is worth it and it is working even if I didn’t get it all right today! www.back2basicsmag.com | 15

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