Summer Project Report

sp09students

In my last newsletter I promised some stories of how God worked through the six student bands in Keynote’s joint Summer Project with the Impact Movement, our partner ministry to African Americans. Here they are:

Keynote’s Young Isaac had the exciting opportunity of ministering to high school students in Australia. During concerts the band’s bass player, Ryan, talked about how he learned to trust God after the death of his best friend. Here is a sampling of what students wrote on their comment cards about Ryan’s story:

  • “I know what it’s like to be mad at God, since my dad died it hasn’t been the same.”
  • “I really liked your show and Ryan’s story changed my perspective on life.”
  • “I still don’t understand why God takes our loved ones away from us, especially when they are young. This is what annoys me.”
  • “I liked your music. Ryan’s story was touching—made me realize the importance of life.”
  • “Thanks Ryan. You have opened my eyes to things I didn’t realize before.”
  • “Ryan’s story was very inspirational—gave me a lot to think about. I have a lot of problems with God and religion since my mom died.”

Impact’s hip-hop band, Level 3:16, put together an incredibly creative show with music, rap, dance and drama. Their concert at Mt. Moriah East Baptist Church in Memphis was for a churched audience, and only 3 people indicated that they started a relationship with Christ as a result of the concert. But the church was so pleased with the band’s performance that they booked another one for the very next night. At the second concert it was obvious that church members invited a lot of unsaved friends, because there were 21 decisions for Christ!

God worked powerfully through concerts in several prisons, including the Larimer County Detention Center in Fort Collins, CO, where Keynote’s Stop On Green played two short shows. One was for about 30 female inmates; six started a relationship with Christ and 10 wanted more information. The other show was for about 60 male inmates; 16 began a relationship with Christ and 23 wanted more information. In case those numbers didn’t register, that means just over half of the women and nearly two thirds of the men made a spiritual decision of some kind!

Summer Stats:

  • 39 students in 6 bands
  • 23,259 miles travelled
  • 81 concerts
  • 8302 heard the gospel
  • 812 decisions for Christ

Want to learn more about the project? The two students on this year’s film team wrote, filmed, edited and directed a documentary about the Keynote Summer Project called “Experience a Life-Changing Summer” – you can see it now at
http://www.keynote.org/get_involved_summer_project.html.

Thank you so much for helping make this happen through your partnership with me!

Denise DiSarro

View posts by Denise DiSarro
I am a staff member with Cru, a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ. I work on a creative team in the Indianapolis area.
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