Why I’m Going

 

Who am I to say no?

 

In South Africa last May, listening to a government official talk about some of Cape Town’s social issues, my friend Rachel and I realized there was a desperate need for music. In the township slums, the schools are already cut thin as it is, let alone have enough funds and resources to teach any of the students the value and beauty of music. That same night, I got this idea for some sort of music center. I spent a good hour brainstorming what this might look like and how it could blossom in the area. Being a student in one of the top 5 music business universities in the country, and as a performer myself, my life is filled with music. It’s a way of life. It soothes my soul and offers hope. I’ve never been anywhere that needed a glimpse of hope more than some of the townships I visited while I was there. What if music could provide what nothing else could? What if kids could learn the craft and ride the dreams of their talents out of despair? What if local artists and musicians could inspire those around them? It was a great idea, but was there really a need for that? I felt out of place to thrust my foreign ideas on an already weary population.

Less than 48 hours later, while touring the first post-apartheid radio station in the country (ran by the same people we’d been working with all week), I was told again of the need for music in these townships by Avril Thomas, wife of and Living Hope co-founder with John Thomas (shown in the first video here). My thoughts were already wandering and it was clear I should bring this idea of mine to her attention when just moments later she told the group of her dream to one day create a music academy for the people in the townships. My heart raced. My own idea had been formed months earlier by someone who knows this area and the underlying needs of the people more than I could understand in the few days spent there. This couldn’t have happened by chance. “Avril, we need to talk,” I told her as we left the station, not having enough time to convey my own thoughts in mere minutes.

Two days later, she met us for dinner and her, Rachel, Dr. Gwaltney (Dean of the school of religion), Dr. Overby (entrepreneur professor and founder of the International Business Society of our university) and myself sat down to chat. I revealed to her that before she even mentioned this music academy idea, it had already developed within my own thoughts. I showed her what my vision looked like and what I had recorded on paper just days earlier. She covered her mouth and tears filled her eyes. This had recently been on her heart more than ever before and she just felt overwhelmed not knowing how it would possibly develop.

Then we came. The first-ever university to visit their organization. From Music-City, USA. From a music business powerhouse school. We have studios Elvis recorded in. We have Grammy-winners and Music Hall-of-Famers as professors. Platinum albums line the offices of staff members. I told her I was getting a degree in Music Business with a production emphasis as she wondered how this idea would become a reality and who might lead its launch. And then I realized I was coming back. There was a reason why Africa had been on my heart for as long as I can remember. There was a reason why I went on that trip. There was a reason why I switched majors to music business. There was a reason why I chose Belmont as a university. There was a reason why music led me there. There was a reason why music had been so pivotal my whole life long. There was a reason why out of all 900 churches in the Nashville metro, I chose my favorite long before I realized they had sent musical teams over to Cape Town to work with Living Hope and had also pledged one million dollars to their organization. I don’t believe in coincidences.

The 5 of us talked logistics and then prayed for this brand new enormous task. It felt like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I felt like one of the first disciples, knowing God had planned this and knowing the task at hand, having no clue how it would grow, but excited and completely at the mercy of whatever it was that we were getting ourselves into. May of 2008 will be the beginning of this journey. Avril has since talked with other individuals who have expressed this same idea without ever having heard it from me or her or anyone else. Everything John and Avril touch seems to blossom as if a hand were guiding their every move, and now I get to be a part of their next big venture. These things have just taken off for them. The radio station. Living Hope (watch the videos, for real) and everything else. And they actually think that I can be a part of something huge with my abilities and studies which have prepared me to be a leader in this…and when God calls, who am I to hang up? Obviously this was not in the comfortable plans of my life that I had just a few years ago, but I’ve already watched those ashes blow away. I’m going where I’m most needed and doing what God has been preparing in my life since before I was born. Everything has led me to this point and I couldn’t be more excited, thrilled, scared, and willing to do whatever is needed of me to help better this world. We ask for your prayers, thoughts, ideas, talents and resources.