Check out http://sharpnine.posterous.com

…is surrendering all to a God who surrendered His son for us
…is offering our lives as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God
…is inconvenient
…is uncomfortable
…is painful
…is costly
…is the only path to deep and lasting joy and the best possible life we can live

If we are to live a life of worship, we cannot separate that from justice. I’m encouraged to see a movement of some of the highest profile Christian artists using their platform for justice. Israel Houghton, Chris Tomlin, Hillsong to name a few. I too, as an artist, am joining in this movement which you will see more of in the near future.

Watch this. Then do something.

The above is footage from The Freedom Summit held at my church in Mountain View, CA. At the Summit were around 900 people and over 15 anti-slavery organizations. The goal was to inform, unite, and engage the Christian community to fight against this epidemic. It was an awesome conference. Everything from the worship (led by Phil Wickham and band) to the plenary sessions to the breakout sessions to the Global Village in which the organizations set up booths was fantastic. I played guitar for LaSundra so as a performer, I had the privilege of hanging out backstage with some of the speakers and musicians and took that opportunity to interview them.

If you’re new to the issue of human trafficking, here are the basics. Today, around 27 million people are in bondage. Slavery is still alive. In fact, there are more slaves today than in the 400 years of the trans-atlantic slave trade. The sale of human beings is the third largest illicit trade right behind the sale of drugs and weapons and it is growing at a faster rate. The cost of a human today is significantly cheaper than the cost of a human in those 400 years. Slave owners treat their slaves like stuff. If you buy an expensive item and it breaks, you’re more likely to invest in fixing it. But if you buy a cheap item and it breaks, you’re more likely to throw it away and replace it. Humans are viewed the same way. Today, slaves belong in the “cheap” category. 50% of the victims are children and 80% are women.

Now you know. And if you already knew, now you’re reminded. So now what are you gonna do about it?

It’s easy to do one of two things. One, to not care. Two, to be overwhelmed to the point of inaction. If you’re part of the first camp then you are part of the majority. But I do pray that you will have a change of heart. If you’re part of the second camp, then I’m here to let you know that you don’t have to figure out how to save 27 million slaves. In fact, nobody has figured out how to do that. If somebody has, this would not be an epidemic. You just need to figure out how YOU, as a unique individual who has been gifted with unique resources, unique talents, a unique personality, a unique background, and a unique sphere of influence, can contribute. Watch the video if you haven’t done so already. In it, I asked some of the main speakers and performers how a single person can tackle such a huge problem. It’s not for you to tackle alone. But it is for you to start to do something.

You also might be tempted to “get to this later.” Life is busy. There’s no time. To that, I would say that at this moment millions of women and children (and even men) are being raped. At this moment. I doubt that if one of those people were your child, you would get to it later. I’d bet that you’d make a little bit of time if it were your child. This is an emergency that needs immediate attention.

Francis Chan told us how he had made quite a killing with his book “Crazy Love”. More than half a million dollars. Now anybody in their right mind would do the smart thing and invest that money. It’s a lot of money and he worked hard for it so he, of course, should treat himself and his family with a small portion of it. Oh, and of course as a dedicated Christian, he should tithe 10% of it. Probably a little bit more for good measure. After all, he is a pastor. But what does he do instead? He gives ALL of it away! Not only that, he signs off all future royalties so that he can’t touch it! What a crazy thing to do! He should have at least saved some of it in case of an emergency! But wait, isn’t an emergency exactly what this epidemic is? 27 million people in slavery and millions being raped at this moment most likely qualifies for an emergency. Francis Chan has the right perspective.

You don’t have to give all your money to save the 27 million. But what I implore you to do, and what was a major theme at the summit, is to do something. And do it with a sense of urgency. Do it with the urgency that you would if your child is one of the 27 million. Do it with the urgency you would if Jesus himself was one of the 27 million. After all, didn’t he say that “whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me”?

If you’re wondering what to do, I can’t tell you exactly. I don’t know your talents, your resources, your background. Everybody can contribute in a unique way. But here’s a good place to start. The following is a list of the organizations represented at the Summit. Not For Sale and IJM are two highly reputable organizations that I’m most familiar with. David Batstone (President of Not for Sale) and Bethany Hoang (Director of IJM Institute and featured in the video) both spoke at the Summit. The other organizations are also impressive and really good at what they do. They need donations, they need your time.

Not For Sale
International Justice Mission
Trade As One
Hagar International
Project AK-47
Watoto
Life Impact International
Chab Dai Coalition

Courage To Be You
Home of New Beginnings
Sisters In Service
The Sold Project
SHE Thailand
Breaking Free
South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking
Agape International

Twitter is also a great way to keep abreast of what’s happening. Here are some of the twitter feeds I follow.

@Not_For_Sale
@IJMcampaigns
@IJMHQ
@Free_2_Play
@Free_2_Work
@slaverymap

Who else? Know of any good organizations missing? Any ideas?

Let’s re-abolish slavery.

The ironic thing is, I had to start listening to contemporary Christian music because I play guitar on a praise and worship band who serves in an extremely diverse church. Although most of the musicians are rooted in gospel, because of the diversity, we play in all styles to accommodate for the diversity of worship preferences. Including contemporary Christian.

Today, from a strict musical preference, contemporary Christian has moved from strong dislike to somewhere in the middle of neutral and like. But the real change I’m excited about that has happened within the past year has been a perspective change in my role in playing praise and worship music. A lot of the time, I think Christians walk out of service saying things like “I liked the music” or “I didn’t like the music.” We’ve made the praise and worship about us when in reality, it’s not. Before we think about how the worship time was to us, we need to be thinking about how the worship time was to God. In other words, we should first be asking “God, were you glorified?” before we ask “Was that pleasing to me?” There is nothing wrong with having musical preferences. But when we worship God, it’s ALL about him and whatever music is being played, we should worship him regardless.

As somebody who serves on the praise and worship team, with whatever song we play, it is my responsibility to strive to play it in the best possible way. Even if I don’t like the song, it doesn’t matter because being on the worship team is also not about me or anybody else on the team for that matter. It is about fulfilling the responsibility (and privilege) that God has given to us in the best way that we can. Contemporary Christian songs might not be the best music to usher me into the presence of God, but for a lot of people it is, and as one of the vessels through which that music comes from, it is my responsibility to take that seriously and ultimately to glorify God.

All this to say, I’ve let go of my personal preference and given it to God. You know what I’ve found? Freedom to worship. When I play or when I worship now, that selfish layer of “I don’t like this music” that used to get in the way doesn’t anymore and the result has been more intimate worship experiences with God. That’s the way God’s economy works. Whenever we first let go and give to him for the sake of giving go him what is rightfully his (not for the sake of expecting something in return), God always blesses us in return.

I, by no means, have everything figured out. There are still some things which I can loosen my grip on and let go to God. Letting go of my music biases took a few years. Other things will probably take a few more years.

What are you in the process of, or need to start, letting go of and giving to God?

So I dropped my iPhone straight on the glass on the concrete floor of my garage. Yeah, it sucks but thankfully, it’s still fully functional. With every mishap, I think about connections to other aspects of life and lessons learned. Here are some:

• Looking at my iPhone interface through broken glass reminds me of the lenses through which I look at situations. Sometimes, situations and circumstances are not as bad as they seem but because of my brokenness, caused by past experiences, I see those situations through a broken perspective. And just like I can’t be fully at peace with using my iPhone now, that broken perspective prevents me from being fully at peace with the situation.
• I could get used to it. It’s not ideal but at least it’s still functional. If I use it long enough, I might not even notice the broken glass anymore because I’ll grow accustomed to it. Sometimes there are things about me that I am tempted to just overlook because it’s costly to fix (way more than it is to fix an iPhone). So I just settle and continue living. Pretty soon, I get used to it and don’t even notice those flaws. But other people do, just like they would the cracked glass if they saw my iPhone for the first time. I’d rather not settle. I want to be the best version of myself. So I’d rather proactively fix any issues with my character. The price will be worth it.
• Even with the broken screen, I was still able to score almost 2 million on Bejewled 2! iPhone’s can be fixed but there are some things in life that simply can’t. A disease or or a handicap, for example. But humans are capable of doing extraordinary things, even when not functioning at optimal capacity.
• When I first got my iPhone, I appreciated it for it’s beautiful simplicity. It was new. It was exciting. After a while, it became a normal part of my daily routine and although I used it a lot, I hardly took a step back to appreciate it the way I did before. Only now that it’s broken, do I miss when it wasn’t. Only now that I long to restore it’s original beauty, does it’s original beauty receive any mind share. Reminds me of relationships. How many people do I take for granted? Do I have to wait for relationships to break before I come to appreciate them?

What other lessons are there?

Overall, I am still processing. Previous to this conference, I had participated in a 10-week intensive workshop on human trafficking in San Francisco. So needless to say, given the weight of this atrocity, I am drained. I will post a more in-depth “review” of my experience soon. In the meantime, I tweeted live from the summit so if you want, you can look at my twitter feed (right column) or do a search for tweets with the hashtag #freedomsummit.

Also, audio of all the talks will also be available starting June 1st on the summit’s site.

I won’t spoil it. But the main message is this. If you really dig deep into the crazy act of love that God performed by sending his son Jesus to die for mankind, who compared to God is so insignificant, in order to restore the broken fellowship we had with him and to cleanse us of our sins….like really reflect on it….not just think “yes, Jesus died for our sins and now we’re saved by grace”…..but really really reflect on how absolutely ridiculously crazy that is and let that sink in deep….then the only response is to love God back in a crazy way. Love God with reckless abandon. Love God not just a little bit more, but a LOT more than the person you love the most. Love God even more than yourself to the point where you would give up your own life. Then you will see that a “lukewarm Christian” is an oxymoron. The essence of being Christian is being a radical follower of Christ.

(Side note if you are an unbeliever: I can imagine how ridiculous all this sounds. Before I became a Christian not too long ago, my Christian friend started talking to me like this and I thought he was straight trippin. Also, words like “radical” and “give up your own life” probably sound scary in this day in age where we’ve been in a war with extremists who claim to do what they do in the name of God. Folks, being an extreme Christian simply means loving in an extreme way. It is not “religion” as how you might think of that word. It is having an intimate relationship with the God of the universe, who loves us in an extreme way and in turn, we are called to love him back and to love others with an extreme level of intensity.)

If you are a believer, this book is an absolute must-read. Every page of this book has a lot of substance. If you’re a non-believer, I’d also recommend this book because it will paint a picture of what it really looks like to be a Christian and it just might change some of your pre-conceived notions of Christians and the Christian faith.

Here is a video of pastor Chan talking about just how big the God of the universe is.

Slavery is not a thing of the past. Today, 27 million people worldwide are slaves. In fact, that is more than in the days of the transatlantic slave trade. 50% of those enslaved are children and 80% are women. Slavery can encompass everything from sex slavery or forced labor. However sex slavery makes up for more than 50%. It’s not just in other countries. It happens in the US. It happens where I live in San Francisco. It happens in places where you least expect it, like in the suburbs.

This epidemic is deep. But there is hope. Unlike other global problems like poverty or global warming, this is actual something that can be ended in our lifetime! Another piece of good news is that it doesn’t take that much to help. You don’t have to quit your job and dedicate your entire life to join an anti-slavery organization. All it takes to start is first awareness of the problem and then given your resources, figuring out how you can help where you are right now. If you’re led, sure, you can do something drastic. But to be a part of the abolitionist movement can be as simple as the purchase decisions you make.

The Freedom Summit conference in Mountain View, CA is aimed at helping figure out how you can help in abolishing modern day slavery. It will be held on May 15-16 at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship. It’s cheap. About $45 for a 2-day conference. Almost half that if you’re a student. If this tugs at your heart even a little, it’s worth making the time to check it out.

http://freedom-summit.org/

Another good resource to check out is the movie Call and Response. I’d highly recommend you watch it. If you’re in the area, there is a free showing at Stanford University on May 10 @ 8pm.

Not playing is just as important, if not more, as playing.
Guitarists can be known to play too much. Sometimes, pianists too. In music, when you don’t play, it allows others to better appreciate when you do. Space is good. There’s a wise saying that says for every 10 notes you want to play, only play 1. In other words, don’t play 9 out of the 10 times you want to play. Same can be said of speaking. In other words, shut up 9 out of the 10 times you want to say something. Instead listen. We live in a culture where everybody’s talking but hardly anybody’s listening. We’re all good at wanting to be heard but we suck at sincerely wanting to hear. How many times have you been in a meeting where people are cutting each other off because as soon as somebody has something to say, they can’t wait to find that opening of silence so that they can insert what they want to say? And that’s optimistic. Often times, we don’t even wait for that moment of silence. How many times have you been in an argument when you do the exact same thing? Ironically, the closer we are to the person we’re arguing, the more prone we are to doing that. Folks, let’s relax. Let’s try to shut up and listen. I mean really listen. What is the other person trying to say? Where are they coming from? These are things we should focus on understanding rather than focusing so much on making the other person understand you.

Guitarists spend more time playing rhythm than soloing.
It’s a funny thing. A lot of guitarists spend 80% of their time learning how to solo and 20% of their time learning how to play rhythm but when playing in a band, those percentages are flipped. I tell other players that if they want to get the spotlight, learn how to solo but if they want a job, learn how to play rhythm. The bigger picture here is that to be welcome into a team or community that is trying to achieve a purpose, you gotta learn how to work well with the team. Learn how to play rhythm in the team. In other words, learn how to support the team rather than focusing on them supporting you. Sure, there are moments where individuals of the team get their spotlight and that’s a really good thing. But those moments only come 20% of the time and 80% of the effort should be focused on playing a supporting role.

The song is more important than you.
This follows from the previous points. Everything that a guitarist plays should support the song, and not them. In other words, before something is played it should be passed through the filter of this question “is what I’m about to play really supporting the song or is it supporting me?” If the answer is the latter, the song is being compromised. Having an awesome song is much more enjoyable to listeners as having a song dominated by an awesome guitarist. Like I said, there is a time and a place for guitarists to shine, but that only comes 20% of the time. Same principle can be applied to our words and action. Is what I’m saying really valuable to others? Am I just saying these things to steer the conversation in a way that draws attention to me? Is what I’m doing motivated by genuinely wanting to help others or is it motivated by wanting to look good in the eyes of others? This is a very humble perspective to have and admittedly, I’m still learning and there are moments where I have to check myself and put my pride aside and remember that the “song” is more important than me.

If the song sucks, blame the musician. Not the composer.
My band is sick. When we play, they all get the above points and each one has a very high caliber of musicianship. Sometimes I wonder what on earth I’m doing in this band. It’s truly a blessing. But there are times when we do mess up. Especially me. In fact, I mess up often. I’m just glad that my mistakes are rarely caught by people listening (I think). In general I feel like when people playing a song mess up, people listening to the song say they don’t like it and are quick to dismiss the song. I don’t blame them. This makes sense. That’s my natural inclination too. But instead of dismissing the song because the musicians mess up, people should blame the musicians. Songwriters never aspire to write a song played by people who mess it up. Another way to look at it. If you’re at a concert and somebody’s playing Mozart and they mess it up, chances are you wouldn’t say “that Mozart sure sucks.” No, you’re most likely going to blame the person who played it. What’s the life connection here? The connection is this: I feel this is what happens with the Christian faith. When Christians mess up, other people dismiss the faith. In fact, they often blame the composer – God. When priests, pastors, or any Christian is found guilty of molesting children, having a gambling or pornography addiction, having an affair, lying, cheating, stealing, hating, being rude to others, people dismiss the Christian faith. As a Christian, I’d like to ask you non-believers to give the Christian faith a chance and realize that the author of the faith is not the one to blame. I’m not saying dedicate your life to Jesus. I’m just saying don’t judge the Christian faith, one based on a God of infinite, immeasurable love, by the people who misrepresent its teachings. Indulge me for a minute and just imagine that there really is a God who did create the earth and everything in it, including man. And that this God teaches us to love one another as we do ourselves and when we don’t, this God’s heart breaks. Imagine that this God recognizes that even though He created mankind, not everybody knows him or wants to know him, but he desires so much for people to know him in an intimate and personal way. Wouldn’t that suck for God if the people that do know him, who are supposed to be his ambassadors of the faith, completely go against his teachings and their actions act as roadblocks for others to get to know him?

But I do understand where you’re coming from. If somebody is trying to evangelize to me, why would I want to buy into what they’re evangelizing if they themselves don’t practice it? People have no respect for hypocrites. We, as a church don’t exactly have the best record of being true to our faith. We are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. But a lot of the time I see that salt as manifesting itself into a flavor that ends up being stale and wanting to be spit out. I hope you can at least be open to the fact that the Christian faith is not always represented well. I also do hope that you have encountered people who are true to the faith and do reflect the love of God. Believe me, they’re out there! And a lot of what they do is totally inspiring. Nobody is perfect. Of course not. If we were, we wouldn’t need a forgiving God. Even the most faithful Christians make dumb mistakes. But just because we mess up the song does not mean that the song nor the writer of the song is to blame.