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Songs for the Soul,
Hope for the Hurting
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| Latest Press |
700 Club Interview Watch for Stephanie Pauline's interview with Gorman Woodfin set to air this month! |
| TOY SOLDIER! | |
By now perhaps you've heard - The funding goal for the "Toy Soldier" Project was reached with a whole 15 minutes to spare! Thank you to all who gave and pre-ordered a copy of the video. The national radio release of the song, "Toy Soldier", along with the production of a thematic music video highlighting the plight of so many kids in detention centers across the U.S is in motion right now!
� 70% of juveniles offenders are from fatherless homes.
� 75% of the sex offenders have been victims of sexual abuse.
� 95% of teenage prostitutes have been sexually abused.
� 55 % of juvenile offenders have been abused/neglected as children.
� 50% have family members who have seriously abused drugs in past 5 years.
� More than 50% have
family members who have been incarcerated.
WE'RE GIVING A VOICE - A FACE - TO THIS NEED! |
| Treasurers Corner
by Genny Moellring
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I'm so encouraged when I see God moving in the hearts of people to help His servants meet His call. For example, those who responded to the call for the Breaking Free benefit concert put on through a partnership with MtM in April; those who have responded to the immense need in Haiti.
Why do we support ministries such as More than Music? Because God is using this ministry to touch the hearts and lives of people in need. Because God calls us to come around and support His servants. Because they are doing what we can't do.
I thank God that He has blessed me with resources to give, and that I can sacrifice to help others in need. Even if what I can do is ever so little - it is my gift of thanks to Him.
It is truly miraculous what has been accomplished through More than Music to date, given the relatively small band of faithful, private, financial supporters we have. This has been due to God's faithfulness and grace, and the blessed law of multiplicity in action. It has also been due to the many sacrifices made by Stephanie Pauline and her family. Stephanie has worked more than full-time for many years and has waived any salary since this nonprofit was founded in 2003 to commit more funds to the program and work of MtM. So we can do so much with so little! Still realistically speaking, for More than Music, Inc. to move to the next level of service, MtM needs $1,700 a month in base donor support. We currently have a shortfall of $1,100 in committeed monthly donations.
I was thinking the other day....if we just had...
*10 giving $100/mo = $1000.
*20 giving $100/mo = $2000.
*50 giving $25/mo = $1250.
*100 giving $20/mo = $2000.
*200 giving $10/mo = $2000.
Are you prompted in your spirit to join with the other partners called to support this ministry?
Support & Donations
Online:
If you would like to help support the More Than Music Ministry and would like to make a secure tax deductible donation online through paypal you may do so by logging into your paypal account and sending your gift to Donations@MorethanMusicInc.com.
Otherwise you may simply click on one of the three amounts below:
Via Check or Money Order:
mail to More than Music Inc.
P.O. Box 31
Farmington, MN 55024.
Remember all gifts are tax deductible, and are very much appreciated. We do have monthly partnerships if you are interested in making a commitment to help support us through finances or prayer. |
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Fall has settled on us. I, Stephanie, can feel the bight in the air. My husband has taken a job in the oil fields in North Dakota. He works two weeks on, then has two weeks off with me and our two kids at home, in Colorado. He is there in ND now and I am finding myself missing him at different intervals throughout my days. When I water the lawn, when I drive past the store, or that resturant we went to a month ago. When I do the dishes he would do. Now, with the cold creeping under our doors, I miss him when I bundle up under the covers and don't have his warmth next to me.
I realized the other day that I have pretty much never been in CO when he was not. I'm the one on the road so often; saying goodbye and then calling when I can grab a moment. That realization made me appreciate the sacrifice my husband has made in allowing me to do what I have been called to. My whole family, in fact, adjusts and readjusts to each concert, each dream, each move of God in my life.
At a concert in MN this last month a man came up to me and told me to thank my husband for him; for giving me up so I could be there that night speaking and singing hope and truth into lives, and into his life. He said, "It's no small thing. It's a sacrifice and I want you to thank him for me."
So I think I'll add my voice to his...Thank you Nathan. For seeing the heart of God in me, and knowing what I was made for. For daring with me for all these years to live our convictions, as imperfectly as we may at times, still you have stuck to it.
Nathan determined before we married that he wanted us to give my salary up as a tithe. We have been faithful to that desire, but it hasn't been easy some years.
I just want to say it again, Nathan...thank you.
Sorry for this long intro people...it just had to be said. |
| Upcoming Events |
Sat., Oct 9th - 6:30 PM. Venue 515 Manitou Springs, CO
Ticket Prices: FREE! Just come ready to consider helping Jenny!
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: A dear personal friend of Stephanie's, Jenny Vaughn will be travelling to Uganda to work with the kids abducted and forced into warfare. Stephanie will be joined by Mark Smith on percussiot, Tim Collins on guitar and BVGs, and there will be a special appearance by Jo Uvegas, a talented songwriter and performer. With a hand selected set of songs Jenny and Stephanie chose, and the heartfelt vantage point of a friend's send off we're in for a moving night! Don't miss this one!
Wed., Oct 13th 5 - 7 PM America the Beautiful Park, Colo. Sprgs., CO
Ticket Prices: FREE!
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: The harvest last Harrah! Hopefully the sun will be shining as it usually is in CO! Jo and Steph will be trying out some of their new folksy tunes. For those who don't yet know Jo. He is a excellent story teller and an engaging presence on the stage. This will be a fun, light, uplifting concert. Come! Bring your kids and your lawn chairs!
Sat., Oct 16th 8 PM 10 South Parkside Dr Colo. Sprgs., CO
Ticket Prices: Adv - $20.00 Day of - $25.00
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: Jo and Steph will be trying out some new songs they've written together of late. Then Jonathan Edwards will take the concert home. Jonathan burst onto the music scene nearly forty years ago with the mega hit "Sunshine", a cheerful anthem of defiance written at the height of the Vietnam War era. With lots of other hits you are sure to recognize this is a great event to add to your fall schedule!
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 | Highlights & Prayers |
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Since the last newsletter, Stephanie Pauline performed 2 concerts in CO, 3 concerts in North Dakota, 1 in Iowa, and 7 in MN. Pray for those who heard the songs and messages Stephanie shared. That healing, and truth would continue to bring them to freedom.
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We are working towards putting on the next big benefit concert. Bebo Norman and Stephanie Pauline are again going to join forces, this time for Southern CO Youth for Christ; a worthy organization More than Music has worked with in CO detention center ministry for years. Friday, May 6th, 2011 at Woodmen Valley Chapel. Mark your calendars people. You heard it here first!
- We are releasing "Toy Soldier" to radio this next week with a music video to follow by the months' end. Pray for direction in the filming of the video and for favor on the song with program managers across the country. Pray for those who will hear the song in their cars, kitchens, and living rooms. That they would find courage to be more real before God about their need and in that find how very real is His vast love for them.
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We are working to find funding for 30 Detention and drug rehab facility concerts this next year. 10 this year. This will involve developing ongoing mentorship programs in some facilities through partnerships with churches in their locale.
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 | From the Heart | By Stephanie Pauline I'd like to share about one of the many powerful experiences I had this last month in the midst of the busy-ness of concerts and travel. It wasn't a big concert. Less than 100 people. I've learned to not pay too much attention to the size of the crowd. Big or small they expect the expect the same from me, and so do I. I could feel the connection to the crowd. They were following the songs and stories, and the words God was giving me to say. I feel and see lots of things from the stage as I gaze into people's eyes. Many such moments are memorable to me. One man, off to the side, was listening - so intently; leaned forward, hands folded, head down, but eyes watching with rapt attention. He must have been 45 or so. African American. Bald Headed. Even from my vantage point I could tell he was a strapping, tall, tough man. Intense. After the concert he waited while others pressed in to talk, thank me, have me sign CDs, pray with them. I saw him there and I waited. When everyone else had had their time more than an hour had elapsed. There he was. Finally, he walked up to me, and asked me, as if in passing, to pray for him. He gave me his name and said in the third person "____ really needs prayer." I asked him if I could pray for him right then. He hesitated, as if he doubted that I really would want to do that, and then gave an affirming nod. I asked him what his impression was of the concert. He volunteered that something in what I had said, made him think. I asked him what that was. He looked at me with this vulnerable, yet buried expression, "You know, that God - c-could...love...me?" He stuttered. I pulled him to a chair and knelt down in front of him. I asked him what had happened that made that so hard to believe. He said, "Everything." I said, "Okay, just give me your top five." He began by giving me a list that he later confessed he had never shared with anyone before. It was full of everything from sexual abuse, to the loss of true love, from dramatic gun violence against him and then from him, jail, drugs, gangs, all of it. He was staring down, gruffly wiping a tear or two away every so often with the back of his hand, glancing up once and awhile to see if I could hear this and still look at him with love. He confided that just the night before he had been on the top of a bridge. He just stared at me then. He added that he had been there a couple other times in the past two weeks. I knew what he was saying. He said several times with emphasis, "I don't know how I got here from there." As I spoke to him and cried with him, God did something so wonderful. Love did something only love can do. It gave him hope. I don't remember all that I said now. Something about his value...about free will and spiritual warfare. How God hadn't wanted all that bad stuff to happen to him, all that pain, but that God always had and still very much wanted him. That there was a plan for his life and that God could take all of this wrong done to him and even by him, and even now, work it for good and beauty and bless many through him. I spoke about what I saw even from the stage in his eyes. He said he had wondered what I was seeing in him. I shared, "Well first, I saw anger. Under that I saw fear. Under that I saw courage. Under that I saw a boy; beautiful, deep, a sensitive heart - so needing to know how loved he is." He cried. I don't have any pithy words to sum this up. Only this...There is a hurting world here before us, even in us at times...There is also a God who can love us, and accept us in it all. Whenever I have heard the voice of my Jesus undeniably clear my heart...no matter my wrong - the voice is heavy and thick with love. Never rude. Never insulting. Never harsh. Not with me. If God can love me - the least of these...well how could I not bow before all the rest. Behind the wrong - no matter how wrong - there is always the same thing. Simply a need to be loved. All the rest comes from that. |
| In Closing | Thank you for your investment in More than Music. We can't do what we do without the support of people like you. I am forever humbled by the gift of being able to help chart this ministry. I do pray that we will truly serve as a blessing to you and to the world.  |
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In the past 5 years, More than Music has sponsored over 50 free concerts in correctional facilities and chemical dependency centers, as well as supported social service ministries by hosting benefit concerts for them. Through God's anointing on More than Music concerts, ministries have been strengthened, thousands have heard the message of hope and forgiveness and lives have been transformed by Christ. |
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