Participants:
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000257A
|
00:01 Stay tuned to meet a man who is mission minded
00:03 and musically gifted. 00:04 My name is Jason Bradley, 00:06 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:33 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:35 My guest today is Kendol Bacchus, 00:37 and he is passionate 00:38 about utilizing his talents for serving the Lord. 00:41 Welcome to Urban Report, Kendol. 00:42 Thank you, kindly, delighted to be here. 00:44 I'm so happy to have you here, man. 00:46 We know one of the things that I've always wanted 00:48 to be able to do is play the piano. 00:52 I had the opportunity to hear you play the piano 00:56 and I was fascinated. 00:58 God has blessed you with a tremendous talent 01:00 and a tremendous gift, 01:02 and it's incredible to see you utilizing your gifts 01:05 and talents and returning those to the Lord. 01:09 I want to find out a little bit about your background. 01:13 Where were you raised? Where are you from? 01:14 And how are you raised? 01:16 Okay, well, I'm from Saint Vincent 01:18 and the Grenadines. 01:19 Okay. 01:21 Down in the Southern Caribbean. 01:22 And I was born and raised there in an Adventist family. 01:24 I'm the fifth child in that family. 01:28 And my parents were mission minded, 01:30 literature evangelists for a while, 01:32 and for a long while actually, 01:34 and so am I actually. 01:37 And that they were literature evangelists? 01:39 I mean, I'm also mission minded. 01:41 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 01:43 And, okay, so you were born in the Caribbean, right? 01:48 That's right. 01:49 I know the food was amazing. 01:51 I know, I love food, so. 01:53 I know that the food was absolutely amazing out there 01:56 I would imagine. 01:57 That is true, 01:59 and I have the Indian flavors as well in my family 02:02 because I'm of Indian descent, you see so. 02:03 Nice, nice. 02:04 And so you were raised in the Adventist church? 02:06 Yes. 02:07 But somewhere in there, 02:09 there was some kind of 02:10 Hinduism intertwine...? 02:12 What...? Well... 02:13 How did that...? 02:15 Yeah. Yeah. 02:16 My ancestry goes back to India. 02:17 And my ancestors 02:19 came to the West Indies as indentured laborers 02:22 and so they were Hindu. 02:23 But I'm... praise the Lord, 02:25 third generation Seventh-day Adventist. 02:27 Amen. Amen. 02:30 How did you get involved in music? 02:32 Wow. 02:34 I think, I'd have to say that music sort of chose me 02:37 rather than I chose it. 02:39 From as young as I could remember, 02:42 I was drawn to music. 02:44 I was fascinated by it. 02:46 I wanted to be able to navigate the keyboard, 02:51 you know, as a child 02:52 and I wanted to be able to reproduce 02:54 stuff that I heard, 02:56 you know. 02:57 But it was the radio or people singing in church, 03:00 I wanted to be able to do it. 03:02 And I would say that God gave me the attitude, 03:07 a spiritual gift if you will for that. 03:10 And He does that, you know, with all His children 03:13 but we have to work at it... 03:14 Amen. 03:16 And develop that. 03:17 So I worked out hard at my music, 03:20 you know, and I found much joy in doing that. 03:23 How many hours would you practice a day? 03:26 Oh, well, growing up actually, 03:30 I didn't have like a set practice time. 03:32 The piano was there and in between 03:34 whatever was going on, 03:36 I will just jump on the stool and found out something, 03:39 you know, so that's kind of how it happened for me. 03:41 I didn't have formal lessons like most kids would. 03:45 Some, more or less self-taught. 03:49 But my sisters play. 03:51 I have four sisters and three of them 03:53 are proficient pianist, church pianists. 03:55 Wow. 03:57 And so I grew up hearing them, you know, 03:58 I'll play. 04:00 And so, yeah, you pick up little tips from them 04:03 and I stole their music 04:04 and try to read their music as well. 04:07 So this is how it happened for me, 04:10 and I actually had formal lessons 04:14 for about two years, two and a half years. 04:16 Okay. Okay. 04:17 So you play by ear and you read music? 04:22 Yes, that's right. 04:23 Wow. 04:24 And which one came first 04:26 because I know that you said 04:27 that like you used to listen to the radio 04:29 and people in church 04:31 and you wanted to be able to play 04:33 what they were playing. 04:35 Were you playing by ear then or were you... 04:39 Did you get their sheet music and learn that way? 04:42 For me they happened sort of simultaneously. 04:45 Okay. 04:47 I would try to play everything by ear first, 04:50 especially before it was a piece 04:51 that I heard my sisters play. 04:53 So I will say it, I figure out what the key is from the score, 04:56 but there was always a temptation 04:58 to work it out myself. 04:59 So it took some doing for me to discipline myself 05:03 and actually try to play it from the score 05:05 as it was written. 05:07 And I saw value in that, you know. 05:10 You can do stuff by ear 05:13 and I said this to any talented musician, 05:15 there are some things that you just miss 05:17 if you don't get some music education. 05:20 So I see them as, you know, very important to produce 05:26 what you want to produce. 05:28 Got you. Got you. Yeah. 05:29 And how do you 05:32 tie in the music with evangelism? 05:36 Well, this is something that I kind of consolidated 05:40 the last several years of my life. 05:42 I always knew that... 05:44 I always had a sense that music was a powerful tool 05:48 for worship, not just for worship, however, 05:50 but for bringing people, 05:52 softening their hearts to receive the gospel. 05:56 But in recent years, 06:00 I discovered Christ method of reaching people. 06:03 Okay, and I did some missions overseas 06:06 for several years and that helped me 06:08 to practice using that method. 06:10 And I came to the conclusion a few years ago that, you know, 06:13 really, that's the only thing that gives true success 06:16 just like Ellen White says, you know. 06:18 So no matter how much music we give people, 06:21 it cannot replace Christ method of reaching them. 06:25 So I started to see that I needed to have my music 06:28 become some part of this method of reaching people. 06:33 So, yeah, music and missions 06:35 is all about how I use Christ method, 06:39 but then how I use my hat as a musician within that, 06:43 and how I use my hat as a missionary in music. 06:48 Got you. 06:49 All intertwined together, you know. 06:51 Yes. 06:52 And God, you know, 06:53 has led me on a journey of discovery of that. 06:56 Now, what are some of the places that you've been 07:00 in terms of doing mission work? 07:02 Right, okay, 07:03 so 07:06 South Korea. 07:07 Wow. 07:09 Yeah, when I was finishing my studies 07:10 at Andrews University, 07:13 I felt a call if you will to do overseas missions. 07:17 And I was interested in East Africa 07:22 and Thailand. 07:24 I can't remember why, right now. 07:26 And I didn't know anything about those countries, 07:28 but I prayed for a call and one came, 07:31 and it was very clear. 07:33 South Korea is where they wanted me to go. 07:35 And I further prayed, 07:38 so that things can work out for me to go there, 07:40 and they did work out for me to go there. 07:42 So I went there and I intended to stay for a year, 07:46 and I ended up staying for 14 years. 07:48 For 14 years? 07:50 Wow! That's right. 07:52 So that was a long time to be in that country. 07:56 But I would travel out every now and then 07:59 on holiday with other missionaries 08:00 to their countries. 08:02 I would see that people 08:03 coming from South Africa and Australia. 08:06 We had other missionaries in Thailand, in Japan, 08:08 and the Philippines. 08:10 So we would go visit them and they would come visit us, 08:13 you know. 08:14 So you got to experience a lot of different cultures? 08:17 I sure did. 08:19 Yeah. Yeah. 08:20 And so I would think that as a result of that, 08:24 you know, of that experience, experiencing 08:26 a lot of different cultures, 08:28 and how they live, and how they interact, 08:31 like that only goes to help you in the evangelism process 08:35 because you're able to reach so many more people. 08:39 I really have a thing for diversity. 08:43 You know, recently I ministered a church, 08:46 and it was a very diverse church 08:47 right here in the US, 08:49 and I loved it, 08:50 you know, because we had people 08:52 from all different countries present there. 08:55 I think it's something worth getting 08:56 really comfortable with, 08:58 you know, as Seventh-day Adventist, 09:00 the idea of diversity. 09:02 You know, and diversity 09:04 in terms of religious backgrounds as well. 09:06 I come from a Hindu ancestry, 09:08 and I lived in a Buddhist country 09:10 for 14 years, 09:11 and then I was in Saudi Arabia, 09:12 so I saw what Islam was like, you know, firsthand for a year. 09:19 And I think all of these things help us to be wiser 09:23 and more informed about how we befriend secular people 09:28 with a view for bringing them to Christ. 09:32 Yes, yes, 09:33 well, that is the ultimate goal in mind too, 09:35 yes. Yeah, absolutely. 09:37 And I think if we become more successful at that, 09:40 we will become more successful at embracing diversity, 09:44 even music. 09:45 Which is important because and then 09:46 heaven is going to be a very diverse place. 09:51 So, you know, we've been talking about your music, 09:53 and we actually have a clip of you playing the piano, 09:58 and I can't wait for our viewers to see it. 10:01 Let's go to that clip. 13:01 Wow, see I knew you were musically gifted 13:04 when I heard you play and now today. 13:07 So that was a beautiful song. 13:10 Thank you. You're welcome. 13:12 So with the music, with the evangelism, 13:15 you also do evangelism seminars. 13:18 Yeah, that's right. 13:20 What types of seminars are, like, what do they look like? 13:24 Okay. 13:26 The one that I'm most passionate 13:27 about lately is a seminar 13:31 about Christ's method of six steps. 13:33 You know, we've had this methodology 13:35 over 100 hundred years ago, Ellen White wrote about it. 13:38 We can find it in gospel work as 13:43 Ministry of Healing, okay. 13:45 Christ method of reaching people 13:47 is the one that will give true success. 13:48 Okay. 13:50 Now for our viewers that don't know 13:51 about Christ method, 13:53 Bacch, what is Christ's method? 13:54 Okay. 13:55 So it says that Christ mingled with people 13:58 as one desiring their good, and He met their needs, 14:03 He sympathized with them, and He won their confidence, 14:06 and then He bade them to follow Him. 14:08 So that's the method right there, okay? 14:10 So I started to realize that my music making 14:17 didn't necessarily mean that I was involved 14:21 with the great commission using Christ method. 14:24 And a lot of artists in the church, 14:26 we function as pianists or singers. 14:30 All we do, the technical work, audiovisual. 14:34 Okay. 14:35 But we don't necessarily get into people's lives. 14:37 Okay. 14:39 But in Christ method, which, you know, 14:41 everybody is called to do the great commission 14:43 as long as they're follower of Christ, 14:45 it's not an option, it's not a suggestion, 14:47 you have to, Christ asked us to do that. 14:49 Absolutely. 14:51 And so we could sometimes feel 14:52 that our music making is enough. 14:55 Well, I started to realize that I had to get involved 14:59 with these six steps. 15:01 But then I further discovered that as a musician, 15:05 being involved in these six steps 15:07 was crucial to my dependency on Christ 15:09 because when we are involved 15:11 in evangelism using Christ method, 15:14 we develop a kind of dependency on Him 15:16 that we can't develop otherwise, okay. 15:19 Now, that is extremely crucial for artists 15:24 because we spend our lives trying to craft, you know, 15:28 improve our craft, 15:30 and to get better at what we do. 15:32 And so it could lead to a lot of introspection, 15:36 a lot of... 15:39 Even arrogance, selfishness, you know, 15:44 so that there lot of proficient musicians 15:46 in the church, 15:47 but 15:48 they don't always have a heart for people, okay? 15:53 So my seminar is about how it's very important for people 15:57 who do audiovisual, you know, 15:59 people in the booth, in the sound booth, 16:01 and people who are on the instruments 16:04 and even on the praise team that... 16:06 Yes, that's great that we do that in the church, 16:08 but we also need to get involved 16:10 in Christ method of reaching people 16:12 because that is crucial to the characters 16:14 that we want to build for the kingdom, okay? 16:18 And in turn that informs our music making. 16:23 We become more intentional 16:25 about the kind of music language that we use, 16:27 musical language that we use, 16:29 about the kind of elements of music 16:30 that we want to put out there 16:32 because we don't want the music to betray 16:35 the very message we want to give. 16:36 Absolutely. 16:38 And, you know... 16:39 Nothing to contradict. 16:40 Exactly. Yes, absolutely. 16:42 You know, so I could be saying something lyrically, 16:43 but my music is actually not supporting that... 16:48 Or that message can totally be missed 16:52 because people are enjoying the physical response 16:58 or emotional response to the music, 17:00 and not really indulging in the message. 17:02 Now, emotions are legitimate part of human beings, okay? 17:06 And I think God values that 17:08 'cause He wouldn't have given it to us 17:10 if He didn't, okay? 17:12 But we have to see everything, and the big picture, right? 17:16 And on top of that, I also found that as a musician 17:20 with secular people, 17:22 they are always drawn to the idea 17:24 that you are a musician or you run sound in a venue, 17:29 or you are behind the camera. 17:30 So technical people 17:33 and people who are involved in singing in a praise team 17:36 or behind an instrument, 17:37 they have a tremendous ability 17:40 to make friends with secular people, 17:42 and that's the first step in Christ's method, 17:45 mingling with people in a caring way. 17:48 Now, what you want is to get a number or an email address 17:51 because you're trying to build a relationship, 17:53 all right? 17:54 I also started to see 17:56 that we were very sensitive people, okay? 17:59 Musicians are very... 18:00 Oh, just talking about musicians, okay, okay. 18:02 We are very sensitive people. 18:03 So that allows you to have the ability to really empathize 18:07 with the pain of other people, okay? 18:10 So my main seminar is really about 18:12 how we use Christ's method. 18:15 A lot of people think 18:17 it's just for the medical missionary people, 18:19 but I'm trying to show not that... 18:22 No matter what your spiritual gift is, 18:24 you can fit it in to Christ's method 18:28 'cause everything else will fail. 18:29 And what we bring people 18:32 to the church with is ultimately 18:34 what we bring them to, okay? 18:36 So if we are trying to entertain people 18:38 into an interest in Christ, that might work for a while, 18:43 but we want people to stay, 18:45 and we want them to have 18:46 an authentic experience linking up with Jesus, 18:50 you know, not just come into a series 18:52 and on the very emotional altar call 18:57 given to us of Christ. 18:59 And we tick the box and say, "Okay, we have these numbers." 19:01 But then they don't really stay, 19:03 and then we don't nurture them. 19:04 Yes. 19:05 And I think you just hit the nail on the head 19:08 that we don't nurture them. 19:09 It's important when these newborn babes, 19:12 so to speak, come into the church 19:15 that we nurture them, that we befriend them, 19:18 that we get to know them, and their families, 19:21 and all that stuff, you know. 19:23 Because it's just like 19:25 when you introduce somebody to Christ, 19:26 how are you... 19:29 People sometimes hit people with doctrine 19:31 before introducing them to Christ. 19:33 And so, if you don't have that relationship, 19:36 why would you do this, that, and the third 19:39 for someone you don't even have a relationship with. 19:42 So you've got to get to know, I love what you're saying. 19:45 I think we're getting better 19:48 at understanding how this works. 19:50 You know, the church has existed 19:52 for quite some time, 19:54 and we should really take a hard look 19:55 at what really works and what our failures are, 19:58 you know. 20:00 So yeah, I agree. Absolutely. 20:01 So what are some of the other seminars 20:03 that you have 'cause I know 20:04 that you do a variety of seminars? 20:06 Right. 20:07 One of the most recent ones that I'm developing 20:08 is about how you deal with conflicts in the church. 20:11 People who have convictions about jewelry and other people 20:14 who don't have that conviction 20:17 that, you know, they say you can wear them, you know. 20:19 These are what we call grey areas, 20:21 I'm not really sure if they're gray areas or not, 20:23 you know, people can decide. 20:24 But I found in Spirit of Prophecy, 20:27 a lot of counsel about how we deal with people, 20:31 you know, in a very tactful and loving way. 20:34 And, you know, myself, I'm learning to do that, 20:37 you know, so that's one of the seminars 20:39 I'm developing at the moment. 20:41 But before these two seminars, 20:44 I've been doing seminars on music and morality, 20:47 music and human physiology, 20:49 music in the context of the great controversy, 20:52 and musical instruments in the Bible, 20:56 you know, that sort of thing. 20:57 Give us a little taste of the music and morality? 21:00 Okay, so there are people that believe that, 21:03 you know, music is neutral, 21:04 so you can use any kind of music... 21:06 Meaning without lyrics, 21:08 so like music without lyrics is neutral. 21:09 That's right. That's right. 21:11 Okay, what people believe? 21:13 They see culture as the overwriting factor. 21:16 You know, if it's this culture, then, you know, 21:18 they should have their cultural preferences 21:20 with the music. 21:21 Well, while I think culture has a big part to play, 21:23 within every culture because culture is manmade. 21:26 There are fallen elements. 21:28 Man is fallen, you know, and God didn't exactly say, 21:32 "You have to have that culture. 21:33 I gave you that culture." 21:35 You know, these are traditions 21:36 that came down from our ancestors 21:40 and they have a lot to do 21:41 with the religions of our ancestors as well, 21:43 on what they saw as normal, okay? 21:45 So we have to take a hard look, I think at the musical language 21:51 that we use especially in corporate worship, 21:53 and for worship, you know, and evangelism, 21:57 and it takes a little bit of digging, 21:59 you know, the history of rock and jazz, 22:02 you know, it's important I think 22:03 to have a look at that a little bit, 22:06 you know. 22:08 So yeah, these music and morality, 22:11 important stuff. 22:12 How have you seen music impact people? 22:16 Oh, yeah, definitely, my first CD, Altar Call, 22:19 is because of that impact, you know, 22:21 I wanted to take people right back to the place 22:23 where I'm playing the piano for... 22:26 At the end of a night in a series, 22:28 and the minister has just given a sermon 22:34 about a particular aspect of Christianity. 22:37 And he's asking people to make a decision for Christ, 22:41 you know. 22:43 And when words alone 22:47 might not be able to soften somebody's heart, 22:51 you know, music, 22:52 because of the way we process it, 22:54 you know, it can bypass the center of reason 22:56 and go straight to the center of emotions, 22:57 and we don't want to abuse that. 23:00 The industry knows how to use that to get sales, 23:02 and a lot of musicians know how to use that to get fans, 23:07 you know. 23:09 But we want to make responsible use of that. 23:14 You know, there're places in an Altar Call 23:16 where I would stop playing completely. 23:18 Yes. 23:19 Especially during the prayer 23:21 'cause I really want people to engage what's been set, 23:27 you know, and not confuse them. 23:30 Not confuse that with a fuzzy atmosphere, 23:33 you know, where... 23:35 So the responsible use of music, 23:37 and as I said, at my first CD, Altar Call, 23:40 that I recorded in London around the 2016 3ABN campaign. 23:45 Yeah, because that was my next thing, 23:46 almost like, how did you get here? 23:47 But before we get to that, that song that we just heard 23:51 a couple minutes ago, what CD is that on? 23:56 That's on Sojourn. Okay. 23:57 Which is an album of Negro spirituals. 24:00 Okay. 24:01 And that has to do with human displacement. 24:04 I realize that currently in the world, 24:07 we have the highest incidence of human displacement 24:09 ever recorded. 24:10 Wow. Wow. Yeah. 24:12 So one statistic that I report, 24:15 that I read said that 1 in 131 people 24:17 on the planet are displaced. 24:19 Guess what? 24:21 My ancestors were displaced from India. 24:23 They were brought to the West Indies 24:24 as indentured servants, 24:26 you know, which is another 24:27 fancy word for slavery, actually. 24:28 Yes, yes. 24:30 But as a result, I'm a Seventh-day Adventist. 24:31 Praise the Lord for that. 24:33 And this is exactly 24:34 what happened to the descendants of slaves. 24:36 Yeah. 24:37 They got Christianity, 24:38 and so the only sojourn of music 24:40 I can think of on earth that came out of displacement 24:45 and Christianity would be Negro spirituals. 24:47 So I wanted to present them again 24:51 not just as a tag to black identity 24:55 or black history, you know, or history. 24:58 But I wanted to show that they're relevant today 25:00 to people who are displaced 25:01 because they speak to the same brokenness, 25:04 you know. 25:06 That's deep. 25:07 And the solution for that brokenness 25:08 is found in Christ. 25:10 So there are texts in the Bible 25:11 that talk about we are sojourners on the earth. 25:14 This is not our real place, this is not the real deal, 25:17 you know. 25:18 So that birthed my album Sojourn, 25:22 so Deep River is one of those spirituals. 25:24 Okay, nice. 25:26 And so how do people, if they want to get your album, 25:29 how do they... 25:30 Where do they go to get it? 25:32 Right. 25:33 So Sojourn is a new release. 25:35 Okay. 25:36 People can go to KendolMusic.com. 25:38 KendolMusic.com. 25:40 That's right. 25:41 Okay, and that's K-E-N-D-O-L Music.com. 25:44 Okay. That's right. 25:46 And there they can request the CD. 25:50 So they can actually order Altar Call 25:53 from a link right there. 25:54 Okay. Okay. 25:56 And 25:59 they can write to me. I live on St. Vincent. 26:01 So I'm not here in the US physically at all time. 26:04 Okay, okay, you know. 26:05 And so if they want to write to you, how do they... 26:07 Where do they write to? 26:09 Okay, so there's a contact page on my website. 26:11 Okay. 26:12 They can also reach me at Kendolb, 26:14 that's kendolb@hotmail.com 26:17 Okay. All right. 26:19 And how do they book you for the evangelism seminars. 26:24 Do they go on KendolMusic.com? 26:27 They can do it there through the contact page 26:30 or they can just email me. 26:32 Yeah, I'm easy to find. 26:34 I got you, I got you. 26:36 Now, in the short, in about 30 to 45 seconds, 26:39 tell us how you made it to 3ABN. 26:41 Oh, well, so I was in Australia on vacation 26:45 and I met Sandra Entermann. 26:48 Okay, she's very nice. 26:50 Yeah. 26:51 And we ended up doing some music down together, 26:53 we ended up in the studio 26:54 recording four songs down there, 26:55 and then she had an appointment to come here, 26:58 they needed a pianist. 26:59 So I was brought onboard, and then the next thing I knew, 27:02 I was here at 3ABN recording with her. 27:07 Of course, there was a series of events that led to all of, 27:10 you know, in between, 27:11 but I'm giving the short version. 27:13 Yes, yes. Absolutely, absolutely. 27:14 And then we heard about you at Dare to Dream, 27:17 and then we wanted to interview you as well. 27:20 So happy that you could make it out here, 27:23 and that you made it safely, this was a long journey. 27:27 And so thankful 27:29 that you took the time to come out here 27:30 and thank you for everything that you do 27:32 for the cause of Christ. 27:33 You're welcome, Sir. Yes. 27:34 It's been a pleasure. 27:36 Oh, praise the Lord. 27:37 And we want to thank you so much for joining us. 27:39 You know, one thing about ministry 27:42 is there are so many different avenues 27:45 for you to get involved with. 27:48 Take a look at the talents that God has blessed you with 27:51 and see how you can utilize those talents 27:53 for His honor and glory. 27:55 Well, we've reached the end of another program. 27:57 Thanks for tuning in. Join us next time. 27:59 And remember, 28:00 it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2018-07-16