Now, you have the interview made by me

Luis Fernando - As you have been here in Brazil, even recently at Tribal Generation, what kind of idea you have of the overall church here and some efforts to build a relevant witness to our generation?

David Pierce - First of all, I want thank you for having me on your blog, Luis. It would be great to see you when I am in Sao Paulo next October.

From my limited experience in Brazil, I have the impression that there are a lot of great churches reaching into the emergent generation. In fact, I think Brazil is a leader in that area in many ways.

It was great for me to be at Tribal Generation (along with Sandro Baggio and Aaron) and to see all the different ministries that are happening in Brazil and South America.

Luis Fernando - With this kind of itinerant ministry around the world, I imagine you might go to places you will never have the opportunity to return again, how can you assure the fruit of your witness are having the proper follow up on evangelism or discipleship?

David Pierce - It’s my desire that everyone we reach as a result of our evangelistic efforts are equipped to become mature enduring mature members of the Body of Christ. That is why we are extremely committed to working with local churches and ministry partners to ensure that new believers receive proper follow up and ongoing discipleship. When necessary, we work to develop new churches because it is common for us to ministry in areas where they are very few or no churches at all.

However, I disagree with the idea out there that unless you can ensure that direct follow up will occur, that you shouldn’t proclaim Jesus. All day long, people are constantly hearing lies, through the media, newspapers or where ever they go. So if I have the opportunity to proclaim the truth, I not only should, I have the responsibility to do so.

For example, one day I was listening to the radio, and a well-known Christian band was being interviewed on a popular station. This band had achieved considerable success in the secular music scene. The interviewer asked the singer of the band where he got his inspiration. It was as though he was setting him up to talk about his faith in God. The singer in the band responded by saying, “I know some people would say we’re a Christian band, but we’re not.” Then he said he got his inspiration from different social issues and life experiences. And as he spoke, it was as if I heard a voice saying, “If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father in heaven” (Matthew 10:33).

Luis Fernando - When training other people to build similar ministries around the world, what factors do you have in mind to pass them that will be important to nurture in their home places?

David Pierce - Over the years, I have learned many principles (often the hard way!) about how to effectively reach the emergent youth culture, but I think one of the most important principles is the idea that you can not be impressed with the “scene” God is calling you to.

The “scene” devastates people. Jesus wasn’t afraid to confront human culture, because he knew how often it was sick and destructive. He healed on the Sabbath, he talked to a Samaritan woman in a public place, he invited tax collectors to join him, he ate with immoral people, he offended Jews by not following their laws, he said that he did not belong to the world’s system but came to bring another Kingdom, and he told his followers that they did not belong to this world. Jesus spoke in the languages of the cultures he was trying to reach, but he did not identify with cultural stupidity, confusion, pride, selfishness, injustice, or immorality. Jesus ate with people, loved them, healed them, fed them, used their symbols to communicate who God is, but he didn’t refrain from telling them the truth.

So don’t think you have to compromise with the scene. Be like Jesus, and confront it. This is why I refuse to say, for example, that I am a Christian punk, even though I have spent years in the middle of punk culture. How unbelievable is it to link Jesus with anything like that—a man-made scene that destroys people? I am a follower of Jesus, not a Christian punk. NO LONGER MUSIC has also played in some of the most famous gothic clubs in South America, but that hasn’t made me a Christian goth. I am a follower of Jesus, and that is all. I influence the scene, not vice versa. You need to get out of the scene. Jesus is the one you need to follow.
It seems that sometimes we think that being part of the scene makes us radical. But that just buys into the idea that the scene is more powerful than Jesus. Jesus is the true radical.

At Steiger, our vision is to train, equip and release people around the world to reach out to secular youth culture in urban areas and to raise up evangelistic artists who would impact the trend setters in the fields of art and media with the message of the Cross.

We have a 3-month school in New Zealand every year to give training for those interested in reaching the emergent youth and in our last school we had seven people from Brazil. We also have an Association of Evangelistic Artists that is intended to challenge and equip artists and musicians to boldly take the gospel message outside of the church.