Meet Evy, Ty and Jacob who together make up mission band NXT CHAPTR and spend every day out on mission sharing the hope Jesus offers with young people.
From the days of the World Wide Message Tribe, music has always been at the heart of the Message’s mission. And today it’s no different with our bands still sharing the love and hope Jesus offers in lessons, at gigs and through their gospel-packed music. As their tracks like ‘Heaven Made It Easy’ and ‘My History’ speak truth into teenagers’ lives, we caught up with NXT CHAPTR to hear more.
Tell us a bit about NXT CHAPTR and what you do.
Ty: ‘We spend our days heading into schools delivering hot-topic lessons, but in a creative way. We use our music as a way into helping students with some of the issues they face, things like low self-esteem, knife crime and bullying. As we do this, we see many engage in a way they haven’t before. And once we’ve grabbed their attention, we go on to share our stories of how Jesus has helped us through life’s struggles and how this hope is available for everyone.’
Evy: ‘But we don’t stop there. We want every young person we see in school to hear the gospel, respond to it and get connected with the local church, so every tour ends with an evangelistic gig. Here, as students see us perform more of our music, they hear about Jesus’ love for them, and how each of them can make the decision to follow him. And as they respond, they’re given a Bible and invited to the church follow-up being run by the same youth leaders they’ve seen in school. This is what it’s all about! Seeing young people’s lives turned around by God. It’s why we do what we do.’
How is your music different from what young people hear elsewhere?
Jacob: ‘Our songs cover a range of genres making it accessible to many, so whatever type of music young people are into, they tell us how much they love the tracks we perform. But what sets our music apart is that it’s all explicitly about Jesus. All our lyrics talk about Jesus, the hope he offers and our identity in him. None of them shy away from the gospel, because we want young people to be impacted by truth as they listen.’
Ty: ‘I know this is the type of music I’d have loved to have had available to me as a teenager. As we chat to students and teachers, you can see that they’re impacted by lines like “Jesus gave me a life worth living”.’
Evy: ‘I love the conversations we get in school. We were in Cardiff recently, and at the end of a lesson, a girl came up to us and asked what inspired us to write songs about Jesus. As we told her about the hope we want to share through our music, she asked, “so is Jesus the only way?” This opened up a chance for us to share the gospel with her and invite her to the gig on Friday night.’
Jacob: ‘We also get messages on social media telling us how people are impacted by the gospel as they listen. The other day, one lad got in touch saying, “Y’all performed at my school today and were fire. As someone who hates that kind of music I very much enjoyed it and hearing it live is so good. See y’all Friday at the gig”. Another one of my favourite messages was, “U guys changed my thought about God and I can now say I love ur music so much”.
What do you see happening as you step out on mission?
Evy: ‘I’m always blown away by what God does. My prayer every day is “God, use us. Use us to tell young people about you and speak truth into their lives.” And he never fails to answer that prayer. Whether that’s when young people realise they’re not alone as I share my story, or as hands go up in the air at a gig when we ask young people if they want to give their lives to Jesus. It’s all about us saying “Here I am, Lord, send me” and him using the gifts and passion for evangelism and music he’s given us to help young people find their next chapter. A chapter that’s written in God and eternity.’
Listen to NXT CHAPTR’S music today here.
