RELEVANT - Issue 74 - March/April 2015 by RELEVANT Media Group

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OVER THE PAST YEAR, ISIS RAVAGED IRAQ. BUT YOU CHOSE TO

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TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN We are not interested in finding the “qualified.” This is a search for the brave few who find value in serving others and showing mercy. This is not a program to participate in but a new way of being, a life dedicated to intentional community, humble service, and the stewardship of grace. The requirement is caring. The measurement is empathy. There will be no credit or accolades. This is not a box to check. Only apply if you are poor in spirit. You mourn. You’re meek. You’re a peacemaker, persecuted and insulted, but also blessed, made righteous and redeemed. Only apply if you believe in giving, not taking. When the world tells you to consume, collect, gain, and prove—you choose to share, help, heal, and love. Christ bids you come and die, to be part of a generation of healers, not those who harm, of those who are here to serve, not to be served. JOIN US THIS FALL. SERVE SEATTLE. Sincerely, The brokenhearted, The bruised, The weary, The redeemed.

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A LET TER FROM THE EDITOR

and then once we poke a couple of holes in that one, we move on to the next. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s a similar parallel with our spiritual engagement. We want to be entertained. We’re attracted to the dynamic new speaker, the church with the better worship team or the cooler building. We sample churches, and when we eventually find something not quite to our liking, we move on. It has created a spiritual reality where charismatic preachers and creating buzz are more valued than forming sustainable community and sometimes even spiritual growth. With the crumbling of a hugely influential church network like Mars Hill, we’re seeing the beginnings of a push away from it.

If we’re wise, we will look more intentionally at these stories and learn from them.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE BY CAMERON STR ANG

his issue marks the 12th anniversary of RELEVANT in print. We’ve seen a lot during the time we’ve been publishing, but how often is it a magazine finds itself running postmortems on two important spiritual and social justice movements in the same issue? And yet, here we are with the stories of Mars Hill and Invisible Children. It’s like marking the end of an era for our generation. Both have been key institutions over the last decade, and large parts of our readership have been fans of, or involved in, both. (Large parts have also criticized both.) Then, at the end of 2014, both ended. Both were jarring announcements, and I think they mark an important pivot in our generation. Book-ending the Invisible Children era means we’ve seen our generation go from ignorance about social justice, to the rise of awareness activism, to now seeing the undercurrents of a shift away from it. It’s not that Jason Russell and his co-conspirators did anything wrong. They saw an injustice and did everything they could to get word out about it and mobilize others to take action to make a difference. Imagine if more people went all-in to try to create positive change like that. No, the dissolution of Invisible Children before their stated goal of bringing Joseph Kony to justice says more about us. We’re quick to poke holes in the methods another person is taking to make a difference, while most of us aren’t doing anything ourselves. We dump a bucket of water on our heads and then don’t ever think again about the issue we just so visibly supported. We’ve created a culture of bite-sized activism. We’re drawn to the next cool cause,

MAR_APR 2015

The question is, out of the rubble of these old models, what will emerge? If Invisible Children isn’t sustainable and awareness activism isn’t scalable, what will be? If a massive multisite church with a big-personality preacher isn’t a model that lasts, what will be? Usually, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We just drift ahead, not really stopping to consider things more deeply. And eventually old patterns reemerge and similar mistakes are made, and it all happens again. Lather, rinse, repeat. But we have an opportunity in this moment. If we’re wise, we will look more intentionally at these stories and learn from them. That’s our goal with this issue: to look at what God might be trying to teach us through unexpected narratives, and then apply those lessons as we move forward as a generation. The future can look however we want it to look. What role might God be calling you to play in it?

CAMERON STR ANG is the founder and publisher of RELEVANT. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @cameronstrang.

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MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS I was so glad to see Michael K. Williams on the cover of this issue. He’s an incredible actor, one of those type of actors that sometimes get overlooked because they are so adept at really becoming the character they’re playing. Reading some of his backstory and his passion for giving back to his community just makes him even more impressive to me.

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High five and good job for the slice on John Oliver. His passion in covering the marginal stories is why I love his show. Spot on. R ACHEL YOUNG / Via Twitter

I have no problem with the church trying to reach men [“Fellowship of the Ring” Jan/Feb 2015], as long as they realize that it doesn’t take punching someone, guns, and talking sports 24 hours a day to be a man. Not every man cares about that stuff. The thick lines some people like to draw between what is considered feminine and masculine are merely projections of what they happen to like or dislike and sometimes are an excuse for their own violent and over-the-line proclivities and an excuse not to broaden their horizons beyond caveman status. MAT THEW WILLIAMS / Via RELEVANTmagazine.com

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“11 Church Phrases That Freaked Me Out as a Kid” [Jan/Feb 2015] made me laugh out loud! I had to tell my kids why I was laughing … and then had to explain the Trinity. So, thanks! PETER BAILE Y / Via RELEVANTmagazine.com

MAR_APR 2015

Sitting at my fav coffee shop reading “11 Church Phrases” from the latest @RELEVANT issue. Laughing too much! Rob Fee is hilarious! @ SE AN SE AN E R SON

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I wanted to thank you for being a breath of fresh air in the world of magazines. As a graphic designer, I get the visual pleasure of beautifully designed pages, and as a believer, through the stories and words, I’m reminded there isn’t a formula to how we live, it must only be Christ-centered and done with love. VICTORIA RODRIGUES / Via email

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THE FULLER MDIV NEW ONLINE OPTION Beginning this fall, our MDiv is available in a new online format. Combined with increased scholarship support, that means the distinguished theological formation Fuller offers is now more accessible—to more leaders, in more vocations and contexts—than ever. FULLER.EDU/MDivOnline RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

SLICES HILLSONG UNITED: COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

P H O T O C R E D I T: S I M O N C A R D W E L L

A BI-M O N TH LY LO O K AT FA IT H, LIF E + C ULT URE

CONCERTS Hillsong United has become known for filling up huge venues: STAPLES CENTER

TWO TICKETS FOR THE THEATRICAL WORSHIP EXPERIENCE, PLEASE.

“W

hy would anyone want to see a movie about us?” That was Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston’s response to a few producers looking to make a movie about the global phenomenon that is the church’s worship band, Hillsong United.

“We’re trying to achieve something never before attempted in the history of Hollywood.” As a documentary topic, it’s easy to see the allure. Hillsong Church is pulling in something like 100,000 weekly attendees at its 12 locations, and Hillsong United has sold about 16 million albums. They’re the first Christian band to ever sell out Los Angeles’

MAR_APR 2015

Staples Center and they hold the record for the largest attendance ever at Chicago’s Sears Centre Arena. So, to answer Houston’s question, a lot of people would probably be very interested in a movie about just what makes Hillsong United click. The movie went forward, directed by Michael John Warren, who helmed Fade to Black, the landmark Jay-Z documentary. The result is part concert film, part tour video diary and part exploration of what it means to lead. They’re calling it Let Hope Rise, and it’s scheduled to release this spring. Producer Jonathan Bock believes it’s more than a movie. “We are so excited about this film,” he says. “We’re trying to achieve something never before attempted in the history of Hollywood: a theatrical worship experience where people won’t just be passively entertained, but rather actively engaged in worship in the cineplex.”

The group became the first Christian band to sell out the LA venue.

HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Over 15,000 people filled the arena during United’s 2013 tour.

RED ROCKS

The band sold out the popular Denver amphitheater in 2013.

SLICES

STUDY: GOING TO CHURCH MAKES YOU HAPPY NEW RESEARCH OUT OF THE

Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture has found a strong correlation between religion and personal happiness. They surveyed over 15,000 Americans and found that people attending a religious service on a weekly basis are nearly twice as likely to say they’re “very happy” than those who don’t attend at all. On the other end of the spectrum, people who never attend religious services are almost twice as likely to say they’re “very unhappy” than those who attend some sort of weekly service.

MULTITASKING ACTUALLY LOWERS YOUR IQ

ou may want to consider stopping whatever else you’re doing to focus only on this article. According to research from Stanford University, multitasking is really bad for you. Not only does it hurt overall productivity and your ability to recall information, additional research shows it even lowers your IQ. Also, this is terrifying: A team of researchers looked at MRI scans of people who spent a lot

of time doing things like texting and watching TV at the same time and found they had lower brain density. They stop short of saying multitasking physically reshaped brains (people with less thick brains could be more predisposed to multitasking), but the combination of all the research is enough for neuroscientists to warn that your brain isn’t made for doing multiple things at once. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up on being efficient:

HERE ARE 4 TIPS FOR WORKING EFFICIENTLY:

MAR_APR 2015

PRIORITIZE

LEAVE ON TIME

Pick which tasks actually need to be completed and take them on, one at a time, in order of importance.

If you know you’re going to leave right at, say, 5 o’clock, you’ll work better and faster to get your tasks done. Deadlines work wonders.

SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

CUT DOWN ON CLUTTER

When small, manageable tasks come up, deal with them right away instead of letting them pile up.

Around your desk. In your inbox. On your voicemail. Clean environments are more conducive to getting things done.

THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR GETS WORSE A new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights found that in 2014 alone, 76,021 people were killed in the Syrian civil war. That’s the highest number of deaths since the conflict began four years ago. Of those killed in civil war, 17,790 were civilians and 3,501 were children. Iraq also had its deadliest year since 2007, with more than 15,000 killed. The rise of ISIS—as well as the airstrikes and fighting to combat the Islamic militant group—is responsible for much of the uptick in violence.

P H O T O C R E D I T: J E F F J . M I T C H E L L / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( S Y R I A )

HEY DUMMIES, HERE’S WHY WE NEED TO STOP TRYING TO DO SO MANY THINGS AT ONCE

MATT CHANDLER ON DATING, MARRIAGE, AND SEX We are inundated with songs, movies, and advice that contradict Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design for love and intimacy. Emotions rise and fall with a simple glance, touch, kiss or word. Against this cultural sway, Matt Chandler offers an eternal, counterintuitive perspective on love from the biblical book Song of Solomon. Study Guide and Curriculum Kit, available for small group study.

Available in print and digital editions wherever books are sold

SLICES

According to a recent report from Oxfam, the richest 1 percent of people in the world will possess more than half of the world’s wealth by 2016. Currently, the richest 85 individuals in the world have the same amount of money as the poorest 3.5 billion combined ...

A new study shows that smoking is bad for your wallet as well as your health. The financial social network WalletHub found that over the course of a lifetime, American smokers lost more than $1 million because of their habit. Time to quit ...

According to an analysis from Pew and CQ Roll Call, 92 percent of representatives in U.S. Congress identify as Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox, even though 20 percent of the country are agnostic, atheist or unaffiliated ...

MAR_APR 2015

MARK WAHLBERG’S QUEST FOR FORGIVENESS MARKY MARK HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO

“And I’m sorry for The Happening, too.”

ark Wahlberg’s history is pretty varied as it stands: He had a rap career as the head of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and now has had a long career in film. But Wahlberg also had a brief career as a criminal. His list of crimes include throwing rocks and yelling racial slurs at an elementary school class in 1986 and beating two men outside a convenience store while screaming racial epithets at them. Wahlberg was a teenager at the time, and he was sentenced to two years in jail, but only served 45 days. Now, he’s looking to get his juvenile record pardoned because he’s hoping to become a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. Public opinion is divided on whether he should be pardoned. The Daily Mail tracked down one of Wahlberg’s victims, who said, “He was young and reckless, but I forgive him now. I would like to see him get a pardon.”

OTHER CELEBRITIES WHO NEED FORGIVENESS: BENEDICT

AUBREY PLAZA

LEONARDO

CUMBERBATCH

For being in Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever when she really should have known better.

DICAPRIO

For getting engaged to someone else when he knows how much you love him.

For growing this beard. Leonardo DiCaprio should not be growing this beard.

HBO SET TO RELEASE NEW STREAMING SERVICE T HIS Y E A R , HB O W IL L BE T HE FIR S T major cable network to embrace

what many consumers have been clamoring for since the dawn of online video: a stand-alone streaming service. You won’t need to have a cable or satellite subscription to use it—just a Wi-Fi signal and a hankering to watch Girls. Industry insiders predict this could be the beginning of the end for cable as we know it, particularly if HBO can make its move profitable. But cable companies still have one ace in the pocket: live sports. ESPN has the rights to air NFL and NBA games until 2021 and 2025, respectively, which means the fight between consumer demand and corporate powerhouses will wage on for at least another 10 years.

P H O T O C R E D I T: T I M R O N E Y / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( M A R K Y M A R K )

M I S C.

BANDS

JON EGAN & THE DESPERATION BAND

CORY ASBURY

ANDY MINEO

JARED ANDERSON

ALL SONS & DAUGHTERS

STEFFANY GRETZINGER & WILLIAM MATTHEWS OF BETHEL MUSIC

SPEAKERS

DAVID PERKINS

RICH WILKERSON JR.

LISA BEVERE

DAN PERKINS

BRANDON CORMIER

AMY PERKINS

JOHN BEVERE

BANNING LIEBSCHER

C O L O R A D O S P R I N G S , C O L O R A D O / D E S P E R AT I O N O N L I N E . C O M / 7 1 9 . 2 7 8 . 3 3 3 4

SLICES

M I S C.

THE H T LIST

Tech company SplashData has released its annual list of the “worst passwords” of the year, and “123456” topped the list. Coming in second was “password.” Other notables: “qwerty,” “monkey,” “dragon,” “baseball,” “access,” “shadow,” “superman” and, most ironically, “trustno1” ...

BI-MONTHLY CULTURE POWER RANKINGS Yousafzai, getting her Nobel Peace Prize at the same age you learned how to drive.

SUFJAN STEVENS [HOT TEST] His new album promises to be a return to his old sound, It’s not about one of the 50 states, but it’s still exciting.

OREGON TR AIL [HOT] Hundreds of old video games were made free online, but, oops, you died of dysentery.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME [COLD] There’s always that guy who thinks he can explain daylight saving time, but no one can.

RAMBO 5 [COLDER] When Rambo: Last Blood releases, Sylvester Stallone will be 70. Seventy. Let that sink in.

ANSWERS IN GENESIS’ BILLBOARDS [COLDEST] AiG’s ad campaign earlier this year showed that passiveaggressive proselytism has reached a new low.

MAR_APR 2015

MALALA’S NEXT MOVE THE PAKISTANI TEEN’S WORLD-CHANGING GOALS

2009, Malala Yousafzai was just a Pakistani teenager who kept a diary about her struggles living under Taliban rule. Since then, she’s been the target of a failed assassination attempt, the guest of dignitaries, the youngest recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize and a symbol of hope in a desperate situation. And that’s all been before her 18th birthday, so it begs the question: What’s next? For Yousafzai, the answer isn’t surprising. Education has been her passion, and she’s completing hers at Edgbaston High School in England. And she won’t be finishing her education alone. Her “Malala Fund” is aiming to make her generation the last to bar girls from receiving an education. It sounds like an impossible goal, but then, that’s been the story of Malala’s life so far.

Netflix has some ambitious plans. The streaming provider’s chief content officer recently said their goal is to release about 20 new, scripted original shows every single year. Let the binge-watching commence ...

SKEPTICAL CREATIONISTS? F OR T HE L A S T 30 Y E A R S, Gallup has

polled Americans using broad questions to gauge beliefs about creation. The percentage who agree that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the last 10,000 years,” has never been of Americans are “very lower than 40 percent. But a new survey got certain” about youngEarth creationism very different results by asking a variety of questions regarding creationism, along with what degree of certainty respondents believe them. An analysis of the results found only 7 percent of those polled were “very certain” of all five of the basic beliefs associated with young-Earth creationism.

A genius restaurateur in Belfast has opened the world’s first potato chip sandwich shop, and he sold out of his entire inventory on the first day. If he needs some more ideas, there’s always a Frenchfries-in-Frosty ice cream bar ...

P H O T O C R E D I T: A N D R E W B U R T O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S

SPOOF SUPERHEROES [HOT TER] Amazon has ordered a pilot for a reboot of the cult comedy The Tick, for the 17 people who still care about The Tick.

SLICES E C

A J

A ‘PARKS AND REC’ FAREWELL PA R K S A ND R EC IS TA K ING I T S FIN A L B OW, capping off a remarkable run as one of network television’s most consistently terrific comedies. There was a lot to love about

Answer:

“What I hear when

“It’s like talking

L it e ra ll THE

P H O T O C R E D I T: C H R I S H A S T O N / N B C

B EST Q U IZ EVER

the series, but the characters made up one of the better TV casts in recent memory. How well do you know them? There’s only one way to find out: Which character said what? 7

Answer:

“I’m allergic to

Answer:

“I call sandwiches

THE FULL CAST

I’m being yelled

about people

sushi. Every time

sammies,

at is people caring

behind their backs.

I eat more than 80

samdoozles or

A. RON SWANSON

loudly at me.”

Everybody wins.”

pieces, I throw up.”

Adam Sandlers.”

B. APRIL LUDGATE C. BEN WYATT

Answer:

“Jogging is the worst. I know it

Answer:

“Yes, I am a hunter. And it’s you season.”

keeps you healthy, but at what cost?”

Answer:

“That was literally 3

Answer:

“I think that Comic Sans always screams ‘fun!’”

MAR_APR 2015

the most beautiful

Answer:

“I went back to

Answer:

“There’s only one

D. JERRY GERGICH

Season 1 of Fringe to

thing I hate more

check for plot holes.

than lying: skim

As I suspected:

milk, which is water

airtight.”

that’s lying about

G. LESLIE KNOPE

being milk.”

H. ANN PERKINS

and moving thing I

E. DONNA MEAGLE F. CHRIS TRAEGER

I. TOM HAVERFORD

have ever heard.” Answers: 1. G, 2. H, 3. D, 4. B, 5. E, 6. F, 7. J, 8. C, 9. I, 10. A

J. ANDY DWYER

SLICES

I . C .Y. M . I .

“A million people on the Internet isn’t cool. You know what’s cool?”

IN C ASE YOU MISSED IT

ENTERTAINMENT ACTUALLY WORTH YOUR TIME

F IL M AUDIO TV

1 T H E BA BA DO O K

Most monster movies are just trying to scare you. The Babadook does that, but don’t write this lovingly told tale about a mother off as “just a scary movie.”

2 PANDA BEAR MEETS THE GRIM REAPER

Panda Bear is back with his insane sound. No one is safe, and no one is disappointed.

3 CO HE RENCE

The less you know about this mind-bending sci-fi puzzler going in, the better. Just watch it.

4 JA NE THE VI RGI N

A show about a girl who wants to stay a virgin until marriage, and her choice is depicted with respect.

5 S E L MA

The Oscars famously slept on this excellent Martin Luther King Jr. biopic. Don’t make the same mistake.

6 MI ST E RWIVES: OUR OWN HO USE

Infectious, funk-infused ear candy. If you don’t take to it, check your pulse.

MAR_APR 2015

MARK ZUCKERBERG WANTS EVERY EARTHLING ONLINE AND THE FACEBOOK FOUNDER KNOWS HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

this point, it might feel like Mark Zuckerberg has digitally connected the entire world. Facebook has about 1.35 billion users—about 20 percent of the world’s population. But that’s not enough for Zuckerberg, who has set his sights on a new goal: total global connectivity. It’s a big goal. Two-thirds of the world still doesn’t have Internet access. Zuckerberg is working on sending Wi-Fi enabled drones to the world’s most remote locations. From there, it’s a matter of equipping people with affordable devices to access the Internet, something Zuckerberg has a team of people working on, including experts from NASA. Zuckerberg estimates that connecting everyone online will create 140 million jobs and alleviate the poverty of 160 million people. Plus, more Facebook friends.

THE “NEW FACEBOOK” DUDS, RANKED JUS T A S T HE ONCE-MIGH T Y

NOT SO MUCH

Rome gave way to Germanic conquerors, so must Facebook one day rescind its dominion. The general impression is that Facebook has a shelf life, but no one can figure out how long it is. And while a worthy competitor might hasten Facebook to an early grave, the phrase “the new Facebook” has never stuck to any platform longer than a few weeks. Here are a few that never quite landed:

ELLO

PATH

GOOGLE +

Ello’s simple layout was promising, but its lack of intuitive engagement (and commenting) held it back.

Path’s simplicity was a refreshing alternative to Facebook’s clutter of friends. But early excitement faded.

Google+ was a good concept, but its early dreams of dethroning Facebook have come to naught.

GOOD TRY

NEW ALBUM

AVAILABLE NOW! Visit SisterBrotherBand.com/Relevant to download TWO new songs from the album!

sisterbrotherband.com | facebook.com/sisterbrothermusic | twitter & instagram: @sisterbrotherpa

atticrecordingstudio.com

SLICES

THE NUMBERS

ABORTIONS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME LOW IN U.S.

ccording to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the latest numbers (from 2011) indicate that the abortion rate in America has fallen to nearly an all-time low, but there are still 219 abortions performed for every 1,000 live birth deliveries. The report

says that in 2011, more than 730,000 abortions were performed (though the number could actually be closer to 1 million), which represents a dramatic decline over the last 40 years. Experts say the falling abortion rate could be due to a number of factors, including access to contraception and changing social norms. Number of abortions per 1,000 women

NUMBER OF ABORTIONS TO UNMARRIED WOMEN, UNITED STATES, 1973-2011

Percent of unmarried women, ages 15-44

29.3

20 16.9

16.3 15

1973

1975

1979

1983

1987

1991

1995

1999

2003

JAN 22, 1973

Roe v. Wade

1976

The Hyde Amendment passes, barring the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape or incest.

MAR_APR 2015

2006 2003

1996

President Bill Clinton vetoes the first partial-birth abortion ban.

President George W. Bush signs partialbirth abortion ban into law.

South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds makes performing abortions a felony. The law is repealed in a November referendum.

2004 1997 1988

Teenager Becky Bell dies as a result of an unsafe abortion and becomes a symbol in the movement to repeal parental consent laws.

2011

2007

1981

A law requiring minors to notify their parents of an abortion (as opposed to requiring parental consent) is found constitutional in H.L. v. Matheson.

2007

Clinton vetoes the partial-birth abortion ban for the second time.

Bush signs “Unborn Victims of Violence” act, allowing killers of pregnant women to be charged with two counts of murder.

Also, Amillia Taylor, the youngest child to survive a premature birth, is born just 21 weeks into her gestation—two weeks before it would have been illegal to abort her.

Supreme Court upholds partial-birth abortion ban in Gonzales v. Carhart

2008

Colorado amendment to redefine “personhood” as beginning from the moment of conception fails to pass.

2011

Mississippi amendment to ban abortion fails to pass.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF ‘A.D.’ THE AMBITIOUS NEW SERIES AIMS TO BRING THE BOOK OF ACTS TO LIFE ON NETWORK TV

MAR_APR 2015

a remote area outside of Ouarzazate, Morocco, sits a stunningly accurate first-century Jerusalem. The city was built in only three months for the new NBC series A.D.: The Bible Continues, produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Debuting on Easter Sunday, the show is unique from other Bible-era dramas in that it focuses on the period of time after Jesus’ crucifixion. “We saw an opportunity to dive deeper into the New Testament, specifically the book of Acts,” Downey says. “In A.D., the story is really the beginning of the early Church. “It was important to us that we created this first-century world and draw the curtain back so the audience can experience what must have been going on in those early days. At that time, the Romans were crucifying up to 500 Jews a day. Imagine the fear they were living under. So how did these 12 disciples bring down the Roman empire? It’s an amazing story.” RELEVANT visited the set while filming was happening, and the production is indeed massive. The multicultural cast of hundreds (most of the actors come from the U.K.) and attention to historical detail is reminiscent in scale to epics like Game of Thrones. Here is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of A.D.: The Bible Continues.

P H O T O C R E D I T: C A M E R O N S T R A N G

Executive producer Roma Downey in front of the three major sets of A.D.: The Bible Continues.

LEFT: The ancient Jerusalem temple set.

LEFT: Filming a scene where Claudia (Joanne Whalley) kneels before Emperor Tiberius. In the background, director Rob Evans and director of photography Toby Moore.

ABOVE: Director Rob Evans and a script supervisor watch a take of A.D.: The Bible Continues.

ABOVE: The set of a street in Damascus. LEFT: Detail from the Damascus street set.

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

CONVERSATION

Colman Domingo, David Oyelowo and André Holland in a scene from Selma

Q +A

‘SELMA’ ACTOR DAVID OYELOWO ON HIS FAITH AND PORTRAYING MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

ifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of marchers from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest practices barring their right to vote. This spring, Ava DuVernay’s muchlauded film, Selma, depicted the events on the big screen. We talked to David Oyelowo, who plays King in Selma, about how his faith impacts his acting career and what it was like to play such an iconic figure. Released in theaters in January 2015

MAR_APR 2015

HOW DO YOU R ESIST THE URGE TO M AK E MLK INTO A T WO -DIM ENSIONAL SAV IOR?

He was just a man. He was a fallible man. He was a man who was at times unsure. He had as much failure as he had success in his life. That’s certainly true for all of us. My hope, my prayer, is that people come away seeing themselves in Dr. King, because the truth of the matter is he was a human being and yet he did these amazing things anyway. Hopefully, we’ve got to think the same for ourselves. W H AT DO YOU THINK IT WAS A BOU T MLK TH AT M A DE HIM SUCH A M AGNETIC FORCE?

Well, personally, as a Christian, I think that every now and again God ordains someone, anoints someone, raises someone up who is absolutely instrumental for change in their day and generation. You see it in the Bible with Joseph, you

see it with David, with Moses. And of course, you see it with Jesus. I would say Dr. King is in that line of people who are raised up and sort of have an otherworldly ability to bring people together to turn people’s eyes on injustice and to actually be a true change agent. DOES BEING A CHR ISTIAN IMPACT THE WAY YOU CHOOSE ROLES?

One hundred percent. I pray about the roles. I seek God’s guidance for what I should and should not do, because I am a true believer in the fact that what we put out into the world affects the world. There are some filmmakers who like to think and are cheating themselves in saying that the artistic choices they make in terms of what they pump out into the world don’t affect culture. That’s just a barefaced lie. Films do affect culture. As a result, I hold myself responsible

and accountable to be careful about what I put into the world. W HAT DO YOU THINK SELMA SHOWS US A BOU T THE THINGS W E AR E SEEING R IGHT NOW IN THE STAT ES?

I think voting is something we very much take for granted in this country now, but when you see Selma and you see that people died for this right, people had their bodies broken for it, and it was denied people—if people see that fact, it may make them rethink not voting. The truth of the matter is that everyone being allowed to vote without being marginalized is now under threat again. [In] 2013, the Supreme Court basically took out elements of the Voting Rights Act, and now people are being marginalized again. Juxtaposing Selma and Ferguson shows that America has changed, but not as much as people actually think.

P H O T O C R E D I T: AT S U S H I N I S H I J I M A / P A R A M O U N T P I C T U R E S

SLICES

STATEMENT

insecurities and sins in front of His face— and against all reason and rationale, the song of grace becomes exhilaratingly true, because the groom looks at us and declares us beautiful. Spotless. Righteous. Justified. The essence of the Gospel is not that “we can” but that Christ did. Intimacy is hard for broken people. But when you’ve gotten closer to the incredible reality that God has chosen you, forgiven you and approved of you, despite your sin, that grace is satisfying and empowering, and it can be carried over into your marriage. It can be carried over in the way you respond to your spouse, confident and free because of Christ’s work in your life. It can be carried over in the way you forgive your spouse’s sins

THE ‘GOOD NEWS’ ABOUT SEX B Y M AT T C H A N D L E R

the church I pastor, I am continually bombarded with questions about how dating and marriage should work. There appears to be a deep desire to approach dating, marriage and sex in a way that would please God, but there seems to be a profound lack practical know-how. There is a sizable gap between our understanding of the Gospel and our application of that knowledge. So where do we go? In the middle of the Bible, there are five books we have traditionally called “the Wisdom Books”—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. In Song of Songs, we watch a couple navigate the age-old pursuit of romance—the pursuit, actually, of one another—as they fight to embrace the gracious covenant of marriage and celebrate the amazing gift of sex.

MAR_APR 2015

Maybe you’ve read through the book and thought, “This sounds like a really beautiful thing, but I’m a messed up person, and this all seems pretty unrealistic.” All of us have been wounded and hurt in some ways. We’re all insecure, fearful and broken. Human beings are so complex. When you factor in sin, trauma, insecurity and anxiety, our brokenness becomes part of that complexity. The good news is that while we’re at our worst, Jesus still loves us. What made me love Christ wasn’t that I figured out how to do life all the sudden. What made me love Christ is that when I could not clean myself up and there was nothing anybody could do with me, Christ said, “I’ll take that one. That’s the one I want.” The Bible calls the Church Christ’s bride. It’s like standing before Jesus completely exposed—all of our flaws and

and overlook their imperfections, sharing with them what God has given you. In this way, sex can be about the Gospel, if we’re mindful enough to make it so. If Jesus wanted broken you, can you find the strength to want your broken partner? It has to be worked for and fought for, but it’s possible. Love the gift of sex and love your spouse, but it’s not technique or romance that makes Song-of-Songs sex possible—it’s Jesus. He alone reconciles. Can you have pleasurable sex outside of life in Jesus? Well, sure. But it can’t be all He designed it to be. In the end, it won’t draw you any closer to the person you’re having sex with. And it won’t draw you closer to God. But married sex can do that, and one of the ways it does that is by pointing away from sex and toward the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sex is good, but it’s not built for eternity. It won’t be around forever. Marriage and sex are good, but Jesus is better. He is better than everything in life. He is life!

MAT T CHANDLER pastors The Village Church in Texas. He is the author of many books, including The Mingling of Souls. Follow him on Twitter @MattChandler74.

All of us have been wounded. We’re all insecure, fearful and broken.

SLICES

STATEMENT

happens to be an awkward paradox. Common sense would tell you that getting others on board would require external focus: working on external communication or building an image. But that’s not how influence comes about. Influence has little to do with others and everything to do with ourselves. We need to be worth following. The paradox of influence is that we must focus not on influencing, but on becoming influential. Leadership is granted to those worth following. Through actions, attitude, values and work ethic, people earn the right to persuade others.

Influence has little to do with others and everything to do with ourselves.

THE CURRENCY OF INFLUENCE B Y M I C A H YO S T

rwiana Sulistyaningsih stood in an airport in mid-2014 with a bruised face, arms covered with storied scars. A migrant worker from Indonesia, Sulistyaningsih had been working as a maid in upscale Hong Kong and had suffered abuse and neglect in her position. For months, she was given only a small amount of rice and bread to eat. Her sleep was limited to only a few hours a day. She was eventually abandoned and left, unable to walk, with threats against her family should she ever talk. Defiant and convinced that something must change, she stepped forward to represent the thousands of women still in similar situations. Her story burst onto the 24hour news circuit and put a face to a terrible issue many knew nothing about. Because of her bravery, the world will be a better place for a few thousand women like her. Sulistyaningsih is one of a select group of individuals who live with a constant discontent in their heart. These people don’t simply see problems, but solutions. These folks have a burden for growth, improvement and innovation. These people aren’t just dreamers. These are the few who will truly inspire things to be different. So how do these people lead others toward making a real impact? If you look closely, you’ll see one main thing present in stories of leadership. The currency of leaders, activists, coaches and community developers is influence. Influence is what allows people to change things in their local community and around the world. The solutions leaders envision are not accomplished alone. Lasting progress doesn’t happen in isolation. Influence is how we get others with us, but influence also

MAR_APR 2015

Specifically, there are four key disciplines of influencers, leaders and those who make a difference: 1) A track record of success. People allow themselves to be influenced by those who have already produced results. 2) Trustworthiness. Trust is how influencers win the battle for people’s hearts. Change-makers are consistent, honest and open. They balance passion and patience. 3) Identifying and communicating values. People don’t align with individuals, they align with core values. Everyone wants to belong, and this desire ingrains a strong tendency to align with things we identify with. 4) Vision. Our world is hungry for hope. Influencers create a picture of the future that inspires. Influence is not granted to those who point fingers or breed negativity. It’s not simply handed to those with positional power or a fancy job title. Influence is given to those who cast a powerful vision for a better tomorrow, exemplify strong core values, patiently breed trust and start by first getting their own hands dirty.

MICAH YOST is the technical director of Christ Community Church in Omaha, Nebraska. He also works as the chief technology innovator at Thrive Development Group.

THE RELEVANT PODCAST’S MISSION TO INVADE ALL 5 OF YOUR SENSES ENTERS ITS NEXT PHASE

INTRODUCING

VIDEO EXTRACTS

NEW EVERY FRIDAY ON THE RELEVANT YOUTUBE CHANNEL

THE NEW ZEALAND SINGER-SONGWRITER IS REINVENTING HER SOUND

“Someone once told me truth is often two opposing things held in tension.” 36

MUSIC THAT MATTERS

“Someone once told me truth is often two opposing things held in tension,” she explains. “And with Brutal Romantic, I’m exploring those opposites and everything in-between, both lyrically and sonically.” If all that makes Fraser sound like a poetic soul, well, there you go. But she’s a successful one—she’s one of the top-selling artists in all of her native New Zealand’s history, and one of its most decorated (at the 2011 New Zealand Awards, she took home an International Achievement Award, Best Pop Album and People’s Choice Award). But success certainly doesn’t seem to be her true north. Fraser has weightier things on her mind. “The poetry in trauma,” she says, when asked what her new album is about. The beauty in banality. The necessity of both the wrestle and the embrace.”

BRUTAL ROMANTIC

Fraser has been in the music industry for over a decade now, but it’s been a decade well-spent—improving her songwriting and exploring new musical horizons. Her latest incarnation is her best yet.

P H O T O C R E D I T: P AT R I C K F R A S E R

rooke Fraser has a story about a Tanzanian miner who, in her words, gave her the kindest compliment she’s ever received. “He asked me to keep singing because when I sang it was soothing and ‘made him forget all his troubles,’” she says. “That’s real.” That pursuit of the real haunts Fraser’s work, but whether her music will make you forget your troubles or contemplate them even more is up to the listener. Her most recent release, Brutal Romantic, is an excellent, searing meditation on paradox.

THINK.

ACT.

What do I believe?

What should I do?

BE.

Who am I becoming?

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LIVE IT. Grounded in carefully selected Scripture, Believe is a unique spiritual growth experience that takes you on a journey to think, act, and be more like Jesus. General editor and pastor Randy Frazee walks you through the ten key Beliefs of the Christian faith, the ten key Practices of a Jesus-follower, and the ten key Virtues that characterize someone who is becoming more like Jesus. Develop a personal vision for spiritual growth and a simple plan for getting started with Think, Act, Be Like Jesus. Go to BelieveTheStory.com to download sample reading chapters and learn more about what it means to think, act, and be like Jesus.

To watch video scan this QR Code with your mobile device. Or access directly at http://zph.com/qr244/

THE DROP

ARTISTS TO WATCH

‘FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS’ ACTOR ALEJANDRO ROSE-GARCIA HAS FOUND HIS GROOVE IN MUSIC lejandro Rose-Garcia is a well-known face to Friday Night Lights fans. On the mid-2000s hit show, he played, of all things, a rock and roll musician with a penchant for trouble. These days, Rose-Garcia goes by Shakey Graves, and he’s less inclined to get in trouble than he is to sing about it. This “hobofolk” singer-songwriter makes carrying the weight of the world sound positively beautiful and, according to him, he has no say in the matter. “No matter what song I’m trying to write—even if I’m trying to write a metal song—it ends up coming out of me in a way I don’t have control over. It sounds like where I come from. It’s inescapable. I didn’t know I’d turn into a finger-picking, bluesy

MUSIC THAT MATTERS

guitar guy. That was not intentional. It’s just how it happened. It’s just weird.” “Weird” isn’t a bad way to describe Shakey Graves’ sound. It’s recognizable as folk rock, but only just barely, as RoseGarcia is as likely to include a choir in one song as he is a banjo in the next; and he’s become rather famous for banging on an old Samsonite suitcase on a lot of his songs. The music has earned him a legion of diehard fans, who turned up in droves for his national tour and smattering of festival sets. Not bad for a guy who started playing guitar in middle school as a “juvenile revenge plot to try and get my frickin’ girlfriend back.” “I was convinced our quote-unquote relationship was pretty much the biggest thing that was ever going to happen to me,” he says. Then he laughs a little before admitting, rather poignantly: “It wasn’t.”

WHY WE L OV E HIM: Shakey Graves brings that rakish rebellion back into a folk scene that frequently gets bogged down with weepy banjo songs. Essentially a one-man band (but with some new collaborators), he is obviously having a lot of fun playing his brand of folk rock, and once you hear it, you’ll understand why.

SHAKEY GR AVES’ AND THE WAR CAME FOR FAN S OF:

Shovels & Rope, The Apache Relay, Kopecky, Blitzen Trapper

NOW S T R E A MING

These albums (& more) are streaming on The Drop at RELEVANTmagazine.com. Listen in!

T HE ADVANC E

We Are The Advance EP

LEVI THE POET

Correspondence (A Fiction)

FROM INDIAN LAKES JOE Y VANNUCCHI’S FROM INDIAN L AKES is as much about what you don’t hear as what you do. When the music is as sparse as it is here, every note seems to gain extra meaning—like it was carefully plucked and given a special purpose in the song. That might sound obvious, but it’s a sign of just how meticulous Vannucchi is in making sure it hits home. On the band’s aptly titled Absent Sounds, you pay attention to every single detail. “I just want to keep taking it as far as possible,” Vannucchi says. “I really don’t like to settle for what our peers and the others in our genre [are doing]. I think we’ve moved out into other genres.”

WHY WE L OVE THEM:

Like the Yosemite community the band hails from, the music sounds as organic and easy as nature itself. FOR FAN S OF:

Mansions, Copeland, Circa Survive

PHO T OS: J A R R ED G A S T R EICH (SH A KE Y GR AV ES); JESUS M A RT INEZ (FROM INDIA N L A KES); MICH A EL MULLER (CU T COP Y )

T W EI TO

The Great Story

CUT COPY FEW BANDS ARE AS INVESTED IN THE CREATIVE RIVERS & ROBOTS

All Things New

WE THE UNION

We The Union EP

PROCESS as Australia’s electronic auteurs Cut Copy. Every detail—from the songwriting to the album art to the advertising—is brought into the band’s artistic wheelhouse, and often is far more meticulously thought through than it might appear. But that would all be for nothing if the music wasn’t good—and with Cut Copy, the music is always good. “We’re not trying to change what we do to appeal to anyone in particular,” says the band’s frontman, Dan Whitford. “We just like making music that inspires us, and hopefully other people enjoy what we do.” WHY WE LOV E THE M:

In an era where music is getting increasingly siloed off into smaller and smaller genres, Cut Copy is pulling from different, fresh styles to create something unique. RO BERT & EVAN G EL I N E

Robert & Evangeline

FOR FAN S OF :

St. Lucia, Washed Out, Holy Ghost!

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

THE DROP

CONVERSATION

Q +A

MISTY ON HER NEW ALBUM AND THE POTENTIAL OF WORSHIP MUSIC isty Edwards knows how to write a worship song. She has written a decade’s worth of them in her role as a worship leader at the International House of Prayer. But with seven traditional worship albums behind her, Edwards is exploring a different side with her new release, Little Bird. We talked to her about the album, the constraints of traditional worship music and the benefits of asking tough questions.

LITTLE BIRD SEEMS LIKE A SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURE FROM SOME OF YOUR PAST STUFF. IS THAT HOW YOU FEEL?

IT’S NOT AS MUCH TR ADITIONAL WORSHIP STYLE AS YOUR PAST ALBUMS.

I always like to say “corporate worship,” because I think anything done before the eyes of God is worship. But corporate worship—as far as like, the chorus-type songs everyone can sing along with—this is definitely not that. I value that so much, but I think there’s so much more to music, and there’s so much more to poetry and art and expression under God.

IS THERE SOME SORT OF MIDDLE GROUND BE-

“God loves the human heart, the whole gamut of emotions, not just the high praise. He loves it all.”

MUSIC THAT MATTERS

I wouldn’t get up on a Sunday morning and just do my Little Bird album from top to bottom. But I could maybe throw one or two of those songs in my set list. I think the room could be touched by that. God loves the human heart, the whole gamut of emotions, not just the high praise. He loves it all. He’s not some kind of egocentric being just waiting around for us to tell Him He’s beautiful. That’s not our God. It’s the interaction. I find that journey-type songs create that interaction sometimes.

YOU HOPE THEY WALK AWAY THINKING ABOUT?

TO THINK OF IT?

DONE WITH LITTLE BIRD?

WHEN PEOPLE LISTEN TO LITTLE BIRD, WHAT DO

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR FANS ARE GOING

Some of them are going to think I’ve lost my way, even though it’s not like I did a secular album. But I think there’s another percentage of worship leaders that feel really frustrated creatively. They’re tired of writing the four-chord chorus-type songs and they’re looking for an outlet. So I’m hoping I can give that group of people courage to think outside the box.

T WEEN CORPOR ATE WORSHIP AND WHAT YOU’VE

ON THE TABLET EDITION Listen to Misty Edwards’ new album, Little Bird.

I want them to walk away asking questions about God. I love to evoke questions in the lyrics so people have to really think about it and figure out what they believe. I hope they walk away with a clear testimony of God’s mercy. I’ve tried to capture the tensions of the majesty and the holiness and the mystery of God, but at the same time, the dirt and the earthiness of our lives without any contradiction. If they can some how walk away with those two realities that seem extreme polar opposites, I think I have done well. Because that’s all of our story, you know?

P H O T O C R E D I T: A D A M H A N LY

Yeah, for sure. The last few albums I’ve done have all been live. This is a studio album. To me, it’s a lot different. I wrote the songs in solitude, as opposed to collaborating with other worship leaders like I’ve done in the past. It was much more reflective, more just journey-type songs.

Ask the right questions. Gain crucial ministry skills. Impact your city for Christ.

seminary.indwes.edu

seminario.indwes.edu

THE COMING EXTINCTION OF CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ IN

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE. SACRIFICIAL LIVING.

T O

H E L P

Here are a few organizations helping displaced people in Iraq:

White also noted that Christians in the West “are not waking up and listening to the reality of what is going on.” “It is a life-and-death situation, and it’s the life and death of our people,” he said. DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

There were around 1.5 million Christians in Iraq before 2003. There may be as few as 200,000 left. White said he wants to one day return to Baghdad, but he hopes people in the West see how desperate the situation has become for the victims of ISIS: “These are our people. We are Christians. And so are they.”

Providing urgent medical care for displaced people in Iraq. PREEMPTIVE LOVE COALITION

Helping provide clothing, housing, education and legal help for families suffering persecution. WORLD VISION

Working to provide displaced Iraqis with food, water, sanitation, shelter and safety.

P H O T O C R E D I T: K A R I M S A H I B / G E T T Y I M A G E S

a recent interview with U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times, Canon Andrew White said Christianity in Iraq is in danger of being completely eradicated by ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). White, known to Iraqi Christians as the “Vicar of Baghdad,” is the leader of Iraq’s only Anglican Church. He is now in the U.K., forced to flee after ISIS placed a $57 million bounty on his life. His fears are backed up by recent reports that show just how dramatically Christianity has declined in the country under the persecution of ISIS. The Economist notes that there were around 1.5 million Christians in Iraq before 2003, but some experts estimate there may be as few as 200,000 left.

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REJECT APATHY

JUSTICE FOR BLACK LIVES BEGINS WITH US A N E S S AY B Y

PROPAGANDA

I 44

was traveling a few days after the Eric Garner verdict when I received a frantic phone call from my daughter. “I want you to come home because I’m seeing when the police hurt black men, they

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE. SACRIFICIAL LIVING.

don’t get in trouble,” she said. I froze. After I pulled it together, I reminded her: “Just remember to keep Daddy in prayer. When Daddy leaves the house, he’s out trying to change the world. I’m out sharing the Gospel. I’m out trying to

make the world a better place for you and for your future siblings. This is why it’s important that Daddy leaves, so stuff like this doesn’t happen anymore.” That’s all I could give her. As an African-American man, I remember becoming aware early on of the

possibility of police treating me differently because of my skin color. I lived in Los Angeles, so our city was very diverse. I remember walking home with a white kid and this very fair-skinned African-American kid. We got stopped by a policeman. I got searched, but the other two guys went free. I remember my father getting stopped. He was taking me to basketball practice and was asked, “What are you doing in this neighborhood? This is a nice neighborhood. What are you doing out here?” I quickly began to think that the police didn’t like us. I remember my father telling me, “Here’s the thing, son. Just get home. If that means you ‘yes, sir,’ ‘no, sir,’ do what you have to do. You just have to make it home. Because if you’re a threat, they will beat you. You have to do everything in your power to show them you’re not a threat.” With the coverage of cases like those of Eric Garner, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice, the experiences of people of color in America have come back into the spotlight. And wherever your opinion falls on issues like these, believers are called to compassion. Our call is to mourn with those who are mourning. Instead of arguing the facts of the controversial cases, fight to understand the underlying issues. There is a nation of people hurting, and who are you to tell them that they don’t feel pain? Christians, of all people, should put their arms around a hurting person. You don’t need to know why they hurt. The greatest example is the woman they caught in adultery. Of course she was wrong. The facts showed she was wrong. Christ didn’t need to hash that out with her. So how do Christians move forward on issues of race? First, acknowledge the fact that there is a problem. Don’t discount the experiences of others just because your experience hasn’t been the same. Then, once we get there, we need to accept everybody’s role and responsibility in the system we made. We’re all agents of the system we exist in. So if you are an Anglo-American, you are a part of a system of privilege. You

didn’t ask to be a part of it, but you have an inherited privilege. You have access to things the rest of us do not. It’s not something you need to sit on or apologize about or explain away. None of those work. You have it, so use it as a tool. If you see or hear people speak insensitively about particular situations, speak up. Take those opportunities. If a young kid is getting profiled, ask, “Hey, why are you treating him like that? He’s not doing anything wrong.” Write a letter to the CEO. They will listen to you. You have opportunities to wield your privilege for good. Find those opportunities in everyday life where you can actually wield your privilege rather than trying to excuse it away or justify it. For the African-American community, when we see that happening, you become a person of trust. It aligns you as an ally.

church. Call him in, discuss some things. Empower these people. Let them talk. That speaks volumes. It’s much better to learn from than to learn about. You can read about LatinAmerican immigration, or you could sit down with a Latin-American immigrant. As Christians, we need to lead in listening and hunting for those true Gospel opportunities and allowing those to shape our opinions rather than statistics and tweets. If we can humanize what we see in the news, that will push us further into really functioning like Jesus, moving from a tone of compassion and hope. Because you’re not looking at issues or justice—you’re looking at humans. You’re talking about people. At the end of the day, it’s not going to be right until the Lord comes and fixes it all. It was a crooked justice system that put Jesus on the cross. Those were trumped

WE ARE ALL IMAGE-BEARERS. WE’RE ALL MADE ON PURPOSE. RACE WAS GOD’S IDEA. HE MADE US DIFFERENT ON PURPOSE, AND OUR DIFFERENCES ARE PART OF THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. You’ve earned the right to be heard. So when you start saying, “Hey, you know what I don’t understand?” people will be more willing to dialogue with you. And then it’s our responsibility now to invite you in, rather than saying, “It’s your job to fix everything.” How should the Church respond? Acknowledge the situation and the feelings of those involved, then guide people on how the Gospel applies to us moving forward. We are all image-bearers. We’re all made on purpose. Race was God’s idea. He made us different on purpose, and our differences are part of the story of redemption. So a race issue is a Gospel issue, just like abortion is a Gospel issue, just like poverty is a Gospel issue. Once you get that theological stance set, allow for the “experts” in your congregations to be experts. Maybe you’re not the authority on racism, but there is a 22-year-old black dude who goes to your

up charges and a coward-like judge. But a crooked system is not out of the control of a sovereign God. My hope and my peace is in that. Knowing that ultimately God is going to make all things right when He comes back, we can be hopeful for the few direct conversations we can have. There are people who are fighting to understand, fighting to get their brains around these issues. As my dad—who was a Black Panther— says, justice is a long haul. These things don’t happen overnight. You’ve got to remember that it may not be you that is going to carry the torch across the finish line. But you may be able to impact someone who may be able to take this torch a step further. Always think long haul. That, to me, is the hope. PROPAGANDA is a poet, political activist, husband, father, academic and emcee from LA. He aims to challenge his listeners with every verse and reach across the spectrum of pop culture.

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REJECT APATHY

THE MISSION HASN’T CHANGED, BUT IT’S SPREADING FURTHER THAN EVER BEFORE

B Y M AT T C O N N E R

he medium has changed, but Jamie Tworkowski’s message remains the same. Actually, that’s not entirely true. If you’re familiar with To Write Love On Her Arms, then you know that Tworkowski, the organization’s founder, has remained focused on sharing the message of someone else: Renee Yohe. Almost 10 years have passed since Tworkowski penned his friend’s account of drug addiction and suicide attempts and placed it on a Myspace page.

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE. SACRIFICIAL LIVING.

The blog post and shirts, sold to help with Yohe’s rehab, soon went viral, fueled by the power of shared story. Since 2006, To Write Love On Her Arms has become a true movement, and this year will be the biggest yet. A feature film based on Yohe’s life is releasing nationwide by Sony Pictures. And Tworkowski’s first book, If You Feel Too Much, will be published in May. These happen alongside several special events throughout the year and the near-weekly university gatherings where Tworkowski speaks. But even as the TWLOHA brand and organization continues to grow,

especially with events like the film debut, Tworkowski maintains that it is simply an extension of what they’ve been doing since the very beginning. “Honestly, it’s no different than anything else we do,” he says. “The goal and the hope is that the film will spark conversation. It was a story about how broken people love broken people, and friends doing life together. It’s based on the real story I got to live. Our hope is that people will be encouraged.” While TWLOHA’s push for openness has helped foster healthier environments for those struggling with depression or

ANDY BARRON P H O T O C R E D I T:

addiction to be able to ask questions and share experiences, there’s still work to be done inside the Church, where such issues are rarely discussed. “The stigma is still there, and there’s so much work to be done,” Tworkowski says. “There are still some things a lot of people aren’t sure they can talk about. But we have come to believe honesty is contagious, and that by beginning to go there, we start to be part of the solution. By me being honest about my life, hopefully it gives other people permission to do the same. Things will begin to change that way.” Tworkowski references Rick and Kay Warren as perhaps the best example of the power of transparency on some of these topics. Their 27-yearold son, Matthew, committed suicide in 2013, and the popular pastor and author were open about their grief and questions in the aftermath of the tragic news. “I think they have been a great example,” Tworkowski says. “They lost their son and, because of their visibility and influence, it was powerful that they chose to talk about it the way they did. “These are issues that come up, and they come up in really tragic ways. We hear these headlines. To me, they did an incredible job and were vulnerable in the way they responded to losing their son. I was able to tell Kay that I was so sorry about her son, and also that I was so blessed and grateful for how they carried themselves since.” TWLOHA began this year like they have every year with Heavy and Light, flagship gatherings intended to spur awareness, conversation and hope about the organization’s focus. Past years have brought a Heavy and Light tour while others have simply kicked off the year. Numerous artists have given their time to participate, including Christina Perri, Fiction Family, Noah Gundersen and The Lone Bellow.

C E L E B

L O V E

To Write Love On Her Arms has gained plenty of celebrity supporters over the years. Here are a few:

J OAQU IN P HOE N IX

The actor appeared alongside Tworkowski in a 2010 YouTube video supporting the organization.

PAR AMOR E

Hayley Williams and crew are often spotted wearing TWLOHA apparel at their shows.

SOP HIA B U SH

Long a TWLOHA supporter, the actress made an appearance at a Heavy and Light event in 2012.

This year’s guests were Jon Foreman, The Summer Set, Dustin Kensrue, Matthew Perryman Jones and spoken word poet Sierra DeMulder. “Everyone in the room leaves Heavy and Light with a list of local resources and information on places where they could get help—or a friend could get help—if they were struggling with depression or addiction,” Tworkowski says. “In a lot of ways, it’s a concert. There’s a lot of music, but there are a few other elements that make it unique. “It’s just meant to communicate this message and let people know it’s OK to talk about depression, about their pain and their questions—that they’re not alone in those places, and to encourage people to ask for help. Hopefully it’s a night that’s entertaining, but they go home with this message, as well.” Despite the numbers and prominence, Tworkowski is quick to bring it back to the original focus that began when he just wanted to tell Yohe’s story to someone. The movement, after all, is merely a collection of several individual stories. “There was a friend early on who, as things kind of started to take off and the story and the shirts went viral, he said, ‘No matter how big this thing gets, it will always be the individual.’ I think that remains,” Tworkowski says. “Even with a million and a half likes on Facebook, it’s so important to narrow that down to the individual and to remember that these are real people with real stories. “Even with the bigness of the year, it’s most important to remember that this is all about people who feel alone or are hurting. We really miss the point unless we give hope and comfort and encouragement to these folks. “In the midst of a lot of exciting and important conversations, there’s that tension of trying to remember the heart of the matter and remember what it’s about.”

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E V ERYON E J UST N EEDS TO

CALM DOWN YES, IT’S POSSIBLE TO STAND FOR SOMETHING AND NOT BE A JERK ABOUT IT

NOV_DEC 2014

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

BY MICHAEL W EAR

the memorial service for beloved author and teacher Dallas Willard, J.P. Moreland told a remarkable story. Once Willard’s student, and later his friend and colleague, Moreland spoke of Willard’s commitment to truth. Moreland recalled a discussion Willard had with a student in front of a crowded seminar. Willard made the statement that “when we look at an object or think about it, we don’t construct it or make it up,” rather it exists as it is with observable qualities and characteristics. One student “didn’t buy it,” and countered that, “when you look at something, you give it its color. It’s not colored unless you look at it.” So Willard tested the idea: He grabbed a cup, placed it on a table in front of the student and asked him “why don’t you turn around and stop looking at the cup, and the rest of us will see if it stays colored?” Of course, the cup kept its color even when the color-imbuing student turned his back. Moreland felt the tension in the room. Later in the day, he asked Willard, “What just happened in there?” “J.P.,” Willard said. “We have to stop being bullied.” Moreland reflected on this scene, and what it showed him about Willard: “Now Dallas was a gracious, compassionate man. But he wasn’t bully-able. And when he knew something was true, he stood there. I want to be like that.”

I am no philosopher, and odds are, neither are you. Philosophers like Willard and Moreland advance and defend ideas as a vocation. But each and every one of us carries truths that apply not just to us as individuals, but to our friends and communities. Earlier in my life, I tended to rush toward consensus even at the expense of my own convictions. It was easier to end the argument through acquiescence, and honestly, I felt holier that way. I was proud of how “humble” I could be. This mindset was a response to the bitter fights of the previous generation, when so often, claimed truths were used as a weapon to cause harm, rather than a tool to promote good. We know too well the dangers of valuing doctrine—religious or otherwise—over people. But these dangers should not bully us into quiet, passive lives. It is inconsistent to hold something as truth in our lives, but dismiss its relevance in the lives of others. To keep truth to oneself is not equivalent to humility. The ability to think, to hold convictions, is human. The truth is revealed in our study, our relationships and our experiences. Yet, sometimes we can be quick to back off when we are challenged. We can even doubt whether our story means anything at all. But the truth in your story, the truth you carry in you, really does matter.

THE MISTAKE OF DISMISSING THE PUBLIC VALUE OF IDEAS We have too easily conflated the defense of ideas with the polarized culture of cable news debates and social media feeds. Those who debate ideas seem to always be judgmental, bitter and cranky. But we forget how central the advancement of ideas has been to the history of the Church. Indeed, much of Jesus’ ministry was about overturning false ideas that had become conventional wisdom. Yes, becoming a disciple of Jesus is about much more than acquiescence to a list of doctrinal truths, but discipleship does include the transforming of our minds. Just think of all of the great art, literature and activism that would not exist without Christians committed to the advocacy of Christian truths. There would be no William Wilberforce or Martin Luther King Jr. to fight slavery and inequality. No C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton to inspire

and educate us about orthodoxy and the foundations of faith. As Christians, we must take the life of the mind—our mind and that of others—seriously.

LESSONS FOR PURSUING AND ADVANCING TRUTH As we seek to take seriously our own ideas and those of others, we can keep a few things in mind. First of all, the goal is not victory, but faithfulness. Even Jesus gave people the opportunity to reject His teachings. When Jesus told a rich man that following Him would require giving up his allegiance to his possessions (Matthew 19:21), the rich man “went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:22). The man’s unwillingness to follow the teaching did not lead Jesus to compromise. Instead, He reaffirmed and expanded on the teaching to the disciples (Matthew 19:23-24). Like Jesus, we can defend ideas without getting defensive. Secondly, we can be wrong. We do not have to have the perfect argument, particularly in informal settings, in order to state our position. Indeed, it is often more compelling to acknowledge aspects of our argument we are uncertain about, even as we confidently state what we believe to be true. Humility does not require a lack of conviction. One of the most wonderful, humbling experiences is to be convinced of error and to turn from it. Christians call this repentance. But it is only possible if we acknowledge what we currently believe and test that belief in the light of the evidence and the truth of Scripture. Finally, we must always operate in love. There is a great temptation to take pride in our ideas for their own sake, but whatever true knowledge we have does not come from us. As Christians, we are to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind. We may take a false step, but that is always a risk of pursuing faithfulness. We can find truth together, learning from one another, but only if we love our neighbor enough to share the convictions we hold dear. MICHAEL WEAR is a writer, speaker, consultant and former adviser to President Obama for faith outreach. Find him online at michaelrwear.com and on Twitter at @MichaelRWear.

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THE CHART-TOPPING GRAMMY WINNERS ON BEING VULNERABLE, STAYING HUMBLE AND THE PRICE OF FAME

B Y M AT T C O N N E R

MAR_APR 2015

continents, nabbed a Grammy for Best Rock Performance and topped the Billboard charts. Now they’re working on their sophomore album, Smoke + Mirrors. And in our chat with him, Reynolds admits he isn’t sure how to make sense of it all. YOU’RE JUST NOW HOME AND SETTLED IN. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AT THE END OF A LONG SEASON?

To be honest, I really have not been looking at my schedule day to day. I don’t look at it until the day of, because it can get so overwhelming. There were no holes in the schedule. So I got to this point where I’d wake up and find out what I had that

P H O T O C R E D I T: E L I O T L E E H A Z E L

an Reynolds can’t remember the last time he was home. There’s the occasional check-in, the moment away between strings of tour dates. But a real time away from the chaos surrounding the Imagine Dragons frontman is something he simply cannot recall. For the last two years, Reynolds’ rock and roll dream has come true, even if it’s nothing like what he thought it might be. On the back of hits like “Demons” and “Radioactive” from the band’s multi-platinum album Night Visions, Imagine Dragons has performed on six

day. That’s been more manageable the last couple years. And so now, finally, I’m trying to work in a life somehow around music. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT STAYING

I’m not complaining. What I have learned is literally that we would not have made it this far and retained any ounce of sanity if this was not a necessary choice to be a musician. It was either be a musician or be homeless, you know?

HEALTHY IN THAT ENVIRONMENT? IS THAT BECAUSE THERE’S SOME IRRESISTIBLE

I wouldn’t say we’ve learned how to be healthy, because we have all lost our minds here and there. Even just getting home from this latest tour, I’ve been trying to remember who I am as a person. You get so caught up in everything, on stage or interviews, and I never have had a moment to process how my life has changed and how that affects my relationships, my friends and family, and my own well-being and spirituality. It’s kind of scary, to be honest. YOU ONCE SAID THE KEY TO IMAGINE DRAGONS’ INITIAL SUCCESS WAS NEVER SAYING ‘NO’ TO ANY OPPORTUNITY. HOW HAS THAT CHANGED?

We had a conversation when we had gotten to a point that we realized we couldn’t do it all. We started saying no. Then I had vocal surgery when we were doing four shows in a row and then one day of promo in the same stretch. This was earlier, when things were starting to blow up for the band, right between the EP and the first album. From that, we learned the lesson of saying no and carving out time. It’s really difficult, to be honest. We still haven’t figured out how to say no. There are certain weird branding things, or things that aren’t real for us; those are easy to say no to. But when it comes to, “Hey, we want to fly you to South Africa to play for a city that really wants you, and you may never be able to go back. Do you want to do that?” And that was supposed to be our one day off! The wonderful problem that it is—to never be able to say no—comes from the fact that we want to touch every territory. North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Mexico, Australia. Do you want to say no to those places? L-R: Daniel Wayne Sermon (lead guitar), Ben McKee (bass), Daniel Platzman (drums), Dan Reynolds (lead vocals)

THOSE ARE THINGS YOU HOPE FOR, AND YET LIVING THEM OUT IS A DIFFERENT REALITY.

Yeah, especially since I have a 2-year-old little girl and a wife. My guitarist has a wife and a newborn. So that’s where it gets really tricky. If you want to have a family and be the type of person to have a job and a life and friends, then being a musician is not really the life for you. The only way we will be able to maintain that is to bring our families around the world, which is really difficult for a young child.

CREATIVE IMPULSE?

Exactly. I tried to go to school. I went to classes and, for a minute, I was going to early seminars to go into the FBI. That seemed interesting to me, but on that same note, I found myself writing music every day. It was my only passion, even at 13 years old.

“MY LIFE HAS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS; SOME ARE GREAT WAYS AND SOME ARE REALLY DIFFICULT WAYS.” At one point, you look and you realize that’s all you’ve ever done, that’s the only thing that made me happy since I was young. I couldn’t see my life without it. So if that’s the case, try to make it your career, even though it is one of the riskiest and worst career choices you could ever make. You tell your friends that and they all laugh, and say, “Good luck, bro! You have a one in a billion chance of making it.” HOW MUCH OF YOUR EXPERIENCE NOW IS WHAT YOU DREAMED OF WHEN YOU STARTED?

Literally zero percent. Whatever you think it is, it’s not. My perception of how it changes your life was never correct. I had no idea how I would adjust to it and the lifestyle. My life has turned upside down in so many different ways; some are great ways and some are really difficult ways. But I’m here, and so I try to make it wonderful. I would never take it back. If I knew what would happen, I’d have still done it, since it’s been amazing. But I’m still figuring it out. It has turned my life upside down in every way. WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM THE LAST YEAR?

I think I am the happiest when I’m on stage. When I’m on stage, I feel the reason I’m doing all

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VEGAS OR BUST Vegas is an essential stop on any arena tour. But some great artists have come out of Sin City, as well. Here are a few who share a hometown with Imagine Dragons:

T H E KIL L E R S

N E -YO

PAN IC ! AT THE D ISC O

The band wrote some of their first hits in the band room at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Before his breakout solo career, Shaffer Smith was in a Vegas R&B group called Envy.

The pop punk group began as a Blink-182 cover band rehearsing in a Vegas suburb.

of this. Everything is worth it. I feel free and wonderful. So I’d say the highlight is probably one of those shows that just seemed like an out-of-body experience. I think when we played at Lollapalooza Brazil, there were like 80,000 people. And they were the most glorious and amazing people. They knew every word to our songs—and this was in Brazil! I remember being on stage there and feeling extremely emotionally overwhelmed. The Grammys were also very surreal.

three and a half years together of just being really poor musicians. We shared a twobedroom dingy little apartment, and were scared week to week about making our rent and having food. To go through those years together— and to now go through this—it could have either destroyed the band or made us super tight. It’s made us super tight. So we talk about it. We are like each other’s therapists in some regards. We keep each other’s egos in check, too.

“I THINK THAT WAS OUR GOAL: TO DIVE IN THE PLACES WHERE WE DIDN’T WANT TO GO AT TIMES, AND PEEL BACK MORE OF THE LAYERS. WE EXPOSED A LOT OF THINGS.”

HOW CLOSE HAVE YOU COME TO BECOMING THAT SORT OF PERSON?

I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have our moments where there’s an ego battle, or you forget your priorities, or your family life is falling apart. Maybe everyone else deals with this fine, but I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety. When you add this on top of it, it’s a recipe for disaster. Music has been therapy for me, and I’ve had to go to therapy, and deal with my own personal issues and all that. So we keep each other in check, like brothers who knock each other down every once in a while to remind you that it’s not about you. It’s really good to have them around me. HOW MUCH OF THIS COMES OUT IN SMOKE + MIRRORS?

Playing with Paul McCartney during a Beatles tribute was surreal. I mean, we were playing a Beatles song with one of The Beatles! There are so many moments that have been really surreal. HOW MUCH DO YOU AS A BAND TALK ABOUT THE OVERWHELMING NATURE OF THE SCHEDULE?

That’s where the only real conversation in my life happens about these things. You can never come home and talk to your friends or family and have them understand the bad times. Even as I’m explaining it to you, I can’t even put it into words how crazy it has been. But when I talk to the band, they have been through it all, too. We’ve been through a lot together. Before the band broke through, we had

MAR_APR 2015

HOW HARD IS THAT LAST PART?

It’s hard. You need someone to remind you all the time that you’re not that important. People are asking you about yourself all the time, but it’s not about you; it’s about the music and the people. It’s about you and your fans and the connection between. It’s not about the individual person. If you can’t wrap your head around that, that’s where people get screwed up. The ego grows huge. That’s why I didn’t want to get into music, because of the fear of falling into that world. It is disgusting to me, and you see it all the time. It’s a constant reminder of what we don’t want to be, of what I don’t want to be. That’s what true rock and roll is all about. If the band ever gets to that point, we will quit.

We went into this album with a goal to create something that told the raw, authentic story. I write all the lyrics, so a lot are really personal, but the band listens to a lot of them, and it relates directly to them in a lot to ways, because we have gone through similar experiences. These are the most personal and vulnerable lyrics I have ever written, which was really difficult for me. I think that was our goal: to dive in the places where we didn’t want to go at times, and peel back more of the layers. We exposed a lot of things. The longer you’re together, the more you see the flaws. That’s the lifeblood of Imagine Dragons: the flaws of the band. MAT T CONNER is senior editor at SB Nation and writes about all aspects of pop culture for the Indy Star and other places he says don’t matter.

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END OF AN

ERA J A S O N R U S S E L L’ S N O B U D G E T D O C U M E N TA RY S TA R T E D A M O V E M E N T. N O W, T H E N E W S TAT E OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN RAISES QUESTIONS, THE BIGGEST BEING: DID IT WORK?

MAR_APR 2015

BY T YLER

PHOTOS BY ANDY BARRON

HUCK ABEE

he End of Invisible Children” That’s the headline BuzzFeed trumpeted in December of last year, seemingly declaring the end of the one of the stormiest social justice ventures in recent memory. By the mid 2000s, Invisible Children had become shorthand for a new kind of activism— one that mobilized the global community through social media, bridging the thenstark gap between online communities and real-life action with millennial-savvy, storytelling chops and unbridled sincerity. But a funny thing happened on the way to being the voice of a justice-hungry generation. A lot of funny things, actually. In the last few years, Invisible Children has been a roller coaster, a journey fraught with teetering highs, falls and disorienting loops. The BuzzFeed headline was a little sensational, as it turned out. This year, Invisible Children is closing down its headquarters, reducing its staff from 22 to just a handful of people working remotely. It will no longer produce the sort of viral content that made it famous—but it does not plan on closing. Not yet. It’s one more fact jumble in an organization that has been dealing with them for over a decade; one more twist in which Invisible Children had to issue a handful of clarifying statements to whichever supporters and detractors will care to look past the headlines. “I would say Invisible Children is not closing,” the organization’s co-founder, Jason Russell, says from his California home. “It is now focused on its mission statement, which is to dismantle the LRA

[Lord’s Resistance Army] and bring as many women, children and combatants home. “The hardest part is getting this end and getting people to stick with you till the end. And in order to do that, [former CEO] Ben Keesey and myself and a bunch of us on management staff decided to forfeit our jobs and hand the baton off to the four people who have proven they have the tenacity and expertise to get the job done.” So Invisible Children is not closing, exactly, but they have entered a newer, lower-profile chapter—one that marks the organization’s twilight years as it seeks to hand over its key programs in Africa to local groups. It’s an interesting switch, and for Russell, an admittedly difficult end. There was a time when it seemed Invisible Children had truly happened upon a viable recipe for changing the world—they created a sort of kickstarter (to borrow a term from a company they predated by half a decade) for making a difference. But with Russell leaving and the group’s fortunes changing, their prospects mirror the fading hopes of the generation they once whipped into an inspirational frenzy. In a way, we’ve all had to learn together that changing the world is no picnic. And the question we’re left with is a simple, but haunting one: What now?

IN THE BEGINNING Invisible Children started in 2004, but their story really begins in 2003, when Russell and two friends traveled to Uganda with only one aim: to find an interesting story and make an interesting movie out of it. To say they were successful is like saying Alexander the Great had a healthy ego. They happened upon hundreds of Ugandan children—many of them orphans from the nation’s lengthy civil war—attempting to avoid being kidnapped and brainwashed into the LRA, a terrorist group run by the ruthless and enigmatic Joseph Kony. They captured powerful footage of kids sleeping in mass huddles near hospitals and bus stops, hoping their numbers would deter attacks. They nabbed interviews with children who had seen friends and family members murdered in front of their eyes. All of this was turned into Invisible Children: Rough Cut, a film they screened on college campuses all over America,

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HOW INVISIBLE CHILDREN GREW UP

2003: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole go to Uganda in hopes of shooting a documentary. JUNE 2004: Invisible Children: Rough Cut is

screened for the first time.

2005: International Criminal Court issues

an arrest warrant for Joseph Kony.

APRIL 2009: 85,000 people join “The Rescue,” getting “kidnapped” until rescued by a celebrity or person of influence. OCTOBER 2011: President Obama

announces plans to send 100 military advisers to Uganda to help remove Kony.

MARCH 5, 2012: “Kony 2012” is launched on YouTube, smashing viral video records. MARCH 7, 2012: Grant Oyston’s “Kony 2012” criticism is published and goes viral. MARCH 15, 2012: Russell is filmed in the

midst of a public psychiatric breakdown. DECEMBER 2014: Invisible Children announces it is coming to “an end as we know it.”

MAR_APR 2015

galvanizing one of the first waves of millennial college students into steely resolve. It’s a time Russell looks back on fondly. “There was something very nostalgic and magical,” he says of that first trip. “The trip was really hard on [fellow filmmakers] Laren and Bobby and I, when you look back on the details of how it rolled out and what had to happen in order for us to find this very hidden conflict. The U.N. at the time called it ‘the most forgotten, neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today.’ That’s what they called it the year we were there. That’s amazing.” The movie spurred a few things. First of all, Invisible Children became an IRS-certified nonprofit, and then the nonprofit became a phenomenon. In 2006, when Invisible Children organized a “global night commute” in 125 cities around the world, asking people to spend the night in parks and public places to raise awareness for Uganda’s child soldiers, over 80,000 volunteers responded. Three years later, at “The Rescue,” 85,000 people got involved, including senators, state representatives and Oprah. Invisible Children became a real movement. And then came “Kony 2012.”

MAKING INVISIBLE CHILDREN FAMOUS To get the full effect of the “Kony 2012” campaign, it’s important to remember the climate of 2012. The U.S. was in the middle of a bitter presidential campaign, her post-recession fortunes far from certain. The country was politically split, and millennial apathy was soaring (only about half of all millennials ended up voting in the election). It was on to this scene that Invisible Children released “Kony 2012,” a 30-minute YouTube video that acted as a call to arms for volunteers to “make Joseph Kony famous.” The idea was simple enough. The people with the power and means to stop Joseph Kony would only do so if there was a public demand. Raise the public demand, and you tighten the noose. The video, released on March 5, 2012, called for volunteers to participate

in an April 20 campaign called “Cover the Night,” in which posters, stickers and “Kony 2012” memorabilia would be littered across the world—effectively turning Kony into the global community’s public enemy No. 1. In one week, the video had reached 100 million views. The metrics of online success are difficult to quantify, but Time magazine declared it to be the most viral video of all time, and that would be difficult to disprove. But perhaps even more impressive than the video’s viral success was its ability to inspire beyond the share button. “Kony 2012” got 1.4 million YouTube “likes,” but garnering 3.7 million pledges of support is the real eyebrow-raiser. Invisible Children’s influence extended offline. “I know technology connects us, but in the end, we’re very, very social,” Russell theorizes. “Already, millennials are seeing the limitations social media brings. Yeah, we’re all connected and we feel cool about it and we love this tool. But more than anything, we want to see each other and be in a place that’s like the real human touch. And that’s what Invisible Children has constantly and consistently been about.” At this point, it bears mentioning that Russell is saying all this the day after he officially left Invisible Children, the organization he started. He still refers to them as “we,” which will clearly be a tough habit to break. He’s immensely proud of his team’s work. “I see the outpouring of the work of Invisible Children, what it’s been able to do, and I think that in some ways— and this might sound arrogant—we were ahead of our time. Usually, when people or organizations or ideas are ahead of their time, they’re very criticized at first.” In Invisible Children’s case, that would be putting it mildly.

MORE KONY, MORE PROBLEMS “Do I think they steered people in the right direction or gave them the right set of information they need to make good decisions? No.” Dr. Chris Blattman is an associate professor at Columbia who worked on a tracking study in the mid ’00s

on war-affected youth in Uganda. His wife spent years in Uganda as both a researcher and humanitarian aid worker. He first saw Invisible Children: Rough Cut while he was a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley. At the time, he had only been to Northern Uganda once and was “by no means an expert.” “I saw [the Invisible Children crew] around from time to time in Northern Uganda,” he recounts. “They’re kind of an inescapable presence. They were becoming very well-known, certainly.” In a series of blogs posted in the aftermath of “Kony 2012,” Blattman took Invisible Children to task. “Successful advocacy often tells a simple story,” he wrote. “Simple stories usually lead to simple solutions; and simple solutions can do more harm than help. If you want to help, your first duty is to make sure you don’t make things worse.” As the blowback against “Kony 2012” gained steam, the core of the counter-

useful device for getting people involved, but eventually, it’s kind of misleading, and it leads you to pick often very bad, inappropriate policies and approaches.” The actual ground zero for the “Kony 2012” pushback began in another corner of the Internet, a blog titled “Visible Children.” A post there, published on March 8, was not nearly as moderate in its criticisms as Blattman’s posts were. “Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t,” the post stated. “But that doesn’t mean that you should support ‘Kony 2012’ just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.” That post was written by Grant Oyston—at the time, a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. His post gained 1.3 million views overnight, and he became something of an anti-Invisible Children figurehead in the ensuing months, much to his chagrin.

“I FEEL LIKE KONY WON. AND EVERYONE SHOULD SIT WITH THAT. IT IS SOMETHING TO BE GRAPPLED WITH. KONY IS STILL WINNING.” —Jason Russell narrative was generally some version of Blattman’s critique. Unlike many detractors, however, Blattman hedged his criticisms. Both in his writing at the time and today, he takes great pains to give Invisible Children its due credit. “For all its weaknesses, Invisible Children has been more effective than any of us at raising awareness, and they may get us closest to the least worst action we can take,” he wrote. “They can get better, and I hope this time they do.” He has a similar perspective today. “There were things I really liked and there were things I didn’t,” he says of Invisible Children. He notes that Russell and the other filmmakers carried a sense of humility in what they did and “they didn’t hide their naiveté … I liked that.” “But I was critical of their sort of cavalier attitude and maybe some of the styles of advocacy they’re emblematic of. ‘We can go and save these kids!’ is a very

He considered himself then, as he does now, an aggregator of expert critiques. He’s articulate and deferential— the years seem to have cooled some of his early rancor—but he’s still unimpressed by Invisible Children. “There were two main categories of criticisms that were being brought up regarding the video itself and the tone it used and the way it portrayed the history of the story it was telling,” Oyston says. The first criticism had to do with the film—saying it failed to present an accurate picture of the situation in Uganda, what Oyston calls “misleading or ethically dubious storytelling devices.” “People felt that it was oversimplified, it was somewhat patronizing. It had this narrative device of using a small child and telling it as a story of good vs. evil in a sort of simplified, direct way,” he says. “They were doing things like using footage that indicated the conflict was bigger than it currently was. They were

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using that kind of footage without identifying the date of the footage—which was maybe five or six years old when this conflict was substantially larger.” The second accusation was about Invisible Children itself, and it’s a common criticism of nonprofit organizations: Oyston took issue with how Invisible Children handled donations. “People felt that their money would be going to direct action, when in fact, a lot of what their budget is going to is what they describe as a program expense. Essentially, it’s awareness raising and lobbying. There was concern from some camps that what needed to be done was not lobbying as much as on-the-ground work supporting victims.” Oyston points out that Invisible Children may have had good reason for being vague about what, exactly, people’s donations were funding. “You were funding efforts to send people with guns into an African country, or funding efforts to lobby for America to send in advisers for the local-owned military and paramilitary groups to go in, guns blazing to kill someone,” he says. “It’s difficult to raise money for that.”

REAPING AND SOWING The pendulum swing back on “the most viral video” of all time put Invisible Children in the uncomfortable position of playing defense. The organization swiftly put together a response on their website (which quickly crashed owing to the sheer volume of traffic), a move even the group’s most adamant critics speak of highly. Briefly put, Invisible Children didn’t back down—they were filmmakers and storytellers at heart, and any perceived oversimplification was only in the best interest of telling a coherent narrative. “This work is so nuanced and so layered,” Russell says. “As a storyteller, your job is to quantify, like bring it all together and simply present it to a 14-year-old high school student.” Russell is a kind person, too kind to speak very negatively of the many, many personal attacks he endured in those times. He’s more critical of himself than he is of them. “You always say, ‘Gosh, why didn’t I try to sleep? Why didn’t I go away instead of putting a very weird and bizarre twist on what could have been much more successful, as far as getting the story out there?’”

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In case you don’t know, that “weird and bizarre twist” was the low point of Invisible Children’s existence. On March 15, 2012—just when the backlash against “Kony 2012” reached its peak—Russell suffered a public breakdown. A video of it was released online. He’s naked. He’s slap-

stress, exhaustion, dehydration and anger. He still says that. “Every day that goes by and Kony is allowed to be free, it sends a clear message to the rest of the world that you can get away with murdering children, mutilating people’s faces, displacing—some count as

“‘WE CAN GO AND SAVE THESE KIDS!’ IS A VERY USEFUL DEVICE FOR GETTING PEOPLE INVOLVED, BUT EVENTUALLY, IT’S KIND OF MISLEADING.” —Chris Blattman ping the pavement, screaming obscenities, shouting about the devil. The Internet had a field day. TMZ released the footage with its trademark snarky carnival barker voiceover. Twitter went ballistic. Former celebrity allies distanced themselves. Russell was placed on a psychiatric hold and shortly thereafter appeared, fully clothed and composed, to apologize. He said it was the result of a brutal cocktail of

many as 4 million people displaced from this man,” Russell says. “He has no political power. He has no money. And yet he has somehow managed to outsmart and outlast the billions of dollars our world spends on military power and intelligence. When you think about that chasm, it should make you want to run naked in the streets.” Even with Russell’s apologies and Invisible Children’s response, the blow was

Jason Russell standing in the empty office of Invisible Children.

nearly fatal. A follow-up film, “Kony 2012 Part II: Beyond Famous,” ably responded to the first film’s critics, but received a fraction of the attention. The April 20 “Cover the Night” campaign suffered from abysmal turnout amid the swirling negative press. Invisible Children has continued to work and raise awareness in the ensuing three years, but things were different. “It was harder to book screenings,” Russell says. “It was harder to get people to fundraise and continue the work.” At the end of 2014, they made the announcement that caused the BuzzFeed snafu. “We thought there was the pendulum swinging to this really dramatic almost hyperbolic ending,” he explains. “And then we realized, ‘We don’t need to close. We don’t need the millions of dollars of funding to continue the work.’ The work we’re doing on the ground, if given the right amount of funding, can live on into 2015 and beyond. “And so we had the difficult task of branding what has now been somewhat

confusing—and I get the confusion—that Invisible Children is not closing. It’s just focusing, and it’s going to look different than it has in the past.” A big part of that difference, of course, will be Russell’s lack of involvement. “I always thought my final day would be around the day we capture or remove Kony from the battlefield. So it’s been challenging as a storyteller to wrap my head around the fact that this isn’t how the story’s going to end, or at least the story’s going to look different.” This clearly pains him, and while he knows that his story is “messy,” he defends his intentions. He also seems baffled that anyone would want to stand in the way of a group so clearly bent on trying to make a difference. “When polled in 2010 by Harris of the Harris Poll, they found that one out of four people believe they have a responsibility to make the world a better place by being involved in causes or issues,” he says. “That statistic shows us that three out of four people are actually on the sidelines. They don’t believe that they have the responsibility to make the world a better place. I think that really is the systemic core issue.” According to Russell, that has serious implications far beyond the life or death of the organization he helped start. “I feel like Kony won,” he says. “And everyone should sit with that. It is something to be grappled with. I mean, yes, we’ve made a lot of achievements. Out of the five commanders, three have been removed from the battlefield since 2012, and the defection and the 92 percent reduction in LRA violence since 2011—on that front, we should be proud. “I shouldn’t be a Debbie Downer, but that should be a conviction that we all feel as the human species. Not just as an American. Everyone should feel the way that the No. 1 war criminal for war crimes and crimes against humanity is still free. Is still free. Kony is still winning.”

DID IT WORK? Russell is right. Insofar as Invisible Children’s mission was to bring Joseph Kony to justice, it has not been successful. But there are larger, less tangible aspects to the movement it started.

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it’s not going to be a simple, direct matter. There are problems in the world that have straightforward, direct answers, and we’ve fixed them. The problems that remain are complicated and difficult, and you can’t just sort of jump in and play a significant role in resolving them. If you want to do this, it’s a long-term commitment.” Blattman is a bit more measured in his criticism. He understands the urge to make

“ANYONE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT IT’S DIFFICULT. IT’S NOT GOING TO BE A SIMPLE, DIRECT MATTER.” —Grant Oyston

And victory there is a bit more difficult to quantify. Blattman poses an interesting thought experiment: “Imagine you had some really wellmeaning Japanese high school student who is really motivated by what he sees on the television about Ferguson. He shows up in Ferguson and he wants to help, he wants to make a difference. He doesn’t speak English, doesn’t have much money. What’s that person going to do other than get hurt or cause trouble? Nothing whatsoever. “Now imagine this guy was a millionaire. Whatever this guy does is just going to be a disaster. How could it not be? You look at that and it’s obvious. Just try to put yourself on the other side of this. Now we’re the Japanese billionaires. We’re just as foreign. We’re just as clueless. We’re just as relatively wealthy.” Blattman’s analogy echoes a familiar sentiment that began around the time of “Kony

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2012” and has followed in the wake of every viral social justice campaign since. The big question is: Does it do any good? Oyston’s response is “largely, no.” “Every time you see these viral things and everyone hopping on board, obviously it’s a hit to your own self-esteem. ‘I did something good today. I did something productive today. I poured some money into helping people save lives.’ It’s something people do because they want to feel a little bit better about themselves, that they’ve done something good for the day.” And he says Invisible Children played into this mindset to their own detriment. “Invisible Children tries to teach you that anyone can change the world and that it’s easy. You need to click, you need to give, you need to share and that’s the way forward,” Oyston says. “I think my message is, anyone can change the world, but it’s difficult. If you’re serious about making a difference,

a difference—he has felt it himself. Who hasn’t?—he just thinks the enthusiasm needs to be channeled differently. “I don’t think anyone will disagree that [Invisible Children] raised awareness,” he says. “That’s good. They were showing this movie in Congress, for goodness sake. I think it’s really important to say, ‘Is that enough?’ They exceeded any reasonable expectations, but the second and third time, after they’ve been doing this for years and years and years, it’s harder to say, ‘Yeah, that was good enough.’” Blattman doesn’t doubt Invisible Children’s intentions. He’s not cynical about the intentions of their supporters and fans. He just questions whether they were fully prepared for the mission they set out for. “I think it’s great when people feel this way,” he says. “I felt this way as a young person. The number one piece of advice I give to people is to basically go into it with humility. Understand that at least at first there’s very little you can do to help. “In some sense, you have to understand what’s going on before you can be effective. Trying to make a commitment to a place or to a topic, a question or an issue and really investing in that is important.” T YLER HUCK ABEE is the managing editor of RELEVANT magazine.

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P H O T O C R E D I T: M I C H A E L B U C K N E R

ON GETTING BEHIND THE CA MER A, TELLING THE R IGHT STORY A ND W R ESTLING W ITH FA ITH

hen Angelina Jolie enters the room, you understand why she’s Angelina Jolie. She has a commanding presence—a way of speaking that snaps you to attention. Every word drops like she’s been thinking about it for hours, but she doesn’t sound rehearsed or like she’s speaking on autopilot. It’s just how Angelina Jolie is. “I’m like everybody,” she says (and that’s something we’re just going to have to take her word on). “We wake up and we read the news. We see the events around the world. We live in our communities. We’re disheartened by so much, and we feel overwhelmed.” She’s talking about why she chooses the films she does. She made her name as an actor and philanthropist, but she has turned her attention to directing lately. She helmed 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey and 2014’s Unbroken. This year, she’s directing By the Sea, in which she and her husband (Brad Pitt, as you know) co-star as a couple looking to recapture their former flame. Jolie is clearly looking toward movies to inspire people to seek something greater than themselves, but she’s not necessarily sure about what the “greater” something is.

“We don’t know what’s possible,” she says. “We want something to hold onto, to believe in—something to give us strength.”

CARRIED AWAY Jolie’s most ambitious project to date is undoubtedly Unbroken, the true story of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic athlete turned World War II pilot turned prisoner in a Japanese internment camp turned inspirational speaker. Jolie happened upon his story the way most people did—his 2010 biography written by Laura Hillenbrand. “I was halfway through his book and I found myself inspired, on fire, feeling better and being reminded of the strength of the human spirit,” Jolie says. “I realized if this was having this effect on me—and I knew it had the effect on so many other people—isn’t this what we needed to put forward into the world at this time?” As fate would have it, Jolie soon discovered she was closer to the story than she knew. Her Los Angeles home was situated a mere stone’s throw from Zamperini’s. The two met and formed a deeply meaningful friendship that lasted until Zamperini’s death in 2014. “If you had asked me a few years ago, ‘What kind of film do you

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ROLE CHANGE Jolie is just one of many actors to move behind the camera. Some other notables:

BEN AFF L EC K

Affleck had an acting career from a young age, but he really hit his stride when he started writing and directing, winning an Oscar for Best Picture for his film Argo in 2012.

SOFI A C O PPO L A

The daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia had supporting roles in a few films before launching her (much more successful) career as a director.

MEL G I BS O N

The star has become equally known for his acting and the films he directed, including Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto.

LAKE B EL L

The actress made her feature-length directorial debut in 2014 with In a World, which she also starred in.

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want to make?’ I would never have assumed to make a film that included shark attacks and plane crashes,” she says. “I would never have thought of myself as handling that kind of cinematic filmmaking. But this … ” She trails off for a moment, searching for the right word. “I care about this story, so I had to suddenly learn how to do all of those things. To be honest, it was such an exciting challenge. We were all there with a higher purpose, and everybody worked really hard.”

HIGHER PURPOSE Jolie mentions higher purposes and greater powers a lot, but she’s careful about getting specific. Zamperini underwent a dramatic conversion in the throes of some very serious post-traumatic stress disorder. His wife dragged him to a Billy Graham conference at which Zamperini became a Christian and resolved to return to Japan to forgive each of his captors. It’s a powerful story, mentioned only in passing in Jolie’s film. And to hear her tell it, that was deliberate. “I think it’s universal,” she says. “We made it universal, not specific to one faith, and that was something that was agreed

upon with Louis. He said to make faith and forgiveness universal. He said, ‘This is about reaching everyone, and it should speak to everyone.’ “We were very clear on his parents’ faith, about them being Catholic. We were very clear on him praying. There is an opportunity, I think, if you’re looking for symbolism and miracles in the film, you will see them.” Jolie is serious about doing justice to Zamperini’s memory. She’s aware of the role his faith played in his life, and she insists she included it in her movie—perhaps even more than people recognize. “Faith was so important to him,” she says. “Instead of it being a specific chapter ... faith was represented from the beginning and represented all through the film in other characters, but also in the sunrise and the darkness and the light and the struggle between them and him coming to the light. It wasn’t literally, technically as it was in the book, but the themes are the same.”

FINDING THE STORY In fairness to Jolie, just about any five-year snapshot from Zamperini’s life would have made for a good movie. And like any great story, not everything is going to make the

P H O T O C R E D I T: D AV I D J A M E S

Angelina Jolie on set directing Unbroken.

final cut, so the trick is paring it down to its essentials. “I would carry the book around, read it on the plane. A lot of people would see it and say, ‘Oh, that’s my favorite book. You know what my favorite scene is?’ And I’d start to say, ‘Don’t tell me!’” she laughs. “That was the hardest thing. I think that’s why it took since 1957 when Universal first got the rights to do [the movie]. What we did in the end was we looked at the themes of his life. The Coen brothers said something to me that really helped me. They said, ‘When you put the book down, you have a certain feeling, a certain understanding. That’s what they need to feel when they walk out of the theater. That’s your job. To literally put this book on film, you will make a good movie and you’ll do no service to anyone. So know the themes.’” Few modern filmmakers understand the nature of story better than Joel and Ethan Coen, both of whom frequently lend their advice and ear to Jolie, and she virtually gushes about her appreciation of them. “They’re so smart,” she says. “They’re so witty. They have such an extraordinary way of communicating with an audience in such a clean way with just a few lines. With just a gesture from a character, they say so much.” Brevity is important to Jolie. You can tell it in how she carries herself, speaking crisply and knowing when to cut herself off. She’s not prone to rambling or hesitating in what she says, and she carries that into her work as a filmmaker and a storyteller. She doesn’t want to waste a moment. “To trim it down without losing anything that you love,” she says, when talking about her guiding principles in storytelling. “There are a few little things you have to sacrifice, and you’ll be sad they aren’t there. But you have to listen to the audience as well and what they’re feeling. Even if they say, ‘I like that scene, but [it] still feels long,’ you’ve got to listen to it because we made this for an audience. “Sometimes you make a film and it’s very much your artistic creation and you’re putting something unusual out there. But when it’s for the audience,

“We don’t know what’s possible. We want something to hold onto, to believe in—something to give us strength.”

you adjust it so they absorb it the best [they can].”

THE NEXT GENERATION It’s refreshing to hear this talk from Jolie. While many filmmakers are obsessed with the bare integrity of the story they want to tell, she clearly looks at the bigger picture. She’s thinking about how the audience will feel when they see a film, and where her works will sit for future generations. That’s a particularly important point for Jolie, who is a mother to six children. She says she kept them especially in mind while making Unbroken. “I thought often in making this film about my children,” she says. “My sons are the appropriate age to see it, the older sons. I think it’s one you think about this great generation and the values they had and how they were as men. We want to raise our children and remind this generation of their sense of family, community and honor and pay respect to them.” It’s difficult to discern where the line between Angelina Jolie, international superstar, and Angelina Jolie, wife and mother, lies exactly, but it fades here. How could it not? She’s talking about her friend, Louis, and her sons. Her words continue to drop with a commanding presence, but this isn’t an act. It’s a passion. “I want my children to know about men like Louis. So when they feel bad about themselves and they think all is lost, they know they’ve got something inside of them. Because that’s what this story speaks to: it’s what’s in all of us. And you don’t have to be a perfect person or a saint or a hero. You know, Louis was very flawed, very human, but made great choices and, in the end, a great man.”

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B Y E M I LY M C FA R L A N M I L L E R

Tanya Marlow was just six days old when she was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. She was a tiny baby, just 6 pounds, and she’d suffered a brain hemorrhage. The doctors scanned her brain, and they told her parents it didn’t look good. It was a “bleeding out” thing, Marlow says, and there was nothing they could do, no operation they could perform. Even if she recovered, they told her parents she could be a “vegetable,” she says. She could be severely disabled. She might never read or write. And so the doctors suggested maybe they should pray. Marlow’s parents weren’t Christians, but they found a nurse who offered to pray with them. The next day, after the next scan, the doctors couldn’t believe it: It was completely normal. It showed a healthy brain. “The doctors actually said to my parents, ‘This is what is known in the trade as a miracle,’” Marlow says.

Not only did she recover, but the girl who the doctors said might never read or write went on to earn a degree in English literature, and she now makes a living as a writer in Devon, England. The miracle also had a profound effect on her parents, she says. It led them to search for the God who had so clearly answered their prayer. Six months later, both of them became Christians. “When I was growing up, I always had this awareness that God was real, that He did answer prayer and that He had intervened in my life to save me,” Marlow says. A miracle is when something—or Someone—outside of space and time reaches into space and time, according to Eric Metaxas, author of Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen and How They Can Change Your Life. And it’s something nearly 80 percent of Americans say they believe in, according to a 2010 report by Pew Research Center. That’s not just 80 percent of all Christians or even all religiously-affiliated; that’s the majority of all Americans. “I think it’s just really cool to look at these facts and try to figure out, well, what do we make of it, then?” Metaxas says. “I think it’s a powerful apologetic for God, and I think we should have that conversation in the mainstream. It’s not a religious conversation; it’s about truth, it’s about what science can tell us, it’s about observation.”

THE EVIDENCE FOR MIRACLES For Metaxas, the evidence for miracles begins at the beginning, with the creation of the universe, with the very existence of life as we know it. There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life, he writes in Miracles, and Earth meets each one. There’s the particular makeup of Earth’s atmosphere and the precise speed at which Earth orbits the sun. There’s the proximity of Jupiter, which takes the brunt of asteroids otherwise headed for Earth. There’s the unusual size of the moon relative to our planet, the way it is positioned at just the right distance to cause the occasional solar eclipse. “At least when you look at the scientific facts, it is so implausible that it makes the most implausible miracle seem plausible,” he says.

And the whole Bible is full of miracles, stories of God delivering Daniel from the lion’s den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace. In the Gospels, Jesus turned water into wine and raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. He walked on water and restored sight to blind men. Then He told His disciples, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” But even after thousands of years, even with a universe and holy book that seem to clearly testify to their existence, even with most Americans in agreement about them, Mark Batterson says, “Miracles are kind of one of those subjects that can almost divide the Kingdom into theological camps.” Batterson is pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., and author of The Grave Robber: How God Can Make your Impossible Possible. There are those who believe in miracles, and, with that, will believe all kinds of New Age ideas, Metaxas says. And there are those who discount miracles because they don’t fit into their paradigm, who explain away the parting of the Red Sea with a tsunami or Jesus walking on water with rare “spring ice.” U.S. President and Founding Father Thomas Jefferson famously cut all the miracles out of the four Gospels with a razor, pasting what was left together to produce what’s been called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. But Batterson says, “If you cut the miracles out of the Gospel, you cut it off at the knees.” “I think what you’re left with is a wise, yet weak Jesus. It’s a Gospel that lacks any kind of power. There’s no punch to it. So I appreciate different theological persuasions, but the God in the Bible is high and exalted. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways. He’s able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.” Instead, Metaxas says, what Christians should do is apply our critical faculties to reported miracles, everything from healings to gold teeth, to test everything and hold on to what is true, as 1 Thessalonians 5 puts it. What we should do, he says, is “care about what’s true, and if this is true, we need to deal with it.”

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WHEN MIRACLES HAPPEN Will Hart of Hart Ministries is one of the 80 percent who believes miracles aren’t just relegated to the pages of the Bible— that they still happen today. He has seen miracles change not only the course of his life, but also the lives of countless others. He has seen entire villages come to Christ when he was a mis-

became almost entirely bedbound for a time; unable to talk for more than a halfhour or pick up her baby—“the most basic things,” she says. Doctors again said there was nothing they could do. They didn’t really know what was wrong with her, and they didn’t really know how to treat it. And so they suggested she should pray.

“IF YOU CUT THE MIRACLES OUT OF THE GOSPEL, YOU CUT IT OFF AT THE KNEES. I THINK WHAT YOU’RE LEFT WITH IS A WISE, YET WEAK JESUS. IT’S A GOSPEL THAT LACKS ANY KIND OF POWER.” — Mark Batterson sionary in Mozambique after deaf villagers were healed, he says. And, Hart says, “Salvation is the greatest miracle. We’re going after souls. Miracles are amazing, but they all point to Jesus. Jesus did miracles to point to His deity.” Look for Jesus, Batterson says, and you’ll see miracles. Come to Him with a “humble boldness” or a “bold humility,” he says. Risk looking foolish. After all, God won’t answer 100 percent of the prayers you don’t pray. And if you want to see the sick healed, you have to pray for them, Hart adds. Fear can hold Christians back from praying those bold prayers, he says, but 2 Timothy says God doesn’t give a spirit of fear. He gives a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. “If your faith is small, start small and let that thing grow,” he says.

WHEN THE MIRACLE DOESN’T COME It was a weird replay for Marlow. In 2007, she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She had climbed a mountain one day that year, and by the time evening came, she no longer could stand. Afterward, her mobility was affected. She couldn’t walk more than 200 meters, and she started using a wheelchair and cutting the hours she worked in Christian ministry, lecturing in biblical theology, to part-time. Her health deteriorated again after giving birth to her son in 2010, she says. She

MAR_APR 2015

“It was the same situation again, but this time, the miracle wasn’t coming,” Marlow says. It still hasn’t. She didn’t expect healing “as a right,” she says. But the longer the illness goes on, the more stories she hears of others who have been healed of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the more people encourage her to pray, the more she’s asked herself, “Why haven’t I been healed?” And, she says, “It has been interesting to me to see the reactions of Christians to chronic illness.” There’s a ritual, there are questions that come with offered prayers, she says: Do you have faith? Do you have sin in your life? If we can’t blame God when the sick person doesn’t become well, if we aren’t careful, she says, even the most well-meaning Christian can blame that person. When the miracle doesn’t come, she says, it can be difficult to fit into our theology: “Ask yourselves what testimonies do we have at the front of church? What stories do we tell? Because it seems to me we tell the stories not only of conversions, but of healings where the ending is happily ever after.” “I would just like to see a little more not only the stories of the paralyzed man walking and leaping and praising God, but the stories of people like me—people like Jacob, who wrestle with God and walk with a limp.”

THE MYSTERY OF THE MIRACULOUS Hart is walking through this now. His wife was diagnosed with lymphoma in late 2013. He has seen his fervent prayers for healings go unanswered. And he has been frustrated, he says. But it doesn’t change anything, he says. God doesn’t change. He’s not a mathematical formula or a magic spell. He doesn’t answer prayers because we get the right combination of letters in the right order. “He is love. He is heart. He’s not God because He gives me things; He’s God because He’s God,” he says. His thoughts still are higher than our thoughts. His ways still are higher than our ways. And His will is His glory, Batterson says. Sometimes He reveals His glory in a miracle, he says, and sometimes He has revealed his glory in suffering. Sometimes the “no” is a “not yet.” There’s “an element of mystery there,” Marlow says, one we’re too quick to try to explain, to try to fill in the gap. “I think that God can heal, and I think that sometimes He does heal, but I think that it doesn’t happen very often. I mean, there’s a reason we call it a miracle and not normal.” It was the same way in the time of Moses or the time of Jesus, Metaxas says. Miracles didn’t happen all the time; that’s why when they did, they blew people’s minds. And it’s the same lesson we can learn about God today, whether we see the miracle or not. “As a child, I grew up knowing that God could heal and He could work miracles. He could do anything, and He was a big God,” Marlow says. “And I think the experience of wanting to be healed and longing to be healed and not being healed has taught me as an adult that He is a big God. “I don’t know what God is doing. I don’t know why He heals me and then doesn’t heal me. I don’t know why He heals some and not others. I don’t know what governs His actions. That is what makes Him God. “So I guess I’d say, yeah, my God is big. It’s a Sunday school lesson, and I’m still learning it.” EMILY MCFARL AN MILLER is an award-winning journalist and truth-seeker based in Chicago. Connect with her at emmillerwrites.com.

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

2015

NEW MUSIC GUIDE

E XPLORING AR TIS TS TO WATCH OUT F OR, TRENDS TO E XPEC T THIS YE AR AND HOW THE MUSIC INDUS TRY IS CHANGING

THE PANEL

ANDY MINEO

an industry, music is one of the world’s most volatile. You’d be hard-pressed to think of anything that has changed as much in the past 10 years as music. But the reasons we listen to music don’t really change. We listen to sing along. We listen to dance. For the most part, we listen to feel like we’re not alone. The industry might change, but it’s really just evolving to meet one of the oldest needs of all: community. Every year, RELEVANT puts together a team of experts from different corners of the music industry to talk about the upcoming year—the trends they’re noticing, the artists they’re excited about and what the real state of music is.

THE PROBLEM WITH FREE MUSIC

P H O T O C R E D I T: C H R I S T I A N S A N J O S E

TAY L O R S W I F T She broke up with Spotify, and they are never ever getting back together.

T YLER: One of the biggest

music happenings of 2014 was Taylor Swift pulling all of her music off Spotify. Does that change things?

A chart-topping hiphop artist signed to Reach Records. He’s currently living in New York City.

PHILLIP LARUE

A songwriter and producer from Nashville, Tennessee. Former member of LaRue, current solo artist and member of Us and our Daughters.

LAURA STUDARUS

A prolific music journalist who has covered everyone from Phoenix to Ellie Goulding to Ben Gibbard.

ANDY BARRON

One of Los Angeles’ finest music photographers, who has shot the likes of Foster the People, Mumford & Sons and The Civil Wars.

TYLER HUCKABEE

RELEVANT’s managing editor, who curates the music coverage for the magazine and website.

ANDY MINEO: Spotify for me is a big question mark at this point. Consumers love it because it gives them access to everything they want for near nothing. Artists hate it JASON ALDEAN because they’re getting less Booted his music than the fractions of pennies from Spotify, a move they were already getting. that should be called Someone like Taylor “Swiftbooting.” Swift owns a lot of what she does and has her own record label, so she has a lot more control and power. And she’s probably going to be using some of that power to help with her renegotiation of her next contract. So I think there are a lot of political things going on behind the scenes. But I applaud her for that. PHILLIP: Spotify is exciting, but it’s a question mark for me, too, because it’s going to take five, 10 years to watch the model to play out. Right now, it’s backward. Hopefully, as subscriptions increase, the payouts will be better. ANDY MINEO: If everybody is going to Spotify, there’s a bigger pile of money that artists can be paid from. But during this transitional time where people aren’t buying records, we’re already fighting to get $10 an album. I think it’s going to be a blackout season for five or six years unless you can get everybody converted. T YLER: So what do you say to somebody who’s just a consumer of music? There are a lot of bands out there I never would have found if I hadn’t listened to them on Spotify first. PHILLIP: Here’s the thing: It’s a great place to discover music. It’s not a great place to sustain music. You might love it. But are you going to buy in? I’d say statistically, five out of 50 bands you discover will you take time to invest in CD sales or a show. L AUR A: As a consumer who does often treat music like a buffet where calories don’t count, obviously I want everything and I want it now. I also recognize

KENDRICK LAMAR endrick Lamar insists he’s not a rapper, he’s a writer. In that context, his 2012 debut album, good kid, M.A.A.D city, is less a collection of songs than it is a memoir—each song a chapter telling a story in the life of a young, troubled youth growing up in Compton. It’s a grim, explicit ride, but then, no other album in 2012 ended with an earnest recitation of the sinner’s prayer.

But no matter what he says, Lamar is a rapper—one of the best in the business. The world is waiting on tenterhooks for his next move, but if he’s nervous about topping his landmark debut, he’s not showing it. As recent releases like “i” have shown, he’s content to explore the world around him while crafting his new sound. He’s taking his time, and it’s the most exciting hip-hop has been in ages.

SPOTLIGHT RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

2015 NEW MUSIC GUIDE SPOTLIGHT

that as a consumer, it’s not my job to put value on music. That is the job of the musician. As much as it pisses me off when my favorite band leaves Spotify, I have to applaud you guys because you’re saying, “This is what it’s worth to me.” In the end, you’re the one making the art. ANDY BARRON: I have Spotify and I’ll listen to new bands on there. But I go to the record store and buy a vinyl of something if I really like it. Vinyl sales are up so much because the people who do like music are willing to spend money on it. If people are still making good things, people will buy them. I think it’s just trying to figure out the channels.

SURPRISE RELEASES

THE BENEFITS OF SELFPRODUCING

D ’A N G E L O After 14 years of silence, the R&B singer dropped a surprise album in December 2014.

MAR_APR 2015

T YLER: Do you think it’s going to become more common for artists to do their own production? PHILLIP: It used to be you had to have $3,000 to go into the studio for the

day with an engineer, and now you can kind of sit and create. It’s more tedious, but for folks who have a passion for what they’re creating, it’s exciting. TYLER: Whenever a band says “We’re going to produce our own album,” I get a little nervous because there’s no filter. If you’re good, everyone’s going to know it. If you’re not good, we’re going to know you always just had a really good producer at your back. PHILLIP: I’m making a record this month, and I hired a friend of mine to produce it because it’s easy to get lost inside yourself. I like having a soundboard for me when I’m creating. ANDY MINEO: I make everybody my soundboard. Literally, if the mail guy stops by to drop a package off, “Hey, come in the house real quick, let me show you something.” I want to pay attention to the commoner’s ear just as much as I want to pay attention to the trained musical ear. Sometimes I play my music for little kids, and if I see little kids dancing to it, I’m like, “All right, I think I’ve got

JOY WILLIAMS oy Williams’ career has gone in stages. Her first stage, which kicked off around 2001, saw her as sort of a new Amy Grant. She was a gifted singer with a knack for making palatable Christian music, but she wasn’t content to stay there. After leaving the CCM industry, she met John Paul White and formed The Civil Wars. You almost certainly know about that stage—the rocket ship to fame, the Grammys and, then, the baffling implosion. Now Williams is entering her next stage. She’s a solo artist again. She seems a little wiser, capable of dealing with the industry. What this next stage will look and sound like remains to be seen, but, if Williams’ past is any indication, it will be something to pay close attention to.

P H O T O C R E D I T: A L L I S T E R A N N ( J O Y W I L L I A M S ) ; E M M A T I L L M A N ( F AT H E R J O H N M I S T Y )

T YLER: Something that’s starting to happen more is the surprise release. It started with Beyoncé, but then this year, D’Angelo, U2 and Thom Yorke did it, as well. How is that changing things? PHILLIP: Again, it just works for artists that have that huge fanbase. I love the idea of going, “Hey, we don’t have to play by the rules anymore.” I think that’s really exciting. But I think it’s that minority of major artists that can play that card. L AUR A: As a journalist, I get really sick of writing 100-word blurbs: “Hey, these guys are going to have an album. Here’s the first track. Now here’s the video.” By the time the album comes out, I’m just like, “OK, what’s the next thing?” Make me excited about your main project, not all the auxiliaries. ANDY MINEO: Some of it is the system you’re in. If you have complete creative control, then do as you wish. But if you’re in a system, they have a philosophy of how to do it and ramp it up.

“I AM NOT A STATIC HUMAN BEING. I CHANGE, I EVOLVE, I GROW, I ENJOY DIFFERENT THINGS. IF I WANT TO USE DIFFERENT SOUNDS, IF I WANT TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES, LET ME DO THAT.” — Andy Mineo something.” I’m always studying reactions. I will never make a record alone. Just won’t happen for me.

FAVORITE ARTISTS OF 2014 T YLER: What are some of the best artists you heard in 2014? ANDY BARRON: I still think my favorite record from this year was the Bleachers record. I don’t know why. It just kind of hit me where I was right when I got it. L AUR A: I’m just really excited that Future Islands is finally getting a larger stage to present themselves on. I’ve been a big fan of them for years, and they are still JON BELLION the same awkward Household name in the making, if you dudes with big ask Andy Mineo hearts that they were back then, so it’s nice to know you don’t have to conform to get people’s attention. ANDY MINEO: For me it was Jon Bellion. Mark my words here: This guy is going to be a household name in the next year or two. He is a creative genius. He sings,

raps, produces all of his own records, mixes his own records and directs his own music videos. His music is unbelievable. It’s a mixture of hip-hop, pop and R&B. He does a lot of ghostwriting too for people in the industry. He wrote the new “Trumpets” single that went platinum for Jason Derulo. L AUR A: I just spent the morning listening to the new José González. And the new Father John Misty. Both of those are pretty incredible. PHILLIP: Do you know what artist I can’t stop listening to? Have you guys heard of Frida Sundemo? I think she’s so incredible. I’m hoping this next year she gets some bigger exposure, because her melodies and her style are so unique. ANDY MINEO: There’s another guy named Son Lux. He’s a beast. I always aspire to be like those indie guys, but I have too much pop sensibility. L AUR A: Indie is becoming more and more pop, so this could be your year.

that came out because it didn’t sound like anything off the album. How did you guys feel about it? PHILLIP: I absolutely FRIDA SUNDEMO love it. It’s more comShe still has her mercial, but I think it music on Spotify sends a positive mes(for now). sage right now that needs to be heard. It makes you want to dance. It’s just so fun. ANDY MINEO: I think for the follow-up to good kid, m.A.A.d. city, we’re going to get a lot of Outkast influence. Definitely experimenting with a more funkadelic sound. It’ll probably be polarizing, though. I think it’s going to be critically acclaimed and then maybe not so loved in the hood. But he’s like a golden boy. It’s hard to see anyone not liking him.

KENDRICK’S COMEBACK T YLER: How do you guys feel about the follow-up to good kid, m.A.A.d. city that Kendrick might be releasing this year? A lot of people were surprised by “i” when

FATHER JOHN MISTY hen J. Tillman left Fleet Foxes back in 2012, there was good reason to think he’d never be heard from again. But Tillman rebranded himself as Father John Misty, and he has proven himself to be a cunning and insightful songwriter who wields his psych-folk sound in interesting ways. Tillman has bigger targets with his music than most folk musicians—namely, America itself.

He skewers American exceptionalism, millennial culture and hipster snobbery with uncanny accuracy. His first album, Fear Fun, was a spit wad lobbed directly at his core fan base, and they seemed to love every word of it. He may call himself a Father, but he’s more like the kid in the back of the classroom who’s too smart for his own good, and the rest of the class is waiting to see when he’s going to pull his next prank.

SPOTLIGHT

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

2015 NEW MUSIC GUIDE SPOTLIGHT

ADELE ack in 2011, when Adele’s 21 released, there was little about it to suggest greatness. It didn’t have the indie-cred going for it that usually marks a critical smash—but it didn’t have the pop flash of a Billboard breakout either. Expectations were modest, but, well, here we are. 21 wasn’t just the best-selling album of 2011—it was the best-selling album of 2012. In fact, it’s the U.K.’s best selling album of the 21st century. That’s a tough act to follow, but Adele has made a career out of beating the odds. She’s proven herself to be a master of navigating the scene in which she’s become an important player. When her new album drops, she’ll know what she’s doing. Increasingly, it looks like she’s one of the few who does.

GOING COMMERCIAL T YLER: Do you guys

ever feel that tension when a band you love and have GRIMES followed for a long She’s too cool to be time starts making popular. She’s too a play to be big— popular to be cool. Who hasn’t been like you’re losing there? them, in a way? L AUR A: You’re kind of describing the pushback Grimes got last year with “Go.” Frankly, I think I was one of the few holdouts who was excited about that song because it didn’t feel like she gave up anything. But so many people pushed back that she scrapped a whole album after that. Depressing. ANDY MINEO: What’s depressing to me is how much fans refuse to let somebody grow. It is unbelievable anxiety, pressure and frustration for me. I am not a static human being. I change, I evolve, I grow, I enjoy different things. If I want to use different sounds, if I want to talk about different things, if I want to push the boundaries, let me do that. I don’t walk into your house and go, “Hey, wear the makeup you wore four years ago.”

MAR_APR 2015

WHEN ARTISTS DON’T BREAK OUT T YLER: We all have those little pet bands we think will make it big. And then, for some reason, it just never quite happens. What do you guys attribute that to? PHILLIP: It’s so many factors. So many different dominos have to go down at the same time for something to really work. Nowadays, I think it’s exciting because of

just released a freestyle that I did on [the radio show] Sway in the Morning. And people are like, “Wow. Just discovering this guy. He’s great. Look forward to his long career.” I’ve been in this for 15 years writing raps. I’m not going to lie: I’m not as passionate

“DO YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE EVERY LINE SAID BY AN ARTIST? NO. BUT IF SOMETHING STIRS YOUR HEART AND GETS YOU THINKING, THEN WHAT IS CHRISTIAN? WHAT IS NOT CHRISTIAN?” — Phillip LaRue the medium we are in and the digital age. You can have a small core crew of fans and still make an OK living. But to really succeed, a lot of it comes down to that one song and then a lot of money behind that one song. ANDY MINEO: A lot of times, artists we’re discovering now have been making music for like 10 to 15 years. I started rapping when I was 10 years old. I’m 26 now. I

about making rap music as I was 10 years ago. But it’s this weird juxtaposition where now the success from all the hard work starts to come at a time where people get less passionate. So it’s a lot of luck, timing, passion, money all converging at the exact time. Because sometimes artists can have the resources and just be uninspired. And what do you do with that?

We forget artists are people who have real lives and rich experiences and hurtful experiences— things that either push them to creativity or away from it. We expect them to be a product in a lot of ways and not people.

But I think a lot of folks, even in that Christian community, don’t want to be labeled like that. They might love a worship record LECR AE from Hillsong, but then The rapper was the they might love the U2 first to top both the album. They might like Billboard 200 and the Kendrick record. Gospel charts. FAITH IN MUSIC They might like the T YLER: Hip-hop is probLecrae album. ably the most exciting vital genre in I think we’re going to see a trend music right now. But obviously, a lot over the next five to 10 years of the of it comes packaged with content Christian community going, “Hey, that’s hard for a lot of Christians to we don’t want to be labeled. We just recommend. And it’s not just hip- love good music that stirs our hearts hop. How do we, as believers, but also and our minds and ultimately gets fans of important music wherever we us thinking about and pondering find it, deal with the ethical tensions? about who God is and who we want ANDY MINEO: You’re beginning the to become.” conversation I live in every day. One L AUR A: This reminded me a bit of of it is just straight Pharisaic: “I’m the mild controversy a few years ago better than you. Be like me. I have when Sufjan released that song that a perception of what Christianity dropped the F-bomb repeatedly. It should be and what anything labeled got me thinking, if he believes like he Christian should be, and my theology says he does—which we don’t have doesn’t have space for anything out- reason to distrust—why is suddenly having extreme emotions or going to side of that.” So I think some of it is going to a dark place off limits? Why can’t he be educating people and helping talk about that authentically? Obviously, that’s an argument them walk through understanding that music doesn’t have a religion. that you can’t necessarily apply to There are certain songs I think are everything. But it’s hard when sayChristian in nature that would never ing something is “Christian” music hit a Christian bookstore because equates to either dropping the word they didn’t have the right packaging. “God” in repeatedly or else keeping it in that safe sort of zone. That’s just the war of the arts. PHILLIP: I think it goes back to what PHILLIP: The ultimate artist and the Bible says about being in the songwriter that was a Christian was world, but not of it. I think you can David in the Psalms. There are a lot consume things and be stirred up by of lyrics that couldn’t be repeated great art. Do you have to believe every on Christian radio that are in the line said by an artist? Do you have to Psalms. There’s a lot of heartache own every line? No. But if something and darkness and sorrow: “God, I stirs your heart and gets you think- love You. God, where are You? Why ing, then what is Christian? What is have You abandoned me? Why have not Christian? You left me?” We have these titles and labels We can’t be afraid of true emowe’ve created, mainly for market- tion as Christians. But once again, ing reasons. Christian music has there’s a system. I think there are a become kind of its own bubble, lot of amazing Christian artists that mainly to keep consumers safe and are in this box trying to do that, but go, “This is Christian, so you need trying to figure out how to do it. And to buy it. This isn’t Christian, don’t I think it’s going to be interesting to buy that.” watch it play out.

MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2015

1. F R AN K OC E AN

“Thinkin Bout You” off Ocean’s debut album features some cunning, crazy lyrics. And that’s what we’ve come to expect from one of this generation’s most able songwriters. He’s fearless. 2. SU FJAN STEVENS

Sufjan promises that his next release will be a return to the sort of melodic folk that made him a star.

3. K AN YE WEST

If Kanye’s early leaks are any indication, he’s going back to his earlier version of socially conscious rhymes.

4. WAX AHATCHEE

There are few lyricists alive who communicate with Katie Crutchfield’s level of authenticity.

5. SC HOOL OF SE V E N B E LLS

The sort of dance music that communicates something true and important.

6. L E AG U E S

Leagues’ follow-up is a show of force that establishes the band as a gem in Nashville’s indie rock scene.

7. JAME S B LAKE

Blake has mastered the art of old-school singersongwriter with the new wave of electronic pop.

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

YOUR JOURNEY TO FIND CONTENTMENT BEGINS WITH ANSWERING THESE 3 QUESTIONS

MAR_APR 2015

right this second, there was a way to enjoy it more? There is a way. And the first step is switching the questions you’re asking yourself.

AM I ABLE TO ADJUST MY EXPECTATIONS?

BY JON ACUFF

When I was in my twenties, I thought I would be given my dream job. I’m not sure who I expected to give it to me, but that was my expectation. Perhaps I envisioned a dream job unicorn galloping triumphantly through a sea of cubicles, its hooves pounding out a message of freedom and hope. I’d look up into its big, rainbowcolored eyes and know that my magical dream job had arrived. That is not how my life has gone. It turns out there is no dream job unicorn. Realizing that, I decided to try a different approach to my career called, “Quit every job the minute you don’t like it.” Have you ever tried that? It’s very effective, at first. Boss you don’t like? Quit that job! Projects not interesting? Quit that job! Blog about dreaming big inspires you? Quit that job! It’s a lot of fun, but it doesn’t really solve anything. Quitting jobs the minute they get challenging or boring doesn’t lead anywhere. And here’s a sobering thought I waited to say until after I had wooed you with unicorn jokes: Every job has boring parts. It’s true. There’s no such thing as a perfect job where you just sit around all day watching entire seasons of shows on Netflix and eating bottomless bowls of queso. (That’s not your dream job? Fine, we’re different.) What if, regardless of the job you have

We all carry laundry lists of secret expectations, and when our jobs fail to meet them, we fail to enjoy our work. Take three minutes and write down your expectations for work. And then, take another three minutes and write down the real ones, because you probably just lied to yourself a little bit. Tom Magliozzi, the late co-host of NPR’s Car Talk show, theorized that “Happiness equals reality minus expectations,” but I disagree. To have an expectation is to have a hope, to have a dream, to have a desire about something you want to happen. God has given each of us unique hopes and dreams, and surely, deadening our ability to hope is not the solution to our frustration at work. The trick is not to eliminate your expectations, the trick is to adjust them. Write them down and then find the right home for them. You may have some expectations that belong at your job. You may also have a lot of expectations that belong somewhere else, like a side job or a hobby. Starting the blog Stuff Christians Like helped me enjoy my corporate job more because I no longer expected that job to be my sole outlet of creativity.

IS MY ATTITUDE GETTING IN THE WAY? This isn’t about “Changing your attitude.” That could take years. No, this is about choosing your attitude. Choosing it takes a handful of seconds. Tomorrow at work, choose to have a good attitude. Choose to not be cynical. Choose to not complain. Choose to cheer for the accomplishments of coworkers. Choose to treat customers like superstars. Choose your attitude every day until, eventually, it chooses you right back. It’s not about feeling happy or committed to your work or like being a good employee. Feelings are the flightiest things in the world. Feelings will tell you the day is already ruined because you woke up on the wrong side of the bed or had a bad commute that morning. Don’t listen to feelings. Make choices. Today, choose a good attitude. This is the one thing you can do right this minute to actually shock your boss, improve your work

relationships and dramatically increase your long-term odds of an awesome career.

AM I HANGING OUT WITH LOBSTERS? A few years ago, while walking around in Rockport, Massachusetts, I saw a pile of old lobster traps. There were stacks of them stuck behind a store next to the harbor. Inside each old cage, birds were building nests. Dozens of sparrows were flying in and out of the traps with pieces of straw. It was interesting to watch, like some sort of fowl construction site. Birds, the original hipsters, were using locally sourced materials to build their houses. They were gentrifying lobster cages. I started to think that if you asked a lobster if that was a good place to build a nest, they would probably tell you no. For a lobster, going inside that trap was the last decision they would ever make. Their entire lives were spent trying to avoid lobster cages. And yet, for the bird, that cage was perfect. It was open and airy, but completely protected from cats. What was a cage to a lobster was a home to a bird. Regardless though, the lobsters do not understand. And right now, you have some lobsters in your life, too. Every job has lobsters—that group of people who is determined to hate the entire experience of working somewhere. Misery loves company, and it also recruits it. You have a gossiping, cynical group of lobsters that all go to lunch together at the company you’re at right now. They’re fun to hang around with sometimes—negativity is more enjoyable than we like to admit at times, but it’s death to a career. Hanging out with lobsters never teaches you how to be a better bird. Give the lobsters at work what they really need: Distance. I hope you don’t need any of this advice because a dream job unicorn found you. I hope right now you’re watching your seventh straight episode of Blacklist and enjoying an ungodly amount of queso, laughing at my foolhardy advice. If you’re not though, if there’s a part of you that thought about quitting your job because you don’t like it, I hope you’ll try these three things first. JON ACUFF is the New York Times best-selling author of five books, including Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work And Never Get Stuck. Follow him @JonAcuff and read more at DoOver.me.

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

FINDING INSPIRATION IN THE EVERYDAY WITH THE BAND BEHIND ONE OF THIS YEAR’S MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS B Y L AU R A S T U DA R U S

MAR_APR 2015

P H O T O C R E D I T: S T E V E N S E B R I N G

one Bellow frontman Zach Williams isn’t going to rush into anything. Not even an interview question. Sure, he’s earnest, but he’s not desperate. His slow and steady answers seem to bubble up from within, making it clear that—above all—he’s driven by a desire to speak truthfully. On the road headed toward the band’s last show before a long break, he’s also very tired. Mostly though, he’s just thankful to be chasing his passion. “I remember when I was in Denver like six months ago and I hurt my voice. I got a nodule, and there was this big scare. It only lasted like 24 hours, but basically, this doctor totally freaked me out,” Williams recalls in a light Georgian drawl softened by his years in Brooklyn. “He was like, ‘You’re never going to be able to sing again.’ So we cancelled the tour and flew home to New York. And the next morning, I went to another doctor and he was like, ‘Don’t talk for two weeks. You’ll be fine.’ But we had to cancel two weeks worth of a tour. “I was really worried. I was like, ‘These people bought tickets, they’re going to have to get refunded now. They’ve made plans to come to our show, now I hurt myself and we can’t play the show.’ But we were flooded with, ‘Man, I hope you’re OK. We’ll see you next time.’” It’s a warm, almost quaint idea, that in an age of digital mass consumption, a band could form such a tight ties with their fans. But Williams swears that’s exactly the case. Since the beginning, he and bandmates Kanene Donehey Pipkin and Brian Elmquist have been looking outward, using their music to connect with others. Their self-titled debut highlighted that effort to find community, lines such as “We’re broke in New York City/The F train takes us home,” painting a visceral picture

many people could identity with—the struggle to belong. “The first album was basically the first 12 songs of our set list,” Williams says. “We made [The Lone Bellow] a few months into becoming a band. We really didn’t know who we were yet. And then it took two years to release the album. And in those two years, we had our regular jobs in New York, just hoping we would be able to do music one day. That kind of thing really brought us together, just having those shared hopes and fears.” When it came time to work on their follow-up, Williams sheepishly admits the band briefly struggled with the pressure of suddenly having an audience who wasn’t just expecting, but anticipating new material from the trio. This would be the

musical statements that blur the lines between folk and rock. The album was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner at Dreamland, an abandoned church turned idiosyncratic recording studio in upstate New York. The album has a crystal clear, intimate feeling—with all the members recorded together in the same room instead of doing overdubs. As a result of the communal experience, Williams and crew were able to push their sound in wild, occasionally unexpected ways. It’s a different album than many of the band’s fans will expect—always a risk for a band with devoted fans—but according to Williams, it paid off. “We stayed at a friend’s 150-yearold cabin on the top of this moun-

“It’s a bad place to be as a human being that’s meant to create things—like all of us are—to think we can only create out of tragedy.” moment when the band either solidified their reputation or failed to live up to their fans’ hopes. “All sorts of people would be like, ‘Man, what do you think about a sophomore album? That’s really where the rubber meets the road,’” he says, recounting some of the nerveracking advice they got from others before the initial writing sessions. “We definitely wrestled with a little bit of anxious feelings. And then not long into it at all, we realized, ‘You know what? We just need to be ourselves and take care of one another and try to make something we’re proud of and be considerate of the work we’re doing.’ Once we got over that hump, I really was just more excited than anything else.” The Lone Bellow’s new album, Then Came the Morning, showcases the trio’s natural strengths—dulcet multi-part harmonies and sweeping

tain in Tannersville, New York. We would drive down this rickety old road every morning,” he recalls. “We would work in this old church all day long, all night long, and then go back up to the cabin and process the work we had done. “I think that whole experience of living in that situation for a few weeks really bled into the album beautifully.” Given the spate of accolades that came with their first effort, including an entry on the Billboard music charts and positive reviews from practically every magazine on the newsstand, it’s fair to say at this point The Lone Bellow is living the lives of successful musicians. Their day jobs are in the rearview mirror, and the open road is in front them. But given that their combination of hard work and good luck has paid off, do they have anything left to say?

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DO IT LIKE DESSNER The Lone Bellow’s producer, Aaron Dessner, has a track record of successful albums.

L O CA L NAT I V E S

Dessner’s work on 2013’s Hummingbird was lauded by critics.

S H A R O N VA N E T T E N

Dessner spent 14 months on the singer’s most acclaimed album.

D OV E M A N

Dessner produced the pianist’s 2009 album, The Conformist.

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L-R: Brian Elmquist, Zach Williams, Kanene Doheney Pipkin

Many of the songs on The Lone Bellow’s first album were birthed from Williams’ experience while his wife was recovering from a horseback riding accident that threatened to leave her paralyzed. That was a decade ago. She has now made a full recovery, and the band is taking off, so will the content on Then Came the Morning pack the same sort of punch? Williams is adamant that great, authentic songwriting doesn’t have to come out of tragedy. “My wife fell off that horse 10 years ago, and that’s what those songs were from,” he says. “This second Lone Bellow album is from other life situations. One thing we’ve been talking about that has become really important to this album is just this celebration of the mundane. “It’s a bad place to be as a human being that’s meant to create things, like all of us are, to think we can only create out of tragedy, or that the best art is made out of the darkness. I think the real challenge in making something worthwhile is in the celebration of the mundane and finding beauty in the 24-hour period of a day.” But no matter what the band is writing

songs about, honesty and vulnerability are incredibly important to them. “I’ve definitely figured out that some songs are, you know, just too self-involved, like, ‘This isn’t going to do anybody any good to be heard,’” Williams says. “But I’ve never kept a song off of an album because it was too personal.” It’s a contract with their listeners, he says, which will inform the band for years to come. Honesty, honesty, honesty. They’ll continue to work hard, but even as the fruits of their labors pour in, they will be, for lack of a better phrase, “keeping it real.” “We would love to be able to be in a bus one day,” Williams says. “That would be awesome. We would love for everybody to be able to pay their rent with no problem. “And we really believe we’ll get there. But it’s hard work, and I think if it wasn’t hard, I think the group of people that’s in this band would get bored. It has just made it more worthwhile.” L AUR A STUDARUS is a writer living in Los Angeles. She’s a regular contributor to Under the Radar, Filter and RELEVANT.

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WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE DOWNFALL OF MARK DRISCOLL AND MARS HILL CHURCH?

BY RUTH MOON

a visitor at Mars Hill Church’s Bellevue, Washington, campus, the church service looks much the same as it has for months, as churchgoers stream into the historic theater building that houses the church. The name is gone, though, changed to “Doxa Church,” and Pastor Mark—as church members and staffers call Mark Driscoll—is not there. And he will not be coming back: The pastor who grew Mars Hill Church to a more than 12,000-attendee multisite megachurch resigned Oct. 14 after a year in which

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he was accused of plagiarism, misappropriating church funds to purchase best-seller status for his book Real Marriage, and exercising what church overseers called “a domineering style of leadership.” Driscoll’s style of leadership was, in one sense, part of his pastoral persona. He was the rebel pastor, not afraid to swear or call out sin, sexual or otherwise, and charismatic in his call to “be a man.” “Mark is a polarizing figure in Seattle and in the Christian community, and that’s kind of his trademark,”

says Jennifer McKinney, a professor of sociology at Seattle Pacific University who has studied Mars Hill for the past decade. “That’s partly why he’s so popular, particularly among younger evangelicals: He says what he wants.” Driscoll’s polarizing personality was evident particularly in the early days, says Gerry Breshears, a professor at Western Seminary in Portland who mentored Driscoll from about 2000 to 2010 and co-wrote four books with him, including Vintage Church, Vintage Jesus and Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe. “That was back in the days when he got joy from saying he got hate mail from Rick Warren and Mother Jones loved him,” Breshears recalls. “The arrogance was palpable. He was, at that point, the shock jock of preachers.” Driscoll’s shock jock voice got results. In 2012, Mars Hill Church was the third fastest-growing church in the U.S. and the 28th largest, according to Outreach Magazine. “You can love him or hate him, but I don’t think anyone argues with the fact that Mark is just a phenomenal communicator,” says William Vanderbloemen, founder and CEO of the Vanderbloemen Search Group, which oversees pastoral replacement searches for large churches. “When a church finds themselves with a communicator who’s that good, they can leverage that to reach people and run the danger of becoming a personality-driven church, or not leverage it. But if you’re given a gift, you’re supposed to use it.”

P H O T O C R E D I T: T H I E N L A I

MARS HILL

A COUNTER-NARRATIVE To understand Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill, you have to understand the city in which he built his church. More than 3.5 million people live in the Seattle metro area, according to the 2010 Census, and the city itself is growing twice as fast as the surrounding area. Along with Amazon, Microsoft and other tech giants, the Seattle region houses 850 technology startup companies. The area attracts single men: Seattle and Bellevue house, respectively, 119 and 144 single men per 100 single women. Washington was one of the first states, along with Maine and Maryland, to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote in 2012. That same year, Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize recreational use and sale of marijuana.

“The church attendance here is about the same as Communist China,” Driscoll told Church Executive magazine in 2008. “There are more dogs than Christians in the city.” It was in this “jacked up” city, as Driscoll describes Seattle in Vintage Church, that he planted Mars Hill in the spring of 1996. And the church’s explosive growth indicates that his message struck a chord. “A church like Mars Hill really thrives in a setting like Seattle because you can cast Seattle as this crazy liberal city,” McKinney says. “Mars Hill can thrive by creating a counter-narrative ... they’re standing against the liberal encroachment and beliefs of this kind of city.” Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and pastor of New Season Christian Worship Center in Sacramento, California, says Driscoll’s church model

much right on target, but the high-pressure, performance-driven, get-results culture was deadly,” he says. “The underlying culture increasingly became, ‘We must be business efficient in all we’re doing.’ More and more, Mars Hill became a brand.” Branding and image control was important to the church, which, in some ways, seems at odds with the reformed theology Driscoll preaches, notes Kate Bowler, who teaches U.S. Christian history at Duke Divinity School. “It’s an incredible theological mismatch between a pessimistic theology bent on proving God’s divine majesty and a celebrity culture that demands a beautiful, mostly smiling—in Mark Driscoll’s case angrily frowning—face that spawns an incredibly popular church,” she says. “It shows you the degree to which American megachurches are propelled not just theo-

“THE GOAL WAS GOOD. AND MARK AS A PREACHER WAS ON TARGET, BUT THE HIGH-PRESSURE, PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN, GET-RESULTS CULTURE WAS DEADLY.” —Gerry Breshears and membership strategies influenced how Rodriguez planted his church in 2010. “Mark Driscoll revolutionized American Christianity,” Rodriguez says. “He emerged arguably in one of the most apathetic, if not hostile, hubs of secularism. He had everything against him, but he did not just make it—he thrived.”

FALL FROM GRACE So what happened? How did Driscoll go from pastoring an innovative, growing megachurch in 2013 to tendering his resignation before Thanksgiving of 2014? The events of the past year have been a tipping point, but there were cracks in the foundation years before. Around 2010, Mars Hill restructured to operate more like a centralized business than a decentralized network of churches— a choice that may have hastened the church’s dissolution, Breshears says. “The goal was always, ‘We’re going to win more people for Jesus.’ The goal was good. And Mark as a preacher was pretty

logically but by celebrity culture.” The “celebrity pastor” phenomenon is rooted in American culture, Bowler says. “Most of revivalism was born out of the singular vision of a few charismatic preachers,” she says. “Americans have a long tradition of looking to a magnetic person in the pulpit to show them the way forward.” That celebrity status is “very dangerous,” says Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love and a popular pastor who says he stepped down from leadership at his California church in 2010 because he was hearing the words “Francis Chan” more than the words “Holy Spirit.” “Jesus somehow pulled it off and was able to be humble through all the crowds and everything else. But to expect a human being to do that—it’s like asking, ‘Would it be difficult for a pastor to minister at a strip joint?’” Chan says. “I guess he could do it, but that’s a lot of temptation. I don’t know many guys who could pull it off. And that’s the way it is with fame and celebrity status.”

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P H O T O C R E D I T: W I L L F O S T E R ( M A R K D R I S C O L L )

LEFT: A service at Mars

Hill Church’s Bellevue campus.

Driscoll’s resignation is unusual, Vanderbloemen says, as it was not prompted by serious misappropriation of funds or an inappropriate sexual relationship, but rather by a steady stream of criticism from popular bloggers, some of whom lived nowhere near Seattle. The Internet gives thousands of people voice to weigh in on a pastor’s life and work, Chan says. “There’s not a whole lot of good that comes from it, because if you get too much flattery, you become arrogant; if you get too much criticism, you become sad or angry, and neither of those things are good,” he says. “I don’t know what the positive outcome could be of so many people focusing on one individual.” Driscoll’s resignation may point to the fact that churchgoers are rethinking what they want from their pastors, Bowler says. “There’s an ongoing question in everyone’s mind about who polices megachurches,” she says. “There may be new ground being broken in how people want to hold their leaders accountable.” While stricter accountability structures, such as denomination-like oversight, may help, it’s also important to remember that charismatic pastoral personalities are gifts, even though they have flaws. “Personality matters,” Rodriguez says. “Very few people want to go to church on Sunday and listen to a cardboard speaker.

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But when that personality becomes the centerpiece and everything revolves around it, then we have a precarious situation.”

WHAT NEXT? Mars Hill ceased to exist Dec. 31, 2014, leaving in its wake about a dozen independent churches. This could work out well. Justin Dean, former communications director for the church, says dissolution into independent churches has been one of Mars Hill’s two succession plans for several years. (Neither Dean nor Driscoll responded to requests for further comment.) However, churches in poorer Seattle communities, which have depended on funds distributed from wealthier campuses, could struggle. The dissolution of Mars Hill speaks to another lesson: It’s important to mentor spiritual successors who can continue the work of the church after a pastor leaves. “Mark Driscoll had many associates, he had many employees, he had many people he engaged for the church,” Rodriguez says. “But he did not nurture spiritual sons and daughters. This debacle speaks to an exclusively personality-driven church.” A multisite church like Mars Hill, which is virtually only held together by a strong personality, has the tough decision of replacing their pastor with another charismatic leader with a similar mission or disbanding, Vanderbloemen says.

ABOVE: Former Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll, who resigned in October 2014.

“Mars Hill has chosen a succession plan: that the best way for the movement to continue is to promote local churches,” he says. “Frankly, I think that makes sense.” For the evangelical church as a whole, there’s a note of caution in Driscoll’s tale. “Why do so many people attach themselves to these personalities? It puts too much pressure on us,” Chan says. “I wish they would spend more time praying for people and less time criticizing.” The fall of a celebrity pastor is a reminder that, no matter how popular or charismatic a leader is, he or she is always flawed—but flaws don’t mean the church itself is breaking down. Breshears has been informally advising some Mars Hill pastors as they transition from satellite churches to individual church plants. “The big corporation stuff is gone, and they’re replanting as individual churches,” Breshears says. “There’s a core of really strong people in these Mars Hill churches, and I think if they learn the lessons—and they’re working hard on learning them—and can make the cultural changes, we’re going to see some strong churches come out of this. There’s a very good chance we’ll look back in five years and be astonished.” RUTH MOON is a freelance reporter, contributing editor for Christianity Today magazine, and graduate student in communication at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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