I discovered the rave scene along with some friends back in the late 90s and it become a monumental point in my life. I had always been a fan of electronic music listening to albums like Moby’s “Everything is Wrong”, but never found a place where the music was played in public. So, I dove in head first!
Weekend after weekend, city to city, I traveled around looking for these events all across the Midwest. These were weekends full of partying on all levels, and there were many sleepless nights. I still have friends from that time period, but most of it was a pseudo-community of people that were coming together in warehouses, gymnasiums, clubs and bingo halls to party and go home.
Don’t get me wrong, I love electronic music and I enjoyed the scene that once was, but that time period of my life was marked by addiction, self-hyphenation, wasting money and overall not looking forward to what all my life could be. This is some of what lead to a marriage, to a divorce and to a dark period of my life. During this time, I also started promoting and throwing events of my own and quickly became a prominent figure in the Midwest electronic music scene. I took pride in moving to the top and created an entire business around the scene.
Let’s jump forward an entire decade. A decade that was once marked by addiction, pride and performance. Over one year, 2010, I have found more freedom than I ever thought was possible. I found a community of people that are not just together for a night or for a month, but a community that cares about my life. People that are the hands and feet of Jesus. Friends who ask the hard questions, lift me up and care about my well being. A real community of real people not putting on a facade, and not judging me. This is what I had always been looking for!
It turns out, that they love music as well! This New Year’s Eve I was honored to dj the Mosaic (young adults group) dance party at Quest Community Church. With only one week’s notice for promotion with my friend Jonathan Berry, we had about 100 people come out to hear Nate FX and DJ Messenjah bring in 2011 with house music! I have known Jonathan and Kevin (DJ Messenjah) for over a decade, and had been praying that one day we would get to do an event like this! Here it was; a new beginning.
I just want to say thanks so much to Jesus for bringing this together and to Rebekah and the Mosaic crew for the opportunity to have this event. The night will always be marked as a milestone in my life from who I used to be to the truly redeemed person I have become today. With so many others to follow in the footsteps of Jonathan and I, this event allowed us to start reaching out as rescuers to tell them the good news.
I would highly suggest that you check out DJ Messenjah’s web site. There is a track listed on there called “My Story”. I found several similarities in his accounts and my own story briefly mentioned above. Maybe you will too? You can listen to his music and story at: http://www.djmessenjah.com
Photos from Mosaic NYE
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