Saturday evening, March 7th, 2009 the Cup of Salvation Deliverance Church Ministries, Inc. where Apostle Dr. Johnny Holloway is the Senior Executive Pastor, presented the “Power of the Tongue” Young Adult Open Mic Cafe’. The event was held at the Cup Center in Durham, North Carolina. In all my years, I have never witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in so many forms in the manner that I had experienced on that night at the Cup Center.
If asked to describe this ministry outreach event in eight words or less, I would have to call it: “A Spoken Word Holy Spirit Filled Gumbo Overflow”. I say Gumbo because it offered a little bit of everything for everybody all in a one-cup serving. But the serving was so Holy Spirit filled everyone needed a bowl to catch the overflow. Many came to serve and everyone got fed. Poets served lyrics, emcees flowed, and dancers praised, singers sang, drummers drummed, keyboardists keyed, violinist stringed, the mime signed, and the artist showed her prints. All who came were touched by the Holy Spirit of the Scripture; “Join us as we speak life”- Proverb 18:21.
The willing spirit the Cup of Salvation family expressed overtook me. I mean the greeters, those who prepared/served the food, and other who came out to support the mission were all filled with a willing. As Deacon Sir Charles told me later, there were even some who could not attend, yet they financially sowed into the event making attendance possible for others. That’s a willing spirit. What struck me the most, were those who in my heart, I believed, don’t prefer the spoken word genre or whole hip hop set when it comes to ministering, but were still willing to minister at events to the culture.
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I got to give a shout out to Sir Charles, he also serves at the Cup of Salvation as a deacon, and I thank him for serving as the host with the most on this event. I was delighted to see a seasoned spoken word emcee, who has the awesome skills to rip the mic not hog the mic. I say this because it’s so easy to do when tempted by the flesh instead of being led by the Holy Spirit to flex your skills. Sir Charles did just that. He was led by the Holy Spirit and served with humility leaving room for the featured guests and other participants to comfortably operate within their zone and beyond.
I had an eye-opening conversation with one Cup of Salvation’s Deacon Kevin Christian. He was recently in a car accident, and is still in pain from it. Still, he was there early to help set up chairs and to give his support. As we continued to talk, he shared his thoughts about the challenges he had with accepting hip-hop, and whether it could be presented in a way that would be pleasing to God. However, over time he began to see it as a tool, when led by the Holy Spirit, to reach the lost for Christ. I was taken back and so blessed by his honesty. But what blessed me even more is when I saw him mime. I said to myself, here’s a man in pain, who is out of his element of choice when it comes to ministering in this setting, however he was still willing to minister nevertheless.
It was also an eye-opener to speak with Minister Temperance Tobe, also of Cup of Salvation. From the day I first walked into the doors of the church, I noticed her love for service. So, on that night to see her serving, helping, and greeting the guests was not other of character. But when came out to minister in a dance laced with the spoken word and the assistance of another leader, Deacon Johnette Loftin, singing a song of praise in the background, I thought was a far stretch even for her character. As I sat there I said to myself, they are totally out of their element of preferred ministry setting. These women are not spoken word hip-hop heads. Nevertheless, they share a willing spirit that moves them to minister to a culture that extends beyond their comfort zone.
What I had seen so far was definitely an eye-opener. But, as I reflect upon it, they were all man and women of God participating ministry outreach event supported and sponsored by their own home church. But, this is why the event impacted me in such a powerful way. Now, it’s one thing to have ministers, deacons and leadership from your own home church body minister to you in a way that makes you examine yourself, but when another emcee who walks in of the street and ministers to you in a way that makes you take a closer look at yourself, you have to do just that: take a closer look no matter how painful it might be. That’s what happened when one of the featured artists, Childlikfaith (http://ChildlikFaithMusic.blogspot.com/), took the mic. As she spit those Holy Ghost lyrics, I said, “Why are her words cut through to my heart like no other?” I continued to speak-like, I felt a heavy heart burdened by shame. And the only thing that I could think of to justify the power by which she spoke was this: when she came to the mic she brought with her an open Bible. This led me to the conclusion that her open Bible was fueled by the Holy Spirit it was gave her the emcee a strength that projected with a full force the Power of the Tongue for my ears to hear. It wasn’t until later when I had to step to the same open mic to minister to the people that understood the depth of her words and the extent of my brokenness.
After Childlikfaith spoken word ministry, I had a chance to regroup and regain my composure. But peep this, next came Tamara Thomas (also of Cup of Salvation) ministered through violin laid holy cords from her anointed strings on us with “How Great is Our God”. The Holy Ghost didn’t stop there. The Power of the Tongue came right back as the Holy Spirit moved in the middle of the open mic set on Pastor Mason in such a way that compelled him to give an altar call. Now from where I sat, after participating in more than 25 holy hip hop open mic events in my life time, that was the final straw that broke me down to the floor. Because up until this point, I have never, I mean never, witnessed the Holy Spirit move in such a way as He moved on that night. Lives were touched, minds were renewed, and souls were saved. And it wasn’t too long after Pastor Mason’s initial altar call that I found myself at the altar in my brokenness being prayed over and asking God to forgive me for my sin.
So, in the final hour of the event, when it came time for me to minister, I was literally done. I was on “e” and had nothing to give the people. I can’t explain it. It was as if my pride, my skills, my talents, and my gifts were being stripped from me as I approached the mic. So, when I got to the mic, grabbed it, and opened my mouth to speak a word, all which spilled from my lips is what God had placed in my heart to speak-life.
I felt a connection like never before; with God and with the people. It was if I was transparent, see-through, clear in a way in which God was using me to just speak His Words and as a result the Power of the His Tongue flowed through me. Caught up in the moment, I wanted to capture the essence of it so I went on to share this illustration with the people. I told them how when I was a babe in Christ, I always felt that I had to wear something on the outside to show who I was on the inside. I pointed to my Christ Jersey that I was wearing as a prime example. I continued this illustration by telling them how tonight was different because I had experienced the Power of the Tongue that was in me like never before because I now rock Christ from the inside and He is my strength and He’s got my back. I then took the Christ jersey off, turned it inside out and then put it on backwards as someone helped me out y buttoning up the jersey from the back. The point that I wanted the people to get was that Christ works from the inside out and that He’ll always have your back when you are willing to submit to His will. If this illustration makes no sense to you, it’s one of those things that you had to be there to understand.
As the event came to a close and we helped put all the chairs in place and picked up after ourselves, it was a great feeling to have been given the opportunity to truly minister to the hearts of the people and be ministered to as well. But God was not done with me yet. He continued showing me things throughout that evening and on through the early morning hours. It was then, when I got home, went to bed and could not sleep that I was overtaken heavy burden of shame and quilt. As I tossed and turned I could not come to grips with what I came to see concerning my walk with God as minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I asked myself, “What type of service to the Lord am I offering to if I am only willing to minister when it happens to be in a setting that fits my comfort zone?” Is that obedience? The answer to my question broke me to the point that I laid in the bed and wept. To the point, not wanting to wake my wife, I quietly got out of my bed, I went to the living room sofa, dropped to my knees and asked God to forgive me.
That’s when my wife got out of bed, walked into the living room comfort me. She asked, “What’s the matter, honey?” I told her that I had sinned against God in that I was not willing to go beyond my comfort zone to serve Him. She said, no honey you’ve been the Lord’s work. I went on to tell her that all of these years I have been working to perfect my God-given gifts while believing, trusting, and had more faith in my own gifts than believing, trusting, and having faith in God who is the giver of every perfect gift. And it was that morning, March 8th, 2009, I confessed, repented and prayed to God to give me a willing spirit to service in whatever circumstances, no matter how far they may extend beyond my comfort zone. I believe, trust and have faith that He will provide the gift, make room for me to share that gift, and make the gift be perfect in His sight.
With a renewed spirit in Christ, at church I felt led to personally thank Apostle Dr. Johnny Holloway for allowing the Cup of Salvation to sponsor the Power of the Tongue Open Mic Café’. In addition, I thanked him for being like King David, “A man after God’s own heart” in that by his leadership he was leading the folk at the Cup of Salvation to follow the same example in their own way with their own God-given gifts.
You might be a leader within a ministry setting or a emcee taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to the streets, whichever the case, we all can better service God and accomplish to Great Commission when we are willing to be led by the move of the Holy Spirit. Please share your comments.
Peace & Blessings,
Modavador g
