By Matthew Lau
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.” – John 10:10
Chants of “Come Holy Spirit” echoed throughout the ACYF19 plenary exhibition as dynamic rap artist Joe Melendrez led some 5500 festivalgoers to experience God in music.
The American speaker and rapper was a special guest performer at the fourth biennial Australian Catholic Youth Festival, held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre (PCEC) from 8 to 10 December 2019.
Using rap music as a vehicle to evangelise, Melendrez’s main goal at the festival was to “act a vessel to be used by God at the best level I can”.
“I want to pour out to these kids and I want to be available to how God wants to speak through me … I came to share the Good News of Jesus Christ,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Record.
“ACYF has been fantastic, I didn’t know what to expect with the faith climate being different than America; so I was just coming to be authentically faith-filled as I normally am, hoping that it would be received well and I think it has.
“God is universal: no matter who you are, He’s going to connect with you.”
The highlight of the first day, he felt, was the outdoor concert held at PCEC’s Summer Garden.
“It started with 20 to 30 people sitting on beanbags, and then they all gathered – it was like a living room show. I love that connection and the Spirit moves so intimately in those environments,” Melendrez recalled.
“If it’s five people or 5000, it’s the same show – that’s how I started, I started on small stages. I’ve got to give everything I’ve got every time without holding back or being disappointed if there’s only a few people.
“If you can give the message of Jesus, if you can inspire one of them to come to know the Lord, then that’s what we’ve got to do. I would say we won’t stop until the world is with Him.”
In 2018, Melendrez released a studio album titled Chosen, which was formed organically on John 15:16 – “you did not chose me, but I chose you”.
“It’s this realisation that we’re all chosen by God. What has He chosen us for? Why did He choose me?
“Once people feel part of this family of God, I feel they’ll be empowered to use their gifts, they’ll be empowering to inspire people to say ‘yes’, they’ll make other people know that they’re chosen and invite them to God’s team.”
Melendrez was given the freedom to talk about worship and praise in his talk on 8 December, attended by a large number of festivalgoers.
“I believe we’re living two lives: we’re living today on this Earth, and then we’ll live together with God in Heaven. What are we going to be doing forever? Worshipping God. So we better get good at what we’re about to do forever,” he affirmed.
“Praise shifts things. I talked about the benefits of praise, I talked about the benefit of encounter – when you encounter God, you are changed – and how music can create space for that encounter.”
On breaking the common stigmas around rappers and the hip-hop music scene, Melendrez places his trust in God.
“We are limited, and we need to trust where the Spirit is leading. Rap does have negative connotations because of the content, but rap is literally an art form, it’s literally poetry with music,” he explained.
“So if you make God the content and use the art form, it’s glorifying God – there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s all giving God glory. Sometimes we need to be more open to that possibility that there are more ways to pray, there are more ways to praise, and I want to encourage people to continue to innovate their prayer.”
The latest playlist on Melendrez’s Spotify includes Kanye West’s Christian hip-hop album Jesus is King, to which he believes will be a landmark revival of Christianity.
“[It’s] incredible, I’m so thankful. I’m declaring that there’s going to be millions of people that’ll come to the Lord through this movement. I told my parents that they’ll write about this in history books of the year 2019/2020 is when mass amounts of people came to Christ.”
Also on pages 24 to 25 of Issue 23: 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival: ‘Rebuild of Church’ of The Record Magazine