Risen Summer 2012

faith hope love

Mark Driscoll

DATING, DEPRESSION, & 10 MILLION DOWNLOADS Tenth Avenue North

WHERE SOCIAL MEDIA FALLS SHORT Brian “Head” Welch

RECONCILING WITH KORN

From Full House to Make It or Break It : Summer 2012

$4.95 US

Cameron Bure

contents

interviews

summer 2012

>>

08 Mark Driscoll

Casual but Direct, Mark Driscoll Has a Message

14 Tenth Avenue North

We Are Free to Struggle: Tenth Avenue North Challenges Others Through Music

20 Candace Cameron Bure

From Full House to Full-time Mom, Candace Cameron Bure Traded the Spotlight: Now She’s Back with a New Show and Magazine

26 Brian “Head” Welch Life After Korn

30 The Katinas

Five Brothers Combine Talent and Hearts to Produce One-of-a Kind Music

34

Jake Short

38

Randy Frazee

42

Rend Collective Experiment

46

Tanya Gandy

Disney’s A.N.T. Farm Star Jake Short A Heart for Telling the Story Irish Band Building the Kingdom with Community Staying True to Herself

departments

>>

Q-5:

50 Act of Valor

Filmmakers Scott Waugh & Mike “Mouse” McCoy

52 Lee MacDougall

Who Needs A Big Record Deal? British Singer Chases His Dreams Solo

53 Will Smith & Josh Brolin

Stars of Men In Black 3 Reflect on Miracles and Making a Difference

54 Soulcraft

Dr. Ron Kirkemo

Miracle:

56 Small

Jaim Connor Shares His Story in Schools Across the Country

Expressions: 58 Designer Dreams

The Style of Kari Schoeneck

i·den·ti·ty the distinguishing character or personality of an individual In several of my favorite interviews from this issue a familiar theme kept working itself to the front of the conversation: identity.

It seems from film and television, to music and ministry, people are either tying their identity to the wrong things, mistaken about their identity, or unable to fully embrace their identity. People don’t know who they are or what their true purpose in life is… and not many are helping point them in the right direction.

The reality for most people is that their identity usually becomes blurred with a job or a title; it becomes a label without action; or it is a version of how the person is viewed and then defined by others. In the midst of numerous topics from honesty and depression, to parenting, touring, image issues and love, mega pastor Mark Driscoll, actress Candace Cameron Bure, and the band Tenth Avenue North all address the identity crisis faced by so many in America.

Mark Dricoll shares about people who can’t seem to find their identity and how a focus on achieving the name or status, becomes their idol. It’s such a big issue that his next book is devoted entirely to the topic. During our interview with Candace Cameron Bure, she emphasized that putting any kind of label on yourself means nothing. Going further to say, “ You can call yourself whatever you want. You can have a belief, or knowledge of it, but unless you’re actually moving forward in action it’s really just an idea.” We also sat down with Tenth Avenue North as they imparted that the biggest thing they are seeing on their tour is the question of identity. Their latest album is all about the struggle and how, “the choices you make, good or bad, don’t define who you are… your identity must always be solely tied to Christ.”

I hope you enjoy digging deeper into these articles and also find encouragement in the fascinating features that make up this Summer Issue.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Editor-In-Chief

PUBLISHER :: Allan Camaisa EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF : Kelli Gillespie CONTRIBUTING WRITERS :: Shelley Barski, Mei Ling Starkey, Heidi Ortlip, Kelli Gillespie, Patti Gillespie, Jaim Connor, Dave Franco COPY EDITOR: Patti Gillespie

ART ART DIRECTOR :: Rob Springer CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS :: Chrissy Katina, Jeff Berlin, Rob Springer, Andy Hutch, Kevin Allen, Michael Larsen, Parker Young Photography, Melissa Leslie Stay True Photography, Will Foster

MULTIMEDIA WEBMASTER :: Brett R. Schoeneck

PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY Focuscom Inc :: info@focuscominc.com DIRECTOR OF MEDIA DISTRIBUTION :: Jess Fierro EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RISEN PROJECT :: Megan Camaisa

SPECIAL THANKS

Henry Ortlip, Nick Moultrie, Krystal Thompson, Christopher Stokes

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The views and opinions expressed by the subjects interviewed are not necessarily those shared by the publisher or staff of Risen Media, LLC. All interviews remain the sole property of Risen Magazine.

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of Risen Media, LLC. Copyright © 2012 “Risen” is a Trademark of Risen Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Cover Photo :: Rob Springer

Mark Driscoll

Casual but Direct, Mark Driscoll Has a Message Writer: Kelli Gillespie | Photographer: Rob Springer

f you’re looking for the truth, Mark Driscoll is your man. Tackling topics from depression and pride, to online dating and hearing the voice of God, this devoted husband and loving dad is one of the most watched and listened to pastors in the world.

With more than 10 million downloads a year, many are hungry for his teachings, which come directly from the Bible, and his sermons regularly rank #1 on iTunes for Religion & Spirituality. There was no topic off limits as Risen went deeper with conversations of trading lies for truth, relationships, and looking for unicorns.

Interviewed Exclusively for Risen Magazine in San Diego, California Risen Magazine: You’ve talked about stints of depression, especially early in your ministry and I think many struggle with the same stronghold, or an addiction of some sort, or feelings of insecurity…How did you work through it and is it something you think someone can ever fully recover from? Is it something that you still deal with now and would recognize?

Mark Driscoll: It’s interesting. The scriptures talk a lot about depression.

The old term is melancholy. Also when you read a lot of older literature they talk about melancholy as their word for depression. As you read the Psalms categorically, the number one category of [the book of ] Psalms is lament; people who were depressed and praying it out or singing it out. So it’s a pretty dominate paradigm in scripture, but in culture we tend to think if anybody is sad or depressed then there is something that’s wrong. And biblically, it’s fairly common. Prophets like Jeremiah; well that’s just kind of his whole personality, pretty melancholy. For me, there are two kinds of depression categorically. There’s just the biological where you know, your mom died, you’re sad. You live in a place like Seattle where the sun doesn’t come out for 10 months a year, [laughter] and you’re just bummed out. Sometimes it’s hormonal or chemical, especially for women whose bodies tend to be a little more sensitive than guys to certain factors.

And then the flip side for a lot of young adults, I think it really comes out of an identity crisis. They don’t know who they are. The next book I’m working on is, Our Identity in Christ, based out of Ephesians. I think it really is an identity crisis and the depression comes in when you’re trying to be someone so you can have an identity and then it doesn’t come together. You end up having people and things become the source of your identity, so they become your idolatry. It’s like, “I’m a good student. But then I become depressed because I didn’t score well. I’m on a career track. Now I’m depressed because I didn’t get the LSAT scores I was hoping, and now I can’t get into the school that I want. I’m in a relationship. Oh, they just cheated on or dumped me, now I don’t even know who I am. I feel alone. I’m healthy and independent; I can take care of

myself. But now I’m sick and struggling and life is hard.” Usually, if it’s not sort of environmentally or chemically conditioned, it’s an identity crisis. People will feel great until their thing doesn’t work. I always say, “ Your identity exposes your idolatry.” You’ve rested your hope and the definition of who you are in someone or something and when that goes away, you’re destroyed; you’re lost. So for some people your identity is “I have to be in a relationship, I can’t be single.” To be single then is to be spun into complete depression.

You’ve got to be with somebody which is why sometimes gals will end up with guys that are abusive and total losers because it’s better than being alone. That’s what they’ve grown to think.

RM: You are so good about trading out the lies for the truth, and whether people agree with it or not, it’s secondary. Has this always been your style?

How did you get bold enough to speak truth and not let any other factors sway you?

MD: For me, I didn’t grow up in the church so I didn’t know that the preacher wasn’t supposed to tell the truth. [Laughter] I got saved reading the Bible and everybody in there seemed to get killed. So I guess you just go for it. I always need to work on saying things in a way that is provocative but not over the line, being humble, and not manipulating my opportunity. I’d never say I’ve always gotten it right. We do punish people for going too far; we don’t punish people for not going far enough. For me it’s like, “Mark, you crossed the line.” Yeah, well there are a hundred-thousand guys who can’t even see it they are so far away. I would rather try and dance on the line and cross it occasionally then play it so safe and close to the vest that nobody ever got upset, because that probably means there wasn’t much courage going into it. I believe too, as you make mistakes, you apologize, and I might not get it right, but I tried my best. Once I got saved at 19, it was the truth that really wrecked me. You know, I thought I was a good person until I realized that sin was pride. And if sin was pride, then I’m like a Major League sinner. The truth is what changed my life. risenmagazine.com 09

My story, I don’t tell this much, but I come from a pretty crazy family line, all the way back in County Cork, Ireland. We were a rebellious bunch.

We were actually pirates. In Baltimore Harbor my relatives would go out and rob liquor ships – yes, we robbed liquor ships, that’s our claim to fame – we had castles, and we’d go to war, we were pirates and we’d steal wine.

Then we left County Cork, Ireland, during the Great Famine and my great, great, great grandmother as far as I can tell, starved to death. And that’s how we got to the States. I think it’s just down deep in the genes; I’m kind of a fighter by nature. But once I learned the truth, it showed me that my whole

this an area you kind of “geek” out on or do your advisors share trends? How do you stay on the cutting edge leading the online pack?

MD: I paved my way through high school and college as a journalist. I’ve got a Communications degree from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications – which is one of the top five in the country. So I went to college as an unbeliever to study communication, speech, journalism, advertising, marketing – but the weird thing is that I’m so old, I actually got my degree before the Internet.

RM: [Laughter] That’s not that old Mark.

MD: The Internet came out in what, ‘96/’97, somewhere in there. Well I graduated high school in ’89 and college in ’93.

By the grace of God, I’m in Seattle, planting a church, when the Internet goes up. And everybody in my church is a young tech-head who is working at a place called Microsoft. We started our church in ’96 and within months had our website up where people could start downloading sermons. Part of it is the people that come to Christ in our church tend to be young, entrepreneurial, college-educated, tech-savvy, artsy types – it’s just Seattle. It’s always raining so everybody is indoors on their computer, literally. They sit indoors, work on their computers, and drink coffee; that’s Seattle.

RM: Come visit. [Laughter] MD: No need. Let’s just iChat. [Laughter] So unintentionally, we’ve always positioned ourselves to ride those waves. When we started giving sermons away, everyone [else] was charging. We said there’s no way we can do that.

And my audience is young. The intentionality is really to reach college age, young singles that may not have a ton of money, so we want to give stuff away and influence early before they get married and have kids and make some tragic life choice decisions.

And if sin was pride, then I’m like a Major League sinner. The truth is what changed my life. family history and heritage was wrong. A lot of the men are alcoholics and wife-beaters, and real violent dangerous men and so apart from the truth, I’d be a completely different man. I’d treat my wife very different, if she was still with me, and I would be a horrendous father. So for me, I’m pretty stubborn and tough, I need the truth unvarnished for it to be any good to me. You can dilute it down to where it’s still true, but it’s so weak, it’s like ice tea with 50 ice cubes that’s been out in the sun for an hour. By the end, it doesn’t even taste like ice tea. And I think a lot of people do that with the truth. They get to the point where it’s so diluted I don’t even know if they can taste it.

RM: Since you didn’t grow up in a Christian home, I’m sure there are many things you would’ve liked to have known then, that you understand now. Is there one thing that stands out that you would really want someone who doesn’t know the Lord to grasp? Something that you wished someone would have just grabbed you by the shirt and said, “Listen!”

MD: I thought I knew who Jesus was and I had no idea. I think a lot of people think they know who Jesus is, but have no idea – even a lot of people who did grow up in the church. They’ve rejected somebody that they don’t even really know. And sometimes it’s the result of bad teaching; maybe Jesus was not presented as he truly is, so what they rejected was not Jesus, but a false characterization, or caricature of him. I mean I thought Jesus was a very feminine guy in a dress who just walked around with lambs. It was like, “Do you want to be like that?” Um, not really. “I don’t know what to do with lambs, I don’t want to wear dresses, and being very tender is not really my highest priority.”

But that’s not who Jesus is. Jesus is a construction worker – I didn’t know that. Atoned for the sin of the world – that’s pretty cool. And he’s coming again as a king to judge the living and the dead, he’s going to ride a white horse, he’s going to come with a sword, and he’s going to put to death all his enemies – that sounds like a good team to be on; much better than playing with lambs, wearing a dress.

RM: You’ve been able to show Jesus to the world through technology with 10 million downloads a year and your sermons usually rank #1 on iTunes. Is 10 Risen Magazine

RM: Speaking of technology and relationships, what are your views on online-dating?

MD: I think it can be a very good tool. If you’re a single woman, it’s a pretty terrifying thing to just meet some guy and go out. You don’t know who he’s going to be and whether or not you’re safe. I think the technology allows you to get to know something about somebody and allows things to develop a little more safely. It’s interesting too because I will log onto eHarmony and certain sites, not because I’m looking for a relationship [laughter], but just out of curiosity to see what it’s like to be single today, because half of our church is single. It’s amazing because even if you go under “religious preference” on certain dating sites and say “Evangelical Christian – Are you open or closed to pre-marital sex?” The majority will say “Evangelical Christian, open to premarital sex.” They put it right on their dating profile. It’s interesting to know that publically there is not even an understanding among those who are Christians. To start with, “Hey I’ll sleep with you,” is probably not the best place to start a Christian relationship. But it can be useful and a lot of people in our church use it, and several of our friends have met that way too.

RM: So apparently relationships definitely need some serious attention.

What do you think is one of the biggest struggles with young adults?

MD: Sexual addiction. I can’t overstate the porn epidemic. It’s not just men, it’s also women, but the number one consumer of online pornography is 1217 year-old boys. So if you figure the average guy marries at 28 and if he started looking at porn at age 11, which is average first exposure, that’s 17 years as a porn-head and then he marries a woman… it’s going to have some

We tend to think of the grace of God as just covering our sin, which it does. But the grace of God also empowers our lives. serious effects on how that marriage goes.

And the other is sexual assault. One in four women and one in six men report being sexually assaulted. It’s the most under-reported crime with only 5-40% cases reported. You’re looking at a whole generation of guys who are sexually addicted, and a whole generation of girls who are sexual assaulted.

My opinion is most college campuses are pretty much rape cultures. Gals with eating disorders, putting out sexually to be popular with boys, who are very immature, addicted to porn, putting alcohol in them, meant to loosen their inhibitions. Put all of those ingredients together, broken family, no father involved… and then they are thinking marriage; it’s pretty catastrophic at times.

RM: So many people say they are followers of Christ, but don’t live like they are – how can lukewarm Christianity be combated?

MD: My spirit says the majority of lukewarm Christians are not Christians.

They come from a Christian subculture or Christian family. The key is when you’re a kid you kind of borrow your parent’s faith for a while, and then you’ve got to come to your own. And if you never really come to your own, you really probably haven’t been born-again. You probably haven’t really been saved. I was raised Roman Catholic so I would’ve said, “ Yeah, I’m a Christian.” My family was Catholic, and I believed in God, and I tried to be a good person, I got baptized when I was a baby… but I didn’t know Jesus, I wasn’t in the church, I wasn’t in scripture, I wasn’t growing, I was completely lost. And so for people who grow up with Christian heritage, sometimes it like being Greek or Italian, that’s our family we were brought into and it’s part of our culture. But it’s not really a personal, born-again, commitment to Jesus. For a lot of people too I think Jesus becomes a concept, and not a person. [Those people would say,] “I believe in Jesus, oh yeah he’s the guy that died.” Is he a person that is alive that you know? He’s an idea, more than a person to them.

I always tell people if you’re lukewarm or uncertain, just stay on the side of caution and assume perhaps you’re lost and you need to come to faith, rather than wrongly assuming that you’re okay.

RM: I think most believers understand prayer, but have a harder time listening and distinguishing God’s answers/directions/leadership. Sometimes they think only pastors have this gift. What tools or advice can you share to help people better hear God? MD: That’s a good question. I’m theologically charismatic. I believe in the Holy Spirit and all the spiritual gifts. I don’t believe God has to speak outside of scripture, but I think he does when chooses; he’s certainly free to. I’ve had God speak to me audibly on some occasions and in dreams and stuff like that. Relationship with God is like every relationship; it’s all about communication. The primary way God talks to us is through scripture. So I’m always reticent when someone is not deeply rooted, founded, and grounded 12 Risen Magazine

in scripture. If they say, “God told me…” I think, “I don’t know because you don’t spend enough time in the scripture to really even know the voice of God.” And if you’re avoiding, or not devoted to the primary way God has chosen to communicate, I’m not sure he would honor that by using secondary modes of communication. And sometimes it’s just convictions and impressions. So practically for me, before I decide what I’m going to be preaching on next, I take a day of silence and solitude and I’ll journal, I’ll pray, I’ll walk, and I’ll talk out loud to God. And sometimes that will take a couple days and then I’ll feel a deep attraction toward a book of the Bible or toward a topic. I just feel like if that is a place of strong, compelling curiosity for me, then I’ll take that as from the Holy Spirit. And I’ll take that [topic or answer] back to my elders and I’ll submit it to spiritual authority. I would never say, “God told me.” But I would say, “I think I heard this from the Lord.” And this is for certain church decisions too.

I teach this to my kids as well. There are certain times with my kids when they are not listening or obeying. As a general rule, I have the best kids on the earth… but there are occasional moments. With my one son in particular, since he was a little boy, the more we talked, the worse it got. So I just told him to go sit in his room and pray and talk to Jesus. I’d say, “When you and Jesus have sorted it out, you come back and tell me what he said.” And he’s been doing that since he was three or four. And he’ll come down [stairs] tears in his eyes and say, “Okay here’s what he said...” And sometimes God brought scripture to mind, or a biblical principle, and sometimes he’d say, “I just feel like God told me I was being proud.” He’s twelve now and has a great relationship with Jesus. Part of when you’re looking as if it came from the Lord, you’re looking at content. If somebody comes down the stairs, with tears in their eyes and says, “I’m sorry for being proud.” You think, “ Yeah, that’s probably the Holy Spirit.”

RM: Talk to me about pride. I think this is something every American struggles with, and if they don’t admit it, then it’s probably really rooted in them.

You speak a lot on pursuing humility with the grace of God, so when you’re a bestselling author, guest on national TV shows, overseeing multi-church campuses – basically at the height of influence, what have you found to help keep it all in perspective?

MD: Humility is something that I’m always working on. For me I think it really starts theologically where everything I have is by the grace of God. We tend to think of the grace of God as just covering our sin, which it does. But the grace of God also empowers our lives. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “I worked harder than everyone and I got more done than anyone.” That’s weird.

And then it says, “For it wasn’t I, it was the grace of God that is with me.” Paul’s got this confidence that is not arrogance. He says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If he just said, “I can do anything,” then that would be pretty arrogant. But he’s saying, “By the grace of God, I can do whatever I

Mark and Grace Driscoll with their children.

Photo: Will Foster

for people who grow up with Christian heritage, sometimes it like being Greek or Italian, that’s our family we were brought into and it’s part of our culture. But it’s not really a personal, born-again, commitment to Jesus. need to do.” And I think that’s the main difference between confidence and arrogance. Saying, “I can do that if that’s what God wants and he gives me the Holy Spirit’s power to do it.”

I felt like that many times, for many years. Especially I think when I was starting out just young and wanting to prove myself. I had never been to Bible college, never been to seminary, had no denomination – I’d never even been a member of a church. But I started mine [Mars Hills church] when I was a new Christian. I didn’t get paid for three years by the church… just working hard, slugging it out, feeling like, “I’m going to do this.” Yes, the motives were certainly mixed. Some of it was for God’s glory and some of it was to prove myself.

Where we’re at now, it is so ridiculously fruitful that it’s just beyond explanation. We’ve seed planted in the U.S. over 400 churches. We started in the least churched city in America [Seattle] – at the time there were more dogs than evangelicals. And I went after twenty-something, college-educat-

ed men as my focal point, and that was the least-churched demographic in America. See, young people will go to church because their parents drive them; married people will go because they are trying to have a family, single women will go hoping to find a husband, and single guys just don’t go. So I’m going after the least of the least. I’m out looking for unicorns, that’s what I’m doing. [Laughter] And now we average 15 thousand people on Sundays, we’re one of the 15 largest churches in America – it doesn’t make any sense at all. We don’t have any large buildings, we’re scattered all over the place, we don’t have any parking – and then my wife and I write a book and it’s a New York Times Bestseller [“Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together”]. Everything in my life is a lot of God’s grace. At this point to say, “Look what I did!”, well that would be pretty ridiculous. It’s like a kite in a hurricane saying, “Look what I did.” Yeah, not much, because you’re just the kite, not the hurricane. So the bigger it gets, the more obvious [that God’s the reason] why it gets done. risenmagazine.com 13

Left to Right: Jeff Owen, Brendon Shirley, Mike Donehey, Jason Jamsen and Ruben Juarez

WE ARE FREE TO

STRUGGLE Tenth Avenue North Challenges Others Through Music Writer: Mei Ling Starkey | Photographer: Parker Young Photography

oung or old, most people have questioned their identity at one point or another. Tenth Avenue North has become known for their thoughtprovoking lyrics that let people know that they are free to struggle in Christ. Their style has resulted in two successful albums, “Over and Underneath,” and “The Light Meets the Dark,” and being awarded the 2009 Dove Award New Artist of the Year. As they get ready to debut their latest album, “The Struggle,” Tenth Avenue North continues to push their musical creativity and challenge their listeners. Risen sat down with the band while they were on The Rock & Worship Roadshow tour, to talk about identity, true love, tour life, and community.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in San Diego, California

Risen Magazine: Online dating, one-night stands, divorce rates that are the same inside the church as outside the church… How does your song “Love is Here,” speak to a culture that has so many different definitions of love?

Ruben Juarez: The song was originally written out of frustration. Mike and Jason were leading a youth group that was looking for validation and love in the wrong places. The song says that everything has already been done for you. Love is already present through the cross.

Mike Donehey: We put parameters on God proving his love. “If you heal my dad, If you give me a girlfriend, If my parents don’t get divorced…” You are asking God to prove something he has already proven. Romans 5:8 says, “God proves his love that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The Greek is actually present tense, “God proves.” It doesn’t say, “He proved.” It’s present tense, ongoing, active. He proves his love every day. It was a past event, Christ died, but he is presently demonstrating that he loves us now. Knowing the Son of God died for you, and that God loves you, should convince you that you screwed up so bad that he had to die for you, and to know that he was glad to die for you. Well, that should simultaneously drop you out of your pride and lift you out of your depression.

RM: Peer pressure, gossip, broken families, depression… these are just a few of the things that describe what young people face on a daily basis. Your songs really address the tension risenmagazine.com 15

between faith in God and the situation. What encouragement do you have for people to worship God in spite of their circumstances, or through their circumstances?

Mike Donehey: The biggest thing that I see is the question of identity… you cut, you are bulimic, you got pregnant, you didn’t make the soccer team, you are a straight “A” student, or you didn’t get the scholarship… we are all fighting to build our identity in something. One of the most power-

you who you are.” Just seeing the horrible ramifications that has played out on church and society, to me it is the antithesis of the Gospel. The Gospel is counterintuitive.

The choice to use a girl was because I wanted to make it a little more personal. We put together all the girls we have talked to at camps, signing autographs, messaging with on Facebook, and said this is obviously something people are struggling with. The big thing that got me is that the biggest group of people that have responded to the song has been girls who cut. We had a couple of girls last summer come up to us with razor blades with numbers written on them. One read, 572. She said, “that’s the number of times I have listened to this song in the last three months, since I quit cutting.”

The church endorses this message by saying, “You’re a cutter. If you’re a Christian, you need to live like a Christian.” But the reality is that you can’t put the cart before the horse. The work of Christ is what enables you to be free. One of my pastors said, “The most important thing to remember is that if you are in Christ, your name is no longer addict. Your name is child of God.” You don’t have to work to become that. You need to live out of that reality. John Piper said, “ Your work doesn’t make you holy. Christ’s work makes you holy. Be in practice who you already are in position.” We like to say, “We are not struggling to be free in Christ, we are free to struggle.” That’s actually going to be a song on our next record.

It is not about how much faith you have,

IT IS ABOUT WHOM YOUR

FAITH IS IN

ful things is being able to say, “ You’ve done all those things good or bad, but they don’t define you.” It’s a lie to say that the choices you make, make you who you are. It’s true that the choices you make have consequences, but the Gospel is the glorious message that in spite of all those choices, in spite of mistakes, you are a child of God, who happens to do those things. A girl came up to our table the other day. She was on the verge of tears. She was probably about 20 years old. She said, “I just want to thank you for writing music that gives me permission…” She got choked up and started crying. She didn’t say anything after that. I said, “To struggle?” She nodded yes. I think that has been a powerful thing for me in my own life, and for other people, to say it’s okay to struggle with these things. It is not about how much faith you have, it is about whom your faith is in. It is not about a competition over who is the best Christian, it’s about celebration of what’s been done for us. That’s going to be the whole message of our next album, the struggle through this life, the battle of heaven, the hope of redemption. We’re not home yet, but that’s okay.

RM: What experiences in your life have you faced that have given you that perspective?

Mike Donehey: I have had amazing teachers and mentors in my life that have helped me to understand the Gospel. The turning point for me was realizing that the Gospel isn’t a one-time event, but it is the thing that sanctifies our motivation. We need to preach the Gospel to ourselves everyday.

Ruben Juarez: I had a couple of family members that have fallen away and the conversations we’ve had, has allowed me to doubt God in a healthy way.

It is not so much about believing or not believing, but refining what I think in the first place. Processing their questions helps me to wrestle with those things and solidify my own faith.

RM: Your song, “ You are More”, talks about a young lady who has lost her way and is questioning her identity. What inspired your lyrics?

Mike Donehey: It is a combination of things. Jon Foreman from Switchfoot described the song writing process like an oyster making pearls. Oftentimes for him, the song starts with an irritant. Oysters make pearls not clams, right?

Jeff Owen: Oysters make pearls. Clams make fine meat.

Mike Donehey: It started with the irritant of “the choices you make, make 16 Risen Magazine

RM: You guys all come from church backgrounds and you have shared that you are, “not satisfied with doing the same old things, the same old ways.” What does that practically look like as you put your music together?

Mike Donehey: Jeff is the most left-to-center as cerebral processes go.

Jeff Owen: We are making a new record and we are trying to not make the same record we have done before. I think if we have had a certain chord progression to a certain song we have wanted to push our boundaries and make it sound different. Lyrically, we also are not saying the same thing that we have said before. We are working on songs that have new struggles and new points to make.

Ruben Juarez: The Gospel is a bit of a journey. So we are encountering different things and writing different things as we go.

RM: Your heart to teach this generation to worship is impressive including the way you have interacted with students at the Student Venture conferences. Why have you become so passionate about this?

Mike Donehey: It’s a matter of enjoyment. You become passionate to share with people whatever you enjoy. No one had to teach you to be passionate about your favorite restaurant, movie or hobby. You are just naturally that way. So for me I kind of got ruined when I went to college when I met a group of people that were more passionate about worshipping Jesus than going clubbing. No one was making them. They weren’t putting it on an application or resume. They literally wanted to sit and be in the presence of God. I often say that kind of ruined me for even being on stage, because when you get a taste of what the Scriptures call, “the fullness of joy, His presence,” you naturally want to share what you enjoy. I could talk to you about Chipotle and coffee for days, because I have enjoyed them and want you to enjoy them as well.

RM: We picked a question from our readers. They want to know, “How do you balance your personal intimacy with Christ alongside ministry for his glory?”

Mike Donehey: It is a challenge.

Jeff Owen: I was talking to a friend the other day and he said the darkest

Tenth Avenue North

times he had was when he was touring with Christian music. He had mistaken his main objective of pursuing God passionately with the accolades he received while touring. He shared, “We could be playing onstage and people could be saying, ‘ You guys are doing great things for the Lord,’ and we could mistake that for our journey with Christ rather than an intimate, personal pursuit.

We could go through this day after day and have people tell us that we are doing a good job. We may even legitimately think we are doing a good job, but inside we are not pursuing Christ on our own everyday.” So for me I think about my friend’s experience a lot. In my personal relationship with God, I don’t want to mistake what we are doing for my personal involvement.

Brendon Shirley: Sometimes I question my motives when I am in the Word [Bible]. Am I just getting this to throw it at other people or am I digesting it and sharing

We like to say,

WE ARE NOT STRUGGLING

FREE IN CHRIST, TO BE

WE ARE

FREE

TO STRUGGLE. it out of an overflow of my heart? Sometimes I just want to know the right answers, or know things to impress others, instead of just eating and seeing that the Lord is good and then sharing it out of a personal experience. That’s definitely something that I am always aware of.

Mike Donehey: Ministry should be a bi-product. It shouldn’t be a focus.

Knowing Christ should be our focus.

RM: You guys have shows night after night. How do you challenge each other to keep the focus on worship and not a performance?

Jeff Owen: Tell everybody they are doing a bad job. It’s kind of a joke, but it’s kind of true.

Brendon Shirley: You just have to humble yourself and go back to the heart of worship.

Jeff Owen: Before every show we pray, at least one of us always says, “Let this not be about us, but let this be about you [God].” It kind of naturally manifests itself through our own prayers. We all hear it everyday. We don’t have to remind ourselves, we are naturally reminded.

Mike Donehey: It’s sort of a level-layered question. It is about the performance. Psalms says play skillfully as if unto the Lord. It doesn’t say get up there and do whatever. We are actually supposed to analyze our performance and critique each other and even say, “Was what I was doing getting in the way?” There’s a whole slew of things we need to address and analyze.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s our hearts and whether we believe the Gospel, whether we believe our performance saves us or not. It’s okay to 18 Risen Magazine

dissect a performance and ask, “What can we do better? What can hold people’s attention a little longer? How can we bring Christ to the forefront?” Ultimately, our hearts will always be very tainted with a motive of validating ourselves unless we find our validation in the cross and what has been done for us. It isn’t to prove ourselves because we already have an identity. It’s quite a different motivation. I ask this all the time, “Are we playing to be accepted or are we playing because we are already accepted?” It’s a much different focus when you are on stage. Even last night, I didn’t feel like I was cool enough. But then I realized, it’s okay, because that is not the focus.

RM: How do you balance the grueling tour schedule, your relationship with God, and time with your families and friends? Jeff, you have your wife and your kid on tour with you.

Jeff Owen: Us married folk try to balance our families with the tour. We trade which family and wife gets to come out on the road. We have a short list of friends at home because we never see them. This is kind of like church out here being in community all the time every day. You’re not married to them, but you have to deal with the same issues pretty much… not getting in each other’s hair, encourage each other. It is a fierce battle. Right Ruben?

Ruben Juarez: Brendon and I are the single guys. It’s hard enough trying to get time to yourself and being a part community of friends. I can only imagine if there is family to add to that equation. It is taxing.

RM: You use social media to share your music and inspire your followers.

How have you seen this benefit their relationship with God and worship experience?

Mike Donehey: Jeff had an idea for our next record to use social media to have our listeners participate in one of our songs. We did these sing-alongs all over the country that we organized through Facebook. We recorded them and made them part of the choir in all different parts of the song. It was a cool way to be able to connect with people that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to connect with.

Jeff Owen: We use Twitter and Instagram a lot to allow people access into what we are doing and thinking. We try to use it purposefully, because we know that it can be used to positively influence people’s lives. Mike usually sends out a few good nuggets daily to encourage people. I like to keep things light and show people the things we experience on a daily basis. Like, “Check out this dumb looking ice cream.”

Brendon Shirley:It has also enabled us to tell fans about after shows. We will tell our fans last-minute to come over to a coffee shop. It gives us the chance to interact with them on a deeper level than just signing autographs.

RM: What would you caution this culture against as social media permeates every aspect of daily lives?

Mike Donehey: The dangerous thing about social media is that we exchange true community for a pseudo one. How many times can you think of when you are in a conversation with friends and you are all looking at your phones? I think the reason is that the capitalist system has infiltrated our way of thinking. Our whole system is investment and return. We believe the lie that if, “I’m going to spend 30-seconds saying something, why would I waste it on one person, when I can say it online where thousands of people can read it?” The other side of that is that when we put down our phones and look each other in the eye, there is now more value to that. As much as you want to type away, you are still made to look into the eyes of another person.

I know that because when I look into the eyes of another person, I have a profound and different experience than when I look into the eyes of a dog.

We are made in God’s image and there is something divine in eye contact. It is important for us to put down our phones and see each other.

From Full House to Full-Time Mom, Candace Cameron Bure Traded the Spotlight: Now She’s Back with a New Show and Magazine

Writer: Kelli Gillespie | Photographer: Rob Springer

he won over the hearts of families as the loveable DJ Tanner on the late 80’s sitcom Full House, and now, twenty-five years later, Candace Cameron Bure is still winning over hearts…in a different role. She’s a wife, mom, and rock solid role model with an unwavering commitment to her faith. Risen talked with this cover girl about growing up in Hollywood, finding comfort in food, raising a family, and her return to TV in the hit show, Make It or Break It. She’s also launched an online magazine for women. Bure is embracing life as she expresses the strength and importance of her faith.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine Risen Magazine: Full House is still in syndication in more than 100 countries… when you think of DJ Tanner what usually comes to mind?

Candace Cameron Bure: I always go right to my hair and my clothes. You know curly scrunchy, big bangs and shoulder pads. It was fun, and it was the early 90’s… but recently I’ve seen a couple of blogs posted that were really cute and one them was “Every Lesson I Learned, I Learned from DJ Tanner.”

And it’s interesting to read girls’ thoughts because when you’re growing up playing the character on television you don’t give much thought to it; it’s a job, and it’s fun, I loved going to work. But you don’t realize the influence and the impact that it has on people. It’s flattering and it’s a neat thing to go down in the history books with what people think of when they think of their childhood.

RM: What does that feel like when you’ve been working hard and then you get the call that says not only that you got cast, but that they were willing to put the pilot on hold until you were ready to film Full House?

CCB: It’s incredibly flattering and I don’t think you realize what a big deal that is when you’re only 10 years old. I certainly didn’t. I had already been acting for five years and for me, it was just something that was fun. I really liked it. There was never any pressure from my parents or anyone. There was always just this open dialogue at home with my mom where she said, “Anytime you don’t want to do this anymore, you just tell me and I’ll call the agent and we’ll quit, or you can stop.” When I booked Full House, it was one of those things where you get really excited because you know you did a great job and they want you for it, but you also don’t want to get too excited because it’s only a pilot and you don’t know if the network is even going to pick up the show. So you’re super super happy, but then mom and dad are right there to go, “But don’t--, it’s not going yet. Don’t get your hopes up too much.” Especially since my brother [Kirk Cameron] was on Growing Pains and it was successful. Can you imagine as a parent, your second child now books a television show, but what if that pilot doesn’t go? I’m sure it was this huge balancing act on my parents part that I had no idea about. Fortunately, I didn’t have to experience that since Full House was a big success.

RM: Both you and your brother Kirk, have been very open about sharing your faith. Where does that confidence come from? Did you grow up with a solid Christian foundation or did you come to know the Lord later in life?

CCB: We didn’t grow up in a Christian household, although my mom was a believer. My dad didn’t have much of any religious background and he didn’t want any religion brought into the home. We did start going to church when I was 12 years old. That was two years into the show [Full House]. My parents had separated and were thinking of divorcing and so a family friend had invited our family to go to church in hopes that maybe some counseling would help my parents work through their marriage, which it did. My mom was very happy that at this point in life we were going to church as a family. I say I became a believer at age 12 because I did say the sinners prayer and ask Jesus into my heart, but I didn’t start living my life for the Lord and making it a personal relationship and commitment between me and God until I was in my early twenties. While we did go to church as a family growing up it still wasn’t a theme or something that was taught much at home because my dad – even though he went to church many years growing up – was not a believer. My dad actually became a Christian about seven years ago. It took a lot of time for him to get there. I definitely had a foundation and good principles growing up and my parents raised us in a very moral home… being dedicated to hard work, being good people, and knowing the difference between right and wrong. But I would definitely say it wasn’t based upon biblical principles, even though those were biblical principles, just because my dad was very hesitant to put any religious perspective on it.

RM: You’ve always been a “good person” and a “role model” but that’s not what being a Christian is all about, tell me about the relationship side and the difference?

CCB: With any religion that you are, or you grow up with, or your parents are, you can assume that as your identity, you can put that into a compartment of your life, you can use that as one of your labels as who you are… I’m a wife. I’m a daughter. I’m a woman. I’m an Aunt. I’m a sister. I’m an actress.

I’m a student. I’m a Christian. I’m a ______. It doesn’t mean anything unless

you’re putting those words, or those labels, into action. You can call yourself whatever you want. You can have a belief, or knowledge of it, but unless you’re actually moving forward in action it’s really just an idea.

So I really took my faith personally and developed this relationship: Who is God to me? What did he do for me? And I had to understand who God is, not because I just went to church, or because my parents taught me this, I wanted to know what the Bible said. Then reading the Bible, things became more clearer because I saw it’s not just about being a good person, it’s about putting all of your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Having paid the penalty for all of our sin, that I am actually deserving of a life in Hell because I’m not good enough on my own. And none of us are. God gave us the gift of Christ, which is free to every single one of us. I had to realize that it wasn’t just about being a good person and my whole testimony in itself is based upon the fact that it took for me to see God’s law, by the Ten Commandments, and measure my own goodness by the standard of what God believes is good, to the world’s standards of goodness. While I realized for so many years that I’m a good person by the world’s standard, as I held myself up to God’s law, I realized I had broken all of his commandments and that I’m not a good person by his standard.

That’s when I genuinely realized and saw my need for Christ, for a Savior, for the payment for my own sin and that made me want to walk in a life that was pleasing to God. There are a lot of people that either have something so traumatic or significant in their life that happens, that you can run to God to fill that void or that trauma because you need the comfort, and then there is a huge group of people, and this is the category that I fall in, where I go, “I really didn’t have anything significant happen to me. I didn’t really see a need to have to run to God because my life was really good.” So I thought, “Hey I must be doing things great myself.” So it was understanding and recognizing that I am a sinful person by nature, and I had a light bulb moment of, “Oh now I see why I need Christ.”

to say. But I think because food is something that we have to eat everyday to survive, it’s oftentimes a part of our life that we don’t think God really cares about. I just never thought about bridging the two together and thinking, “Oh God wants to be in this aspect of my life too.” God doesn’t love you any more or less, dependent on the number on the scale or what size you are; but as Christians, God calls us to be disciplined. And if that is an area in your life that isn’t disciplined, then it’s a sin; it was for me, the sin of gluttony. I had to look at it for what it was and then choose to honor God that way by making better choices for myself.

RM: I think a lot of people are savvy that photos are airbrushed, movies are doctored and industries are perpetuating this standard of beauty that is false and created, but even knowing all that mentally, it still toys with many men and women on an emotional and maybe even subconscious level. As an actress, how protective are you of the image you project to others?

CCB: Hollywood just pushes the envelope further and further with every year. When I have photos done I know that there will be some Photoshopping that will be going on, and that’s for everyone, just the re-touching. You smile so big you get lots of creases under your eyes – that’s always a little area, under my eyes, that I like to have re-touched. But I’m very particular in my photos in that I don’t like over re-touching. I do not like liquefying my body… that means you can actually take whatever part of the body you want or the whole thing and you can make it thinner, or wider. A lot of people thin their body down. I get chuckled at by photographers when I say, “Please don’t over Photoshop my photos.” Because not only do I think it’s unfair for the public, but I don’t want to look at the pictures in 10 years and go, “Wow I looked so good. This is so depressing how much I’ve aged.” When the reality is, I never looked like that in the first place.

Mentally, I can’t handle being over Photoshopped and looking so great because I know it will just depress me in the years to come. That’s how I look at it. Listen, nobody takes a perfect picture. Everyone wants to put their best image forward, and I think that’s fair to do, but I personally do it at the most minimal percentage of re-touching that I can.

Also I’m very active on social media, my Twitter and Facebook, and I love connecting with people and fans, so I’ll post pictures all the time when I have no make-up on, or I’m hanging out with my kids, or I’ve just worked out. I hope people can gain a perspective; when I have a professional headshot or magazine layout, of course I’m going to look a little better than I normally do. But they can also see me in my daily life and I’m not ashamed of it in any way.

You can call yourself whatever you want.

You can have a belief, or knowledge of it, but unless you’re actually moving forward in action it’s really just an idea.

RM: There are so many pressures in life, even more in Hollywood where everyone thinks they are allowed a say in your life. You’ve talked about issues with bulimia. What do you want people to know when it comes to having a healthy body image?

CCB: I didn’t really have a lot of pressure growing up in Hollywood. I had a very well-rounded home and parents looking after my best interest.

If anyone gets or reads my book, “Reshaping it All,” the food issues for me didn’t start until after the show [Full House] when I was newly married and moved into a new part of my life. There was never any pressure to lose weight, or look a certain way while I was growing up on TV. And if there was, I was very sheltered and protected from it. My issues with food were really because I was trying to find my emotional comfort in food which turned into a dangerous and unhealthy relationship with food because it went into a binging-purging cycle in my life. It was never because I was trying to lose weight; I just didn’t want to gain weight. I was finding my comfort in food and it wasn’t until I realized through a series of prayers and conversations with my pastor, and people that had been through this, that I needed to turn to God for my comfort and not food, which seems like a very simple thing 22 Risen Magazine

RM: Full House also had a big impact not only on your career but personal life… your co-star Dave Coulier introduced you to your future husband, former hockey player Valeri Bure. What, if any, reservations did you have about marrying a pro-athlete?

CCB: I didn’t have any reservations. I met him at 18 years old, was engaged at 19, and married at 20. There were no reservations; I was 18 and in love.

I was kind of ahead of my time having lived such a lot of life, working and really had an adult mentality at a young age, as well as my husband did, and that is something that really connected the two of us. We got married a year

after Full House had ended and I was really excited to just start a new season of my life.

RM: Then you both decide to start a family and you put your career on hold and become a stay-at-home mom. What went into that decision-making process? Was it something that came naturally and was easy, or did you struggle with what your life would look like if you did remove the actress hat?

CCB: It definitely wasn’t an easy decision for me and I did struggle with it. I wanted to be there as a mom for my kids, but because I’d been working since I was five years old, I didn’t know any other way of life. It was just part of me; it was who I was. Thinking of not acting anymore was a very difficult decision. It wasn’t so much that my identity was wrapped up in it, although that definitely played a large part, it really was like, “This is what I know, this is what I do well, this is what I enjoy doing.” But at the same time, my mom was a stay-at-home mom and raised us four kids, she eventually worked and opened her own agency, but that was as we got older. My mom was just always around. So that part wasn’t a difficult decision. I knew I wanted to be at home all the time and raise my kids. You can look through all the magazines and see the stories and you think, “Oh there are all these superwomen out there and they can do it all. They just do it all so well and perfectly.” So you think, “That’s what I’m going to do.” And that’s what I thought I would do. Then, I basically was just convicted and had a lot of discussions with my husband and said, “ Yea, I can’t do this. I can’t do both. I need to choose and obviously I choose my children and to be home.” But it took about a year to two of mourning in a sense, even though I love my children, to just lay those dreams down. I always knew if that would be God’s plan for my life eventually, then he would open up those doors again. And if he didn’t, then he didn’t. I just knew as long as I sought God in my life that he would open and close the door that he wanted me to go through and that was a sense of comfort for me.

a Christian. Was the character Summer, written this way, or did you get to infuse your personality on her?

CCB: It’s interesting. The character wasn’t originally written that way. I had an initial meeting with the producers and team because they were really developing the character for me, but they had an idea of what they wanted.

I had no clue until probably two weeks before I shot the pilot episode that they decided to make this character a Christian and put those types of values into the show through my character. It wasn’t anything that I asked for.

It wasn’t a demand of mine by any means. So it was a pleasant surprise. The producers took a lot of aspects of my own personal life and my character and thought that would be interesting to write into the show.

I just knew as long as I sought God in my life that He would open and close the door that He wanted me to go through and that was a sense of comfort for me.

RM: When you look at that transition time, and then staying at home raising the family, what is something that you are appreciative of in the sense that you felt you would’ve missed out on had you not chosen to pause your career?

CCB: I’m very thankful I was able to be a full-time mom. I wish though looking back that I would have enjoyed it a little bit more. I’m very happy to be a young mom, and that was a decision we wanted, to have kids right away, but now I wish I appreciated it a little bit more at the time. I realize how much I grew in those 10 years of not working at all. I grew so much in my faith and my relationship with the Lord. I can’t even imagine not having that time. Had I been focused on trying to juggle motherhood, work, travel, and my husband’s schedule all in that time, I would’ve never developed the relationship with God that I have now. That is really the most significant thing of me yielding to God’s ways and saying, “ Yea it was tough, but I see what you [God] did in my life.” And then as a mom, I’m so glad I didn’t miss out on anything. Didn’t miss the first steps, and riding bikes, discoveries, I was there for all the stages that kids go through and I’m grateful.

RM: I’m glad God opened the doors for you to come back to TV on the hit series Make It or Break It… your character is a mentor to the girls and

RM: TV and film are such powerful mediums to influence culture, how do you think it will impact young adults to see themes of purity and being equally-yoked in a relationship on a secular show?

CCB: I think it’s a huge impact. I read lots of the comments [fans write about the show] and while there are a handful of teenagers that it completely annoys – which it just does, you’re never going to please everybody – I have also read and received so many emails of how happy and thankful people are for having a character that does have positive and good moral values that isn’t hypocritical in it as well. The reality is that we usually see shows that portray this double-standard like, “Hey we’re good, but behind your back we’re terrible people.” Hey they might mess up, they might make some dumb decisions along the way, but their heart, their integrity is there, and they really want to do the good and right thing. I think it’s great when secular shows include that, because it doesn’t exclude any audience. Having a total Christian show, you’re going to exclude some people that say, “I’m just not a Christian and I’m just not interested in watching it.” When you’re able to have that on a secular show, showing lots of different world views, including a very real and truthful Christian view, it just makes me so excited.

RM: You have some upcoming film projects as well. Tell me about Puppy Love set to air this September, on The Hallmark Channel.

CCB: This is cute romantic comedy. It’s puppy love in both senses of the phrase. It’s about a dog, and some puppy love between my character and this really handsome guy that owns the dog. I have a 12-year-old daughter in the film and it’s really about relationships. We end up getting this dog from the shelter, but realize this cute baseball player really owns the dog and it was taken to the shelter by mistake. So then it turns into this fight for the dog.

It’s just a good wholesome family movie.

Connect with Candace: Twitter: @CandaceCBure Website: www.CandaceCameronBure.net Roo Magazine: www.roomag.com Roo is an online magazine and community with an incredible group of regular contributors. It’s a daily site designed for women to discuss being a wife, a homemaker, motherhood, love, beauty and a variety of other topics. risenmagazine.com 25

Love and Death 26 Risen Magazine

Photo: Melissa Leslie

Writer: Shelley Barski

efore he could catch his high school graduation cap in the air, Brian Welch (also known as Head) found himself with a record deal and a whirlwind of success before him. As the lead guitarist in the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning, metal band, Korn, Welch had all the houses, cars and girls he wanted. His dream of becoming a successful musician had come true. But instead of finding true contentment, he found himself living out his worst nightmare: depressed, addicted to drugs and struggling to find the will to live. In one life-changing night, God met him in his pain and spun his life in a new direction. Now, seven years after leaving Korn, Welch talks about the power of forgiveness, his faith journey, and touring with his new band, Love and Death.

Interviewed Exclusively for Risen Magazine

Risen Magazine: What were you like as a child?

Brian “Head” Welch: I was a clown, but I was always kind of shy too. I was very dedicated to music. I practiced a lot and made passing grades in school.

My first guitar was a star shaped Peavy Mystic. [Laughs] It was amazing. I sold it to the one of the guys in Korn actually.

RM: Do you have a favorite childhood memory?

BHW: Yeah. When I got picked up by my dad at school in eighth grade, which never happened… I thought someone had died or something. But he had great news… he told me he wanted to go buy me a new motorcycle. I was really into riding and was so excited!

RM: What was the defining moment for you when you knew you needed the Lord?

BHW: I didn’t know it was all real. I asked Jesus into my heart the first time at age 12. My friend who was in motocross with me was a Christian and invited me to church. After awhile I stopped hanging out with that kid though and started getting into drugs. I graduated high school and did more drugs.

When Korn got a record deal, we signed up for a non-stop party. Eventually, I realized I needed help. I went to a doctor for help and couldn’t get sober.

As a last resort I ended up in the church. It was then that the Lord became real and I stepped out and got prayed for. That night I came home and did more meth [methamphetamine] because I was addicted. But then I prayed and asked God if he was real and to help me quit. As I was praying, I felt him so strongly and it was the most amazing thing ever. It felt way better than a fantasy—like too good to be true. A fantasy couldn’t even compare. It was much better than any of that—eternity filled my heart.

RM: What was it like to get baptized in the Jordan River?

BHW: It was pretty amazing. My pastor came to Israel with me and baptized me. I just wanted to take time off and chill—for a couple of years. We did some site seeing in Jerusalem, but I didn’t really understand a lot of it because I hadn’t read the Bible yet. I want to go back and tour now that I understand it better.

RM: Because you’ve spent a significant part of your life at the center of metal

culture, what advice would you give kids worshipping that type of music now?

BHW: You gotta know who you are, you know what I mean? I was just into metal—the whole lifestyle. But you have to be careful where you go. There are so many temptations in that world, so be careful to pick the bands that you’re listening to. Now, my band is all positive. Some people can listen to songs and it doesn’t get to them, and others it really affects their mood and outlook on life, so it just depends on the person.

RM: It takes such courage to stand up for your beliefs. What tools are important for people to learn about where they should place their identity?

BHW: For me, you’ve got to spend time with God. Everything comes through his Spirit. You get courage and strength from him. He changed me from the inside out and continues to do so daily.

RM: What was the band’s reaction when you decided to quit Korn?

BHW: The band was shocked. They were like, “What’s going on?” There was a lot of hurt and betrayal because we were just about to record a new CD. I didn’t care though, I had to leave and get out of there. I don’t regret leaving at all, but I kind of regret how I did it.

RM: What affect did it have on you mentally to not be Brian “Head” Welch from Korn, but to be the independent Brian “Head” Welch? Are you enjoying this type of success more?

BHW: I think it has all been for a purpose. I am thankful to be able to have the platform. Rock music is different and we are still figuring it out. I’ve been touring with my new band Love and Death all over the East Coast and Midwest. We get along well [laughs]… we just mess with each other all day. We tour in a van and it’s rough – you really get to know your band. My daughter Jennae also tours with us. She likes metal too and wants to sing and play bass in a band someday.

RM: You have such a distinct look with guy-liner and white hair bands… where does that style come from?

BHW: I started doing the eyeliner thing when I was 14 and my dad definitely didn’t like it. The style just came to me. I’ve always loved long hair. I don’t have the white hair bands anymore, now it’s dreadlocked. risenmagazine.com 27

RM: Who are your top musical influencers currently?

BHW: I would say my band – we influence each other. With songwriting, I pray a lot before I write because I want to make sure the songs come from him [God]. We go into the studio and start writing and everyone contributes something.

talk to them and forgive, we are good now. It says in the Bible that Satan has something on us if we don’t forgive. Even when it hurts, I make sure to be good with everyone. When you realize what God likes, and you’ve been feeling bad for so long, you want to do whatever he says to do – whatever it takes. You just feel so thankful for being saved.

RM: Tell me about Love and Death’s new CD releasing in October.

BHW: The CD is untitled right now. The EP just came out called Chemicals.

The CD isn’t around just one theme; it’s a bunch of different stuff. We really wanted to get some good quality, catchy songs on this one. Right now we are really concentrating on writing.

RM: You are also involved in a few non-musical projects. Tell me about your book, Save Me From Myself. Was it challenging to write? And do you think it’s made the impact you wanted it to make?

BHW: It was exciting to write, because I’ve had a wild life. I think it touched a lot of people. Every night that I go out, I have someone come up to me and say they’ve read my book and it’s changed their life. It’s really cool. I also wrote Stronger, a 40-day devotional that’s pretty deep. In my life, I often feel like Paul just without the beatings. Christianity is a hard road. This devotional is a meaty book if someone wants to go deeper and overcome hard trials. A lot of it is also about loving God. The closer you get to God, the more Hell you go through. But I think it’s more accepted and not as weird to be open about your faith nowadays. Christians are opening up more and that makes it easier to start talking.

RM: Tell me how you became a part of the Hardflip movie soundtrack.

How much do you think a movie like this could make an impact on today’s youth and beyond?

BHW: I think it’s a good idea. My friends, [pro skateboarders] Christian Hosoi and Brian Sumner contacted me about putting that song in the movie. It’s a cool movie. I think when churches get involved, a movie like this can make a difference. It gets kids thinking about what’s really important in life. I met Brian and Christian at Sanctuary HP Church just a few months after I got saved. They’re awesome guys and I love our church. Their heart is all about touching the lives of the youth and they really put their all into it.

RM: How has being apart of The Whosoevers ministry, impacted your life?

BHW: It was really cool to get with a bunch of people who are passionate about the same things I am. We get with these kids, hang out with them, and put on free events for them. It’s cool to get a bunch of people who want to make a difference. We do events like in Downtown East L.A. and Las Vegas. But mainly, we do concerts and visit churches and rehab centers.

Ryan Ries [co-founder, The Whosoevers] even did a whole rehab tour. It’s hard doing what we do. We’re in the world and around people who need Christ. But God has us where he wants us. He doesn’t want us to be overly religious. We can relax in the fact that we’re not perfect.

One story that stuck out with The Whosoevers was when we were in Vegas. We did a concert for an audience of 15,000 and the next night, did a follow-up service with people who had accepted the Lord and we got to pray for some people. This guy came in our prayer meeting from the street.

He was just walking by and decided to see what we were doing. Later we learned he was actually on his way to kill someone over drugs or a girlfriend or something. We prayed for him and he totally felt God. There was another guy there that was just saying that he didn’t know if God was real. He was like, “ You guys are cool and I respect you and all, but I just don’t think God is real.”

The guy who had just walked in said, “How can you say that? I was just about to go kill someone and got led into here. God is real!”

RM: You played with Korn a few weeks ago for the first time since you quit the band. Why did you decide to play with them after all these years? What was their reaction?

BHW: I just went to hang out at the show they were playing at with my daughter. Evanescence was playing, which is one of my daughter’s favorite bands, and many other bands were playing so we were just walking around watching the bands together. Five minutes before Korn went on stage, they asked me to play a song with them. I was like, “Oh, I’m not prepared,” at first, but then I agreed and we played “Blind,” the first song Korn ever put out on the radio. It’s a clean song; it’s just about being lost. I play it with Love and Death and sometimes I put a spin on it at the end saying, “but now I’m found.” When I played this song with Korn, I felt healing and felt like God’s presence was there. It was emotional for a lot of people in the crowd. You know, we’re all just people on this earth, fighting for life. Korn is family, and I missed them. It was cool to play with them, I felt really good inside.

What’s funny is afterwards, fans were saying how much they loved us… some hadn’t even realized I had left the band. I guess some people just don’t pay attention [laughs].

RM: What does forgiveness look like to you? How do you walk that out?

BHW: I know it’s really important to God, so I try to walk that out. When I got saved, I went to everyone’s house that I had beef with and said I was sorry. And if I get into a riff with someone, I do that now. Even some past band members for Love and Death have left on bad terms, but because I 28 Risen Magazine

RM: Where would you like to see yourself in 10 years?

BHW: In Heaven [pauses and then laughs]. No I’m joking, that’s too soon.

I want to see myself more like Christ and advancing the platform I have. I hope that my love grows. I would love my soul to be more purged, to walk in more peace and to continue to love people more in the Spirit. To not have people get on my nerves so easily, to not be selfish, and to not have anxiety.

And yeah I get social anxiety, not when I’m on stage, but when I get off and start meeting and talking to people. I even have a prescription for it. After every show we go and talk to tons of people – hundreds of people a week. It’s so awesome and you want some kind of personal contact with each person, but your brain just can’t handle it. People will ask, “Do you remember me?” And honestly I can’t. But it’s all good, God’s got that covered and he loves them all.

Left to Right: James, John, Sam, Jesse and Joe Katina Photo: Andy Barron

Five Brothers Combine Talent and Hearts to Produce One-of-a Kind Music:

Meet the

Katinas

Writer: Patti Gillespie | Photographer: Chrissy Katina with MagnifyU Photography

orn in southern California and raised on the small island of Samoa, the Katinas aren’t your everyday worship band. This award-winning group comprised of brothers, John (vocals), Jesse (vocals), Sam (keyboards), James (bass) and Joe (drums) blend a unique style of vocals and instruments that have resulted in popular worship songs recognized around the globe. They’ve come a long way since singing at their father’s church as young boys. But make no mistake, their closeness and family bond has played a huge role in their ability to stay together as a band for more than 20 years. Risen sat down with the group to get an insight on what keeps them strong.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in Rocklin, California Risen Magazine: Was music a big part of your growing up experience? How did your love for it develop?

James Katina: Although we were born in southern California, [their father was stationed in the military at Camp Pendleton] our family moved to American Samoa [a small island 2,000 miles south of Hawaii] when we were young. Our dad was a musician and pastored a church…he conducted the choir and we were always around music which was a big part of the culture on the island. We didn’t have any formal instrument training then and just sort of picked it up.

RM: What sort of music influenced you as young boys?

John Katina: Well, there was only one top 40 radio station on the island and we listened to that.

It played R&B, Motown, Rock and island music.

I would have to say that our music is a fusion of it all. Our dad taught us to have a good ear for music and develop a strong hook. Any Christian music we heard was sent over to us from the States from our cousins. Most of our singing while on the island was at churches and fairs.

RM: When did you start singing professionally?

Joe Katina: In 1987 we moved back to the states to

be with our mother who had been diagnosed with cancer. (Their parents moved back a few years earlier to pastor a church in the state of Washington).

At that time we would travel up and down the West coast primarily in California, singing in churches.

We met BeBe and CeCe Winans. Bebe was a great help to us and we looked up to their family. He told us if we were really serious about our music, we should move to Nashville, so we did.

RM: Before we get into just how your music career developed, can you share about your relationship with your mother?

Joe Katina: We were very close to her. She was the major influence on our faith and set such a solid foundation for us. She died about a year after we moved back to the states. Mom’s death hit us all very hard.

RM: And one of your most popular songs is about her?

Joe Katina: Yes, we wrote the song as a tribute to her.

RM: It’s pretty hard to listen to those lyrics and not be moved!

Mama, we were so sad when you left us You know, things were so right, And our future seemed bright risenmagazine.com 31

Then you were gone Mama, you were gone You were amazing, You were so beautiful.

Tell me, why did it end this way?

But before you went on With your last breath you said, You said “We must go on On ‘till Jesus comes.”

We’ll see you again, Yes we’ll see you again, mom again

his wife are expecting (so the Katina kids will soon expand) to number 18!

Our families are so important to us and we place a high priority on being with them. We do spend a lot of time together and the cousins are very close. The kids are around music a lot, it looks like some will probably follow into the path of music someday.

We assumed when we signed that

we would be able to just keep making our music as we had been doing.

The music-lyrics they wanted us to sing were just contrary to our beliefs.

RM: The faith that she instilled continues to carryon in most of your music.

When did your “break” into the professional industry come?

Joe Katina: Well, we were singing mostly in churches and were approached by Maranatha records. We signed our first contract with them.

RM: That was pretty much in the 80s…is that when you were known as Katina Boyz?

[Laughter] Joe Katina: Yeah it was the era of the Boy Bands. Then through a course of events BeBe introduced us to Clive Davis who at the time was with Arista Records. That was in 1993 and we were very young. We were offered and signed with Clive -- an 8-record, multi-million dollar contract.

As we began working on the first album, we would do something and send it to him to listen to and he’d send it back with a different approach. We went back and forth, for a year, really trying to make it happen, but we just didn’t feel right about what was being asked of us. We assumed when we signed that we would be able to just keep making our music as we had been doing.

The music-lyrics they wanted us to sing were just contrary to our beliefs.

We felt so strongly about needing to stand on what we believed – plus if we had done those songs we would have had to answer to dad! [laughter].

We did a lot of praying and fasting through this time and by the grace of God we made the right choice to stand firm. To Clive’s credit, he released us from the contract. We never did end up doing one album with Arista.

RM: Wow, that’s so rare in the music industry! It’s noticeable that worship time plays a big part in your concerts, why?

James Katina: When we started and still today, we do a lot of church venues and lead worship. It has become our own style. Worship is the heart of who we are and it is very natural to us.

RM: What is your typical tour schedule during the year? Do you all hang out together [families] when you are not on the road?

Joe Katina: We travel about 110-120 days a year. Our heavy tour time is around Christmas but most of the other dates are Friday-Monday trips.

They range from special ministry events, to conferences to concerts. We limit our days away from family. Between the five of us, we have 17 kids with ages ranging from 18 to 3 years old and one baby on the way. Jesse and 32 Risen Magazine

RM: You’ve had a number of albums and recording hits such as “Thank You” and “ You Are God”; do you have a favorite?

Joe Katina: There are different things about each album.

For me, I think a favorite is our self-titled album.

John Katina: Our latest album Collage features several guests inluding CeCe Winas who we sang with on her first solo tour. The process for doing collaboration was very special.

RM: How does that writing process work for you? Do you say, “Ok, time for a new song,” and then just get together?

[Laughter] Joe Katina: That would be nice but in reality, when we know that we have an album coming up, we’ll spend time together. We all collaborate and sometimes bring in outside writers.

John Katina: For about three to four months we get together and hash out melodies and ideas. Sometimes it’s the music that comes first, sometime it’s the lyrics. But I’d say that 80 percent comes from those writing sessions.

We’ve been blessed in our career to work with a variety of producers and arrangers who help with our creativity.

RM: What advice would you give today to a young person or group trying to make it in the recording industry?

John Katina: In this age of the internet, stay true to who you are. If you have a great foundation in faith and a church body, stand firm [in what you will and will not do].

Joe Katina: This generation has so much talent. My advice is to work hard. I don’t mean to sound old or judgmental, but the younger generation is given so much and almost has a feeling of entitlement. Be willing to work hard.

RM: Where do you hope to see the Katina’s in 10 years?

Joe Katina: Still loving each other! I hope we are able to encourage and provide opportunities for our kids and others by helping them with their aspirations in music. We had many people help along our journey, and we didn’t realize at the time how valuable those relationships and blessings were. The advice we got was to stay faithful, which instilled a confidence in us.

John Katina: Continuing with the awesomeness of family. We encourage others to share and invest in the institution of family…be loving and forgiving.

34 Risen Magazine

Disney’s “A.N.T. Farm” Star

Jake Short Writer: Heidi Ortlip | Photos: Jeff Berlin

hile some kids sit at home and dream of one day making it to Hollywood, Jake Short is already there. At the age of nine he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Now, less than five years later, he’s starring in a hit Disney Channel show and is the winner of a Kids’ Choice award for Favorite TV Actor.

After being cast in several commercials, making guest appearances on the show Dexter and staring in the 2009 film Shorts, Short became a part of the Disney family by landing the role of the artistic Fletcher Quimby on A.N.T. Farm. The series follows a group of kids in the “Advanced Natural Talents” (or A.N.T.) program at their high school. In 2011, A.N.T. Farm was the highest rated TV series for kids ages 6-11 and number two in tweens age 9-11. [Source: Nielsen Television Ratings] Despite his success, Short maintains an attitude of humility, expressing his gratitude for taking the time to interview him. Risen spoke with the star about how he hopes to avoid falling into a trap so many others have, his faith and advice for aspiring actors.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine Risen Magazine: You started acting when you were just nine years old. What has been the most challenging part of this process so far?

Jake Short: Rejection. A lot of auditioning and a lot of no’s. Actually before I got the show I kept getting callback after callback after callback. And I just got to the point where I was ready to give up. I don’t know, I just kept persevering and God helped, and I always prayed, If this is Your will and Your way, Your will be done. So he gave me this and put it in my path and I can’t thank him enough.

RM: How did you land the role of Fletcher on A.N.T. Farm?

JS: I had just turned 13, it was really exciting. It was 2010 and I was going to go on a cruise with my family. It kind of fell through, but it ended up being okay because I got the job. First we filmed the pilot in August, it was super duper exciting and I had a great time. Then we got picked up for a season in October, only two months after we shot it. First season is done and now we are in the second season and cruising along having a great time.

RM: How do you hope to leave an impact on the kids that watch your show?

JS: I just want them to remember me as the goofy, dorky guy. I’ve never tried to impress a lot of people. I’m a big fan of just sitting back and relaxing and being yourself. I want everyone to know that I’m a big Christian and that it’s God first before everything else.

RM: You’ve been so open about our faith, how has the feedback been so far?

JS: It really depends on the person. A lot of people on Twitter are really supportive and agree with me [when tweeting about faith or Bible verses]. Some

are like “Why do you tweet this every night? Why do you do this? Why do you do that?” Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the chance to tweet a lot lately, I’ve been super tired. I do read my Bible, but it’s hard to think about tweeting it every night, but I try to. And some people are like, “ Yeah, that’s awesome” and others are like “Could you please stop?” I’m going to do what I think is right.

RM: A lot of A-list actors and musicians have come from the Disney Family.

What are you doing to make sure you don’t fall into the same trap some of these people have fallen into?

JS: My family and God and my friends. And honestly, if I hang around the right people I don’t think I’m going to go anywhere. It’s all about who you hang out with, and who is surrounding you. If they are pushing you to do this [acting] – which my family is totally not – they are saying if you don’t want to be in this, it’s totally up to you. And my friends are super supportive. We just hang out, we don’t even have to talk about it, because they know, and I know, it’s just a regular part of life. I think that’s a mistake that a lot of people make – you hang around the wrong people, you make the wrong decisions.

RM: People are quick to judge celebrities, especially kid actors. What do you have to say about the negativity that surrounds this profession?

JS: Yes, you are totally right. I’m not like that. Being modest. I think a lot of people are right, and some of them are wrong. I have really good friends in the industry, who are not like that at all, and their parents are just like mine and they are very supportive and they care about their kids. I think people make quick judgments of kids like us because some are jealous and some want that for their kids. I think the biggest mistake you can make is pushing risenmagazine.com 35

If they can just see through my eyes and get to know God, I think it’s important for people to know what they are missing out on. your child to do what they don’t want to do. Some of it’s right and some of it’s stereotypical and people have to look past the stereotypes to see what kids are really like.

RM: You speak to kids who are interested in acting and want to make a career out of it. What advice do you give them?

JS: Start small. I went to some acting classes and got some referrals, and here I am. I think it starts with your school and local plays, and then maybe traveling plays. Do as much as you can locally and if it’s really your dream you can move to California and try to get an agent. If people think you’re natural and you do a good job, then I think there’s a good chance.

RM: In the show A.N.T. Farm each student has a special gift. How are you using your acting talents for God? JS: I wouldn’t consider myself famous. I haven’t gotten used to people recognizing me and being on TV and I don’t think I ever will. That’s what keeps me here. The publicity that I get really helps me have an influence on teens and children and some adults. If they can just see through my eyes and get to know God, I think it’s important for people to know what they are missing out on. Acting is really presenting me with an opportunity to profess my 36 Risen Magazine

faith and let people know that God is great.

RM: You just won a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite TV Actor, that’s a huge accomplishment, what’s next for you?

JS: I’ve been looking into doing movies. I hope to get nominated for more awards. I’m trying to find a modest way to say this, but I was in a very good category and I’m honored to have won. In the future, I hope to do movies and other TV shows, sitcoms possibly.

RM: What was it like when you found out the pilot got picked up?

JS: I was overly thrilled. I was actually talking to a friend about it, and then someone texted me that they picked it up and I thought it must be unofficial.

Then three seconds later my manager called and said they picked up the pilot. And I was like “Ahhhh!”

RM: Who do you look up to as a role model professionally or personally?

JS: My grandma. I would say one of the big people is Zachary Levi. I’ve heard a lot of talk about him. He’s really down to earth, a Christian, good singer. He’s a cool guy.

RM: What gives you the most joy out of all this? What gets you up in the morning?

JS: I would say, hanging out with the cast. Just chilling and playing basketball is awesome. It’s a calm work environment, very relaxed, except for the school part.

A Heart for Telling the Story: Meet

RANDY FRAZEE Writer: Patti Gillespie

e talks gently but his words are filled with conviction, “ You and I are characters in God’s story, we don’t have a choice about that… but we do have a choice about which part we will play,” says Randy Frazee, author of The Heart of the Story: God’s Masterful Design to Restore His People, which helps bridge an understanding of the Bible and how one’s own story is contained within it.

For centuries people have read and studied the Bible, and for centuries, they have struggled in grasping its magnitude and the story that it tells. Surveys show it’s not because people aren’t interested in reading the best-selling book of all time, in fact many have it on their bucket list. So when Randy Frazee got hold of a book (The Story) that compiled selections from the Bible in an effort to read as one continuous story, he took it one step further. The Heart of the Story is rapidly being used by individuals and study groups throughout the United States and around the world to further Bible literacy.

This author, theological seminary graduate and current senior minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, talked to Risen about the challenge of such a task and the joy that comes out of it.

Interview exclusively for Risen Magazine in Rocklin, California

Risen Magazine: You have quite a vision for people understanding the Bible, when did that begin for you?

Randy Frazee: When I was a kid, my only experience to the Bible was a black- zippered, leather Bible that sat on a bookshelf between my sister’s and my bedroom. I was drawn to it and would occasionally take it off of the shelf, lay down on the floor, with legs crossed in the air behind me and search its contents. I’d read it but it didn’t make sense. I’d rumble around the pages, look them over and the simply close and zip shut the book until the next time, hoping that someday it would all make sense. My family had no faith, it was generations of unbelief.

When I was 14 years old, a neighbor invited me to attend Vacation Bible School. I went for the week and listened…I felt a tugging in my heart and I asked Jesus to come into my heart. That’s when I became part of the story in a different way. God pursued me – he’s preparing me to live to spend time with him and to he wants me to play a part.

Years later when I became a pastor I increasingly saw that it wasn’t because people had a lack of desire to know the Bible, but they had a difficulty in understanding how it all fits together.

RM: Was it through your passion for Bible literacy that you got introduced to The Story itself?

Randy Frazee: Yes. In 2005, I was the senior pastor at a Bible church in Ft. Worth, noticing that [even in a Bible church] people really didn’t get it [the Bible], capturing the heart of the story. I tried several things -- reading through the Bible in a year--which didn’t work because [it went back and

forth between Old and New Testament] people never really understand the story; they were just reading the stuff and trying to pull something out. But there is so much more to the power of the story. I [also] tried doing Griggs Bible chronologies and that worked for like three people, [laughter] .

I came across The Story, and I was really captured by it. It offered a possibility for people to not only go through a Bible survey class, which is an alternative for this where you get the facts, but to be able to experience it, and thought it might be a good idea. Although it wasn’t the entire Bible in text, it was all scripture.

RM: So you used it then to teach?

RF: Not yet…because I had also just accepted a position at Willow Creek Church [in Chicago] as a teaching pastor. Willow Creek had recently finished some pretty extensive research not only at Willow Creek but around the county looking at the spiritual life of people…and what powered their spiritual journey. Basically, [the results of ] the survey screamed that people wanted to know the story. So one day while we [pastors] are sitting around talking sermons, topic ideas, I said, “I haven’t done it yet, but I just got a hold of this [The Story] and maybe we can do it.”

At first I couldn’t get the team to embrace it for a Sunday morning [series], realizing the risk of presenting a 31-week study and keeping people interested. But, two years later, in ’07, I got them to do it on a Wednesday night in community. It was however, during that two years of waiting that I contacted Zondervan [publisher of The Story] and said I really liked the idea [behind it] because biblical literacy was one problem, and expanded to say risenmagazine.com 39

had a desire to take the individual stories in the Bible which are all connected and intertwined and relate it to our lives here on earth; to show how God’s upper story and our lower story are combined. that I saw a second problem, which was that there seemed to be a number of kids who, when they leave the nest, they leave the faith. I said, “I’ve read the research, I’ve seen firsthand that one of the keys to anchoring them in their faith is to get their parents to actually walk alongside of them -- that research is solid.” So I suggested that while we are waiting, let’s develop a kids version and they absolutely agreed. In 2007 the comprehensive study [adults and kids] was introduced at Willow Creek [in New Community] and we saw attendance increase 50 percent...it was amazing.

RM: Ok, so that’s your experience using The Story, but how did your book come about?

RF: Well that’s an interesting story in itself. I had a long time relationship with Max Lucado, who at the time was the senior pastor at Oak Hills church in San Antonio. Max was having some health issues and needed to scale back his work load. I was approached to take over as senior pastor and serve as copastor teaching alternately with Max. RM: Wow…that’s quite a bill to fill. As you have said, Max has been referred to as “America’s Pastor”, so what was it like for you to step into that role?

RF: From the beginning of my coming on board, the leadership had figured there would logically be a decline in attendance. I jumped right in with a 31-week study of The Story. This is a large church with five campuses and we saw a growth of 23 percent in attendance! That wasn’t me. It was The Story.

And I had a desire to take the individual stories in the Bible which are all connected and intertwined and relate it to our lives here on earth; to show how God’s upper story and our lower story are combined.

RM: And the publisher of The Story asked you to do just that?

RF: Yes. If you just read The Story you will get the story line, but you won’t necessarily capture the upper and lower story. It’s like in chapter 21 (of The Story), which is the last chapter in the Old Testament where the children of Israel are coming back from captivity and haven’t had the word read to them in 140 years. They ask Ezra to pull out the stories; that’s how hungry [for the word] they were. That’s what we’ve got today. [People saying] “Pastor, will you just read us the story?” I think we gotten too fancy, in my estimation, too fancy to attract people to the church based upon the felt need. I think this is a detriment of my generation of preachers, we attract people to meet their needs of a lower story and that’s where we’ve left it…the lower story helps us when life is going wrong.

But when life really gets out of control, the lower story principles aren’t going to help you, it’s the upper story. Basically I think that the heart of the story is like when Ezra gets up to read and [the people] stand up. It [Bible] says that in the crowd were some Levites, and they formed small groups to make sure that they understood what was being read. So to me, the heart of 40 Risen Magazine

the story is that my part is not the main part, my part is that of the Levite.

I’m the little Levite that’s formed a little small group helping this community of people understand what they just read.

And just as it was in the Old Testament time, it’s in the New Testament era today, understanding what’s being read. I think that’s what The Heart of the Story does. It was written t to bridge that understanding.

RM: Did you and Max write it together?

RF: Well, the writing process was a little overwhelming. Max is an amazing writer. He’s sold over 100 million books but he and I have very different writing styles. It wasn’t quite working to write it together, so we all (with the publisher) decided that I should go forward with The Heart of the Story, as a companion to The Story, and Max proceeded with a book called, God’s Story.

RM: Why do you think it’s so important to study the Bible with others?

RF: Studying the Bible with others is a key element to understanding. I like to give the analogy of someone trying to quit smoking. You desire to quit on your own. The percentage rate for success is very low. If you add a tool, such as a nicotine patch or gum, etc., you increase your success rate by about five percent. If you add another tool such as that of doing with in a community (with others) you increase your success rate by 40 percent. It’s the same with studying the Bible. If you read the story you will get it but you need someone to come alongside of you and show you the clues along the way…reminders of how it all links together, and that’s what The Heart of the Story and a group setting can do.

RM: Now that The Story and The Heart of the Story have developed into a comprehensive Bible study with a DVD series to accompany it, what’s next?

RF: This has provided a gateway to the Bible. The goal now is wean people off from teaching and on to the entire Bible. I have just published “The Story Going Deeper” which offers seven specific sessions for study including all 66 books of the Bible, how it is organized and where the events take place.

Randy Frazee began with a desire to learn and understand the Bible and break unbelief in his family chain that existed for generations. Today, he has seen that breakthrough. It exists in a three-year-old little girl laying on the floor with legs crossed in the air behind her looking at a picture book of the Bible…and although it might appear to be just like that little boy with the black-zipped Bible, this time a grandpa is right next to her… sharing, teaching and loving her through the study of God’s word. And as Frazee best says, “This is the blessing of our lower story aligned with God’s upper story.”

Left to Right: Gareth Gilkeson, Chris Llewellyn, Will Herron, Patrick Thompson (standing) and Ally Gilkeson

e h t g n i d l i u B d n a B h Iris : y t i n u m m o C h t i w m o d g Kin

Writer: Kelli Gillespie | Photos: Andy Hutch

Originating in Northern Ireland, Rend Collective Experiment is more than a band. It was started by a group of college kids as a movement in an attempt to reinvent worship and create a shift in culture where people felt they could belong and be a part of something bigger than themselves. Now on their first tour in the United States, that same theme is still at their core and reflected in many songs on their latest album, “Homemade Worship by Handmade People.” Risen talked with Gareth Gilkeson and Chris Llewellyn about everything from Irish Monikers and Saints, to communicating with God and ongoing spiritual revelations.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in San Diego, California Risen Magazine: When everyone is singing together in a concert setting, or even in the car for that matter, it seems relatively easy to worship, but how do you practically follow Christ and how would you encourage others to lead a life of faith?

Gareth Gilkeson: I think that really is the biggest fear in us, that people would come and have a one-night buzz. And the buzz stops when the music does. Our heart and what we’re trying to equip the church with, is to understand that worship is about building the kingdom. One of the songs we have “Build Your Kingdom Here” is a call to the church. It says, “We are the church, we are the hope on Earth, we are the hands and the feet.” What we’re trying to say is that worship is what you do; it’s not only what you sing. I don’t think we’ve written any songs that are trite or just that “Jesus you are lovely” song.

Because first of all we’re guys, and we don’t even say anybody is lovely, and second of all that’s not what our heart is, our heart is to try and equip the church. We’re frustrated as well because we do a lot of touring and we don’t get as many opportunities to be able to worship like that as much as we want.

So we write out of a place of frustration and a dream that God has put in us because that is what we grew from. We grew from a college movement which Glenn [his buddy sitting next to him on the tour bus showing support for that night’s concert] and I started 10 years ago. That’s where we came from.

We were representing the kingdom on the ground and that’s what we believe is real worship.

RM: Worship is a form of communication with God, and one I think many understand, but when it comes to listening to the Lord and hearing his direction for your life or music, how do you navigate that?

Chris Llewellyn: I wish I had a really amazing answer to that where my life was full of this true clarity of God’s voice. I guess we’re part of the struggling people in that way. I mean the best you can do is set aside the time, read as much as you can, and pray for God’s grace that he’ll speak to us. There are no formulas to it.

RM: Where does the inspiration come from for your lyrics?

CL: It comes from our individual walk with God, and we all read quite

widely as far as theology and even poetry. And even just the discussions out of community, you can hear God’s voice in the conversation that goes on between a community of people that are trying to follow Jesus. A lot of times that really forms the place that we write out of.

GG: It’s a lot like this Saint, called St. Brandon, around the same time as St. Patrick… so he felt God call him to go out and explore, so he left Ireland on a boat with quite a few other monks and they had no idea what they were doing. That is something we feel which is why our last name is “Experiment”; to make it very clear that we are not a clear cut, evangelically rounded, perfect, know-exactly-where-we’re-going bunch of people, because we’re not.

We don’t have all the boxes checked and we don’t know exactly what God has called us to, but we have the blueprints and the seeds and everything that he has planted within us. That’s what we’re following…those dreams and those whispers. I love the idea stepping out of Ireland knowing that Jesus is leading and he’s the captain of our ship.

CL: It’s funny you didn’t finish the story about St. Brandon there because actually he landed on an island and then in fact discovered the island was a sea monster, so some of it you might want to take that with a pint of salt. We think he left Ireland. Sometimes Irish people are good at telling a good story so it’s hard to know. That story didn’t make it into the scriptures [laughter].

I haven’t read it.

RM: Ireland is known as the “land of saints and scholars” – how does this moniker effect your approach to music?

GG: Oh yes, we’re very holy, and very smart. [Laughter] That’s where that moniker comes into play.

CL: You don’t notice it being in Ireland, but I guess you’re always affected by the culture you grew up in. There are monasteries, and ruins of monasteries all over Ireland and the stories of the saints are worked into everything you learn in primary school. So our approach to spirituality has been affected that way. We have a song on the album, “ You Are My Vision,” which is a song that St. Patrick wrote. We probably wouldn’t have re-translated it if we hadn’t grown up in that culture. risenmagazine.com 43

RM: You mentioned the Experiment part of your name, but the word Collective is really an important part of your band’s identity too. I think so many people are longing to feel a part of something bigger than themselves, a sense of belonging. You even say, “Welcome to the family” on your website, so what advice can you give to people who want to be connected?

GG: I think the Bible is so much about the outsider, and I think that’s one thing people and churches need to remember, the outsider is actually deemed in the scriptures as somebody who remembered where to seek, and to evolve.

So for churches, people, and youth groups, we all know what it’s like to grow up with a bunch of people who you are like and that sort of thing, so I guess the collective thing for us has major benefits, but also major drawbacks. We have a lot of relational things that we always need to keep in check. Nothing is ever simple with a group of people, because there are people with a lot of needs. But we deem that more important than anything else. With the aspect of “Collective” we want people to feel like they don’t have to be a musician to be part of this and we’re not too cool for school. We have a lot of people that are involved in what we do that aren’t musicians.

RM: Since you write all your own music… what struggles or celebrations are you finding the most universal to young adults from country to country?

GG: One of the things we’re seeing is church people really struggle with guilt and really struggle with their issue. There’s a song called “Second Chance” and we thought we needed to deal with that issue. Guilt really chains people up and makes them ineffective. Instead of people thinking about, How can I share the gospel, How can I love people more, they are busy thinking about their guilt and what they’ve done wrong and how they are powerless because they’ve 44 Risen Magazine

made mistakes. So we wrote that song about second chances given at the cross because it’s just time to move on from failure because that’s obvious. That was a big thing we felt in the temperature of the church especially people in their late teens, twenties and thirties. Why waste a life struggling with guilt, when you could be using it for the gospel, and using it for greater things.

RM: I think a lot of people can know that they are saved, know that they are a Christian, but to know, that you know, that you know that he is God, he is Father… was there a defining experience for you or when did it sink in and you believed it, rather than just talking or singing about it?

GG: I think for me, there is ongoing revelation. There are times whenever God meets you exactly where you’re at, and he communicates exactly who he is for you at that moment. I can remember one time running through a field crying, and laughing, and jumping like Little House on the Prairie, just really weird and I just had this revelation that God was my friend. There are times you realize who God is and then a lot of the times, like me right now, I’m waiting on a new revelation of who God is for me at this moment in time.

It’s a new season for a new relationship. I guess it’s like when you were a kid, you spend time with your dad and he’s a disciplinarian, then you’re a teenager and you’re like “eh,” and then when you’re thirty and you’re building your house and he’s [your father] around, he’s a friend, and it becomes a whole new experience. I think our relationship with our Father in Heaven is that same sort of thing, where the definition of the relationship changes as you get older and God reveals different things. For me right now I’m hungry for a new revelation of who God is for me at this time.

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Staying True to Herself:

tanya gandy Writer: Mei Ling Starkey Photo: Michael Larsen

n the pool, US National Water Polo team member, Tanya Gandy is known for her fierce competitiveness. During her four years as an attacker at UCLA, she led the Bruins to four NCAA titles and scored 187 career goals, the fourth highest total in school history. While she is still competitive outside of the pool, it is always in good fun. Risen caught up with Gandy and talked about resolving conflict, the injury that almost ended her career, and how she turned to God in the midst of all of it.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine

Risen Magazine: During your senior year at UCLA, you had the highest single-season goal total in program history. During your career at UCLA you won four national championships and you were named NCAA Division I Player of the Year and first-team All-America. Congratulations on all of those accomplishments! With all the awards and recognitions, how do you keep a level head?

Tanya Gandy: Time goes by and I tend to forget that I have accomplished all of that. It is easy to be humbled when you surround yourself with friends that treat you as a normal person. I have to keep things in perspective too and remember what is most important. I always try be the best player that I can be. I am always trying to improve so I try not to think too much about the past. Having a balanced family and personal life helps me to have a balanced professional life. I am always striving to do more. Balance is a huge key to keeping a level head.

Even though I didn’t make the Olympic team, I know that I am going to be okay. Over the past year, I have watched 15 girls get cut from the National Team and their dreams were shattered. I also know some other Olympians that struggle with who they are because their identity was only as an athlete.

Then one day it stops and you are not that person. It is really difficult to have that pressure on you.

It is really important to stay true to yourself. The one thing I told myself when I started this whole process was that I am not going to change who I am. I have turned to my family, friends and my faith. There are times that I think about getting cut or having that last day of practice, because eventually that day will come. But I have to remember that it is just a game and be thankful for all of the opportunities I have had at UCLA, Rancho Bernardo, and with my professional team in Spain.

RM: Last year, you had a little bit of a scare. Your hand was going numb and the doctors didn’t know how long it was going to take to heal. At one point, you thought your career might be done. Can you describe what happened?

TG: I have never been hurt, missed a game or missed a practice during my entire career. I was on a trip, fell asleep on the plane and when I woke up, I couldn’t open my hand. I couldn’t even feel it. It was very scary. The couple of

days turned into weeks and then it became a month. It has been a year now and it still isn’t totally healed. I was in a hotel room in the middle of Holland on a team trip. It was an important game that would determine who would get cut from the team. Everything you have worked for flashes before your eyes. It broke me down. I never thought I would not be able to put my own ponytail in or eat with my right hand because I didn’t know if my hand would open up. I came home during that time and saw some doctors. My mom helped me a lot and she reminded me that everything happens for a reason.

You’re always going to come across obstacles in life and you never know what is going to happen in the future. But as long as you have faith in God and trust his will, you will be fine.

And it has. I look back now and I am kind of actually glad that it happened because of everything that has happened since then. It is hard to think like that when it first happens to you though.

RM: Talk a little bit more about that. There had to have been some pretty honest prayers and even questioning God. What did your faith look like during this time?

TG: I didn’t know who to talk to. We have everything at our disposal as National Team athletes. We have the best psychologists, the best doctors, nutritionists, trainers, coaches, and support groups. But the only thing that helped me was prayer. I remember asking God, “Why is this happening to me?

Why now? Why this? What are you trying to tell me?”

It was the first time I sat the bench. I never sat the bench that much in my career. I learned how to be a team player and how to be there for support.

My role was to just cheer. It was hard for me to grasp. But I think God was teaching me a lesson. There are role players out there; not everyone can be the star player or the goal scorer and sometimes this role is just as important as a role in the pool. It was difficult at first to support my teammates that were playing, but leaning on faith and prayer helped me to really get through a difficult time.

RM: Thank you for sharing that I know it was hard, but I think that story will be encouraging to our readers.

TG: I definitely could have used someone that had gone through something risenmagazine.com 47

similar to encourage me. I appreciate everyone now who was in my position before.

RM: As you prepare your teammates for the Olympics, what do you hope to accomplish?

TG: There are 16 girls on the National Team and only 13 girls get to go to the Olympics. Even though I don’t get to go to the Olympics, I want the best for my teammates. I am going to make them into the best players that they can be. I want to raise the level of play at practice so that they can compete

about them. With social media, people tend to say stuff that they wouldn’t normally say in person. So if there is conflict, you have to resolve it right away and go to that person. No one likes feeling like there are secrets being told about them and no one likes feeling excluded. I try to make sure that no one feels left out if we go somewhere. It takes a leader to do that and set the precedence for the team. In practice, we have to pass and do drills with different people so that you don’t just pass with your friends or the people you went to college with. If you do that, then it creates cliques. Our team has players as young as 18 and as old as 33. There are definitely big differences. Some are married and some haven’t even gone to college yet. So we look for ways to be unified because we are one team.

the one thing i told myself when i started this whole process was that i am not going to change who i am. at their highest level. I want to make our country proud and just to be able to compete for your country on that level is a huge honor.

RM: What does a typical day look like for you?

TG: We train six days a week. We have weights 7-8:30AM and then we swim from 8:45-10am. Afterwards, we go home, sleep for a bit, and then eat lunch. We have a couple hours to run errands and rest. Then we come back from 1:30-4:30pm. We scrimmage, do drills, pass and shoot. That’s a typical day. Its six hours of training. Then on Saturdays we have practice. We have been training together for the past two years. It’s a full-time job, but you are with 15 of your good friends everyday and the coaches are really nice.

RM: Teamwork is essential for success in water polo. How do you and your teammates build that camaraderie?

TG: We all come from different colleges and played against each other throughout our careers. Now we are on the same team, live in the same place, and practice together every day. Sometimes it is a fight to death during practice because it is a very physical game. But out of the pool, we will all go grab lunch. Whether it is a pasta party or our team activity, we find ways to stick together as a team. We like to joke and write encouraging notes to each other.

You have to lean on each other.

RM: What advice do you have for athletes who experience conflict with their teammates?

TG: Conflict can be a fragile thing. It can break a team down without you even knowing it. You may choose to ignore the fact that you don’t get along well with somebody. But in reality, it hurts the whole team. If I don’t think that I will be the best of friends with someone on the team, I try and see the good in that person. One example is someone that is older than me. I don’t have that much in common with initially. We don’t have similar personalities.

She is direct and intimidating to me. But I have grown to respect and really appreciate her because of her confidence. She is a leader and has proven herself as a good player. She has been through so much that I have never been through. I have learned to respect that, instead of having the attitude, “She’s not like me. I’m not going to get along with her.” I always try and find the good in someone and focus on that.

RM: Girls handle conflict a lot differently than guys.

TG: Even at the Olympic level, girls get hurt when someone says something 48 Risen Magazine

RM: When you were at Rancho Bernardo High School, one of your rivals was Kara Butler from Poway High School. Both of you are fierce competitors in the pool, but if people saw you outside of the pool, they would see a totally different person. How would you describe yourself?

TG: I would say that I am a caring person and I am always looking to make everyone happy and smile. Outside of the pool, I am still a competitive person but I want everyone to have fun. I am playful, enthusiastic and energetic.

If I’m upset about something, I try to hide it so it doesn’t affect other people’s happiness.

I actually saw Kara Butler a few weeks ago at a benefit for her uncle who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. [And it was good] just seeing her and being able to give her a hug. We used to beat each other up at games and practices, since our schools were such fierce rivals. That stuff doesn’t matter when you get out of the pool. You get out of the pool and you’re still friends. She is still a person.

I remember on the National Team, I hated some of the girls I played against at different colleges. Now they are on my team and we are competing for the United States and you have to be able to be friends. We train together for two years and you see them six hours a day. I was always glad that I didn’t clash with anyone and didn’t talk bad about people behind their backs because all of that comes back to you. Now we are all really good friends. I have learned a lot about them as people.

RM: You became a Christian in high school. How would you describe your faith journey?

TG: I would say that it was very personal for me. My friends helped me out a lot. In high school, there were so many different directions that you could go. I was fortunate to be around an older group of girls that I really admired and looked up to as role models. I wanted to emulate them. They invited me to Student Venture and the Rock Church. I branched out on my own after that and got inspired to learn more about God. It was hard to be open about [my faith] because I am kind of shy.

My friends played a major role [when it came to my faith]. It was helpful to have people who I could talk with about God, share our faith and ask questions. It made it a lot easier to open up. It was fun to go to church and Student Venture with my friends and share those experiences with them. My family didn’t always go to church, but they always supported me going.

RM: You are really close to your family. How do you stay connected with your friends and family with your travelling schedule?

TG: It’s really hard to think about what my friends and family are doing and

US National Water Polo Team

not be able to see them everyday or just call them and say let’s go surfing. You are always thinking about being on the road and training. I have to keep in mind that I am a professional. I can’t go out and stay out late because I have practice early in the morning. It’s difficult, but you have to find time and reach out. I enjoy grabbing coffee and lunch. Little things like that pay off in the long run because they don’t think that you are ignoring them. My family and friends are very supportive. They all know what I am working towards and they want the same thing.

RM: In order to be where you’re at today professionally in the sport, a lot of discipline and sacrifice had to take place. Are there any things you regret missing out on?

TG: I don’t regret on missing out on anything. In life, you make choices and I chose to do what I do. I love what I do and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. There are some things that I have missed that I wish I could have been a part of. I was in Rome for World Championships and missed my college graduation. So to miss walking [across the stage] for my parents’ sake was hard, but you find other ways to make up for it. We did a mock graduation in front of our house. My mom was adamant about celebrating my graduation.

She bought the gown, got my diploma and took pictures. I was also in Spain for Thanksgiving one year and that was hard because I am so close with my family. Other than that, I don’t really regret missing anything.

RM: You have had an amazing career as an athlete, when you think about the legacy that you want to leave in and out of the pool, what does that look like?

TG: I want others to think of me as someone that wasn’t just a good player, but a good person that was always looking to make her team better. I want to be remembered as someone that looked to make the team environment better and a fun place to be in. This sport is supposed to be fun. I do it because I get to travel, play with my friends, and compete at the highest level. I also

want to make sure I am improving the sport and making it exciting for girls who are coming up and want to do what I am doing. I want to help girls who want to play in college, play overseas, or maybe even the Olympics. Those opportunities rather than the accolades or achievements have shaped me and I want others to experience that.

RM: What words of advice do you have for athletes as they balance pursuing their athletic career and maintaining their relationship with God? TG: If you were to compare faith to sports, my coaches now don’t tell me what swim sets to do. I am on my own. I have to find time on my own to go to the pool and do my swim workout. I don’t have 20 other teammates with me. It is just me and the clock and the pool. I have to push myself. At this level, if we are on satellite training and I am on vacation with my family, it is the hardest thing to go to a gym and swim. You know 90 percent of what you need to do. It is just having the dedication to do it. Once I do it, I feel amazing. It is the same thing with God. You have to take time and grow in your relationship with God.

If you are dedicated, you can grow in your relationship with God and reach out to your teammates and friends. There is a community of people around you that wants to help. I didn’t know that at the time. When I first moved to Long Beach to train, I didn’t know anybody and I felt like I needed someone to help me find a church and find a group of friends. It wasn’t true.

I just needed to be confident and do it. It’s also important to set aside time to read the Bible and pray. I keep a journal and write down verses or thoughts when I am on the plane. Then, I go back to those things when I am done traveling. When I am in town, I go to church on Sunday. It is a challenge though at times. There are obstacles and distractions. You have to stay true to yourself and not be influenced. risenmagazine.com 49

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Act of Valor

Writer: Kelli Gillespie Photo: IATM LLC Copyright 2011 Relativity Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Directors Scott Waugh & Mouse McCoy discuss briefing with Navy Seals

Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty Navy SEALs in a powerful story of contemporary global anti-terrorism. Inspired by true events, it blends real-life heroism and original filmmaking from Scott Waugh and Mike “Mouse” McCoy. Risen talked with the codirectors about how these heroes must balance their commitment to country, team and their families back home.

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Risen Magazine: What is your definition of a hero? How did you want to make sure that heroisim was shown onscreen through these military personnel?

Scott Waugh: We have to look at hero in the context on this film and these men. And in this case, you have men who are doing these absolutely heroic amazing things for their country and seeking no recognition. It was really fundamental for us.

Mike “Mouse” McCoy: It is somebody that is going to give 100 percent of themself to something…to give everything they possibly can for their brothers and want no one to know about it.

RM: That behavior does seem extreme, so there has got to be a certain mentality attracted to that kind of selflessness. In your interactions what stood out to you both?

SW: They all [Navy Seals] had subtle differences but the one common denominator with all of them was a never quit mentality.

They will never stop. Before we met the guys I just thought they were these incredible warriors. And they were by themselves, and they were like the quintessiental “300” guys. But then when you got to meet them, you knew that they were incredible husbands and fathers, and that there is just so much at risk, other than just themselves – that was the separation as to what kind of man would do that knowing everything back home is on the line besides just himself. They are so fundamentally devoid of ego inside of the platoon, that the world can learn a lot from the way a Seal platoon works together.

MMM: Our biggest inspiration was [Navy Seal] Mike Mosour who won the Medal of Honor posthumously for diving on a grenade with his body on a rooftop and saving his brothers. That particular story really inspired us about what is going on with this culture. What makes it so special that you would make that decision in a split second in the middle of a combat mission? That really happened. This act of valor and others are definitely the epitome of never quitting.

SW: This movie stars the Seals, they are amazing men, but across the military branches you hear stories like this, and with first responders. In the case of the Seals, a lot of time they are doing it for the guy to the left and the guy to the right, their brothers. But

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first responders are risking their lives on a daily basis to save people they don’t even know. That’s really inspiring to us.

RM: Since this movie is based on actual events, using active duty Seals… what are the security risks, if any, when it comes to seeing tactics or strategies?

MMM: We’re showing capabilities that are well-known. But the Navy had a full scrub on the movie for what is called TTP – Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures. They made sure we weren’t giving away anything classified, or showing how you do something. We’re in step with the Seals, we don’t want to give the playbook to the bad guys. But we do want to really communicate what they are willing to do in battle.

RM: How did you see the guys deal with fear?

SW: You ask Lieutenant Rorke and he says he doesn’t experience fear. They are a particular type of breed that trains, and are extremely well prepared. I think they feel like their “operational planning” is so thought-out across the board, that there is a lot of confidence there.

MMM: It also was amazing how present and centric these guys were when the whole world is coming unglued. The absence of stress and how they are staying super centered in the middle of a gnarly gunfight with men down, and yet still maintaining control of their voice and communication, thoughts and actions, so they can stay tactical and get their platoon out of that situation; that’s just fascinating…there is no freaking out.

RM: In filming the movie you opted for live fire gunfights – meaning these are not fake guns and bullets. What went into wanting to use real ammunition? Why take the risk?

MMM: As filmmakers it translates onscreen. There’s this visceral kinetic energy that’s happening inside of those gunfights that you can’t replicate or fake.

SW: Everyone was on board. The good thing about it is if you’re going to be immersed in that situation, no better way than with the person behind the trigger being a Navy Seal.

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Who Needs A Big Record Deal?

British Singer

Lee MacDougall Chases His Dreams Solo

Writer: Shanna Schwarze Photographer: Kevin Allen

It seems that living out the “American Dream” is an elusive pursuit currently for many people. But what do you do if you’re an Englishman, from a small town, with your own American dream to play music in…well…America? Rising British pop singer, Lee MacDougall, is finding the answer through relentless touring, playing festivals before the likes of Bon Jovi, cultivating diehard fan support and singing catchy songs that appeal to all music fans. Oh and by the way, he’s doing this without major label support or radio airplay.

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Risen Magazine: When did you know that music wasn’t just a hobby, but a life passion you could pursue?

Lee MacDougall: Well I always believed in what I was doing, but I guess the real stamp of confirmation came when I first started sending out demos to labels in England. Up until that point, I’m sure I was like every 16-year-old who thinks he’s great, singing and playing guitar, and becoming the next Jimi Hendrix. When I sent out my first demos I got a really strong response from people in the industry and I had some really good meetings. A couple of weeks later I found myself in London recording studios. When those people started paying close attention to what I was doing, it in turn gave me more confidence because I knew that I must be doing something right.

RM: Touring can be quite a wild ride with audiences of vastly different sizes. How do you maintain perspective with all the highs and lows?

LMD: That’s really hard actually. At this stage, music for me is quite a funny game. One night can literally be a festival with 20,000 people and then the next I can literally be playing to 12 people in Pittsburgh. I guess if I was a lot further down the line, the smaller gigs would hit me a bit harder, but the reality is whenever I’m singing, it’s a big show. I mean I don’t even have a single on the radio! I don’t get too down when it’s an off night and there aren’t too many people at a gig because why should there be, you know? I’m at the point where it’s word-of-mouth and it takes “buzz building” and I’m pretty realistic in my aspirations. There’s no such thing as an overnight success.

RM: You’ve been on seven different tours around the world in just the past year; what in your background has prepared you for that type of rigorous schedule, lifestyle, and such?

LMD: Nothing really! I guess that I just wanted it for so long

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that when it did happen, I just threw myself head first into it and nothing was going to slow me down or stop me. I guess coming from Grimsby [a port city in Lincolnshire, England] and moving to London – well there’s not a lot more that can test you than doing something like that. Once I got to London and settled in, I was already in that nomadic mindset; so being in L.A. or Atlanta or wherever, it’s kind of the same mindset for me as when I’m in London. It all feels kind of temporary at the minute because I’m constantly on the move.

RM: What inspires you the most in life and in your work?

LMD: Probably my family because I want to make them proud of me and proud of what I’m doing. They’ve always given me their full support and my number one aim has always been to repay the faith they’ve shown in me. But also, a lot of fans inspire me. Sometimes if I’m having a bad day, I’ll receive a letter from someone saying nice things about my songs and that definitely lifts me up and makes me want to jump back in and keep writing.

RM: The love songs and the break-up songs seem to get the most attention, but you also write about some pretty serious topics like crime and domestic violence. What is your inspiration to write those songs?

LMD:I just think that it’s all well and good writing pop music, but it’s nice if you can touch people and have songs that have a bit more gravitas. I mean primarily what I write is sing-along pop but that wouldn’t keep me entertained, just writing an album of 12 songs of happy-go-lucky sing-alongs. I like to have a few thoughtful moments in there as well. When you’re playing music and you’ve got an audience, then it’s a chance not many people have. There’s a chance that other people are actually going to listen and maybe pay attention to what you have to say. It’s nice to use those three minutes to say something thought provoking, something with a bit more weight…without getting on my high horse!

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STARS OF

MEN IN BLACK 3 Reflect On Miracles And Making A Difference Writer: Kelli Gillespie

Josh Brolin (left), Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

There’s more to Men In Black 3 than just aliens and special effects. Not only is there a fabulous element of time travel, which brings Josh Brolin side-by-side with Will Smith, but there are some really deep themes about miracles, truth and giving back. Risen talked with the talented stars of the out-of-this-world comedy.

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Risen Magazine: Men In Black 3 boasts a great piece of dialogue stating, “A miracle is something that seems impossible but happens anyway.” It seems like you’ve had such a blessed life, so when have you seen a miracle take place?

Will Smith: I remember my father called me when Independence Day opened. It broke all these box office records. My father was on the East Coast and I in LA, and he calls me – so it was 6 a.m. there, making it 3 o’clock in the morning for me, and he said, “Remember when I told you that there is no such thing as luck? You remember that?” I said, “ Yeah Dad.” He said, “Remember when I told you if you work hard you can have anything you want?” I said, “ Yeah, Dad I remember.” He said, “Remember when I told you there ain’t no such thing as luck, just as you are, just how hard you work?” I said, “ Yeah Dad.” He said, “Man, that’s a bunch of BS. You’re the luckiest jerk I ever met in my life.” I feel like my life has always been like that. I work really hard. I’m very obsessive about what I do, but providence plays a big part.

RM: What about you Josh, what miraculous things have you seen take place in your career or life?

Josh Brolin: Look, every job that I get is a miracle to me. It’s a cliché but truly after every movie you, “God, I hope you let me work again. It would be really nice to be able to continue to do this [acting].”

And having kids is a miracle. I have older kids now and they are away, so I’m sitting there saying, “I want them back.”

RM: Will, you do such a great job of giving back and using your influence to bring about change. What encouragement can you give youth to make an impact in their communities and serve at such a young age?

WS: It’s important for me with any project that I do…for instance we filmed in New York and there are always charitable components and elements [for involvement]. It’s hugely important

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to me, just from my upbringing, to add value any place that I go.

My grandmother used to say, “Everything you touch has to be better just because you touched it.” To me, that’s how I live my life.

RM: Josh, your parents instilled a strong work ethic in you, what would you say to kids about the importance of making a difference with whatever resources of gifts they have?

JB: You tell your kids to go out there and work, go out there and understand the value of a dollar, understand that one person doing something that may seem so minute, has a wake effect. It affects other people. When you see a kid do good, another kid wants to emulate that kid because they see the affirmations that they get from it. It’s pretty cool. My parents did that with me. I was way too young when I started working, I think was completely illegal, but my parents were like, “Go out there man, work.” I said, “Give me five bucks, what are you talking about?” And they said, “No. Work for the five bucks.” And I said, “ You have money, I know you do.” They said, “Go work.” So that conversation didn’t last very long. But I learned the value of a dollar and I think it was good. I think it sustained me for a long time.

RM: Another nugget of wisdom from the script: “The bittersweet truth is so much better than the nicest of lies.”

How do you surround yourself with truth in a place like Hollywood?

WS: I grew up in West Philly, and Jada [Pinkett Smith] grew up in Baltimore, so keeping it real was a big part of both of our upbringings. We really sort of help each other maintain that grounded space because you can get caught up in the fantasy of this world. There’s a distinct American romanticism that Hollywood is the quintessential place of expression, so you just have to be careful to not allow it to get into your heart. It can be in your art, but not live in your heart. risenmagazine.com 53

Dept:Q-5

Soulcraft:

Dr. Ron Kirkemo Writer: Kelli Gillespie

Spiritual growth like political statecraft needs a purpose and strategy and tactics. Thus, Soulcraft was developed for bringing God’s call for “First Love” into the realities of the world. Risen talked with Ron Kirkemo, Ph.D about his devotional, change, and a vision of purpose that take us beyond ourselves.

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Risen Magazine: Going deeper with one’s faith is such an important part of developing as a Christian, how does your devotional book help people grow?

Ron Kirkemo: My own personal core goal has been to walk “worthy of the Lord” in all aspects of my life. Beyond the normal disciplines I have crafted several new personal ones. Every three months I select three core scriptures to read often, each week I develop a new prayer of thanks, and from twenty-two prayer words of Paul, I choose three each day for prayer-building.

This is a daily devotional, but organized by topics related to spiritual growth ranging from dreams and failures to love, leadership, citizenship, facing workplace dishonesty and breaking the “boxes” that limit us. These also include the beatitudes, parables and central questions of Jesus.

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RM: Change is inevitable… what have you found to be the best way to deal with change?

RK: I did not recognize change until I was blindsided. I had my dream teaching job, a nice home for my family and a great church. Then the president [of the school] said he was going to move the college. Big changes ahead! I was mad the whole year and considered choosing a different future. I knew the Lord cared about me so I seriously sought his guidance. He asked me, “If you had to choose between working at a secular university and working for the kingdom, which would you choose?” Coming from him [the Lord] the answer was obvious. I made the choice and he went before me and made the way smooth. My critical attitude persisted like muck in my soul. I asked the Lord to dredge it, and he did. I write that God cares, so he gives guidance, and then at our request, will make our souls whole.

Heart trouble forced my early retirement, leaving two major projects unachieved. The following year I saw some spiritual metaphors and real-life issues that I could write about and that became an opportunity to reinvent myself, my way to walk worthy of the Lord in changed circumstances. I write about forks in the road, passages, tides and updrafts. You want to choose the right road and catch the right tide so I write about marrying hope

54 Risen Magazine

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and imagination to wisdom and prayer, about discernment and discretion, and about high-risk decisions and sacred decisions.

When change is negative you may have time to start over, or you can re-engineer your stymied goals, or reinvent yourself.

RM: How are your experiences with God and trust reflected in your writings?

RK: In a miracle and mystery, I was unexplainably saved from drowning while swimming alone one night in a mountain river.

I write about encountering God and hearing his voice in storms, choices and mysteries.

There is no conspiratorial group manipulating American elections and I do not believe God is the master manipulator of cancer or car wrecks or theft. We have freedom and possibilities in Christ. This book deals with using that freedom to develop goals and dreams. I write about imagination, initiative, engaging the future, and crafting a life that will be remembered well, wide and long.

RM: When did your faith become real? Was there a defining moment?

RK: During college I feared my personal ambitions would be lost if I committed my life to Christ. I picked up, The Practice of the Presence of God, and read “That we ought…to put our whole trust in God, and make a total surrender of ourselves to him, secure that he will not deceive us.” I suddenly saw that God would not waste my life; I can trust my life to God.

RM: What are a couple of scriptures that are most encouraging to you and your daily walk with the Lord?

RK: “Fear not for I have redeemed you, I know you by name. You are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) “The Lord protects the simple hearted; when I was in great need he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” (Psalm 116:6-7) “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” ( John 15:4) “If any of you lack wisdom he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him.” ( James 1:5)

Soulcraft

Daily Devotionals for Spiritual Growth

by Dr. Ronald Kirkemo

“

These were a delight to read.

After a long discouraging day I found them very inspirational.�

~ Dr. John Wu

This devotional is for those seeking spiritual growth.

Like artists weaving the mosaic of our lives, or as contractors constructing our growth, we need vision and helpful advice as we pursue spiritual lives.

This paperback book is full of insight and practical applications.

Order Online at

www.soulcraftbook.com

Dept:Miracles

SMALL: Jaim Connor Shares His Story in Schools Across the Country Editor’s Note:

Every person has been uniquely created and gifted with skills to influence the world. That uniqueness can come in varied forms through speaking, drama, music, technology, relationship building, learning, creativity, or simply serving. TWELVE is a mentorship and leadership training experience focused not only on discovering God, but also on who God created us to be.

TWELVE has the primary objective of providing an environment that truly changes lives. During a nine-month term, this team influences 200,000 students through school assemblies across the nation. The biggest impact comes from personal stories.

We wanted to give one of the TWELVE’s team members the opportunity to share his story: Meet Jaim Connor…

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Dept:Miracles

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine

I made it, but my father didn’t.

I was in my mom’s womb trying to grow when the doctors saw that I was having trouble. “Failure to thrive” was written on my chart and there was concern. Ultimately, I was born a month and a half early at 2 pounds, 6 ounces, but my father was long gone by then. He didn’t want to have anything to do with a deformed kid.

The reason for concern was Russell-Silver Syndrome, a disorder that involves, among other things, low growth, low birth weight and short height.

In other words, I’m small.

Really small.

My bones are thin, my voice is weak and my eyes are unusual. I’m the size of a fourth grader. But here’s the thing—at 20 years old, I’m 4’10”, 65 pounds and as big as I’m ever going to get.

You might think life would be tough for someone of my size and while you may be right, it is nothing compared to what life was like as a little boy, a really little boy.

From my earliest memory, I always felt a little like a moth; always flittering around other people, hoping to be liked and accepted and not swatted away.

I tried to do everything the other boys did. When they roughhoused, I did too. I would be getting squished to death or trampled over but I hung in there. I had to. I had to earn my friendships. Getting demolished by the other kids and then getting back up was the surest way I knew to earn respect.

Bruises, cuts and all.

My mom was not afraid of me getting hurt. At least she didn’t let on.

She’d tell me to get in there and rough it up all I wanted. My step dad was also always pushing me to be like the rest. I think he was instrumental in toughening me up. Even though sometimes he pushed me too far.

But no matter how much acceptance I got from the guys, there was a constant consciousness, even at eight years old, that I wasn’t like everybody else—no matter what I did. I was fighting an unwinnable battle. I was trying to wipe away truth. I was trying to somehow convince others that there was nothing different about me, when, of course, all you had to do was look at me.

When I think back, the pressure was unbearable.

When everyone bounded out to play basketball it was torture. We played a shooting game and when the ball went to me, I couldn’t even hit the rim on a lowered basket. They said, “OK, if Jaim hits the net, we’ll consider it a score.”

So I kept smiling and playing, but it hurt me deeply. When I hit the net, they cheered. They might as well have sneered, it hurt all the same. All the boys and girls could make baskets. I was the outcast. I cursed my body.

One day while riding the bus home, I couldn’t take it any longer. I was the last one on the bus and broke down and cried. The bus driver noticed me in her rearview mirror. She came over to me and put her arm around my tiny shoulders. “You just keep trying, no matter what it is,” she said. “I can see that you’re a strong boy.”

Her kindness meant so much to me. It helped to make me extremely determined to accomplish all the things that nobody thought I could. I suppose in some ways however, it kept me believing that I could one day overcome all of the ways I was different. I was a small boy rolling a large rock up a tall hill.

It was about to turn into a boulder.

Puberty brought with it a deep need to be liked by girls. I had a plan. If I dressed cool, it might do the trick.

The skateboarder look seemed to suit me so I did the skater thing. The girls didn’t seem to care. So I transitioned to the gangsta look. Again it met

Writer: Jaim Connor with Dave Franco

with no success. Over the next years I nearly broke the bank buying all kinds of clothes from all the different styles I could think up. It was a dismal failure.

Meanwhile the boys kept getting taller and more muscular. Even the girls were towering over me. I would look up and see them staring at the other boys lovingly and giving them attention. Once again, I was the desperate moth pleading for someone to see that I was beautiful.

I had failed. A pretty girl would not look me in the eyes and hold my hand in hers. I asked God again, why did you make me this way? What good does this do anybody? Why do I have to suffer?

I fell into depression. There was a hopelessness to my life. Is this all I’ll ever be—small? Does this mean my life will be small too?

This guy I knew called me up out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to go with him to a party. I said yes. He was going to pick me up. So I waited.

And waited. As I sat there, I felt the silliness of my life. Me, in my silent house, dressed in some ridiculous get up that didn’t feel like me at all, sitting on my couch with my feet unable to reach the carpet, waiting. Waiting for what? A chance to go to a party and feel like a freak?

He never came. I fell to my knees. When I was little, I had told God I wanted to be His, but this was different. I told God I needed Him in a way that I didn’t even recognize. “Take all of me, Lord,” I cried out. “Make something with my life because I can’t. I’m yours. You’re all the hope I have.”

When I got up off my knees, I felt different. I knew my body hadn’t grown, but something inside me had. Even so, I had to check myself in the mirror just to make sure.

I began to take God seriously when He said He wants a relationship with me. So I spent time with Him every day. I long to read His Word and pray. He has rewarded me with a hunger for more.

By the grace of God, all, and I do mean all of my painful self-perceptions have been replaced with an ever-growing sense that I have been made perfectly for God’s holy purpose.

I feel so hopeful because I feel so loved. To me, I have been taken by the hand and my eyes have been longingly looked into, I have been claimed, I have been asked to the prom, I have been crowned Homecoming King.

In 2011, I moved to San Diego and became a part of the Rock Church’s TWELVE program, a nine-month mentoring and leadership training experience. Whenever I speak to audiences of young people, it is so wonderful to see how God gives me everything I need. He even makes my voice powerful.

As soon as I take the stage and everyone sees my size, their mouths drop open. You can hear a pin drop.

The result? Kids want to know more about a God that can build a giant inside someone like me.

You may not believe me when I tell you this, but I love the way I am.

That is not indicative of a mere change of mind, but a change at the core of my being. I used to think the best I could do, would be to learn to live with my condition. But today, I like to look in the mirror because it’s me—the same me that God chose to have so much influence over young people and bring such hope.

Each day I learn more about how Jesus withstood the pain of the cross just to bring me to Him. All of that love is alive inside of me.

And there’s nothing small about that.

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Dept:Expressions

The Style of Kari Schoeneck Designer Dreams:

Writer: Kelli Gillespie Photo: NBD Photography

From the Midwest to New York City Kari Schoeneck lived out every aspiring designer’s dream. Sewing all her life, she adapted well to the Big Apple, but her talents soon brought her to call San Diego home. Risen caught up with this creative girl to learn more about style, fashion and pursuing passions.

Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in San Diego, California

Risen Magazine: Tell me about your passion for art and how your fashion/creative side developed?

Kari Schoeneck: I have been sewing and doing anything that I can get my hands on creatively since around five years old. My mother sews and taught me, and pretty much every female in my family sews as well, so it was around me all the time. Since I’m from Wisconsin, and from the Midwest, I was involved in 4H. I had the opportunity to do a lot of projects and once a year, go show them at the fair. I would get judged on what I made. From the very beginning, I’ve been pretty comfortable with having other people tell me what they thought about my work. I also did something through 4H where you had to make an outfit, model it, and then be judged on how you picked your fabrics and the silhouette and everything like that. After doing that a few times, I realized that I had a knack for it even more so than the other people around me did. I had it in the back of my head that maybe this would be fun to do someday. In school, I was also academically strong so I wasn’t sure if I should pursue that more, or go for the more artsy thing. When it came time to decide, I went more for the more creative field.

RM: Sometimes, especially in runway modeling, the fashions get pretty eccentric. How do you keep yourself free enough to dream and imagine what you want to do creatively, but then grounded enough in reality that people would want to wear it?

KS: That’s hard because initially when I was going to school I thought I was going to be so commercial and design for the masses, and that everything I made was going to be really wearable. But there is something about the corporate way when you get into that, that you don’t have much say in the final product because everyone along the way has their very specific steps that they are working on. You don’t get to always do it yourself and have your own concept to finish. I realized then that I wanted more control in the whole process and the reason why I got into design was because I loved making things – that is what really gets me excited.

To take that part away from me just wasn’t going to happen. I think now I’m moving more into the artistic side of things where I have a client and meet one-on-one with them; I’m learning about their personality, learning about the whole package and then translating that to clothes.

RM: Where does your inspiration come?

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KS: Oh Gosh, all over the place. I think textiles especially inspire me.

My major at University of Wisconsin was Textile and Apparel Design so I had a lot of classes that were very textile focused with embellishments and printing. I’ve always been such a tactile person and whenever I’m in a store I always touch everything. So I think that definitely inspires me.

Sometimes when I see different details in clothes in a store, that will inspire me. Or if I see something on a shirt [I like] I will translate that into a dress or something else. Sometimes I pull from artwork, but I think that can be so reminiscent from the classroom setting that I don’t necessarily go that way. If I do have a client that comes to me and says, “I want this,” I am definitely familiar with doing what they ask.

RM: How would you describe your personal style?

KS: Pretty classic, however I do like to keep it girly but with kind of a hard edge with some accessories or something like that. It’s kind of mixed, I like to change it up.

RM: Where do you see style and fashion going from here?

KS: I guess the 90’s should come back if we are following suit. But I don’t know, the 90’s were pretty rough and I don’t know if the grunge should really come back…but it might.

RM: What aspect of the whole process from meeting with someone, to sketches, to actually making the finished product do you enjoy the most?

KS: When it’s finally done and on a body is the most rewarding. When I’m in [the process] and making it, that can be the most stressful and not always the most fun at moments. But when the piece is on someone and they are walking and moving – you forget, and all that stress melts away.

RM: Was there a defining moment from where you thought, “Oh this is good. I can sew and make unique outfits for myself and others”? When did that transition happen that you knew this could be your full time career?

KS: When I decided to go to school for fashion in college. I went to University of Wisconsin, which is has a four-year bachelor program, so my mom said, “That’s four years, you better start there and if you change your mind that is fine but start there and see.” Immediately, and interestingly enough, the program was very focused from the start and you got a lot of exposure to the kind of classes that you were going to be taking. From professors

Photo: Stay True Photography

Dept:Expressions

and other people around me, I saw that I actually did have a good eye for design and talent. I realized that pretty early on, stuck with the program, and here I am now.

RM: How supportive were your parents when you told them that this was what you wanted to do? Did they see your talent as well or did they want you to pursue a more “safe” occupation?

KS: I’ve been sewing my whole life and I’ve always been looking to see what the next project is that I can do. So I don’t think that it was really a surprise to them. I involved them through the whole process so I was always showing them what I was working on. But also as a smart kid, I had people tell me I should go do something else because I was smart. I just went for design. I think picking design, verses an art field, is a lot more focused – it’s applied art, you have a goal and a path, more so than an artist which can be all over the place at times.

RM: What encouragement would you give to high school, and college-age kids about the importance of pursuing their passions?

KS: Well, it’s tough out there now; it’s hard. But I feel like if you have the drive to do it, you can do it. Don’t let ego get involved because you see that so much in fashion – especially people that go to school for fashion. They don’t really have a desire to learn about the basics behind making clothing and learning how to sew. They just think that someday when they are a big designer they will hire someone to sew for them. But people that don’t know how to sew don’t make great designers because people actually have to get in and out of your clothes and they have to be able to wear them, not just look at them on the hanger. I think that just really being open to learn and to take from people that have experience in it and learn from their mistakes [is important] so you don’t have to make them.

RM: How does your faith play into you as a designer, or does it? Do you compartmentalize the two?

KS: It absolutely plays a part. My faith has definitely changed my goals and my future as a designer. Back when I was really looking to design for the 60 Risen Magazine

masses I wasn’t really thinking about what God’s plan was for me and my career. I was just thinking about what my teachers were telling me and what other people around me were telling me about what path I should be on.

RM: Styles can say so much about a person. Do you feel like when you see somebody based on how they dress, act or behave you can say, “Ok this person is in this category?” Or is that just judgmental and stereotyping?

KS: That is something that kind of frustrated me. I saw it especially when I lived in New York because judgment is everywhere – fashion is just so relevant to everything and everyone around them. In school I was learning how to make clothes, but I also felt like you were constantly taught to judge everyone around you whether it was their body type, or what they were wearing, and being taught to think that way for awhile doesn’t have a very positive effect on you. I felt like it really changed me and of course that was another point in time where I was taking other peoples’ advice rather than actually thinking about how God wanted me to act towards everyone.

RM: Where do you see yourself next? What will your design future ideally look like?

KS: People always ask me if I’ll have a line of my own, and I don’t know.

I’ve worked with a lot of people that are starting up their own lines and I see what it does to people when they don’t have a balance in their life and I don’t know that I’d be strong enough to keep that balance. I would like to think I would but I’m perfectly fine doing custom pieces for people. If someone did approach me and want to help me do a line then maybe I’d consider it… but it’s a lot of work to take it on individually. I’ve seen that, and I’ve been the right hand to a lot of people, so I’d have to have a good team of people that would share my values, morals and faith too. Right now, I’m perfectly happy doing one-on-one custom pieces. Weddings are fun. I’ve done wedding dresses and I think there really aren’t many opportunities to do a scenario where you sit down with someone and you really learn what they want, and the things that reflect their personality.

Learn more about Kari and her designs at: www.KCreativeStudio.com

Photo: Stay True Photography

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