3ABN Today

Music and Missions

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: TDY

Program Code: TDY018061A


00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:18 Removing pain
00:23 Lord, let my words
00:30 Heal a heart that hurts
00:34 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:45 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:08 Hello and welcome to ABN Today.
01:11 My name is John Lomacang.
01:12 Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in today.
01:15 We always have good programs and today is not an exception,
01:20 wonderful guest today, someone I know well,
01:22 and I'm excited to be able to interview him.
01:24 But many of you watching the program might be involved
01:26 in some form of ministry
01:28 whether it's music or print ministry,
01:31 you might be a speaker
01:32 or a person of diverse talents and abilities.
01:35 Today, I pray that you'll be encouraged
01:38 by the life of my good friend who will share with you
01:42 how God has developed him for ministry
01:45 and what the Lord is doing through his life.
01:48 And, you know, when we are giving gifts,
01:50 we have also with that gift
01:51 a great responsibility to lead others to Christ,
01:54 and to allow Christ to be reflected through the gift,
01:57 and ministry that we have.
01:58 And so, stay tuned today for very encouraging program,
02:02 but also thank you for your prayers,
02:04 and your financial support of this network
02:06 as we continue going and growing,
02:08 getting ready for the coming of Jesus.
02:10 Right now I'd like to just welcome my guest.
02:12 Good to have you here, Kendol. Good to be here.
02:14 Kendol Bacchus, it's always good to see you
02:17 and to invite you to come to 3ABN.
02:20 This is your first time however on our set
02:23 that is as an interview.
02:24 That's right.
02:26 But you've been behind the piano on several occasions,
02:29 but before I go into that part of your interview
02:31 and how you are already a part of this 3ABN family,
02:35 give our viewers just a little bit
02:36 about your background,
02:38 who you are, where you're from, and what you do right now?
02:40 Okay.
02:42 Well, I'm from St. Vincent and the Grenadines...
02:44 Okay.
02:45 Which is a chain of islands in the southern Caribbean,
02:47 down by Trinidad and Barbados.
02:48 Yes.
02:50 And I was born into a SDA Christian family,
02:53 the fifth child.
02:55 Okay.
02:56 A bit of musical family
02:57 and my parents were literature evangelists,
03:02 so I was raised in an atmosphere of missions
03:06 and commitment to the church.
03:08 Okay.
03:09 And your ministry right now is called Music and Missions.
03:14 That's right.
03:15 Describe that for us? Okay.
03:17 So my journey has taken me through music,
03:21 towards missions.
03:22 Okay. Okay.
03:24 The thing that I always did
03:25 when I serve the church as a child was play music,
03:28 but what I've learned through my journey
03:30 is that the Great Commission is for everybody
03:34 and the way to do the Great Commission most successfully
03:37 is to be involved in Christ method of reaching people.
03:39 That's right.
03:41 So now I am combining
03:42 the skill of music with the vision
03:45 of what Christ method of reaching people can bring.
03:48 That's right.
03:50 Bringing people to the kingdom of God.
03:52 Okay, through the gift of, that's music,
03:55 but also has a mission connected to it.
03:56 That's right.
03:58 And you from the West Indies to be very frank about it...
03:59 Yes.
04:01 Right down a chain of Caribbean islands...
04:02 That's right.
04:03 If you look at it, you know,
04:05 my family some of them from St. Thomas,
04:06 and I was raised by a lady from Trinidad,
04:08 and husband from Barbados, so it's all down in that chain.
04:10 Yes.
04:12 And the beautiful Caribbean and the Grenadines...
04:14 So you know about good food.
04:15 Oh, yeah.
04:17 I have the advantage of the Caribbean flavors
04:20 and my ancestry goes back to India.
04:21 Yes.
04:23 And I'm fourth generation Vincentian.
04:25 Okay. What is that?
04:27 From St. Vincent...
04:28 Oh, from St. Vincent, okay.
04:29 All right, of Indian descent,
04:31 and so I come through
04:33 an indentured sort of ancestry
04:37 where my ancestors were brought to the Caribbean
04:40 after slavery was abolished, you know,
04:43 indentured labor was just another fancy term for slavery.
04:46 So they were basically brought the slaves
04:48 after the African slave trade died.
04:52 But through that God brought Christianity to my family
04:57 and this has really impacted
04:59 a few of the things that I'm doing now.
05:01 So your generational connections from India,
05:04 and then you reach all the way across the world
05:06 down to the Grenadines and St. Vincent?
05:09 That's right.
05:10 But tell us a little about your background
05:12 because when you think about Missions and Music,
05:16 somewhere along the way there had to be a decision
05:19 that this is what the Lord was calling you to do,
05:21 talk about that?
05:22 Yes.
05:24 Well, first of all,
05:25 I realized from a young age that I had a musical ear.
05:30 I could harmonize growing up from young age
05:34 and I kind of thought everybody could hear that,
05:39 you know, but I realized that
05:40 not everybody can just harmonize naturally.
05:42 So I had a natural ability to do that,
05:47 and then there was a very old piano in my home,
05:49 and I would hear my sisters playing growing up,
05:53 and I sort of taught myself to navigate the keys...
05:56 Okay.
05:58 To chords, and so from my early teens
06:01 I started to be a church pianist,
06:05 and then I worked with choirs, accompanying choirs,
06:08 and started to do some formal music theory,
06:13 and play classical music all on my own,
06:17 and then in my late teens
06:19 I was introduced to a piano teacher.
06:21 My oldest sister really helped with music theory,
06:23 and my early development,
06:26 and I would steal their scores and play them.
06:29 You know, well, we had a few people competing
06:31 for the same piano in my home.
06:33 Okay.
06:34 And I got a chance when they were not around
06:35 to do that.
06:37 And then I did some exams
06:41 with the Royal Schools of Music.
06:42 Yes.
06:43 You know, and went on to college,
06:46 and there was definitely a few hints along the way,
06:51 for example being asked by Pastor Wintley Phipps
06:54 to accompany him when I was about 19, 20
06:59 during a concert down in Trinidad,
07:01 and then I moved on to Jamaica,
07:02 and I was leading a student group
07:06 at the time,
07:07 and I was asked if this group would appear on the JMI Awards
07:11 which is the Jamaica Music Industry Awards show.
07:14 Okay.
07:15 I didn't even know there was such an organization
07:19 at the time,
07:21 but our teacher, our college music teacher asked
07:24 if we would oblige and do that,
07:27 so these were hints along the way
07:29 that the Lord was sort of favoring me
07:33 towards this sort of ministry.
07:35 And so when I got to Andrews University,
07:37 I was with Andrews University singers,
07:40 and that helped me to grow a bit more,
07:42 you know, my appreciation for choral work,
07:45 and then after that surprisingly
07:50 even though
07:52 I achieved a master's degree in biology,
07:54 my heart was really with music,
07:56 and I decided to take an experimental year,
07:58 and that will take me further
08:00 into a journey of Missions and Music.
08:02 And where are some of the places you lived
08:04 because we talked about this getting,
08:05 becoming familiar with your background,
08:08 you lived in some places
08:09 where it doesn't really necessarily
08:11 if you think about, guy from St. Vincent
08:14 and with Indian background,
08:15 where were you living for some lengthy time period
08:18 that began as missions.
08:19 That's right. That's right.
08:21 Okay, so my education was in St. Vincent,
08:23 all church school, primary and secondary,
08:26 and then I went to school in Trinidad,
08:29 University of the Southern Caribbean,
08:30 it was called Caribbean...
08:31 Union College back in the day. Yes.
08:33 And then in Jamaica, at West Indies College,
08:35 that's now called Northern Caribbean University.
08:37 You were island hopping.
08:38 Yes, I was.
08:40 And then I went to Andrews University
08:44 to do a master's degree
08:45 and that was my introduction to winter
08:47 and Berrien Springs, Michigan have the kinds of winters
08:50 that really teach you what winters are all about.
08:52 If you repent...
08:54 That's right.
08:56 But after my studies in biology,
08:59 I was still not really totally fulfilled
09:03 and so I decided to do this search
09:07 to try to do overseas missions.
09:09 And I thought, you know,
09:11 let me try to see where the Lord would call me,
09:14 so I was praying about this,
09:17 and I applied, and I said to the office,
09:20 "I'd like to go to Thailand or East Africa."
09:23 Not that I knew a whole lot about those countries,
09:27 anyway a call came specifically for me
09:29 to go to South Korea.
09:31 Wow.
09:32 And I said, "Lord, if You work out all the visas
09:33 and everything I would go."
09:35 And then I further prayed to be in a clean place,
09:41 a clean environment, you know, I'm a bit OCD.
09:45 Okay.
09:47 And so the whole idea of overseas missions,
09:49 you know, I wasn't sure I was getting into.
09:51 You don't want to rough it too much.
09:52 Yeah. Rough it to a certain degree.
09:54 That's right. That's right.
09:55 And so I was led to South Korea,
09:59 and so I showed up there,
10:01 and they placed me in this city called Chungju.
10:04 And Chungju is known as the clean city.
10:07 Oh, wonderful. Lord heard your prayer.
10:08 Yeah, and they were praying for a pianist
10:12 to come to their mission school.
10:14 And so I felt the Lord had put me in the right place.
10:18 And that one year however turned into 14 years.
10:24 Fourteen years? Fourteen years.
10:26 So you do have some conversational Korean.
10:28 Yes, yes.
10:30 You can order what you need at a Korean restaurant.
10:31 Oh, yeah.
10:33 And make your way through the market.
10:34 Yes, I could do my shopping, and I can do my banking,
10:37 and my postal stuff, you know,
10:40 all the survival things that you need to do
10:42 on a mission field in a foreign country.
10:45 You started to talk about something very deep
10:47 and I'll be lost, you know, but, you know,
10:51 I know enough Survival Korean to get by.
10:54 But you're very much a musician.
10:56 So what I want to do is kind of introduce one of your songs.
10:58 We have some beautiful music that you've done,
11:01 and I want to kind of lay the foundation
11:02 as I think about your story, the Lord knew your heart.
11:05 Yes.
11:07 And this song, "Shepherd of My Heart"
11:09 is a beautiful piano rendition.
11:12 Are you going to just be playing
11:13 or singing all along with it?
11:14 Oh, I'm just going to be playing.
11:16 Just going to be playing, sit back
11:17 as Kendol unfolds his story
11:20 he discovered in a beautiful way
11:21 that Jesus is the shepherd of his heart.
16:49 Thank you Kendol, appreciate that, relaxing.
16:52 Thank you.
16:53 You know, I mentioned to you
16:55 as we were listening to that song
16:56 and you may have come to the same conclusion,
16:59 it soothes the nerves, calms the spirit,
17:04 you know, if you're driving,
17:05 and we have various occasions too,
17:08 sometimes you're driving somewhere
17:09 and you want to just get in your car and relax,
17:12 and you think, "I don't want to hear the news.
17:14 I don't want to hear up-tempo music.
17:16 I don't want anybody singing to me,
17:17 I just want to listen to something relaxing
17:18 and spiritual."
17:20 And I appreciate that.
17:21 Thank you so much for that. Thank you, sir.
17:23 Now you've had opportunity to rub shoulders
17:25 with some pretty famous people,
17:27 give us a little dabble in that?
17:29 I know that that's not your focus of ministry,
17:31 but in your journey the Lord has led you
17:34 in some ways to touch the lives of people
17:36 that are very well known.
17:39 Yeah, that's right.
17:42 If people know who Bill Gates is...
17:44 Wow. Mr. Microsoft himself.
17:47 Yeah, I was commissioned by his family
17:51 to be their pianist over Christmas holiday.
17:54 They came on to the Caribbean
17:56 in a very sort of low profile way,
18:01 stayed there for a while.
18:04 So yeah, I was shuttled out there to be with them
18:08 and to provide Christmas music for them.
18:11 Wonderful. So that was cool.
18:13 And just to kind of add a cap to that,
18:16 that's not your main focus
18:17 'cause you're very ministry geared,
18:19 but that was part of your journey.
18:21 That's right, but the interesting thing
18:23 during that time is that we had a little service,
18:25 little Christmas service, and read a Christmas story,
18:29 you know, so...
18:31 Get a chance to share Christ, not just the seasonal music.
18:34 That's right.
18:36 Now you, there's a song, "O Divine Redeemer",
18:39 tell us about that
18:40 because in choosing songs to play and to feature,
18:45 how do you pick your songs?
18:47 Okay.
18:48 I like classical music,
18:49 and I discovered this song from an old cassette tape
18:54 that my sisters brought from Jamaica.
18:57 They went to school there,
18:58 and so their choir was singing this piece
19:00 and it's based on Psalm 51,
19:04 it's David at a low point in his life
19:05 when he's messed up, and he's feeling very guilty,
19:08 and disappointed in himself.
19:10 And so he cries out to God and, you know,
19:14 he's basically saying, "God, you know,
19:16 turn me not away, receive me, I'm unworthy."
19:20 So this piece, I heard it first
19:23 as a choral work, a choir.
19:27 But, you know, as a pianist I decided
19:30 I will turn it into a piano solo,
19:32 and I will try to express the same sentiments
19:34 through the piano of David, you know, repenting,
19:39 crying out to God, feeling desperate,
19:41 and the whole thing come in to some sort of end
19:45 with a resolution after he had expressed himself.
19:49 So this is "O Devine Redeemer".
19:51 Okay, sit back and enjoy, "O Divine Redeemer".
24:26 I know you were blessed by that song
24:28 that was speaking about David's heart,
24:31 and that was, as we talked about
24:33 this whole place of desperation and needing to be delivered
24:36 and reconciled with Christ, each one of us could identify
24:39 to some degree with that very sentiment.
24:41 That's right.
24:43 And I want to go back into some other areas
24:44 that we didn't talk about.
24:46 First of all, you're the youngest
24:47 in your family.
24:48 Yes.
24:50 And what was that like to be raised with four sisters?
24:52 Oh, man, a lot of pressure.
24:55 I came six years after them. Okay.
24:57 And so I didn't have a brother
25:00 and they didn't know what to do with me,
25:02 you know, but I had a piano.
25:05 You had a piano. Yeah.
25:06 Found a...
25:07 And a dog.
25:09 Piano and a dog, found a good friend.
25:10 Yeah.
25:12 Because that's a lot of pressure
25:13 being raised with four sisters,
25:14 you know, a lot of, not a whole lot of place to run
25:17 when you need somebody to play cricket with.
25:20 That's right.
25:21 I was going to say baseball, but you...
25:23 My dad tried, but, you know, we were a close family,
25:27 so it's a real blessing, and they're all musical,
25:30 and they really support what I do.
25:34 Okay. Yeah.
25:36 That's good, but you have a diversity of avenues
25:39 of ministry though, not just behind the piano,
25:41 talk about some of your seminars
25:43 because you are also a presenter.
25:44 Yes.
25:46 So I try to inspire young people to think
25:51 soberly about music, you know,
25:53 so I've done some studies on in music and worship,
25:59 in particular
26:00 how we use the musical language best,
26:03 you know, to express praise to God
26:05 because there is a school of thought that, you know,
26:09 there is a no moral value in music,
26:11 you know, it's all neutral.
26:15 That might have been fun, you know,
26:18 but we don't quite process music
26:21 the same from individual to individual,
26:24 and at the same time
26:25 the way the brain receives music,
26:28 we know some general trends
26:30 in terms of if we are able to really
26:34 think about the lyrical content,
26:37 and the message there or not,
26:39 because sometimes you see
26:42 the musical language we use can support the message,
26:45 and we want that to happen...
26:46 That's right.
26:48 we don't wanted to betray the message,
26:49 so I do some seminars in that, but my favorite seminar
26:53 right now came out really from where I am in my journey,
26:57 and it's really because I discovered
27:02 that in music if you sing or if you're a techie person,
27:07 you do PA systems and audio visual
27:10 that secular people are fascinated by that,
27:14 and the very first step in Christ method
27:17 is Christ mingled.
27:20 And so when I meet people, and we have a chat,
27:24 and they're trying to get to know me,
27:26 a lot of the time
27:27 they don't want to really talk about the biology
27:30 or they don't really want to talk about,
27:33 you know, other stuff, they want to talk
27:35 about the fact that I am pianist.
27:37 Okay.
27:38 So I used that
27:43 as a way to get a number or an email address
27:46 to form a connection of trust.
27:48 That's the first step in Christ method, you know,
27:51 ultimately we want to win people's confidence.
27:53 Right.
27:54 You know, and we don't want to do this hypocritically,
27:57 it's very important that the steps in Christ method
27:59 are done authentically,
28:02 and as if there is no other step
28:04 because, you know,
28:06 we like to rush on to the baptism,
28:07 step six, you know,
28:09 where we ask them to follow Jesus,
28:10 but that can take two weeks or it can take 15 years,
28:15 we don't know how long it's going to take.
28:16 Right, 'cause one plants, another waters,
28:18 but God gives the increase.
28:19 That's it.
28:21 He determines the time where, you know,
28:23 you blossom to the place where you are safe.
28:25 And that's expressed in the scriptures,
28:27 you know, Peter followed Jesus a year and a half
28:29 after his brother Andrew had introduced him.
28:31 So we can't rush that, but that's,
28:33 I like that avenue of ministry, continue.
28:35 That's right.
28:37 So, you know,
28:40 my seminars are about
28:41 how with the special skill of music,
28:46 being a technical person
28:47 how you contextualize that within Christ's method,
28:52 because that's the only method
28:53 that's going to give true success.
28:55 That's right.
28:56 Because we could get really bogged down with numbers,
28:59 you know, and we don't want
29:01 to bring people to Christ,
29:06 we don't want to bring people to music,
29:08 and they think they've come to Christ.
29:11 Very good connection,
29:12 we don't want the music to be a substitute
29:14 for Christ for the relationship.
29:15 Exactly, exactly.
29:16 And the heart of man is quite deceitful, you know.
29:19 Our emotional response to music is legitimate, it's important,
29:23 but it's not really the primary thing
29:25 that we're after.
29:27 We're after authentic worship to God through this,
29:31 He is the primary audience,
29:32 He's the one that's receiving the praise, and artists,
29:37 because we work on our craft,
29:39 and we get criticized by teachers and so on
29:42 to get better and better.
29:45 And let's face it,
29:46 there are very high standards of music in the world.
29:49 And now if my measure of success
29:51 is being able to sell a million copies of a record
29:56 or playing at certain venue,
29:58 I don't think that's the ultimate success for me
30:01 as an artist in the church,
30:03 it's not really what our mission is, you know.
30:05 That's right.
30:06 You know, it's how best I'm able to use this
30:09 within the Great Commission.
30:10 That's right.
30:12 The Great Commission is not a great suggestion,
30:16 it's a commission.
30:17 So every follower of Christ,
30:20 if you've experienced Jesus in your life,
30:23 you would have the hearts for missions
30:26 because that's what He does for us.
30:28 So my seminars are ones that encourage people
30:34 who are in music to use it for the Great Commission
30:39 because this not only helps people
30:41 to come to Christ, it helps us to put aside self
30:45 because artistry is really, you know, it's about self,
30:49 it's about believing in yourself,
30:50 and confidence, you got three yeses,
30:53 you know, that sort of language,
30:55 you know, and so that's how the world measure success.
31:00 But for us, it's really a chance
31:05 for the Lord to bring us into dependency on Him
31:09 'cause when we are involved in missions,
31:12 we are dependent on Christ.
31:13 That's right.
31:15 When we're just involved in music,
31:16 we're depended on self.
31:17 Yeah, because, you know, music,
31:19 I like what you said a moment ago,
31:20 the emotional response to music is important...
31:23 Yeah.
31:24 But that's not the goal...
31:25 That's right.
31:27 Because music can make you feel good,
31:28 it can make you feel sad, it can lift today,
31:29 it can make you feel melancholy,
31:32 it has all those influences on us.
31:35 But emotional aspect of music
31:37 while it reaches a certain place in your heart
31:40 and in your life,
31:42 that's not the ultimate goal of it.
31:43 That's right.
31:44 And then you, the other thing you pointed out,
31:46 musicians like affirmation...
31:47 They do. Did you like that?
31:49 Was that good? Yeah.
31:50 And that tends to seek the three yeses
31:52 rather than saying,
31:54 "I must decrease
31:55 because I want Him to increase."
31:57 That's right. That's right.
31:58 I'm not saying that everybody does that,
32:00 you know, don't feel anything, but let's face it,
32:02 human nature, we like the pats on the back.
32:04 Right. Right?
32:06 So I do these seminars not just to encourage people
32:10 to bring people to the church or bring people to Christ,
32:12 but you yourself,
32:14 you need this involvement in missions,
32:17 you know, if you're going to be good for yourself.
32:19 That's right, which takes me to that place,
32:22 music is deeper than it appears to be on the surface.
32:24 Absolutely.
32:26 And as a singer and songwriter, I tell you,
32:30 very modest songwriter 'cause I don't read music,
32:32 and I'm not theoretical, you have that background,
32:35 you have the ability to, you are self-taught,
32:38 but you have the theory, you have the experience,
32:40 you can read music, and do scores.
32:42 And not only that, I also found out
32:44 you have studio ability, engineering, sound, artistry,
32:48 all that in your repertoire.
32:51 So you're comfortable in a music studio?
32:54 Yeah, I like being in that environment actually.
32:57 Okay. Yeah.
32:59 Now the song that I was thinking of
33:01 and you set the stage wonderfully for that was
33:03 "Deep River".
33:05 Talk about Deep River
33:06 because as I'm listening to your approach to music
33:10 and once again, not a blanket statement,
33:11 but, you know, our world is very driven by music,
33:14 so many different genres of music,
33:16 so many different aspects,
33:17 even sometimes in Christian music,
33:19 it could be in a war driven, a recognition driven thing.
33:23 But for you, music is a lot deeper than that.
33:25 Yeah.
33:27 Deep River is a Negro spiritual.
33:29 I talked about my ancestor journey early on,
33:33 okay,
33:34 what I discovered is that
33:36 we have the highest incidence of displacement
33:39 on the planet ever recorded.
33:41 In fact, the statistic I read said that 1 in 131 persons
33:46 on planet earth are displaced.
33:50 That's quite shocking.
33:53 Human trafficking,
33:54 the slavery in all forms existing today still,
33:57 we don't label it as slavery all the time,
33:59 but essentially that's what it is.
34:01 That's right.
34:02 And so coming from an ancestry
34:05 of indentured servants,
34:08 I thought a Negro spiritual is as relevant
34:11 to my history as well.
34:12 I couldn't think of any other people group
34:16 that was displaced on the earth that birthed a genre of music.
34:21 And it's such beautiful music, the Negro spirituals.
34:23 I wanted to present them again,
34:26 not this time to be just a part of black identity
34:30 or black history necessarily,
34:32 but to bring hope to present day
34:35 displaced people,
34:38 and to bring them to Christ because you see that
34:41 the story of God is about
34:43 how He brings beautiful things out of bad situations.
34:47 And so, Ellen White talks about in the last days
34:50 that people will come to adore us,
34:52 we wouldn't even need to go to their country sometimes...
34:55 That's right. To give them the gospel.
34:57 And so here in the United States,
34:59 you've got refugees from all over,
35:01 now I'm writing this album,
35:03 and getting it ready to record it.
35:05 And there's somebody in this country
35:09 who is getting ready to do
35:10 a concert for refugee ministries,
35:14 and this person heard me play something else
35:18 and asked if I will come to this country
35:22 to perform in this concert.
35:23 So, you know, again it's a story of God.
35:25 So Sojourn is the CD that I have
35:30 and Deep River is
35:32 one of the several Negro spirituals on this album.
35:36 Well, thank you for that.
35:37 I'd like you to sit back
35:38 and listen to the pathos of the rise
35:41 and the journey of those who understand of the sadness,
35:47 but also the eventual joy of knowing
35:49 you've been displaced,
35:51 but Christ has found you where you were.
35:54 That's right. Negro spiritual, Deep River.
38:58 You've discovered through songs like that
39:00 that the relationships that matter
39:02 that really take us to that safe place in Christ,
39:05 you know, our relationships that often
39:07 borne out of hardship and difficulty,
39:10 that's what I like about that song,
39:12 Deep River.
39:13 Yeah.
39:14 It's, you know, they say still waters run deep,
39:17 but very few of us,
39:19 very few of us appreciate what we've become
39:22 as a result of going through the deep rivers in our lives.
39:25 And on that CD, mention the title of the CD
39:27 again that has Negro spirituals.
39:28 Right, it's called Sojourn. Sojourn.
39:30 And it's based on two Bible texts
39:32 that talk about the fact that we are sojourners on the earth.
39:34 Okay.
39:35 This isn't really our final home
39:38 and, in fact, I'm writing right now
39:41 a second CD of Negro spirituals if you will
39:47 because there are scores of Negro spirituals out there,
39:51 and I really like this music, so why not?
39:56 I like that picture.
39:58 I have always desired,
40:00 I mean I tinker around the keyboard enough
40:03 to find a song or develop one,
40:06 but the deep appreciation
40:08 of what music really is all about
40:10 is something that I'm still in pursuit of, so but,
40:13 until then I'll appreciate musicians
40:15 and ministers such as yourself.
40:18 Tell us about some of the places you've been
40:21 'cause music has taken you far and wide, and you're single...
40:24 That's right.
40:26 I just want to say that for those
40:27 who are watching the program,
40:31 but that hasn't been a major pursuit of yours,
40:34 but tell us about some of the places you've gone,
40:36 and how the Lord has allowed you
40:38 to meet some of our other 3ABN family,
40:39 like Sandra Entermann.
40:41 Oh, yeah, yeah.
40:43 Well, you know, I had these friends in Korea,
40:46 this family in Korea
40:48 that decided to move to Australia.
40:52 So they moved and close friend of mine
40:56 asked me if I would come down on holiday
40:57 during my break.
40:59 So here was I flying
41:02 from Korea to Australia
41:04 to see my Korean buddy and his family.
41:07 And the very first Sabbath I said, you know,
41:10 "I go to Korean churches every week.
41:12 It would be nice to go
41:13 to an English speaking church today."
41:16 So he took me to the nearest
41:18 English speaking church to his house,
41:21 and so at this church
41:24 I met people who greeted me warmly,
41:28 and I was invited to lunch
41:30 along with other visitors for the day.
41:33 And so at this lunch
41:35 I would meet Sandra Entermann...
41:38 Yes.
41:39 And we did some singing and so on after lunch,
41:43 but they didn't know that I played.
41:47 Oh...
41:49 But I was staying coincidentally
41:52 to those up from that house on the same street,
41:57 and this was Sandra's sister
42:00 and good friends of mine.
42:03 Anyway the following day,
42:05 I guess they noticed that I was sort of musical
42:08 'cause I was singing
42:09 and I was harmonizing a little bit,
42:11 and so they asked me, "Do you play?
42:15 And I said, "Yeah, I play the piano."
42:18 He said, "Well, we had a piano downstairs.
42:20 You never told us yesterday.
42:21 So long story short,
42:25 Sandra and I made a musical connection,
42:29 and that would lead me
42:31 to Three Angels Broadcasting Network.
42:32 That's right.
42:34 Where we did some videos right here together
42:36 and I met a really good friend through Sandra,
42:39 and that's A.T Westney.
42:41 Oh, very much part of the 3ABN.
42:43 He was responsible for my first CD project
42:45 back in 1999.
42:47 Yeah, yeah. Great, great gentleman.
42:48 That's right. Great Christian also.
42:50 That's right.
42:52 So I was able to do some sessions with him
42:54 and just last year I was able to perform
42:58 alongside him
43:00 with the orchestra of St. Paul's in London
43:02 at the gala concert, and I was called in.
43:07 I wasn't supposed to be on the cast,
43:09 but there was agent in London,
43:11 and just four days before that big night,
43:15 I got a phone call and ended up having to handle some music.
43:19 All right.
43:20 And it was a great time working with him again.
43:24 So that's Australia,
43:26 but I've also been throughout
43:30 some countries in Southeast Asia
43:31 like Thailand, Philippines, Japan,
43:37 New Zealand, and down in Southern Africa...
43:39 Wow.
43:41 South Africa, Zimbabwe,
43:42 Swaziland, Botswana, and Namibia,
43:45 I didn't always do music in those countries,
43:47 but, you know, your musical connections
43:50 do have a way of beginning to friendships
43:53 that take you around, but what I found out is that
43:57 this Seventh-day Adventist church
43:59 of which we are part exists everywhere.
44:02 Wow, that's right, world wide family.
44:04 That's right, people are warm most times,
44:09 and you would know what to expect at lunch.
44:12 That's right.
44:14 I want to set up the song, "The stage is Bare"
44:17 because I want to kind of wind our program up,
44:19 but this is not the last part, we're gonna come back
44:21 and have a little commentary after that.
44:24 Tell us about The Stage is Bare,
44:25 kind of give us the 30 second introduction to that.
44:27 Sure.
44:29 I was becoming involved in a 2016
44:32 3ABN campaign in London.
44:34 I've been going to London the last five or six years
44:37 pretty much every year for periods
44:39 ranging from three months to six months
44:43 assisting the South-Indian conference with evangelism
44:46 doing my seminars and innovating music ministry.
44:50 And so we did a project last year
44:52 called Music for Broken World which had a focus on diversity.
45:01 What did you just ask me?
45:02 And on that note,
45:04 I want to run the song The Stage is Bare.
45:05 Okay.
45:06 Because I want to give you a chance
45:08 on the other side of that to comment about that.
45:09 Right. Okay.
45:11 It's a beautiful song, I've heard it before
45:13 and artist Sandi Patty is the one who sung it,
45:16 but you're going to be blessed as Kendol Bacchus plays it.
51:17 Thank you so much, Kendol.
51:19 Tell us where that song was born in your repertoire?
51:22 Right.
51:24 So I was getting ready for the London 2016 campaign.
51:25 Yes.
51:27 And I wanted to do an album called Altar Call
51:30 which would have all of the songs
51:32 that we would use to bring people to Christ,
51:33 and I thought it would be nice to make this available
51:36 for music therapy as well,
51:39 when people are hurting, they're vulnerable,
51:40 and they're more likely to remember these hymns.
51:43 That's right.
51:45 So just like your CD The Call...
51:47 The Call.
51:48 This one is Altar Call.
51:49 Okay. Yeah.
51:51 And those of you watching
51:52 and listening to the program might want to know
51:54 how to get in touch with Kendol,
51:55 to invite him to share his varied gifts
51:57 including the beautiful gift of music,
51:59 here is the information that you need.
52:03 If you would like to invite Kendol Bacchus
52:05 to share his talent and preaching
52:07 with your church or conference,
52:09 please visit his website KendolMusic.com.
52:13 There you will find his recordings
52:15 as well as more information on his music
52:17 and missions ministry.
52:20 That website again is Kendol,
52:22 spelled K-E-N-D-O-L Music.com.
52:27 You may also call him in St. Vincent at area code
52:31 784-498-2072
52:35 or write to Music and Missions,
52:38 PO Box 60, Kingstown, St. Vincent.


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Revised 2021-06-16