MUSIC NOTES Josh Tremill
by and large meditates on post-Katrina New Orleans, a reality that has sent many citizens of the city, Leverett included, back to their roots in order to rebuild their lives. On Orphans, Leverett is at his best on grittier old-school bluesy numbers such as “Like Hell Inside” and the title track. These two songs really drive the album; they capture the pain and In the fall of 2005, Hurricane Katrina energy that Leverett senses in the postshook up people across the United States. Katrina New Orleans community and For Mo Leverett, the impact of this translate it into dirty guitars, bouncing natural disaster hit especially close to rhythms, wailing harmonicas, and Leverett at his most guttural. Unfortunhome. Since 1990 Leverett had been living ately, these tracks are both so close to the in and serving the community of New beginning of the CD that it starts to Orleans, where he and his family had drag towards the end, as one slow acoustaken root in the Desire Housing Project tic track blends into another. Nevertheless, the lyrics on all of his —the public housing site which had been ranked the worst in the United tracks are striking, both for their poetic States by the US Department of Urban quality and their social and spiritual Housing and Development. There he relevance. Perhaps the most shocking had founded Desire Street Ministries, a aspect of Orphans is its emphasis on multifaceted organization that combines prayer. After a disaster like Katrina, one Christian discipleship and evangelism with social and humanitarian services in an effort to both benefit the community and train its residents to play an active role in transforming the city. While running this ministry, Leverett somehow found time to record and release multiple albums. The second of these, Sacred Desires (1995), began establishing his sound: acoustic-heavy, bluesladen folk, reminiscent of Bob Seger, with a peppering of New Orleans-style blues. With vocals that range from gruff to warbling, Leverett’s vocal style on this album is that of a growling, more mature-sounding Ryan Adams, hitting his listeners hard on his more raucous numbers and soothing them with his lighter ballads. After experimenting with jazz sounds and rhythms on a 2005 album, Blades of Love, Leverett comes back to his musical roots with his latest release, Of Orphans and Kings (2007). It’s an appropriate transition, given that this album
PRISM 2008
38
might expect any social reformer— Christian or otherwise—to spend most of her/his time encouraging people to hurry up and reestablish themselves, rebuild, get things back to the way they were. Not so with Leverett. While he certainly supports the rejuvenation of New Orleans on tracks like “NOLA Is Rising,” other songs, such as “Watch and Pray,” make it clear that Leverett’s concern is for not just the social reconstruction of New Orleans but its spiritual reconstruction as well. Using a prophetic tone, he emphasizes the Scriptures’ hope of redemption through suffering, reminding his listeners that “Sometimes there is only hope for change that comes through storms.” To find this hope, he encourages his listeners to seek God in prayer, where they can find true solace and a better future. Coming from anyone else, this heavy emphasis on prayer and communal spirituality in New Orleans could
Te d J a c k s o n
The Music and Ministry of Mo Leverett
possibly be criticized as a one-sided expression of Christianity, of faith without works. But in Leverett’s case, such criticism would be absurd. While his music talks the talk of the Christian faith, encouraging the poor and outcast to find God in the midst of their struggles, his work in social ministries and reconstruction walks the walk of redemptive servanthood that is central to the gospel’s message. During his tenure at Desire Street Ministries, Leverett planted a church in the Desire Housing Project, but his team also built a 36,000-squarefoot facility in which they house their church, school, after-school youth program, and many other ministry programs. They launched a medical clinic, housing renovation program, and entrepreneur development company. All these ventures illustrate Leverett’s commitment to serving the whole person—body, mind, and
spirit. At the same time, his ministry also addressed the region’s larger social concerns, striving to bring both racial rec-
got Leverett thinking and praying about its applicability on a larger scale. In 2006, he decided it was time for him to take the work of Desire Street to other urban areas, so he left work there to found a new organization, Rebirth International (myrebirth.org). From its headquarters in New Orleans, Rebirth plans to train members of other urban communities in Desire Street’s gospel-centered model of social and spiritual ministry, equipping them to apply the model to the needs of their respective communities. In this way, Leverett hopes to take the sacred desires of both his ministry and his music and make them into a living reality, into a slice of the kingdom of God, here and now.
onciliation and economic development to the Desire Housing Project. The success of this holistic ministry
Josh Tremill is a freelance writer and a member of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Gainesville, Fla.
6 HVk^dg ^c GZY! L]^iZ 7ajZ Jesus Made in America A Cultural History from the Puritans to The Passion of Christ Stephen J. Nichols “Stephen Nichols’s account of how Jesus has been perceived throughout American history is long on wisdom and short on tedium. . . . Not the least of the book’s many merits is Nichols’s ability to sort through the extraordinary mix of cultural nonsense and profound theological insight that make up this story.� —Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
PRISM 2008
39
630.734.4000
t
ivpacademic.com