The young adult ministry (Joshua Generation- JGEN) at my church recently hosted an event called, The Cure (A representation of the healing miracles of Jesus conveyed through the art of Hip Hop), on December 6, 2019. It was a follow up to the 7 Last Bars which was an urban depiction of the seven last sayings of Jesus, held in April 2019. I regret not writing about that one so I decided I had to write about this one because they were both phenomenal events! The talent that was showcased and, the presence of God that was there, was like nothing I’ve seen or felt before!
The show began with Praise and Worship led by Anaysha Figueroa-Cooper and boy did she slay some giants with that voice! (Disclaimer: The videos show up sideways but once you press play they show properly. Also these videos were captured by me and another friend, on our cellphones, so don’t expect professional level quality or editing. Thank you. Proceed).
Following Anaysha was an acapella rendition of “Come On In The Room”, sung by the Francis Sisters. The way those ladies sang made me feel like I was in somebody’s baptist church back in the 1950’s or something! Talk about chanelling Big Mama N’em!
The first miracle represented, was that of the paralyzed man whose friends literally tore the roof off to get him to Jesus (Luke 5:17-25). The piece called, “Get Me to Jesus”, was introduced by Melissa Best and performed by Redeemed. Melissa did an excellent job with her narration and she reminded us that, “Christ sacrifice makes you worthy. Redemption is yours”.
Redeemed really set the scene by being carried to the stage by four friends, all the while protesting. I imagine that’s how it actually went down back in the day! He encouraged us to “make healing a trend” and had us all grooving as he urged us to, “get up and walk”.
One young man was so moved that he didn’t just get up and walk; he danced, he jumped, he praised! We all could feel his liberation through his movement.
Next up was the story of Jairus’ 12 year old daughter (Mark 5:21-25, 35-43). Her healing was interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood, who we will get later. What better way to set this performance up, than to have it narrated by Keren Elmore, a young lady, no more than 16 years old. Even though she is young she is very wise!
The performer, Raysel Amaris was the perfect choice to perform the piece, “Talitha Koum” which means “Little girl, rise”. Her flow was real quick and fresh, giving it a youthful feel. The song is actually available on Sound Cloud so check it out! https://soundcloud.com/lighthousemusicgroup/talitha-koum
Li Pierre had us all dying with her wit and swag as she introduced the story of Blind Bartimaeus found in Mark 10:46-52. She made the narrative come alive like if it were happening on the block in present day Brooklyn!
When Malakai The Truth came on the stage, he kept the same energy! He was very animated and had the crowd involved all the way! We could feel Bartimaeus’ desperation through Malakai’s performance, “Have Mercy On Me”. It turns out he was not just using his imagination because he said himself, “Y’all don’t understand. This was real for me!”
I reached out to him after the show to find out exactly what he meant by that and he shared his testimony with me. This is what he said, “So, the task that I had was very real for me because I lived his life. I was born legally blind. And I didn’t receive my sight fully until I was 5 yrs old. More specifically it was a week before I was to be sent home with my own seeing eye dog that my vision returned. I had been attending the school for the blind. I learned Braille. But I also had a praying grandmother, who one Wednesday evening after prayer service had the elders of the church pray over me and my eyes. I haven’t had a surgery or any medical procedure done. I don’t have a retina in my left eye. So I truly understand the story of the blind beggar. And it was a blessing to receive the assignment. And it was God ordained because Sharise didn’t know my testimony before giving me the assignment”.
Don’t we serve an awesome God? A good, good Father? A miracle worker? A way maker? Ooh chile it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! But I digress.
We took a little break from the miracles to be ministered to, through song, by Allen’s own, Tamika Smith-Frederick.
We then jumped right back in with “Don’t Blink”, which was narrated by Kevin Middleton and performed by Din Tolbert. This piece examined the healing of the young boy, possessed by the deaf spirit (Mark 9:17-27).
Kevin spoke to us as the unclean spirit and boy did he come for parents! He was funny, yet so profound. Making us laugh while cutting us to our core! Talk about conviction!
And then Din came in there and sliced us clean open! This man speaks with such depth that if you blink you really would miss something. Thank God I have it recorded.
After that performance we needed some time to recover so we enjoyed an excellent performance by the ALDM (Allen Liturgical Dance Ministry) and some beautiful singing by fellow JGener, Teneeza Carter.
The next miracle represented is the most amazing and famous one, well in my opinion at least. I think everybody, believer or not, has heard of Lazarus (John 11:38-44). I mean, dude was dead for four days! Anyway, the piece called “Rescue Me”, was narrated by Heaven Berhane and performed by Marcus Aaron aka Mr. Holy Smoke (His album Holy Smoke is one of my favorites right now. Go listen!)
Next up was the miracle of the man who had been sick for 38 years (John 5:5-9). For the narration, Albert Curley personified Bethesda (the healing pool that the man laid by all those years), and addressed her as a woman. This was so powerful for me because that’s often what we do, look to people and things for our healing when Jesus is the ultimate Healer!
?ue The Conqueror peformed the song, “Get Up and Walk”. At the end he said that “if we would abandon the things that give us comfort, pick it up and walk with it, God could do the miraculous!” I felt that in my whole being because this year I stepped out of my comfort zone and God really did work wonders in my life!
Last but certainly not least, was the miracle of the woman with the issue of blood (Like 8:43-48). Mr. Alliteration himself, our minister, Donald Garner, narrated this piece. I couldn’t keep up with him and all of those Bs. He said, “The woman with the issue of blood had a biography of bad biology. She was bound, bypassed, bruised and broke!” Lord have mercy!
Pristavia ended off the performances with, “Bleeding But Believing”. Sis was a whole one woman show! She rapped, sang and did spoken word! Talk about talent in the room!
The night closed off in praise and worship with Naomi Raine. If you don’t know who she is, do yourself a favor and Google her. I don’t even have any clips of her singing because I was so in the moment. The spirit was so heavy in the room that there were people laid out on the floor damn near comatose!
There was definitely major healing happening at The Cure. No one who was in a wheelchair left walking but those with mental, financial, emotional and spiritual bondage, and illnesses that are not visible, left differently than they came. So please, press your way to the next event because God is doing something in this season and He is not doing it without JGen! (Cue Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr).
I’ll leave you guys with this message from my girl Ashley.
Just Doing My Fathers Work!
Crowned Papillon
P.S- For more clips and information about future events, follow @jgengac and @krissa.crowned.papillon on Instagram and Allen Twenties Thirties on Facebook.
Crowned Papillon 