Today, Gospel City Naija is introducung a new segment called "Beyond_Music". This section is all about getting to know the other side of your favourite gospel artistes aside from what you already know about their music. To start off, we hooked up with a very remarkable gospel 'raptivist' in the city of Port Harcourt and he took time to tell us his passion outside music. His name is D.O.P.E. He has been given and iNTRO on Gospel City Naija before now.
He is currently nominated in the NEXT RATED category of the Nigeria Gospel Music Awards and two catgories in Scepters Awards. Beyond music, he is so many things you need to find out right here and right now...
Date: Sunday, 2nd December, 2012 // Time check: 6: 47amWe got a call from D.O.P.E reminding us of the appointment we fixed with him the previous day. We had agreed to worship with him in his church and have a chat with him afterwards.
7:00am - 10:57am
We hooked up with him and drove straight to House On The Rock, Port Harcourt, where he worships. He took out time to play some of his songs in the car while we drove to church. In church, the service was warm and the message was awesome. We left the church after service. He exchanged pleasantries with a few persons before we drove to have a late breakfast with him at a popular eatery.11:05am - 12pm
After making orders and being served, we sat down for the business of the day. D.O.P.E opened up on a lot of things about him that his average fan may not know.
D.O.P.E: " I have been involved in youth ministry for quite a number of years now. I have groomed a number of young people to become more fulfilled in God. Ministry, to me, is beyond what a lot of people see it to be. I believe that God's children should have a firm grasp of their gift sets and leverage on it to the glory of God and to the fulfillment of their existence here on earth.
"While I was in Abuja, we ran Trail Blazers, a youth church wing of Family Worship Centre. It had various gifted teens and persons in their early twenties that where really achieving much with thier gifts as we ministered to them through this platform. It was another way of moulding young persons with practical teachings drenched in God's words.
"One major part of me is my innate youth activism. This part of me was greatly fulfilled through a platform I put up called 'African Youths Development Initiative'. Many youths and youth leaders were brought together and it sparked a silent revolution in the youth development sector. The initiative was recognised by the British Council and World Bank on a platform called DEBATE TO ACTION(DTA). DTA's sole responsibility is to sensitize communities on the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). I am very concerned about the quality of leaders Africa will have in the future and I believe our youths should be equiped with proper leadership skills/knowledge and encouraged to take up political positions."I am an engineer by profession so I keep my day job while I handle my music/youth ministry. I actually found a balance between my profession and calling so its no big deal carrying both roles.
"I am also an author. I have written four books and am about to publish the first. Music has become a very potent tool. I advise gospel artistes to take their music beyond the commercial perepherial and reposition it as an instrument for positive change.. "
12pm - 1pm
We rounded up the session with him and got back into his car. We listend to some more music from his collection and noticed the message packed lyrics and on-point delivery therein. D.O.P.E's music is a powerful tool and yes, he realises this and uses it to deliver God's message.
"I once read up a lot of chapters of the bible in a go. Most of what I read didnt make sense to me at the time I was reading them but they later became powerful tools that help me in my ministry through rap", he quirped.
Beyond music, D.O.P.E is a father and husband. He was given the remarkable Youth Ambassador For Peace award in 1998 by the United Nations in recognition of his contributions to youth development. Beyond music, D.O.P.E is a fire-brand youth activist and professional engineer that infuses God's word into all he does.
He is quit a mouth full fellow........from the time I have known him as an artist and the little time we've had chat together,I disdover he is a man of purpose. Keep it up DOPE.christians are not meant to be just pastors,singers or those cliche things about christian.if we leave politic or other arms of life,who wil handle it for christ?
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