�1

VESSELSMONTHLY

GLZ

BCYo

uthN

ewsle

tter •

vol

ume

4 • F

ebru

ary

201

5 • p

rice:

Fre

e

Hip Hop’s Anomaly:

Lecrae’s History-Making Crossover

�2

1 Angelica Anderson Member of Greater Little Zion Baptist Church involved in Youth, Dance, and Girls’s Ministry. Passionate about coaching varsity cheerleading, writing, reading and working with youth.

2 Mea Anderson Member of GLZBC and is Vice President of the Youth Ministry. Loves reading, running track and great food! This month Mea is reporting on weird foods that make delicious snacks. In her new column, “The Moody Foodie”, Mea will bring her picky eating taste to Vessels every month with passionate opinions and reviews about food that she loves and hates!

3 Craig Marks This month features excerpts from a cover story written by the veteran music journalist in Details magazine about Lacrae. Lacrae is the co-founder and president of the non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries and successful Christian rapper, song writer and record producer.

Vessels Contributors

CONTENTS: 3 Let’s Talk

From the Editor: Angelica Anderson

4 The Moody Foodie 5 Spotlight: Inspiring Teens 6 CoverStory: Hip-Hop’s Anomaly 8 Girls Only: Super Come Back 9 Brothers: Black Ivy, Bound together 10Game Page 11 V-List 12 Moral of the Story

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

4, 2

015

�3

Everybody’s doing it. At least that’s the way it seems. The New England Patriots and Tom Brady have been accused of deflating footballs, and although disgraced cyclist, Lance Armstrong admitted to doing it, in a recent interview with BBC he confessed that if he had it to do over, he would cheat again, showing no remorse. According to LifeWay.com, in a recent survey of more than 12,000 teenagers across the United States, more that 7 out of 10 teenagers have cheated on a test in the past year. The national average was 74 percent, up 13 points over a decade ago. Cheating has become so out of control that some researchers believe it amounts to a moral crisis in this country. Why Teens Cheat 1. Teens cheat because they don’t think it’s wrong. However

cheating is lying and/or stealing and they are both wrong in God’s eyes. Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips is an abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

2. Teens cheat because they think they are too busy to study. The Bible says, “Walk in wisdom…, making the best use of the time.” Colossians 4:5. If you are too busy for academics, you need to declutter your schedule. Lack of time is no excuse.

3. Teens cheat because they feel it’s easy to do. Matthew 7:14, “ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Anything worth having is worth working hard for. The easy way often times leads to spiritual death.

4. Teens cheat because the pressure to cheat is intense. Scholarships, Ivy league colleges and honor roll are goals that will do anything to achieve. But Romans 12:2, says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….” Do not give into pressures of the world but remember who you are truly working for.

Cheating isn’t winning; it’s cheating. And cheating dishonors God and affects your relationship with him. Just don’t do it!

...About Cheating By :Angelica Anderson - excerpts for LifeWay.com

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

�4

The Moody Foodie: Valentines Day Treats

Forget the typical lollipops and candy harts, these alternative treats are the sweetest and inexpensive way to add some creativity!

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

Georgetown Cupcakes - $3.99. These things are as addictive as Crispy Cream donuts! Get there early because the line is always down the street!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Caramel Apples - $6.95 These apples are insanely good! Add a red ribbon and it makes the perfect gift.

Edible Arrangements Chocolate Covered Strawberries - $ 29.00. This price is pretty steep but fresh strawberries and chocolate are worth it!

�5

GLZBC teens recognize some up-and-coming youth that not only inspire them but are making black history! They may be young but African American teens are making a difference! They have a passion for good work that have inspired even old souls. They are a new generation of doers who are proving that every life matters by not only improving their lives but providing a service to others!

Spotlight: GLZBC Teens Name Black Youth Who Inspire Them

AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENS MAKING HISTORY

DARRELL WALLACE JR. 19 YEARS OLD AND THE 4TH BLACK DRIVER IN NASCAR

BRITNEY EXLINE, 19, THE YOUNGEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENGINEER

CHASE REED, 16, FOUNDER OF SNEAKER PAWN USA

MAYA PENN, 14, CEO OF MAYA’S IDEAS, DESIGNER AND ARTIST

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

�6

A rapper as devout as he is talented, Lecrea, rose out of relative obscurity to give the mainstream pop charts a come-to-Jesus moment—buoyed by critical raves and a fast-multiplying flock, his Anomaly became the No. 1 album in America this fall (sorry, Maroon 5). Now comes the hard part for this charismatic crossover star: shedding the square stigma and leading Christian hip-hop to the promised land.

Lecrae, 35, who was born in Houston and attended high school and college in the Dallas area, explains that he was once that $20 bill. Stepped on. Spat on. Dismissed as worthless. But then he embraced God, and he knew the haters had it all wrong. "Because God," he concludes emphatically, "says that you and I have infinite worth."

Lecrae addresses his fans less like the No. 1–selling artist in the country that he is than like a cool, laid-back youth-group counselor who has been through some very heavy stuff in his life.

History Making In September, with the release of his seventh album, Anomaly, Lecrae became the first artist ever to simultaneously top Billboard's Top 200 album chart and its gospel-album chart (the music biz's repository for black Christian music). Lecrae was already a star in the insular world of Christian music. He was the first hip-hop artist to win a Grammy for Best

Gospel Album; he and his Reach Records crew, the 116 Clique, count devout pro-ballers Jeremy Lin and Stephen Curry among their fans ("one-one-six" refers to Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”)

If the goal was crossover success, Lecrae has accomplished that. And edging out the decidedly secular Maroon 5 for the top spot on the charts opened doors usually sealed tight to Christian artists. In quick succession, he was sitting in with the Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, breaking off a freestyle rap for the morning-drive hosts on the New York hip-hop powerhouse Hot 97, and garnering warm praise from mainstream music and pop-culture publications that rarely if ever cover anything identified as Christian. Grantland breathlessly name-checked Drake, Kanye, Jay-Z, and Outkast in its review of Anomaly, Rolling Stone, whose previous

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

4, 2

015

CoverStory: Hip Hop’s Anomaly: Lecrae By Craig Marks- excerpts

“My lyrics were changing because my life was changing. All the pain, the struggle,

the faith - it was all intensely coming out.”

~Lacrae

�7

favorite Christian artist was Slow Train Coming–era Bob Dylan, approvingly compared Lecrae to fellow "iconoclasts" J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, calling Anomaly "as hard-hitting as any rap record out right now." In December, he became the first Christian hip-hop artist to earn a Grammy nomination in the Best Rap Performance category (for "All I Need Is You"), in which his fellow nominees are Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and Eminem.

Hip-hop artists who explicitly and regularly praise God in their lyrics are in a bind, struggling to convince both religious and secular audiences of their authenticity. Evangelicals, typically white and culturally conservative, may damn all hip-hop as the devil's music. "Plenty of people say that my music isn't Christian, either because it's hip-hop or because they don't hear 'Jesus' in every lyric," Lecrae says. Meanwhile, hip-hop-heads may dismiss Christian rap as lyrically preachy and musically wack, years, if not decades, behind in terms of sonic, rhythmic, and stylistic innovations. "A lot of people thought our music was cheesy," admits Philip Rood, the editor of the Christian-rap website Rapzilla. "But that was before Lecrae.”

High Praise While Christian hip-hop has gradually made inroads into the larger Christian-music scene, Lecrae is the first Christian hip-hop artist to be accepted as both a "real" Christian and a "real" hip-hop artist. The hardscrabble bio he alludes to in his pre-show ministration carries great weight in both communities, which share a tendency to fetishize suffering. "Lecrae

has as much sensitivity for hip-hop as he does for Christianity," Bun B says. "Frankly, he has a lyrical dexterity that a lot of secular rappers don't even have."On Anomaly, amid the joyful worship and spiritual reckonings, Lecrae takes on hot-button social issues with a fervor that would make Chuck D proud: hip-hop materialism on "Nuthin" ("It's foreign cars, pretty girls everywhere you go/Yeah, I heard it 30 times on the radio"); on "Good, Bad, Ugly," abortion ("That day, a part of us died") and the childhood sexual abuse he suffered from a babysitter that warped his idea of manhood ("Didn't think, it hit me so deep/ So into it, I got promiscuous"); and on "Dirty Water" and "Welcome to America," American exceptionalism and racial injustice ("I was born in the mainland/Great grandpa from a strange land/He was stripped away and given bricks to lay/I guess you could say he was a slave here”).

Toby McKeehan, better known as TobyMac, cofounder of the pioneering Christian-pop/hip-hop trio DC Talk, may have been the best-known Christian rapper prior to Lecrae. "I think people are hungry for something that feeds their souls," he says. "And hip-hop fans are open to spirituality." For TobyMac, Lecrae represents a turning point in Christian music's long march toward modernity. "He makes music that's relevant, and he's unapologetic about it. He's beyond the walls of the church, outside the stained-glass windows. There's not a better ambassador out there.”

Still Fighting Ebro Darden, the former program director of Hot 97 and a cohost of the morning show that interviewed Lecrae, admits there's a stigma against artists who put their religious beliefs first. His audience doesn't want to "get hit with a sermon." If his station plays a song "about a night club," he says, "and then the next song has a faith-based message, the listener will be, like, 'Eeek, I don't want to think about that right now.'" Yet Darden is a fan of Lecrae's: "He's got life experience, he's got great music. He's the full package." The station has added "All I Need Is You," Lecrae's love song to his wife with just two mentions of God, into light rotation. "If the beat is dope," Darden says, "and you're rhymin' like it means something, hip-hop is going to give it a chance."

At the mention of modest airplay, Lecrae smiles wearily. At 35, with seven albums under his belt, he is appreciative of this rare opportunity to deliver his message to nonbelievers. But whether the audience is country-club Evangelicals or Shmoney-dancing hip-hop fans, it's an ongoing struggle to be heard."I just want people to call it for what it is and say, 'Yes, we have a double standard,'" he says. "I guess I rain on their parade. I bring conviction. Now I have a No. 1 album. And people still won't play me because I'm a Christian." He shrugs, slaps his hands on his thighs, and pleads skyward, to no one in particular: "Help me understand."

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

CoverStory: Hip Hop’s Anomaly: Lacrae’s History-making Crossover “I just want people to call it for what it is and say, ‘Yes, we have a double standard.’ …People still won’t play me because I’m a Christian.”

�8

Super Brave Comeback But Missy’s been here for years

“Who is Missy Elliot?” After her upstaging 2015 Super Bowl performance with Katy Perry, that was the question blowing up the internet stratosphere. Are you kidding me? Come on. Did people really not know Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot at the Super Bowl? Facebook and Twitter posts credited Katy Perry with discovering Missy, and with her being responsible for Missy”blowing up”, and many admitted they had to actually goggle the innovative R & B artist! Seriously people, you need to get your life together. Lol!

Missy is a song writer, rapper and record producer who has worked with her longtime friend, Timberland along with the late Aaliyah and Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and many more. She’s won five Grammy Awards selling over 30 million records in the United States and is the only female rapper to have six albums certified platinum, including one double platinum! But public notoriety and

awards are not the only things that define the successful artist. Missy Elliot is a survivor.Back in 2008, Missy went public with her battle with Graves disease, an immune system disorder that affect the thyroid. Elliot told SiriusXM radio, “You gotta go through seeing my eyes change, and your hair fall out, your skin change. For me that was traumatic.” Missy’s Super

Bowl comeback can teach a lot of things about perseverance in the face of our issues and God’s grace.

— God can move us from the back to the front. Matthew 20:16 - “The last shall be first and the first shall be last….” God can restore us. Even though Missy Elliot hasn’t made a song in almost 10 years, the songs that she performed during the most watched Superbowl in history are now back on Billboard charts and her iTunes downloads are going through the roof!

— God will make our path straight. Proverbs 3:6 - “ In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight you path.” Missy acknowledged on Twitter that she’s still here because of God’s Grace. God made a path for her to perform that night, touted as a history making night for viewership!

— God is strong when we are weak. Deuteronomy 20:4, “For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.” Your enemy can be an illness, a bully or depression, God will give you strength to overcome, and He will fight with you!

We are all Missy Elliot. Conquerors, strong and able to come back from anything that threatens to hold us down. With God anything is possible!

”But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” ~Isaiah 40:31

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

Missy’s tweet explaining why she cried after the Superbowl; Elliot singles most dowloads hours after her performance.

�9

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

Black Ivy: All Bound Together A moment of fear can define our faith Some excerpts from NYT

“So my son, a 3rd year Chem major at Yale was just accosted - at GUN POINT - by a Yale policeman because he “fit the description’ of a suspect….”

“He was let go when they realized he was a college student and not a criminal (he was leaving the library!) He’s shaken, but I’m fuming!”

In a series of tweets, Charles M. Blow, columnist for the New York Times, expressed his anger at the racial profiling his son experienced. He went on to tweet,

“ Now, don’t get me wrong: If indeed my son matched the description of a suspect, I would have had no problem with him being questioned appropriately. …The stop is not the problem; the method of the stop is the problem. Why was a gun drawn first? Why was he not immediately told why he was being detained? Why not ask for ID first? What if my son had panicked under the stress, having never had a gun pointed at him before, and made what the officer considered a ‘suspicious’ movement? Had I come close to losing him? Triggers can’t be unpulled. Bullets cannot be called back.”

Things could have gone more wrong if Mr. Blow’s son would’ve panicked, lost his head, had a sudden episode of intense fear that may have triggered a physical reaction like running or mouthing off. These negative interactions with police whether in your

neighborhood or on an Ivy league campus, can be very scarier. It is important to remember:

• God is bigger than fear, 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to, “Cast all your anxieties on Him because he cares for you.” When we learn how to let God handle our daily fears, when our biggest challenges come we remove some of the stimuli that can provoke us into doing something rash.

• Have faith instead. Isaiah 35:4, “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘ Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come with a vengeance, will the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’” When put in a difficult situation, there is no denying fear, pretending that we are not worried or obsessing over it. God understands that we are prone to fear, and He wants us to have faith in him instead.

• Put fear in perspective, Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”. He was calling attention to the fact that most of what we fear is temporary and of no eternal consequence. We should rather focus our concerns on whether or not we are in a right relationship with God. He has then promised to meet all our needs.

No, handling your fear doesn't erase the problem because as Blow put’s it, “There is no way to work your way out - earn your way out - of this sort of crisis. There is no respectability that can bend a gun’s barrel.” But there is a God who is bigger and his promises bind us with him! Transform your fear into faith!

�10

Vessels Game Page

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

"The adrenaline-charged action will keep you totally immersed." "--RT Book Reviews"

Do Right, Fear Nothing.

Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it's only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble.

But one day, Sam sees these friends harassing an eccentric schoolmate named Jennifer. Finding the courage to face the bullies down, Sam loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one.

Jennifer is not just eccentric. To Sam, she seems downright crazy. She has terrifying hallucinations involving demons, the devil, and death. And here's the "really "crazy part: Sam is beginning to suspect that these visions may actually be prophecies--prophecies of something terrible that's going to happen very soon. Unless he can stop it.

With no one to believe him, with no one to help him, Sam is all alone in a race against time. Finding the truth before disaster strikes is going to be both crazy and very, very dangerous.-- Amazon

A list of new, great and relevant things that you need to stay in tune for and too!

Serena Williams stakes claim as the most dominant athlete on the planet by Atlanta Blackstar. “She is a paragon of grace and power, talent and will, confidence and vulnerability. No one stands beside her, male or female - she’s on a plateau all her own, earned over a career marked by the kind of extended brilliance heretofore unheard of in tennis.” Congratulations to Serena Williams!

In case you haven’t already heard, Justin Bieber made another appearance on, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to show people that he’s trying to move on from his past public mistakes and to talk about an emotional video on his Facebook page. He said he doesn’t want to come off as “arrogant or conceited” or be judged for how he’s acted over the past year and a half. He apologized to his fans. Hopefully, he can turn everything around into something positive!

African American magazine, Essence, made history with the release of their February issue cover, the first cover in the magazine’s 45-year history to not feature a cover model. Instead, the editorial team at Essence turned their attention to “Black Lives Matter” the predominating topic in the black community and beyond since last year’s non- indictments in the cases of Mike Brown and Eric Garner, two of almost countless young black people gunned down by white police officers. The special collector’s edition magazine features reflections from activists, authors, leaders and cultural figures.

Vessels Book Shelf Crazy Dangerous Reviewed by Jill Williamson

The V-List Top 3

Sports

Facebook

Magazines

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

2015

Moral Of The Story It’s Under Control This is what the Lord says: “Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go hime, every one of you, for this is my doing.” 1 Kings 12:24

When Jesus was unjustly arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was not panicked or even surprised. His entire life had a mission - to be sacrificed as the perfect lamb for all of our sins. But at the arrest even Jesus’ devoted disciples didn’t really get it. They didn’t understand that God’s plan was coming to its climax. they only saw their beloved Christ being betrayed, falsely accused, and treated criminally. And so one of them drew his sword in defense and cut off the ear of a soldier. Sounds pretty reasonable.

But Jesus, who understood the full picture, topple the disciple and healed the soldier’s ear. Can you imagine the surprise of everyone standing near?

When you face injustices, betrayals, or accidents, it’s reasonable to feel intense emotions and ask unanswerable questions. But then you realize that the same Jesus who knew about his crucifixion to the last detail also know every detail of you life. He’s not surprised. He’s not wondering what to do next. He is still the one who loved you enough to live and die for you. Isn’t there a sense of security in that knowledge - that God is not only all-knowing and all-powerful but all-loving?

VESS

ELSM

ONTH

LY F

ebru

ary

201

5

Dear Lord, Thank you that we can rely on you, both because you know things we don’t and because you love us more than we can understand. When things look bleak to us, help us remember who you are and have peace.

Amen

VESSELSMONTHLY

Angelica Anderson GLZBC Newsletter Please send all submissions to vesselsnewsletter@gmail.com