Hey guyz……. :)

Check it out… an article on our scene appeared in The Christian Herald, a
newspaper that hits Toronto churches. I’ve included the article below.

Also! The next party is in Toronto, Unified Soul’s Masquerade Discothèque…
Oct 20th at Willowdale Baptist Church (Holmes Ave near Yonge & Finch).
Here’s the info:

Unified Soul presents
Masquerade Discothèque
featuring
Seraphin (disco house)
Delay on 3 turntables (minimal detroit techno)
Bal_4 (hip hop)
LT Roberts (drum’n’bass)
with live percussion by David Yoon

Come Experience Unified Soul’s First Costume Party with the same groovy
atmosphere, Lightshows, the Scooby Lounge, Soul Food Café, Mehndi Body Art,
Great Food, Drinks and Soul Stuff available. $7 at the door, $5 with a
costume, prizes for best costumes, doors open at 8 pm.

More at the Unified Soul website http://members.home.com/unifiedsoul and of
course the StreetBeatz site http://www.crosswinds.net/~streetbeatz . The
flyer is attached (be sure to forward it to your friends!).



The following article appeared in The Christian Herald, Sept. 2000 issue:

Toronto Believers Rave About Jesus
By Margaret Storey

This past summer, Toronto’s mayor, city counselors and law enforcement
officers debated how to clean up the city’s rave scene.
A group of Christians are one step ahead of them, throwing dance parties
with no drugs, no weapons, no drinking, no smoking, no sexually provocative
clothing and no one being wheeled out on a stretcher.
They dance for the glory of God.
"Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. That
includes the dance culture," says Shana Gray. Gray volunteers with
StreetBeatz, a website and magazine dedicated to getting the word out about
what Christians are doing in and through raves and dance-parties.
"I really believe that as a Christian we need to get involved in every
level of society and entertainment," says Gray. "We can’t stay back any
longer from the dance culture just because of the evil that is in it. We
need to get in it and promote the message of Christ within it."
Christian evangelism within the rave community is relatively new, according
to Bill Abbott, youth pastor of Willowdale Baptist Church. "Christ has not
been brought into that arena, not in Toronto at least," he says. "There’s a
massive group of people in Toronto who are really into the music and we have
a great opportunity to bring Christ to them. The dance culture needs to be
changed. Why not God’s people to do it? Why not use it for our advantage,
and not let Satan win?"
Abbott works with Unified Soul, a group that throws clean dance parties at
community centres, churches and even clubs. These provide a safe scene for
ravers wanting to get away from the drugs and violence of secular clubs, and
are an opportunity to bring non-Christian friends to hear the message of
Christ.
"It is the burden of our church to make this an outreach," says Abbott.
"It’s an outreach that is different from 90% of the outreach that is out
there. It is bringing out friends to a scene that they are familiar with
and from that point being able to share the gospel through that."
This has brought Christian DJs, young people, youth leaders, pastors,
record labels and media outlets together for a common purpose. Even some
non-Christian DJs have been supportive of their ministry.
When Willowdale Baptist church opens their building for a Christian dance
party, their teenagers and young adults get involved in organization, and a
group of seniors meet during the event to pray for them.
Gray says that along with having a speaker that shares the message of
Christ, Christian dance parties also emphasis friendship evangelism. A
group called Found, started in the United States, also brings Christian
young people and DJ’s into secular rave parties and witnesses for Christ
within the culture.
Abbott says that one of the largest hurdles to overcome wasn’t
non-Christians rejecting their message, but Christians having misconceptions
about dance music and rave culture.
For example, since a lot of dance music has no lyrics, how can it be
glorifying to God?
"When a bird chirps, are there actual words coming out of his mouth?"
Abbott asks in response, "I don’t think so, but he is still praising God."
Abbott adds that we are called to worship God through everything we do,
like a ballerina worshipping God through dance, an accountant worshipping
God through crunching numbers, or a volunteer worshipping God through
setting up the hall for a dance-party.
"God is the creator," Gray says, "music was made to draw attention to
Himself." She says that like towering mountains and rushing rivers, God
created music for His glory and honour.
Gray says that the secular dance music scene has evil in it because people
used the music to worship sex, drugs and violence and to glorify themselves
instead of God.
"The world took dance music," says Gray, "We Christians want to take it
back and use it for Jesus."

© Margaret Storey, 2000
no reprinting without permission



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