D.A. Horton has been a rapper, youth worker, church planter and senior pastor. These days, he’s the executive director of ReachLife Ministries, the non-profit arm of Reach Records. ReachLife began six years ago when musical artist LeCrae wanted to provide biblical follow-up to his music and concerts, especially within an urban context.
YWJ: How would you describe the role of creativity in reaching people from an urban background?
D.A.: You have to first understand that 82 percent of people in the United States live in an urban area, but most don’t realize it. I spoke at Moody Bible Institute and asked the audience how many of them were from an urban context. Only about 10 percent raised their hands. I then asked how many people fell into the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of living in an area where there’s more than 50,000 people. The majority of them raised their hands.
YWJ: How does that actually look if it includes so many people?
D.A.: The urban mentality has been thrust on all of us. It’s density with diversity. Within that framework, you have to figure out who the people around you are. They’ll drift into various subcultures based on their interests, whether music, affiliation or however they want to express what’s in them.
That means an urbanite could be a Caucasian gentleman who just moved into the hipster section of town or the drug dealer on the corner selling his stuff. It also could be a new family who got a discount on a house they otherwise couldn’t afford or a retiree on a fixed income living in the place she’s lived most of his or her life. Whatever causes people to navigate their lives to fit into that core thing is why creativity is so important in how we reach out to them.
YWJ: You’ve invested much effort into staying theologically sound in everything you do, erring on being thought of more as a conservative Christian than liberal. What’s been your experience with how this affects the ability to be creative?
D.A.: When you look at the order of God and His process of creation, chaos was only at the beginning for a very limited space when things were formless and void. I tend to see this as purposeful, as He first constructed the canvass before splashing on color and completing the painting.
In contrast, when we have a no-boundaries version of creativity, we become the antithesis of our Creator. That leads to rebellion. The Creator of life who breathed into our souls used boundaries in how He created, though He didn’t have to do so.
YWJ: You might find some artists who would disagree with you on this, especially if they’ve built a platform of always pushing the envelope with something new.
D.A.: When someone says, “I want to be free to do whatever I want,” that’s independent from our Creator and an inconsistent argument. People who say that never seem to consider letting other people do what they want to do without boundaries. They may say they do, but the moment someone else opposes them in some way, they want to compartmentalize opening up to other people having that same freedom.
YWJ: Creativity also has become a prominent way to reach people for Jesus. What do you think are the strengths and liabilities of this?
D.A.: One strength of being creative is that it reflects the creative genius of our God. It shows He’s given us the ability to express ourselves with excellence that is honoring to Him. At the same time, as we reflect the creativity of the Creator, what we say is also important. Creativity is the vehicle, and the passenger is the content.
There was an interview with Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins in which he was asked about the future of rock and roll. He said God is the great unexplored territory in music. He added that Christians need to start making better music.
I can relate to that. He went on to compare how Social Security is the unspoken third rail of the government, similar to how God is the unspoken third rail of rock and roll. Jesus wants better bands, but not because they’re knockoffs of U2.
If that’s the perspective of someone who isn’t in the household of faith, the church has to find a way to deliver content that makes sense. Creativity helps us communicate using words the world at large can understand so people can pick up on how God is trying to have a conversation with them. We’re talking in code too much. If it’s for the church, then identify that. If it’s evangelistic, remove the Christianese that only believers would understand.
YWJ: Is there a Christian ghetto we can get stuck in without resorting to our own slang, so to speak?
D.A.: There is, especially if one out of five people in America say they don’t know a Christian. We can become all about living in our evangelical circles with our own special language that makes others feel as if they are outsiders. As I look at the Christian rap shows, I’ve found for years that we’ve just been entertaining ourselves.
Keep in mind I have no problem with people who want to champion the gospel together; there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if we’re only gathering a certain subculture of people in a building and talking to ourselves, that’s not evangelistic. We can’t just create space for ourselves.
That’s one of the pushbacks people gave LeCrae because he doesn’t want his stuff just in a Christian section at a big box store. He feels he can’t reach people outside of anyone who might stumble into that section. If the world can’t find us or listen to quality coming from us, then they’ll say, “I’ll just go back and listen to Jay-Z.” That said, I know God is sovereign, and if He’s piercing the heart of someone to pick up a CD labeled as Christian, He’ll do it.
YWJ: What do you think youth workers need to know and consider about this?
D.A.: First, youth workers need to be applauded for their sacrifice that often gets overlooked. I say that as a former youth pastor, youth worker and youth member. There isn’t enough applause for the nights you spend praying over the souls of the youth you oversee. You don’t have to be there doing what you do. You choose to be there doing what you do, and we thank you for your service.
After that, it goes back to finding a way in through relationships. You have to make sure the commitment to the young person is safe, including all the common sense stuff such as not being alone with the opposite gender. It sends mixed signals if in the process of becoming their friend you blur the lines and start participating with them as a peer.
Creativity in this sense is about figuring out what parts of your life you need to show them so you can speak about Christ with them. Again, that can’t be unbridled or it becomes dangerous.
YWJ: What are some practical hooks for that kind of approach?
D.A.: Researching where youth are at is one thing, but it works better if the research comes from students. For example, ask, “What are you listening to on your playlist? Let me hear the song that is impacting your life the most. I want to understand why it means what it means to you.” If you take the time to help them dissect the philosophy, then they may know better what draws them to it. You may even need to ask something such as, “Is that artist speaking to you…or for you?”
That’s when you can segue, such as saying, “So the Word of God says this, but Justin Timberlake says that. How do we reconcile the two?” Using these types of teaching moments is huge, especially when you show how God addresses the questions people ask. It really can be work with movies, too. Watch something with them and ask, “Why does this movie have a stakeholder place in your heart?”
The end goal is for them to learn how to analyze things critically so they’re not mindless. People did that with me and with LeCrae growing up. It helps us not just compartmentalize our faith as in, “I’ll push the stop button on my church life now, so I can push the start button on this other life.”
YWJ: It seems as if Christian artists should help nurture that somehow. What do you think is the appropriate responsibility of a Christian entertainer through his or her platform?
D.A.: Christian entertainers always should refer the pastoring and shepherding of the masses back to the local church. They need to be more vocal about saying, “I’m not your pastor. You should have a healthy local church.”
That doesn’t mean they get a pass from living lives of integrity that are consistent with biblical Christianity. We all need to focus on Christ and have healthy accountability. None of us are superhuman. There’s only one Hero—He’s Jesus, and He’s not for sale. Christian artists need to say, “He’s the main Hero, and I’m doing the best I can to live a life of holiness.”
The other thing about artists pointing to the church is they provide an example of submission to authority over them. You may enjoy seeing Chris Tomlin in concert, but when he’s not touring he serves in his church. LeCrae does that, too. It’s good for entertainers to show how they have pastors they’ve placed themselves under to stay grounded. That way we’re creating a more accurate vision of our blind spots. I imagine that’s something youth workers can model, too.
