Marching to a Different Beat
| 2016-09-30 00:00:00 -0400
Read about some of the fruit one missionary is seeing in Box 7 Ministries, an outreach focused on members of the marching music arts community.
In my ministry with Box 7 Ministries, we have a unique opportunity to reach out to people in the middle of them using talents the Lord has given them in the marching music arts. As members of that community know Jesus and reach others, a beautiful sound is lifted up to heaven in praise. This summer I got to meet Zach Garcia, and I wanted to share part of his story with you:
Last fall during my senior year of high school, I had to sit down and decide something for the coming summer: Would I do my comfortable, annual church camp or march with Drum Corps International, a select sport for marching brass, color guard and percussion? Participating in drum corps would mean devoting my entire summer to rehearsing and performing across the country. I wanted to do both really bad. So I sat down and prayed if there was any possible way to do both — for me to go to drum corps and still be focused on Jesus.
I decided to go to the Drum Corps International audition camp in December and see what happened. It was a fun weekend, and halfway through at a full camp meeting, Reliant missionary Karl Koemmpel introduced himself and talked about Box 7 and its mission to to lead young adults in the marching music arts to know & follow Jesus Christ. He invited whoever was interested to come to a meeting later in the camp. I was excited and thinking, “Is this what I was praying for?” At that first interest meeting, and as I continued to attend more audition camps, God was confirming that drum corps was where I needed to be for the summer even though I would be leaving the familiar and safe church camp.
He told me this was the first time in years he had done anything related to Jesus.
Summer started, and it was insane… I was instantly rehearsing twelve hours a day in the heat on the turf at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio, Texas. At the end of the first week, I was about to break down but was not willing to tell anyone about how much I was struggling physically, mentally and emotionally. Standing in the lunch line, Karl came up to me and said, “Hey Zach, during dinner we should get together and read the Bible.” So we did. The next meal I sat in the bleachers with Karl, above the area where everyone else was eating. I brought my travel Bible out of my backpack, we read some Bible verses, and we prayed together. After that time of being with Karl and focusing on Jesus, the weight of my struggles lifted off. Over the next several days, after reading the Bible a few times, the rehearsal blocks became enjoyable — even the heat and the work. Free time stopped being me sitting down and doing nothing and became time for me to read the Bible.
Once I got on the road for eight weeks of our tour, the people sitting next to me on the charter bus essentially became my roommates, especially the person squished next to me sharing the seat. One guy near me on the bus became my closest friend for the summer. I’ll call him Aaron. I did not spend much time talking with Aaron about Jesus at first, but as I spent more time with Karl and Box 7, it became much easier to talk about Jesus with this friend. Karl was teaching me things in the Bible that were like tools in a toolbox, and I could turn right around and teach it to my friend on the bus or during a meal. This worked well, and we became great friends. A few weeks later, Aaron explained to me that growing up he never went to church much and eventually stopped going completely. He told me this was the first time in years he had done anything related to Jesus. This was my favorite way I saw Jesus working during the summer in drum corps. I realized that if I was somewhere else, like at church camp for a few weeks, I would not have been able to introduce Aaron to Jesus in this way.
Near the middle of our tour, Aaron discovered that we would be going to college in the same town: Corpus Christi, Texas. He said he would like to continue meeting up to study the Bible and possibly find a church. My prayer would be that we can keep finding time to meet and grow in faith together.
Zachary Garcia marched in the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps with Drum Corps International in the summer of 2016 and is currently a college freshman at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
