Culturally sensitive, contextually relevant, customized productions – these are terms to describe the unique strategy and ministry God has called Good News Productions, International to fulfill globally. And speaking of “global,” have you noticed that the young side of the “generation gap” is beginning to look the same all over the world? Clothing styles, slang jargon, and music preferences are the same among young people in Memphis, Munich, and Mumbai.
This is a cultural dimension the global church must recognize and relate to so that their needs are met with God’s Word. Connecting with the coming generations is essential, because they are the future of the church! New creativity, renewed passion, and contagious faith often come from the younger generation.
Cubanotics is a popular hip-hop band in Kenya. GNPI-Africa Regional Director, Jaime Swift and his staff collaborated with this group to produce a first-of-its kind music DVD. Jaime writes, “Their story is encouraging, especially in an African youth culture that mimics more and more the lifestyle of Western youth.” One of the most significant details of this story is that this band, already successful in the secular music industry, has crossed over into Christian music after all the band members became dedicated Christians!
The five-minute music video called Tabasam (“smile” in Swahili) is a song with a message of hope and courage. One of the verses of the song in Swahili literally says, “I cringe when I think about where I’ve come from. I wince when I remember what I used to do. Thank you, God for loving me so much. I praise you!” The message of the song is simple: “Tabasam, siku njema imekuja!” (Smile, a good day has come!)
One young lady named Sigrid answered the invitation to be in the video. She got a small part that required her to play a promiscuous girl who hangs out in bars. During the production of Tabasam, she became so convicted that she accepted Christ as her Savior!
Tabasam is from Cubanotics’ first Christian music album, God First. GNPI has helped to launch this band into the Christian music scene by producing this music video and the enhanced audio CD God First – helping them to be seen and heard by millions of young people in Africa.
So, what are the possibilities? How great an impact can this video have in Africa? Jaime shared what happened when he approached the television stations. “I was amazed and shocked at the response we got! The very first TV station we went to was Kenya’s largest station – KTN – it has the most viewers. We met with the program manager who decides what programs are acceptable and those that are not. She watched the video and was very impressed with the quality and content and asked if we had her master copy with us!”
Jaime continued, “The last stop of the day was the TV station run by the government - KBC. We met with the man in charge of programming and after viewing the video he asked, ‘Where is my copy? I’ll air it today.’ So I went back the next day and took him a copy. The KBC guy was true to his word – he put it on the air at 5:30 pm that afternoon!”
The video has aired multiple times on four TV stations that easily blanket the country of Kenya with its 32 million people. One time slot where it is commonly aired is Saturday morning on the music video program Stomp, which is aimed at young people.
In February, we received word from Jaime that another television station has picked up Tabasam. This station is called EATV and is East Africa’s version of MTV in the United States. “They play all kinds of music on this station, rock, rap, some good stuff, some not-so-good stuff, but we are really excited about Tabasam being in the mix,” Jaime shared.
Imagine the number of people, both young and old, who are watching when that video airs. How many will pause to consider the condition of their own life as the last scene boldly depicts the scripture, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”?