Wow, what an amazing 3 years it has been… 3 years! I can hardly believe it. These years have gone so quickly, but have been some of the most amazing, fun, rewarding, challenging and exciting years of my life! Being involved in ministry has taught me more than ever to trust God, to have faith that He is going to provide everything I need and that He will never leave my side. He called me into this so I know He’ll be with me every step of the way; guiding me and leading me. Sometimes I am quite good at worrying or thinking it’s not going as planned, but Gods plans are way better than my own, which is another thing I’ve learned.

Over these years in tbc we have seen well over 100,000 kids — not even including teachers and parents. All of those have heard openly about our faith and how much we love God, and how much He loves them and wants a friendship with them. We’ve had concerts where between 100-200 kids would become Christians in one gig! God has used us in ways that we couldn’t even imagine.

We’re just ordinary girls doing extraordinary things for Him, and we are weak, but with Him we are strong. We’ve had opportunities to travel (which is one of my favourite things to do) all over the UK, South Africa and America! We spent 2 weeks in South Africa, and had an overwhelming response. In one public school, after we’d done the assembly, all the students (about 1,000) started singing the worship song, ‘One Way, Jesus!’ This totally blew us away, we had to hold back the tears! And then we spent 5 weeks in America. We went to North Carolina, Georgia and Connecticut! It was such a fantastic experience, it was challenging as we were away from home for so long, but God showed us so much during the tour and hundreds were saved and saw breakthrough in their lives! We’ve been to loads of festivals and just had the chance to sing to and speak to thousands upon thousands of people.

We want to show young people that being a Christian isn’t about loads of rules and regulations that they have to follow, but it’s about having a friendship with God. He knows what they’re going through and struggling with, and wants to help them and be there for them. So many people come and go in our lives, and hearts get broken when people betray our trust, but God is the only one who will NEVER leave and will NEVER let us down. We also want to show them that Christianity is exciting, not at all boring, and it is relevant to them. There are so many other bands out there that are entirely inappropriate for young children, they are not good role models and are teaching them things that aren’t healthy, so we want to give them an alternative. We try to communicate our love for God through up-to-date chart style music, and a high energy show that is full of dancing and different ways for them to interact!

Never in my life did I think I would be able to do this: fulfilling my dreams of singing and dancing for God! It is funny how when you try to make things happen in your own strength, it doesn’t work very well and you get burnt out. But when you hand it over to God and let Him take control, things happen beyond your wildest dreams, and better than what you could ever imagine! So why don’t we ever learn our lesson? Believe me, I’m still working on that. But God is so full of grace and unconditional love for us. I know Gods plans are perfect, so I dont know how much longer He wants me to stay here, but either way I’m so looking forward to whatever He’s got planned for these next couple of years… so bring it on!

To support Lucy and her amazing work with Innervation, you can make a gift here. Send us an email and let us know your are designating to Lucy.

What is a musicianary, you ask? Good question! Why we haven’t taken time to explain this in all these years is beyond us. A MUSICIANARY is a MUSIC-MISSIONARY. The term is not original… we tried to buy the domain name when we first thought of it. Apparently, others have thought of this term and all the good ones are gone.

How did f2fmi get involved with Musicianaries?
Good question! It all started when Amy and I were living in the UK. in 2004. I was a radio d.j. at the University I attended and was invited to m.c. an event with thebandwithnoname at the end of a schools week in Canterbury. I became great friends with the lead singer, chipK and was impressed with the powerful way the band presented the Christian message. They spoke a language young people could understand using MTV-style performances with singing and dancing in school assemblies, lunch time concerts, character education classes and at Friday night concerts.

On Tour with the Band
After returning to the USA, I received a book deal from Tate Publishing. As a way of cross marketing the book, I named my book after the band’s 2nd album – Schizophrenix. Then, I went on tour with the band for 2 months in 2005 running their sound, doing some preaching and sitting through dozens of auditions. At the end of the tour, there were several recruits and I opened f2fmi in Belpre, Ohio to help musicianaries get to England once they had been accepted in to a band produced by Innervation Trust.

Carissa & Kylie
The first two musicianaries that f2fmi sent to England were Carissa Jardio and Kylie Evans in 2006. Carissa was from Tampa and went to the renown hip-hop church, Crossover. Kylie was part of a dance studio in Missouri, hailing from Lee’s Summit. The two girls raised support in months and the next thing they knew, they had both landed parts in thebandwithnoname as backup dancers.

The Lodz Mission with Passion 4 People International
Another big happening in 2006 was a collaborative NGA mission to Lodz, Poland. I was recruited to direct the mission for Evangelist Brad Butcher of Passion 4 People International. I took thebandwithnoname in to the schools of Lodz leading to a concert at the end of the week for more than 800 students.

Lucy & Jennifer
The next two to go to England were Lucy Wells and Jennifer Elrod. Lucy’s parents are missionaries from England that moved to Atlanta, GA with Operation Mobilization. We sent Lucy back as a reverse-missionary to the country of her birth! Jennifer, also from Georgia raised support to be in an Innervation band. Lucy is our longest standing musicianary, performing in the all-girl pop band, tbc.

Genetik
Musicianaries were coming home before their contracts were up. We were troubled by this because of the amount of work it took to get them over there. The question was raised, “How do we prepare them better so they will stay?” Trainings were introduced. Meetings and phone conferences followed. Paperwork. The answer turned out to be using The Message Trust, another schools work organization, to train our aspiring music missionaries. The Message founded an academy for music and evangelism called Genetik. We began to send our missionaries through their program in order to see if they could cut it in the UK before offering them permanent positions in schools bands.

Ryan & Morgan
Enter Ryan Griggs and Morgan Dinerstein. When I re-opened the f2fmi office in 2007 in Connecticut, I met both Ryan and Morgan at my new home church, Calvary Chapel. Both of them were presented with the opportunity. Both of them went to Genetik. Ryan was offered an internship with The Message and toured for a semester in a new project called Genetik Revolution. When his internship was over, Ryan and the team were offered permanent roles with The Message. The band was renamed Twelve24 and thrust in to schools all over Manchester in the fall 2008.

tbc in the USA
f2fmi changed roles in 2009 from tour coordinator to regional partner. We hosted tbc in Southeastern Connecticut for one of their famous schools weeks! tbc did many shows throughout the week leading up to a main event at Connecticut College’s Palmer Auditorium for 400+. You can read the official Mission Report here.

How will f2fmi Support the work of Musicianaries in 2010?
2010 is already proving to be an exciting year. Both Ryan and Lucy will remain in the UK touring the schools in their respective bands. f2fmi remains committed to keeping them on the field and rallying support for their cause in 2 major ways:

1. f2fmi and The Lifefaqs Foundation will bring Twelve24 to Connecticut in March to tour our schools and reach students in our community!

2. f2fmi is also committed to finding another musicianary for Innervation’s tbc. Are you between 18-24? Do you rap, dance, or sing and have a passion to share your faith? Would you like to become a MUSICIANARY? For more information, click here.

Continuing from my last post:

Overall, it was a fantastic week and since then, I have heard loads of testimonies from event goers who have reported decisions to follow Christ and stories of the impact our week had on kids throughout our region. The main event with Scarlet Fade, TBC and me was held at Connecticut College’s Palmer Auditorium. There were around 400 in attendance and the music, projection and lighting were all spectacular.

When I took the stage, it was a moment that was a little surreal for me. I have worked as the US Representative for Innervation church since 2005 when I began preparing the first USA tour for the boy version of TBC, thebandwithnoname. Since then, a half dozen Musicianaries have come through my office on their way to schools bands in the UK. These young people dedicate themselves to several years in schools. Some of them go on to bigger ministry. Some come home. In either case, they are transformed by their experience. Lucy is one of these young people. I was there when she auditioned at 17. She is still connected to our office because her support runs through F2fmi. Sharing the stage with Lucy brought me unspeakable joy.

I talked to young people about the prodigal son. I shared my version from the Bible and then told my story; about my rebellion to my parents. I shared how I had gone my own way and done my own thing. I admitted to wasting the good things my parents had provided for me and disrespected everyone I cared about. Then I proclaimed the gospel: God loves us, we have all done wrong, and that Jesus died for us! In the end, I provided an opportunity to respond. There was a lot of movement. I counted 22 response cards, but I saw that there were more decisions than cards turned in. I heard stories about unnamed parents coming down the aisle. I saw Christian children who brought a friend escort them down the aisle for prayer. We know of 6 first time decisions for Christ. We also counted 10 recommitments. Another great milestone for our ministry and the gospel of Jesus Christ here in New England!

This past week, TBC teamed up with F2fmi to reach children and their families all over Southeastern Connecticut. Over the course of 7 days, TBC did 11 gigs, including a main event at Connecticut College for more than 350 this past Saturday.

The band arrived on Saturday the 15th and I drove them to our good friends, the Harpers. The band stayed with them for the week and found a comfortable apartment prepared for them. I was pleased that they were happy with their accomodation. Sunday morning they performed at two services at our home church, Calvary Chapel. The church was really excited to meet the girls and had no problems getting in to the music and singing and dancing along. Sunday night, we went over to Groton Heights Baptist church to encourage the kids who attend Awana there. Rachel shared her testimony about how she had hung out with a rough crowd until meeting Christ and the girls answered questions about their faith and being in a pop band.

On Monday, the girls had a day off and I took them to Manchester, CT (since they are from Manchester, UK) and we went to Buckland mall and then watched Slumdog Millionaire. Since it was a holiday, it seemed fitting to give them some proper rest. Tuesday was mostly restful too. The girls got a very late start and before we started the week, we were able to have some time of devotion together as a team. It was very encouraging to worship with them and share my heart with them. It set a great pace for the day and we went from there to visit Sonalyst Studios. The girls got to check out the huge sound stages, recording studios and green screens used by top musicians, actors and directors. We got in there through our awesome media friends the Livelys (Tiffany did all the amazing photos from our week) and Doug works at Sonalysts as a producer of all kinds of cool media stuff. Later that afternoon, we went to Gray Farm House – the group home Amy and I used to work at. That evening, we spent two hours with the girls. It was amazing to see how God used TBC to minister to these girls who are so broken. They were all singing and dancing and were so amped to receive the free tickets I had brought to see TBC live in concert at our main event.

Wednesday was our busiest day of the week. We started the day with praise and worship. Our friend Shaun Pillay, Pastor of Cornerstone International Church joined us for our devotional and brought the team a timely message to set us on track for the day. After that, we hurried over to the Salvation Army in down town New London to do a special lunchtime program for the kids there. After, we went to the Williams School to do an after school assembly for their middle school students. In the evening, we hurried over to Groton Bible Chapel to encourage their Awana club.

Thursday was quiet during the day. The girls were restful. Lots of relationship building time with our host, hospitality team and community partners. In the evening, TBC went with me to Waterford Country School and I have to say, it was a little out of their comfort zone. TBC is best with elementary school kids. The kids that actually came to see them that night were all in high school and sat toward the back. However, when the girls got going, I think they won the crowd over and the kids appreciated what TBC was trying to do.

Friday was the final push toward the main event and we went to Wildwood Christian school in Norwich and then in the evening, returned to Calvary Chapel to minister to the youth group and the Awana club that meets there. I spent the week lugging equipment, driving the van, fixing problems and literally cleaning up spills. It was beautiful chaos! Was it all worth it? Stay tuned in… I will write more about the main event in the next few days!