Proceeds from an open mic event at the hip-hop panel will benefit the Lamb's emergency food pantry. The Lamb's EFP seeks to reduce the amount of individuals that go hungry by providing an emergency food source and offering a sense of relief from the burdens of poverty and hunger. The Lamb's vision is to provide a safe haven where families can come, receive aid and know they will not be judged.
The Lamb's Church to have Christian hip-hop panel; pioneers effort in the Lower East Side
Friday, January 14, 2011
New York, New York
The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene will become the first church in New York to organize a panel on Christian hip-hop music.

The church, located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, will conduct the panel, "Clash of Cultures? Christian Hip-Hop Meets the Church,"  January 29 at the Lamb's Church.

Pastors Gabriel and Jeanette Salguero said the panel provides churches an opportunity to discuss this music's role in ministry.

Panelists include rapper and author Phanatik, founding member of the two-time Grammy nominated group Cross Movement; Pastor Raymond Robles, former member of urban singing group TRUCE and founder of the record label Bloody Ink; film editor Yolanda Solomon with a short film profiling a gospel rap artist; and popular Christian rapper J Sky Walker.

The panel will be broadcasted live on one of the nation's leading holy hip-hop radio stations hollafestradio.com, which is also a Holy Culture Radio podcast. It is a free event open to the public.

The panel was birthed from recognition of the need for churches to dialogue about Christian hip-hop.

"There is controversy surrounding Christian hip-hop as some people feel uncomfortable with not only the music but also the culture. Yet, hip-hop is a fecund platform for outreach," said Michael Lopez, the Lamb's Nazarene Youth International president.

Many churches, however, know little, if anything, about Christian hip-hop let alone how to incorporate it as a tool for ministry. This panel will expose people to different types of this musical genre, discuss its history, challenges, and appeal, and equip churches to utilize it to engage youth in their teenage to young adult years.

"I love hip-hop," said Guesnerth Perea, the Lamb's youth leader, a young adult himself. "I see hip-hop culture and Christian culture as very similar; both speak to and give a voice to the marginalized and the poor. So I would like to have a conversation on how the two can work together."

While the Lamb's has had several panels, this is only one of two panels to which a number of other churches are actively being invited.

The panel is part of a Christian hip-hop night and will be followed with an open mic featuring two rappers: The Mouthpi3ce and Dying Breed and up-and-coming spoken word artist Kevin Goodridge, who has performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café.

Expected to participate in the open mic portion are singers as well as spoken word, reggaeton, hip-hop, and reggae artists. There will also be a wall for graffiti artists to tag.

All proceeds from the open mic will go to the Lamb's Emergency Food Program. For more information, visit the Lamb's Facebook page.

Though Christian hip-hop may attract only a subset of the church population, this subset is invaluable to the Lamb's Church.

"Part of who we are is a multicultural, multigenerational church. While hip hop is not necessarily part of my generation, it touches the millennials," Pastor Jeanette Salguero said. "It speaks to them in their language, and at the Lamb's, we love in everyone's language."

It appears Christian hip-hop may help reduce the staggering statistic that 80 percent of 20-somethings in the U.S. say they are absent from church, as reported by the research firm Barna Group.

Exploring the relationship between the arts and Christianity has historically been a trademark of the Lamb's.

Originally located in the Times Square area, the church is known throughout New York City for the high caliber of its theatrical performances, which showcased professional, often Broadway, singers.

Now in the Lower East Side, the Lamb's retains its passion for sharing Christ through art; it has had a jazz concert featuring Grammy award-winning bassist John Benitez and continues to provide art therapy for vulnerable populations through its Gifted Hands program.

The Lamb's Church  is under the leadership of Salgueros and Assistant Pastors Rev. Wu and Rev. Falconi. The Lamb's comprises of a Chinese Mandarin congregation and a Spanish/English congregation. Together these congregations are one: a multicultural, multiclass, multigenerational urban church committed to developing Christian leadership and ministry that transforms individuals, culture, and communities through worship, education, compassionate ministry, and community development.

To that end, the Lamb's participates in the Green Faith Program, spearheads the food pantry initiative Emergency Food Program, and administers art therapy program Gifted Hands. For more information, visit lambschurch.org.
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