Miami Music Ministry Training Heralds and Forerunners for the Kingdom of God

“Now comfort me so I can live, really live; your revelation is the tune I dance to.”

Psalm 119:77
The Message

At a Starbucks halfway from each of our respective homes, Richard Aspinwall, A-list producer in Nashville & Co-Founder/Director of the Miami Music Ministry, and I share what God’s doing in our lives - and in South Florida through the music ministry that he started with his wife, Heidi Aspinwall, 13 years ago.

As we sip coffee and enjoy the background music selections which include Miles Davis’ unmistakable So What, Richard tells me how together with Heidi, National Director for Volunteers for Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection (DOOR), they headed down to Miami, Florida, from Nashville, Tennessee, thirteen years ago to start what they felt was a clear mission from God – to establish a place for youth across all social, economic, racial and ethnic lines to gather in community and have their musical interests & gifts nurtured all the while providing the conditions to mentor them toward a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

Since then, God has brought countless youth to the Miami Music Ministry. For just a dollar a lesson, kids ranging in ages from 8 to 18 are paired with a skilled musician and receive 30 minutes of individual instruction in their instrument of choice. Students can choose from voice, guitar, bass, drums & percussion, piano and organ. Kids come from across Miami-Dade County and some from all different churches throughout the community. For those dealing with demonstrable financial hardship, “the ministry will make every effort to provide students who cannot afford their own instruments with loaned instruments [and/or] other music materials for free.”

According to their website, “The Community Music School is an innovative approach to the transformation of young lives through private music instruction, high levels of expectation, evaluation, and the development of personal relationships between students and instructors.”

The dollar a lesson is a way of introducing responsibility to each student. Kids become stakeholders as they invest in their music education. The dollar also represents the actual reason for why the Miami Music Ministry exists – it’s about God and not about material wealth or so-called “success”. The teachers, most of them having gone through the music school themselves, are now in a position of modeling servant leadership and mentoring each student in the areas of music, discipleship and community.

This is the spiritual component to the program. Students are prayerfully nurtured to offer up their gifts and talents to God for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are presented with the central life lesson in the long obedience following Jesus - He is the first priority. At the Miami Music Ministry, it’s not about going somewhere and being told you’re going to be a great musician, but rather, it’s about learning to devote themselves (and their craft) to the glory and greatness of God Almighty. In the beginning, the younger students may not grasp this radical concept, but they’re taught by their teachers who model the ministry’s ethos.

As the students demonstrate proficiency, they are grouped into bands. Here they learn to perform in community and to listen to each other. Here is where they learn to groove together and accompany one another. Here is where all the different parts of the “body” are recognized as essential.

On August 29, 2009, the new Miami Music Ministry year will begin. Each Saturday, from 1 PM to 5 PM, students meet with their individual teachers. Along with the one-on-one instruction, all students are taught to read music and music theory in a classroom setting.

The program follows the Miami-Dade County Public Schools school year calendar, including breaks and holidays. The music school commences on the Saturday after Miami Dade County Public Schools open. Consequently, the music school ends the year on the Saturday before public schools close for the summer.

Interested parents, guardians and church communities can call (305) 479-6132 and leave messages expressing their interest and/or requesting further information. Toward the middle of August, calls will begin to be returned in order to place students with teachers for the upcoming music school year. Please visit the Miami Music Ministry website at
http://www.miamimusicministries.com/.

The Lighthouse Prayer Room has Reopened!

Dear Friends in Christ -

After a few months of raw reflection on the many lessons learned as a result of previous prayer events, it's my privilege and joy to announce that The Lighthouse Prayer Room has reopened.

Was it ever closed per se?

What does that mean?

How soon can we start praying there again?

Let me try to answer these hypothetical questions in the following manner -

It means that the ministry will continue - no matter what. It means that as a direct result of prayer - not all of them my own - we've changed some of the methods we were using before to address events and get people involved. I'm confident that in the future, more participants will eagerly join us in community worship, intercession and in personal adoration of our God through our Lord & Savior via the Lighthouse Prayer Room.

How soon can we start? I believe God is reconfiguring some things - He's working on relationships within the body; in turn, members of the body are pouring into one another and finally - we've come to embrace the blessed reality that trials & tribulations are a wonderful way of measuring the success this ministry is having in the lives of many in the local Church.

So, I begin this new kairos in the life of the Lighthouse Prayer Room asking for your prayers for the ministry and for every single person involved.

Please stay in touch, tell us how this ministry is serving you, submit prayer requests and please - let others know about this ministry. Stay in touch with me, let me know how I can serve you and how we can serve one another in Christ.

Know of my prayers for each of you -

In Jesus,

Danny

Elegantly & Lovingly Challenged

About two years ago, I read a book entitled Unchristian. Authors David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons presented an extremely sobering account of the perceptions, impressions and views those outside of "The Church" have about those who claim the title of "Christian". Last night, an extremely dear and brilliant friend unwittingly challenged me to reflect upon these very same attitudes & perceptions.

I asked myself, "How have I contributed (directly or indirectly) to feeling & perceptions that Christians are:

Belligerent
Exclusive
Judgmental
Close-Minded
Self-Righteous
just to name a few . . .

As we go on our way "doing church", are we perpetuating among those who would consider themselves outside of the Church - or as it may sometimes come across - "outside of being religious" - to hold fast to their views that Christians are in fact living far from the adjectives that should be automatically thought of when the word Christian is mentioned? What are those adjectives? Here's a hint - they are all the antithesis of the aforementioned ones.

Friends, I do not think we can just simply ignore any of these epithets any longer. If the Church wants more than anything else to incarnate, transmit, enact and extend Christ, then there's no way we can simply dismiss these terms and suggest that those who feel that way are going to simply have "to deal with it", "go to church and see how it isn't that way" or "go out there and get a better education on what Christianity is all about". Let's face it - we got a lot of work to do.

It is our call to bless and receive all God's children. We are enjoined to be available, accountable and to love.

Maybe it's as simple and as powerful to take responsibility, as a member of the Church universal - claiming the heritage and mystery of our faith, and ask for forgiveness. Maybe it's about listening to why others feel the way they do, acknowledging and valuing their views - wholeheartedly and genuinely. And whatever we do - let's not excuse what isn't - regardless of "historical" ramifications - pardonable. We can argue until our faces turn blue, but the tragic truth is - the Church was not united against slavery, it wasn't unequivocally united for civil rights, for peace and for justice. Consequently, this means many people have been hurt, abused, ignored, marginalized and disenfranchised - on our watch.

Brothers & Sisters, we have two choices to make - we either begin to take the perceptions with heartfelt interest and with an intentional desire to seek restoration, healing and peace; or we can choose to ignore them. We have already seen the brutal and irrefutable price of ignorance. May we be the generation that breaks the chains of passivity and embrace a new era of accountability.

With heartfelt love and humbly offered -

In Christ Alone,

Daniel Medina