Welcome to Keep It 100 podcast with Sean and Christa Smith.
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This podcast is for those not looking for temporary relief to change circumstance, but
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Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Keep It 100 with Sean and Christa Smith.
Hey everybody, welcome back.
Hey, we're so excited to talk about today's topic of Kingdom creativity because I tell
you what, being a creative person, this subject gets me really, really excited.
But since we've been with you last, we've actually had really some cool assignments.
We have.
We did three straight ministry network conferences, which for some of you that may not understand
the lingo, they're district councils for a Pentecostal denomination.
And so I did one that was for the state of Washington and it was actually in Corder Lane,
Idaho.
And then we went to Minnesota and then we went to Alaska and I'll just jump in Christa.
When I went up and it brought a good friend of mine and we went up to Corder Lane, Idaho,
it was just really powerful as the pastors of the Northwest and they were, they're seeing
like they were a good 800 to 1000 pastors that represent all these different churches.
So you're ministering to leaders and it was so awesome, they sovereignly on their own
came and fell at the altar before the Lord.
It was just a mighty time we had before God.
There were healings.
I've gotten some words back on that, but it was just this thing of us all saying together
that we want to tap back into the power of the Holy Ghost, that the whole COVID thing
was about delivering us from programs and getting us back to presence.
It really was powerful and you went to Washington, Idaho with Mark who's actually going to be
on this episode, which is awesome.
And I was able to be a part of the Minnesota and Alaska one and it was just, it was incredible.
Like you said, the hunger in the room was just tangible and what God did was really,
really special.
I would say both places where I was obviously in Minnesota and Alaska, we had leaders really
sovereignly respond to the altars like you're saying.
And I just see such a new hunger in pastors and leaders across the board and I see God
bringing all of us kind of back to our roots, our first love, just almost recalibrating
us to God's heart.
Once again, where maybe we've gotten a bit off track, maybe partnered with a bit of fear
from the last season, a little bit of PTSD from everything many church leaders have gone
through.
People are getting healed, re-envisioned, full of hope.
And that's just pretty exciting because I just feel like we're sovereignly watching
the hunger and people really move things in the spirit and things that I believe we've
been praying for for years.
So to be a part of that in a small way, I always find it such a privilege that we get
to go speak at these places and we get to connect with leaders because that just always
feels like such an honor.
And then it was really fun because we were in Alaska and we met a Keeb 100 tribe person,
Mr. Terry.
He was awesome.
He's like, Hey, I'm a part of the Keeb 100 tribe.
I thought that was so cool.
That is cool to think someone's in Alaska is listening to our podcast.
That was super fun.
And again, in Alaska, although it was cold, the fire of God fell.
And there was a good 400, maybe ministers there and leaders and they just leaned into
the Lord and just embraced and you did such a great job.
Oh, you did too, baby.
And the power of God.
And there was so much prophetic.
We even had people baptizing the Holy Ghost.
Come on, come on.
So fun.
Sean is so gifted this.
And I was telling him, like, man, he's so anointed at this and I love it.
He just felt a wooing in the room, called out anyone, not baptism, Holy Spirit come
up.
And because it was mainly leaders that were in the room, you would think a majority of
them, but I would say we had like 25 or so that responded.
And to my knowledge, all of them received the baptism Holy Spirit and it was just so
powerful and exciting to watch them get that for the first time.
You could see like the joy and the excitement and they were just wrecked.
I mean, they were just like weeping before God.
Cause I think it's that thing that just connects you with the father's heart in such a different
space.
Um, so it was just, it was really cool.
You did so well doing that.
Just you led those alters beautifully.
Really time of encounter.
Also keep your 100 tribe.
We just want to let you know that May 12th, we're going to have a momentum night in Oakland,
California, 42 92 Keller Avenue in Oakland, California.
These nights we're just inviting the hungry to join us to alter history.
Last time we did it, we had over 400 people.
It was capacity and there were deliverances.
There were people that got healed.
There were salvations, uh, people lingered.
I mean, lingered.
And so we're believing that this is going to be super powerful.
So mark it down, get out there, join us May 12th, Friday night, seven o'clock.
It is a incredible opportunity to bring folks, get help us get the word out again, momentum
night, May 12th.
That's right.
It's a free event.
You don't have to register.
Just show up.
It's on our website.
It's on our social media.
It's on our website.
And we're going to be talking about the power of God and how God is in the room.
Cause Sean and I always say there's something about when you get in the room, God encounters
in a special way.
And I'm preaching that night.
Yes.
So I'm going to go for it and I got the word of the Lord.
So get in the room, May 12th.
All right.
Let's dive in.
We are talking about some creativity with Jesus, you know, let's begin when we talk
about kingdom creatives and I really believe that the kingdom creatives are coming forth
and they've been coming forth for a while.
And I think that this really ties into the fact of Joel too.
When the spirit of God is poured out,
obviously the prophetic begins to happen,
but I think we think of simply the prophetic
maybe as us speaking something forth
or us maybe having a dream or vision,
but there are other expressions
that we're seeing coming forth in this hour.
Let me just take a moment to define
what we mean by kingdom creativity.
Kingdom creativity is the process
by which the nature of God flows through a vessel
in conjunction to the unique design
and it displays and demonstrates a beauty, a joy, a pleasure.
It carries with it revelation.
It often releases this beauty, but this refreshment
and ultimately it's for the purpose
of demonstrating his glory.
We know that God is not a once upon a time creator.
That God has continually created sense genesis
and I think it's just so important that we understand that.
You know, I always kind of laugh
because I being a person that is creative,
I'm really excited about this topic,
but I always kind of laughed when people are like,
oh, I'm not creative and I'm like, well, God's creative.
And if you and I are created in this image,
therefore there is some creativity in you
in some way, shape, or form, right?
Because if we're made in this image
then there's aspects of God within us.
So there is not a void of creativity in you.
It might look different.
It might be more dominant in some people,
but there's creativity in all of us.
And so if God's the source of our creativity,
then we have to really understand
that our ultimate creativity
has to be rooted and grounded in Him.
And that's really where our search for creativity begins.
That's really where it evolves in our life
is really discovering the fullness of God's expression
in us and through us.
I think when we understand how creative God actually is,
how creative God's personality actually is,
it helps us think outside the box
and actually connect with God in not ways
that are so connected to the way we think as humans.
We serve a God who is outside of our realm.
And so there's a creativity in everything that God does.
And so we understand that He is not within our boxes
or our limitations.
It helps you understand that He's gonna come at you
in different ways.
I think that really helps us understand
and connect with God at a deeper place
because He really is so creative.
Oh my gosh, you read the word of God
and it's like mind-boggling just how creative God is.
So when you begin to grasp
that you really are a unique person,
that's the creation of a unique God,
then you really begin to walk in a greater creativity
in all aspects of your life.
Cause you're like, whoa, God is incredibly creative
and He created me to actually create with Him.
Then all of a sudden you realize, wait, I am creative
because that's actually what it's created to do,
create with God.
I think I'm exhibit A exactly what you're talking about
because I would have never considered myself artistic
in any way or as we would define today a creative.
I wasn't good at drawing as a kid.
I wasn't good at art and painting.
I grew up in a different era
where there wasn't as much of a pro health,
anti-smoke or secondhand inhalation stuff
that was out there.
So whatever I made in art class always turned into an ashtray
cause you couldn't go wrong.
So I was the art kid that just was not great at art.
So I really believed I was non-creative
until I got saved and began to recognize
my creativity is with words.
And although I didn't do well in English throughout school,
wouldn't it be God to take something that you were weak at
and turn it around?
When we talk about kingdom creatives gang,
they're biblical examples of this.
And if you go into the Old Testament in Exodus 31,
it says, then the Lord said to Moses,
see I've chosen Bezalel of the tribe of Judah
and I have filled him with the spirit of God.
This is key.
He's filled with the spirit of God and skill.
And it says with ability and knowledge
and all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs
for the work in gold, silver, bronze to cut and set stones
to work in stones and to engage in all kinds of craftsmen.
So we have this guy in the Bible, a craftsman.
He's anointed.
He's a kingdom, pre-kingdom in terms of the kingdom of God
came through Jesus, but he's a pre-kingdom creative.
And I love the fact that this dude is basically an artisan
and anointed to do so.
You know, I love that.
Because when we began to really think about
what is creativity and we're seeing biblical examples,
and I remember reading that in my 20s
because I was in the fashion industry post college
and I minored in art in my university.
And I'm a natural creative.
Like I love to design, I love beauty.
Literally, I received a prophetic word from Shambles
in my 30s now, but it was probably one of my favorite
prophetic words over my life that I'd ever received.
He says, you have the gift of beauty
that you bring beauty wherever you go.
And I just love that because it's literally
how I connect with God.
You know this about me, baby, of course.
Anyone that's close to me knows.
And so I think when we understand that it's actually
in the word of God, that we're the craftsmanship of God.
And I just think we're all doing that,
but in very different ways.
But I think it's all this expression of who God is.
Because when you look and think about creativity,
we go to the obvious, right?
We think, oh, art, of course, poetry, music,
and but really there's creativity in business,
how people design business, how people are super innovative
in technology and engineering or maybe IT.
And in the medical world, think about how many
incredible medical inventions or innovations
that have been created.
And we know personally, multiple testimonies
of people that love Jesus and they're in the medical
community and God's given them the download
and cures have been discovered, right?
There's been like the creativity of God.
And of course we see this in like entrepreneurs
and people that begin with dreams and projects
and they build the business.
There's a creativity in all of which we do.
And we have to understand that God's constantly giving us
access to innovation, creativity, new designs,
new approaches.
And I think when we understand that we're actually
have an invitation through God to live in a creative realm
that it's actually a realm in which I think we can access
every single day of our lives.
We have to understand that we were created to create
because we serve the creator.
Our master, our savior, our refuge is the creator
of the world, right?
And so no matter what mountain of culture,
sometimes there's multiple spheres of influence of culture.
God has deposited within you some sort of creativity in you
to enable you to really deposit into that sphere of influence,
to deposit in that sphere of society.
And I really believe that every single one of us
have untapped creativity that we have to activate.
And I think there's an untapped thing that we really want
people to access even by listening to this podcast today
to really begin to take inventory in their own life
of like what in me actually is creatively connecting with God?
Not just like linear thinking, but actually like connecting
with God on a much greater grander scale.
And that's such a great point.
I was thinking about George Washington Carver.
He was an African-American.
I used to professor at Tuskegee Institute back in the day.
And I think he spanned at like 1800s to the mid 1900s.
This guy was so creative.
He literally got all these different ideas
in terms of what to do with a peanut.
Like I'm forgetting, but there is like dozens upon dozens
upon dozens of inventions.
And the guy was a scientist.
He was environmentalist.
But there's no doubt the creativity in that guy may not
have ever showed up on a canvas, but it showed up
in the area of environmentalism.
So to your point, there's creativity in all different areas.
I think when you talk about that creativity,
by its very nature, it bypasses mental logistics.
And I think that's why left brain logical people typically
score less.
And now when I say this, I'm excluding the God factor.
Like you put God in the equation,
the most left brain logistic person
could be the most creative person.
But typically left brain people aren't considered
the artistic people.
It's right brain people.
It's because I think creativity bypasses that mental logistics.
And it really, I think it's more of a spiritual aspect
of what God has created within us.
And I think art is like the prophetic.
It goes straight to the heart, spirit to spirit.
For instance, every time you create a piece of art,
someone produces something, someone designs something,
someone communicates in a way, it could be down to poetry,
it could be book writing, it could be movie producing,
it could be art, it could be music, entertainment,
whatever it is.
If you love the Lord, you're releasing the kingdom
in a creative way.
And in that, what happens is you allow the father
to flow through you with the Holy Spirit.
How often have we been in a movie theater, Tur?
For instance, recently, the movie Jesus Revolutionaries,
and they were put forth by Christians.
I found myself weeping.
It's because all the creativity in the movie
really was a vehicle for God to allow an expression through it.
And I believe through this art, through this creativity,
people get an opportunity to prophesy.
And that's why people listening,
it's so important that you discover your aspect
that God is breathing on for you to create something.
Because God, as Christ said earlier,
you've been created to be a creative.
And as you're able to release that,
God is able to use that to release His light,
His love to other people.
And your creative voice, I think like for many of you,
maybe your aspect of creativity is your testimony,
is your voice, it's how you speak to people.
It has the capacity to transmit and communicate
the light and life of God.
We know that creativity is designed by God
to go straight to hearts, spirit to spirit,
and God wants to use His children in Kingdom creativity.
We've certainly seen the opposite of that.
We've seen where people who were operating
under a demonic spirit go to the arts
and create something that you feel defiled when you see it.
You feel like something's wrong.
I've seen some of this art and I go, oh my God,
there's chaos in that art.
I don't feel peace in that art.
And so we know that this can be a spiritual communication.
You know, I think all the creatives
when I make this next statement,
they all go, yes and amen.
You know, creatives process the world
different than other people.
And I certainly know that's true.
You know, I live that.
You know, creatives, we see other things
that other people don't see.
And we hear sounds and we recognize things.
And we notice the nuances that other people pass by.
And we recognize kind of the little things.
We're just paying attention to those little like God moments
in the midst of like a day
that other people will simply pass over.
And what I love about creatives,
it is it helps other people slow down and stop
and have those encounters with God.
Like I remember, because I minored in art at my university,
there were many nights that I had projects that were due,
you know, and so me and some other creatives
were always in the painting studio.
And I loved it because I would put on like worship music
and I always found myself connecting with God
and then I remember watching Charites of Fire with my dad
and this man was his movie about a runner.
And it kind of put to verb it.
It verbalized something
that I hadn't necessarily consciously articulated,
but it was like the guy that was the lead of Charites of Fire.
It's based off a true story.
Very gliding.
Yeah.
He said that he could, he felt like he connected with God
when he ran.
And I remember like when that statement was made,
I thought, I feel like I connect with God
when I create beauty.
Like I feel like I connect with God
when I make something from scratch
and I make something that isn't existing.
There's a part of myself that connects with God
because he created, he's created so much from nothing
into something.
And there's that partnership in the creative process
that's really incredible.
But I've just noticed like for me,
that's just such a powerful place
when I understand that there's a attribute of God
that we can tap into through creativity.
All the more it makes me want to make sure
I'm really guarding that space of creativity
because it really is a place of connection.
That's so good.
And that leads us, speaking of a creative,
that leads us into our special guest.
Mark Afshar is an incredibly gifted
and creative young man of God.
And he's married and he's got three kids.
He's particularly dear to us.
I actually got a chance to officiate his wedding ceremony.
He is the campus director of CHI Alpha at my alma mater,
the University of Pacific.
He does a lot of chapel service for various sports teams
across the Bay Area and Sacramento area.
He's in demand as I guess you would call
a videography person or videographer.
He's incredible.
He's got Mark, Stevie visuals.
He creates some of the freshest reels.
The guy's an incredible, I mean an incredible Christian rapper
who has gone on tour and has written some
of the most clever bars I've ever heard.
But probably maybe one of the best ways I could introduce
Mark is that everything I've seen him do,
I've seen a creative expression where he's out of the box.
I love this guy.
So jump in this interview with us with Mark Afshar.
Keep your 100 tribe.
Oh my goodness.
I get a chance to have one of my favorite people
on the planet on Keep Your 100.
He is a mighty man of God.
He does so many things.
He's a spiritual son to me.
But when we're thinking about this podcast
of kingdom creativity,
I couldn't think of a better guy to bring on the pod.
And so I want you guys to just give a warm Keep Your 100
tribe welcome to Mark Afshar.
What's up, Mark?
What's up, what's up, Sean?
Good to be on here with you.
Love you, man.
Keep your 100.
If you recognize the voice, you might recognize the voice.
Hey, that's right.
In case you don't know it, Mark's on every podcast.
Mark literally is the one that does our intro.
He put together the music.
So anything you hear musically on the podcast,
our intro and outro, speaking of creatives,
this mighty man of God has done that.
The guy has his hands on so many different things,
but we're going to just jump right in this, Mark,
because I think this is so amazing.
First of all, I was thinking about kingdom creativity, man.
And this dude, they named the Hubble Telescope after him.
He came up with the Hubble Law.
But basically, people have improved on it.
What they found out is God is not a once upon a time creator.
And man, some people listen to you need to let that just set
for a minute.
He's not a once upon a time creator.
They say the universe right now is ever expanding,
which means the creator is still creating at the end of the day.
They said, not only are we moving through space,
we know that solar systems and stuff they rotate,
but they've proven that not only are we moving through space,
we're moving in space.
And here is their conclusion that the universe
is expanding to eternity.
That's the words of scientists.
It's crazy.
So I was just thinking this whole thing of creativity.
And I thought, man, we got to do justice to this.
So let's jump in this, Mark.
Let's begin here, man.
Tell me, man, coming up and everything,
how did Jesus make heaven real to you?
Man, I grew up in the Bay Area.
Family background, kind of Catholic, something like that.
Got water baptized as a baby, that type of stuff.
And you know, with the priests, closing curtains
when they had to go perform their duty on our behalf.
So that was kind of my grid for Jesus.
So heaven wasn't real at that point.
Just the priestly duties were, that's all I knew.
But I went long story short.
I got accepted into a college in Northern California,
UC Davis, and didn't know the Lord.
But I ran into, I was intercepted
by these Christian Jesus-loving college students,
which I never knew existed on a collegiate campus.
You know, in my mind, I'm like, all right,
where the frat party's at?
Let's get lit.
Let's turn up.
You know why I'm here.
You know, no parents in the house.
But they so loved on me, introduced me to Jesus.
And I would attend their long story short.
I would attend their meetings, their worship services.
They would have some fun events, too.
That's kind of what pulled me in.
And man, I just started experiencing Jesus,
like as if he walked into the room during these meetings,
I would feel his presence.
I would sense him.
I would know that, wow, like Jesus is real.
Heaven is real.
I mean, I'm here experiencing it right now.
I want to give my life this, like, I don't care
about my biology class anymore.
I did.
I graduated everybody.
But like still, like Jesus became real to me,
not like every other concern, kind of just sifted away.
And so, man, yes.
That is so awesome.
Now, when you say, Mark, you felt this presence,
he made himself real to you.
Was it just like you felt like this altogether otherness?
Did you see some specific miracles and some moves of God?
Did you experience maybe some sort of physical touch
on your body that you felt from the Lord?
Kind of break that down a little bit for us.
Man, can I say all of the above?
I mean, really, it was an accumulation.
But I think the main moment that I had with Lord was,
I guess my whole life, prior to that moment where Jesus
became real to me in my eyes and heart,
was my heart was always searching for something.
And it was never at rest until the moment that Jesus,
I was introduced to Jesus in his presence.
I truly felt at rest.
My heart was no longer needed to search for whatever,
affirmation, accolade, success, a college degree, money,
whatever it may be, it was finally connected.
And so that was it for me.
Ever since then, I just have had that small heart.
And shout out to Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
But along with that, I had that journey and that experience
was also, I was out of service early on.
Like I recently gave my life to Jesus.
I went to like a week long service retreat camp
where you go and donate your time and help out
build some of the church.
Well, anyways, here comes this guest speaker
at the end of the week.
And the whole week we were being fed and they took care of us.
And I couldn't eat the morning breakfast
that was serving us because it was cereal.
And I was just lactose intolerant at the time.
And so everybody was just kind of giving me a hard time.
Oh, I guess you're fasting breakfast or whatever.
And I was like, all right, whatever.
Here comes this guest speaker and at the end of his service.
I mean, just a fire service.
He's preaching fire.
I'm like, this is incredible.
He says someone in the room has a food allergy
and you're lactose intolerant, allergy, whatever.
And everybody just looks back at me
as if I'm that person because I was that person.
Anyway, I stand up.
I say, yeah, that's me.
I get healed.
I'm eating ice cream ever since.
Like salt and straws might, like, I mean,
I know we don't have like a brand shout out to them.
Like, we're not getting money from this,
but like salt and straw.
It's my go to, Sean, it's the best ice cream
in Northern California.
So anyways, man, I mean, just stuff like that,
like God would introduce himself like to me
in just new ways and like affirm his love for me
if something simple is that.
And, you know, gotta see just some awesome miracles
and healings on the college campus.
Gotta see students lives transform where maybe they walked
away from the Lord came to college
and walked away from the Lord
and then just see their hearts come back to Jesus.
Water baptizing college students in a recreation pool
on the college campus.
I mean, seeing a whole fraternity infiltrated
because the president got saved.
He weak water baptized them all.
His brothers were high, smelled like weed,
but heaven came down, man.
Ain't nothing like the aroma of Christ, Sean.
You know what time it is.
Hey, hey, come on, bro.
You know, and I think one of the things that's so,
our listeners need to understand is that
you had such an immediate hunger.
You reached out to me and we connected.
I couldn't even tell you how many years ago that's been.
I think it was like 20, 30, man.
It might be, I think it's 10 years
because that service that I was talking about,
it's like that was Sean Smith Ministries.
If you guys didn't know, but I believe that was 10 years ago.
Wow. And you reached out to me and just,
I think you came to a meeting.
We connected.
We talked a little bit.
I immediately sense that level of hunger on you.
Immediately sense the touch of God on your life
and been able to see God do some phenomenal things.
You know, Mark, one of the things that you were sharing
just about receiving a miracle.
I was thinking about what it's going to take
to reach and impact the generation.
Yes, 30 and under, but just people breathing air on earth.
And we can't be handing out old stale traditions.
If we serve a God that is,
ever we've established, he's still creating.
He's still innovating.
And you know, I think about Joel too,
when he says, God will pour on us,
spread on all flesh, sons and daughters of prophesies,
or men dream, dreams, young men see visions.
I think we think that the God point out
to spread on all flesh means everyone's going to jump
into pulpit and preach.
But I think what we've missed is that
when he part of spread on all flesh,
number one, obviously it's going to hit the streets.
But I think it's going to look different.
I think his spirit pouring all flesh,
it's going to raise the level of creativity.
We're establishing God as a creative God.
And so we're going to see creativity.
I think that's why we have so many
of the emerging generation into arts, into dance,
appreciative of the aesthetics of things.
Like, you're going to reach the emerging generation.
You can have some old, dead, tired looking,
religious building.
You need to give some thought and put it together.
Aesthetics, because there is this creativity.
At what point in your come up, Mark,
did you begin to discover that there was something
that God had wired you towards creativity
and being a creative?
Because we'll break this down in a minute.
Maybe you could share, but you are creative
in so many different ways.
But how did you begin to realize that that was on you?
You know, I mean, looking back in retrospect over my life,
I mean, I was like four years old in front of my mirror
in my room with a fake microphone in my hand just
performing.
But I just kind of always felt like I had that in me.
Just wanted to express myself, even the way I was dressed
as a kid and just kind of out there,
but just very expressive.
And I appreciated that.
I don't know if that was encouraged by my parents
or anything like that.
Maybe it was.
I least didn't discourage it.
But even in high school, I would
make these music mix tapes and I would sell them.
And just I would know what was in at the time.
Yeah, that was my side hustle, Sean, in high school.
I was lit.
I was like a DJ.
But not really a DJ yet.
So I would make these mix tapes and sell them.
Even on my high school basketball team,
everybody looked to me to control the music of what
we came out to.
Just so I always felt like I had.
I didn't know it at the time.
I just kind of felt like I had that creative insight that I
guess maybe not a lot of other people would be thinking about.
Maybe some of the basketball, they were better at playing
the game and they were kind of locking in.
And they didn't really have that concept of, no,
I want to feel like I'm coming out cool and swaggy and ready
to play.
And they didn't know how to channel that.
And I felt like I did.
And so then going into college and joining the campus
ministry, which was predominantly not cool.
The students in there weren't cool in the world's eyes
or whatever.
And so I felt like I got to help bring that factor
into the campus ministry and kind of brought some relevancy
to the campus at large.
We started seeing some influencers come in, some athletes
and stuff like that, which I felt like God was using me
as a bridge.
So yeah, and then now I'm like, man,
people like companies, businesses, brands, colleges
are coming to me because they want me to create stuff for them
that is competing in the world that shows them
as the way that they want to be shown,
but they don't know who I do.
So they're coming to me to make videos for them.
And so yeah, man, I'm kind of like finally coming into that
realization that God has given a gift and really just
to go at it with all I can and honor God and bring Jesus
with me everywhere I go, man.
I've been to some big Bay Area like rap concerts
where some big barrier rappers are not Christian,
but man, I got to lay hands on them, pray for them,
heaven show it up.
Like just some really cool opportunities as a result of,
you know, just the creative, gifting.
And that's so cool.
And Mark, you're such a humble guy.
Mark is a Christian rapper, but to be more accurate,
he's a preacher who happens to rap Jesus.
And so you, first of all, tell us how did you begin to spit
like the obviously you said you're in your room
and then you began to make mixtapes.
But to our listeners, Mark is travel on tour.
Mark has iTunes downloadable.
He is probably in my estimation, obviously he's anointed,
he lives for Jesus, but your bars, your lies,
your lyrics are so clever.
I love it and lifts up Jesus.
And it's like you said, it's something that I recognize.
You know, when Paul says I became all things to all men
that in some way I might win some,
I see you doing that and doing it uncompromise.
So how did the rap thing, first of all, tell us,
how many downloads have you had in this area
and you've had collabs with different Christian rappers?
I mean, folks, y'all need to look up Mark Stevie right now, man.
It's incredible.
But tell us how, what has that been like for you
and how has that been an expression of God's creativity?
Kind of tell us about that, bro.
No, I totally agree with that.
It's like I started doing chapels
for some of the sports teams on my university,
as it means to just connect with students and stuff.
But I'd start my introduction with a rap.
And you're right, it totally diffuses like,
oh, this like pastor dude is trying to come and talk to me.
Like I'm not trying to hear you, but like, oh, wait, hold up.
He's rapping and it's lit and it gets their attention
and you just kind of like just help connect
a little bit more and so, man, it's been amazing.
Like ever since I was in high school,
you know, we would travel on the bus,
somebody would hit the back of the seat to create a beat
and we'd all just take turns freestyling, you know?
And that evolved into, you know,
getting my own equipment in my house,
my room and my computer and start recording myself
and with my friends, all for fun.
And, you know, when we were in high school,
we thought we were so lit and we'd pull up to house parties
and perform and, you know, we try to be like those dudes
and we had a really good, like it was fun, you know?
And we got a little buzz and then got to college,
gave my life to Jesus.
And so there was kind of this like, well, you know,
I still love rap.
It might not be as encouraged in the space that I'm at,
but let me bring that flavor in.
And so I made a anthem for my local ministry
and I got all these like kids that like don't,
like they probably listened to Taylor Swift
or something like that to all rap
and make this music anthem.
And like it went crazy.
And then I did one for the national
Cai Alpha campus ministry.
And then I just got all these texts and people like saying,
like, dude, we play that song like as the intro,
when students are coming in, that's our pre-service music.
And then it just dawned on me.
I'm like, wow, like I feel like, you know,
rap can really help bring, you know,
be that bridge to these college students.
And so I started rapping more
and I met a really good close friend of mine right now,
named Mission, who is a veteran Christian rapper, incredible.
He kind of took me under his wing
and we really did some cool stuff.
We did some tours, did some really cool music.
I almost hit a million streams last year on Spotify,
which is insane.
I mean, like, honestly guys, like that's not my goal,
but like, man, I got on a couple of playlists
that were like Christian rap.
And, you know, that exposed me to a lot of people that,
you know, Christian people that enjoy Christian rap.
And so, man, it's a lot of fun.
Like I love it.
I'm grateful for it.
The tool that it has become
and also just the creative expression
that I'm able to just kind of express myself
and man, if I could reach people with that, man,
I love that.
That's incredible.
Like, because I love to do it.
I love being clever.
Sean, me, you go back and forth on clever lines,
you know, even communication and like, man,
to be able to express that and be heard and impact, awesome.
Hey, keep it 100 tribe.
Probably have never heard me quote Jimi Hendrix, the rocker,
but he said himself, he says, music is spiritual.
He says, music is supernatural.
He says with it, you could preach
into the subconscious of people.
And so I don't know if we recognize just the power of that.
I mean, you think obviously Satan, we know him today,
was Lucifer, but Lucifer, according to you cross reference,
different places, Ezekiel, Isaiah,
he was an anointed cherub and there was musical instruments
built in the enemy and he still uses music.
But I mean, you know, he was created like that
to be creative.
I think nowadays we see that just emerging.
You and I have done outreaches together at universities.
And I remember one time we were in Texas
at one of the largest conferences, Mark currently.
Obviously he was a part of a CHI Alpha
in terms of when he got saved as a student,
but he's a director of a campus ministry now.
It's at Spiritfield, outreach to secular universities.
But we brought you to Texas.
You did many concerts each night.
I'm telling you, there's some kids
and we weren't in like urban center Dallas.
We were in another place,
a little more like Texas walking rangers up in the air.
And man, they jumped on and started dancing,
started going for it at night, preach, prophesied.
We had so many people get saved in those meetings.
So many students get baptized in the Holy Ghost.
It was so awesome.
Mark, how do you access new levels of creativity?
Cause man, you're a preacher.
You have had incredible and still do favor
with reaching out to sports teams.
You're in Christian rap.
You make videos and your reels.
I don't know if anyone better, you know, Instagram,
you see reels are such a thing.
To me, you're the king of reels.
Like people need to hire you, reach out to you.
I don't know if they'll be able to get time with you.
But now even your photography, even your consulting,
people are bringing you in, flying you across the country.
I mean, how do you tap deeper levels of creativity?
I'd be one that I falsely labeled myself non-creative.
I didn't think I was very creative,
but God made us all creative
and I began to discover, you know,
I'm not trying to compare myself
to someone's else's creativity.
I need to locate what the all creative God in me has put.
How do you tap into new levels of creativity?
That's so good.
I love that.
Yeah, I think right now it's like sometimes,
well, like I guess the creativity
that I've been able to express and put out in the world
so far has landed, man.
And you know, a couple of gigs, you know,
especially like mentioned, like for video work.
And it's sometimes it's a challenge
because it's like come to a place where like, you're right.
Like I need to go deeper in my creativity
because right now I'm just churning out kind of things
that, you know, people enjoy still,
like, and it's still creative work.
But lately I've been searching for like, yeah,
how do I go deeper?
And so what I've really been trying to tap into
and think about lately is like,
I don't think it's so much the result of the creative,
like what you're creating.
It's more so the state that the creator lowercase is in
at the moment, you know, when they begin to create.
And so I feel like, man, like when I'm more at peace
with the whole, I mean,
you're always at peace, you know, with God,
but like, if you're like, just have it,
don't do that, you'll be at God.
But like, if I'm in a better state,
like if I'm being fed more by the Lord,
if I'm, you know, my consecration time, my devotion time,
like I just feel like if I'm in like,
in that better state than like my creativity
is going to be like just worlds apart, you know,
as opposed to if I'm busy, busy, busy.
And so I just feel like new ideas blossom
when I'm like in a more like just like non-busy state,
I'll make space for God.
And you know, for him to speak to my heart and, you know,
I think it's that, and then, you know,
on the practical level, I think it's seen
what other people are doing and be inspired by them.
I think it's also putting yourself in situations
that you maybe you're unfamiliar with
and you have to have to make something happen.
And oftentimes I go into these video shoots with no plan
and I just want to like, you don't know how it's going to go.
And I think you need to be open to that.
And I think that unlocks creativity,
the certain, you know, sense of spontaneity
that you need to be okay with and comfortable with
to achieve greater results of creativity levels.
Because like you just can't, with creativity, like,
you know, Sean, you've mentioned it before,
it's like, it's not a science, it's a art, you know,
it's a dance and there's no formula to this
because you're right, you're,
how could you judge your creativity
based upon somebody else's creativity?
And it doesn't work like that, you know?
And so, man, I think just keep opening yourself to, you know,
new methods or try new, you know,
talk about video, new angles or, you know,
why don't you instead of capturing the action of the game,
what about people's reactions to what's occurring, you know?
Yeah, I mean, it's just, I think it's all of that, you know?
You know, you did a reel for me one time we were in,
we were in Texas, but in a different place.
You do this cool thing, you have me walking into the plane
and then all of a sudden you went out of the portal
of one of the windows of the plane,
I've never seen anyone else do that.
And I thought, wow, that is super creative.
I mean, you're not only spitting rhymes over here
and then getting words of knowledge and creative thoughts
to evangelize people that, you know,
don't have a propensity towards the gospel per se,
but then it's even coming out here.
And the more I'm thinking about it,
I think I'm arriving at something,
I think in the same way that you prepare yourself
and grow in prophecy, because the more I'm thinking about it,
I think, okay, why is this emerging generation?
There's such a higher level of creatives,
there's such a draw to the aesthetics of things.
And I think it's twofold, I think one, we touched upon it.
I think God has pouring out the spirit of creativity,
you'd be honest, you know, even in the Bible,
there was these artisans that were in the temple,
the spirit of God came on them and they began to work
as obviously an art and a craft.
But I think the other thing too is, you know,
Mike Bickle talked about the seven longings
of the human heart and one of them is a longing
to be fascinated.
And I think in this generation,
there's a longing to be fascinated.
And when you look at God, you look at the sky,
you look at the sunrise, you look at the birth of a baby,
you recently, not too long ago,
you had a beautiful baby girl, your third child.
Those things bring an awe that I think in a world
where a generation has come up with so many things
that are crisis, toxic, traumatic,
I think there's even a greater desire
for that beauty of the Lord to be seen
and it's seen through creativity.
And I just so love the way you do it.
So anyway, back to this thought, you know,
you were saying you get around creativity, you get still,
I think that's the way you grew on the prophetic, right?
Saul, King Saul in the Old Testament got around the prophets,
he began to prophesy, so there's association, you know,
that Elijah said, bring me a musician,
and he began to play and he got still,
he began to prophesy.
So I think there's so much to it in that area.
You work with university students,
and I just want you to speak to that.
Tell me, what are some of the things you're seeing
about this current generation of university students
and what has been your journey from the time
that you were a student and kind of what you saw
from a university minister perspective,
and now that you're directing a campus ministry
yourself?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I'd say, you know, I think when I was coming up, you know,
like in college ministry and just being a student myself,
I think a lot of it was, you know,
being inspired by the front, you know,
whoever was at the front preaching, you know,
man, let's lead, you know, a Bible study, you know,
that was like very attractive to me during that time.
And I think, you know, I don't know, like the college students
that I'm, you know, encountering on a daily basis,
you know, are they're more inspired by like, man,
the works of the Lord, you know, like,
and not to say like, you know, preaching isn't like,
I think that's fundamental, obviously, so,
we do that on our campus.
Like, you know, man, like they want to be activated
into something.
They, like I got this one kid who like goes to a Baptist church
and I've been discipling them and he's like,
I have no idea how to reach, you know,
these students that I'm befriending
that are of other faith walks.
And, you know, he's like, man, what knowledge can I share
with them that might convince them that this is the truth?
He's like, I'm having a hard time like talking to them
about it.
And so now it opened up this whole idea of like, you know,
he, you know, he wants to start walking in the supernatural
and he wants to begin to engage in the prophetic
because, you know, countless, you know, time,
man with countless testimonies of walking up
to a college students on campus and just reading their mail,
you know, just asking God, what do you have for this person?
And, you know what I mean?
God's speaking, you know, God wants to speak to these bull.
And so, you know, I say it's gone from, you know,
maybe like a front-based ministry
to a more like action-based, you know, hunger from students
that like they want to learn, absorb information,
but they also want to be used of God, you know?
And so like, let's get out there, you know,
and they have such an affinity for that.
Like they are craving for that opportunity.
Like, and so, but they value both.
Like, you know, so I think it's great.
I think it's, I think it's blazing new trails, you know,
for this next generation of Christians that are just on fire
and want to partner with the spirit of God
and what he's doing in the earth.
And so, man, I say that as the biggest thing, you know?
Hey, that's so good, man.
What do you feel is the biggest challenge you see
as ministering to university students right now in this year,
this season, this post-COVID years now?
What do you see as the biggest challenge you face
or the biggest challenge they face?
Yeah, I think right now, I think a lot of, you know,
like good ideas are sometimes like kind of merged
into the idea of truth nowadays, you know?
Like, yeah, you know, all these, you know,
like on my campus particularly, they try to merge in
all the kind of faith groups as, you know,
let's try to be one, you know, and, you know,
just different buzzword ideas that are like positive
in the world today, which are great.
I mean, nothing against it, you know?
But I think, you know, like, especially talking
with my students, like, they're like, ah, I mean,
those are all great ideas, but I know that Jesus
is the way the truth, you know, like, and so, like,
how do we, you know, continue to demonstrate
that that is the one true king, you know,
that is the one true reality?
He is the truth, you know?
And so I see like sometimes my, you know,
as I mentioned with that no kid,
I'm discipling him, sometimes I struggle with, you know,
how do I navigate this absolute truth in a, you know,
where all these other, you know, good ideas are
at the forefront of my university speed on, you know?
So, you know, I say, I think that's the challenge
to fold for us as campus ministers
and also as students coming to that.
Man, what has it been for you so far?
There's been like the most enjoyable outlet
of creativity that you've experienced,
obviously preaching the gospel and leading people to Christ.
So that aside, what has been,
because you're in so many different things,
I'm wondering what is the most life-giving,
what's the most exciting for you and why?
Man, I mean, I'll say, filming Sean Smith
was a close second, but being up close
and personal with Steph Curry, man.
I mean, being able to film him on multiple accounts,
like just, he's such a cool dude, by the way.
He's just, you know, he's a regular guy, man.
He's incredible.
He's about to win his fifth championship ring.
Like, let's be honest.
Amen.
But, you know, I think just being around
like some really high level people,
like and be able to just capture for them, like,
I mean, it's just inspiring.
I was at the Warriors game and got to film
some of their game at the Chase Center.
And I was like in tears, you know, as I was shooting,
because how cool is this?
You know, like, I mean, security guards made a way for me
to be on the floor so I can get better footage
because they didn't want me to be a couple rows back,
which I was just trying to be courteous
and not be too close.
But, you know, just how cool, you know, people that I,
you know, that the world looks up to as, you know,
the people that are, you know, world leading icons, man.
And just, you know, getting to serve them,
I think it's been incredible.
So yeah, don't get it twisted.
Sean Smith, documenting Sean Smith
is a very close second to Steph Curry.
You're awesome.
You've made some of the most amazing,
if anyone follows our Instagram or our stuff,
when we've done special events or anything,
Mark is the guy that we go to that does it,
to think that dude is married, got three kids,
is directing the campus ministry,
entrepreneur because of the creativity of filming.
And hopefully you're not hanging up the mic.
You got to give us at least another rap.
What's, one, I need a Sean Smith collab, man,
on the rap side.
That's the only way I'll drop another song.
I think I told our listeners on our earlier podcast,
back in the day, I used to be a rapper and a DJ.
And the interesting thing is,
there were no Christian rappers that I was aware of.
I never, at that time, I didn't hear of any,
but I used to do raps back in the day.
I pledged a fraternity, so we would march.
In fact, we came to Davis for Black Family Day
and we marched and we came in third, we got shafted.
But there were a lot of different fraternity.
But what made ours innovative and it was funny,
it got a little bit of clap back,
is that we're doing our march, right?
Our whole thing and I wrote up a rap for all of our guys.
So our entire line, and it was personal,
it was telling who their name was, but there was rap.
But I was in safety at the time,
I would include a diss on a particular fraternity.
So there's one fraternity, they always brag,
they were the first.
So my line was, you're the first that begun,
but you're still not number one,
you're fourth on the list.
Why did you persist?
You have no reason to exist like cookies by the batch.
I record that as scratch.
And I mentioned the name of fraternity, you are no match.
But I didn't be where, oh, but then the judges said,
well, this is supposed to be a stomp contest.
But now the crazy part about it is,
a lot of these shows are here in Atlanta,
they'll march and they'll do some rap and stuff.
And so it's funny, but I got saved.
And then I would share my testimony
and I was reaching out to youth and so my campus pastor,
said, hey, you know, share your testimony,
but you know, give the kids something you think
would bring them in.
And the only thing I thought of is, hey, I used to rap.
So I wrote some Christian raps,
I know we're near like you,
but I remember people were recorded on cassette
and Mark, amen, what would you, this is going so good.
I just got to throw one more question, man,
cause it's so awesome.
You're a young man, but what would you tell
your 20 year old self if you could go back,
do one of them, Ant-Man and Quantamania things or whatever.
And you could go back and tell your 20 year old self,
what advice, I know it's probably 101 things,
but what do you, if you had to say one thing,
what would you tell yourself?
Trust your, there's a popular phrase out there.
Oh, I don't know how popular it is,
but like I say like trust your dopest.
And I think at the time, like I would kind of second guess
myself, I was unsure about myself.
Maybe that's part of adolescence,
but like man, if you have something that you're just like
passionate about, like be proud of it and put it out there.
Like even if it's different than, you know,
what other people are doing at the time, like go and do that.
Like what God puts on your heart, like be proud of that.
And I think oftentimes in my 20s,
I was a little insecure about, you know,
not that what people would think,
but just like what I would see, especially like in the church,
you know, like, oh, maybe, maybe I'm like too,
I got to turn down my swag a little bit, you know?
But like nah, like you shouldn't, you know,
like completely be yourself and God himself.
I would say, man, encourage that.
If you got a gift and go crazy and lead,
don't be afraid to like be a leader in the world,
amongst the world.
You know, I think us Christians need to be the most
influential, most impactful creatives to lead the world.
Come on, bro.
Hey, we are to be light in the world.
And the bottom is pretty clear.
If you hide light, it ceases to reach the purpose
of its functionality.
Light is meant to shine.
Light is meant for darkness.
Like the beam.
They don't do that in Sacramento anymore.
I'm sorry, Sacramento.
We love you, but yeah.
We'll light the beam for Jesus.
Come on, bro. That's right.
So tell us, man, how can we stay in contact with you?
How can we support what you're doing?
Yeah, first of all, you have to go through my manager.
It's Chris Smith at SeanandChristaSmith.com.
So that means you guys have done a good job.
But nah, you can hit me up on my Instagram,
StevieVisuals, that's kind of like my main account.
And then I'm Mark Stevie account.
If you know, it's got my own music and stuff like that.
But man, you can connect with me on social media,
Instagram and whatever you need.
Like I really love helping people,
love helping Sean like get out there, you know,
just to help.
I want to serve.
Like that's like my main focus in my creativity.
So yeah.
Come on, man. That is so awesome.
You got anybody got any students at the university
of Pacific?
You need to be looking for Mark Afshari's out there.
And you do some amazing chapels as well with sports.
I love all the things that you're doing.
Hey, bro, we love you.
We love Nat.
We love Natalie.
That was his wife.
We love the kids, man.
Give him our love.
Thanks so much for taking time to pull up to keep it 100,
man.
Blessings, son.
Man, sure appreciate it.
Love you, man.
Love you, pops.
You're the man.
All right, bro.
All right.
Oh, I love Mark.
I love who he is.
And like, I just love his heart.
Like he's just, he's a legit creative, you know?
So I just love him sharing his heart, his process, who he is,
and just how he connects with God through that.
I just think it's so awesome.
We're going to revive just for this episode of Keep it 100,
Take Away, because we really feel like this could be something
that could help you.
So Kristen, I just want to give you two keys to creativity
on following the interview that we just had with Mark.
And the first thing is you need to sanctify your imagination.
And when you sanctified, what I mean by that
is set it apart to the Lord and build it up.
Why?
Imagination is really the first step in creativity,
because I believe the imagining is where the creative process
begins.
When the Bible speaks of imagination, God, the word
their heart is translated imagination.
So we're talking about imagination.
We're talking about that place in your heart
where God meets with you.
And that imagination of that heart
has the capacity to interact with the Holy Spirit.
And it's thin that we process it.
And whatever the inspiration is, the experiences are,
the understanding, we begin to allow
that to become some sort of manifestation of art
and to create something.
But creatives are people that have set their imagination.
We're talking about Kingdom creatives.
They've sanctified their imagination.
And I think that there are some practical ways to do it.
I think one of the big things is praying the Spirit.
I think another thing, ask God to give you pictures and ideas.
Meditate on His word.
And I think one of the things you have to know who you are in Christ.
Acknowledge and worship God as Creator.
And acknowledge the Holy Spirit.
Spend time in worship.
And just spend time in His presence.
And as you do these things, you'll sanctify your imagination.
Because before you ever create something with your hands,
it's because God first began to create something in your heart.
The second key to creativity is cultivating,
hearing God's voice within you.
You know, for creative people, and really for people in general
to really tap into the creative aspect of who they are in God,
connection really is the secret ingredient for creativity.
Participate in activities that really bring life to you.
Whether it's a walk in nature, taking that time to journal,
to worship on your own, to write the spoken word,
to play with the illustration, to just express or have pain or art
or do the poetry or the pottery or whatnot.
Or the graphic design or whatever it may be.
Really begin to play around with that.
Because it's fun when you just begin to access the creativity
within you of what it unlocks within you.
Because as you give yourself mental and emotional space
to really breathe and connect with God,
it's amazing the ideas, the innovation, the pictures,
the concepts that you'll begin to just form naturally.
And you'll find yourself more creatively connecting with God
because you've actually had space to actually create.
I notice I'll be in really busy seasons.
And I'll just notice that my creativity has dwindled quite
a bit because when you're really tired
or you're running really hard for a period of time,
your creativity will take a back burner.
But as soon as you get a little bit of rest,
get a little bit of that down day,
get some breath around you, some space around you,
all of a sudden, boom, that creativity just pops up.
And all of a sudden, I find myself
wanting to work on something creative or bring beauty
or fix that wall or decorate that room that I've been wanting to.
And all of a sudden, I'll pour myself into something creative
and I really feel energized.
Because sometimes being re-energized
from a season of tiredness isn't about doing nothing.
It's actually about doing something that fills you up,
that connects you with God.
And so I think for creativity, a lot of people
having what is viewed as slowing down
is actually giving space to connect with God.
So to me, really that secret ingredient for creativity
is space and connection.
Just lastly, I think we understand
that the Holy Spirit, it's not just
imagining what could be, it's imagining followed
by stepping out in the context of our creative expression.
Seeing what Holy Spirit gives us, agreeing with that,
and then seeing what God is showing,
sensing what he's doing, feeling that he's moving,
hearing what he's saying, and then really giving it our yes,
partnering with it, and seeing what comes out of it.
It's this beautiful expression of this co-laboring partnership
and creatively expressing through ourselves.
And so I think for me, I've really learned that connection,
but also at times quietness, and kind of slowing down,
and disengaging, and disconnecting from the busy world.
When I give my brain, my heart, my spirit, my body space
to just kind of be, all of a sudden that creativity
surfaces again.
But one of the best ways to either tap in for the first time
for those that are like, I'm not creative,
or for those that are like, I'm creative,
but I haven't been creative in a while.
Slow down, disconnect, and really engage with God,
and allow your imagination, your mind,
to connect with Holy Spirit, see what happens,
and then begin to follow that leading
and how Holy Spirit connects with you.
That is so true.
You know, as we just kind of summed this up,
I think it's so important that God put you here on the planet
to be a reflection of who he is.
He is a creative God, and that you need to take time.
We need to take time to find out what are the things we're
meant to create.
Because whatever it is you're meant to create,
on the other end of that, that will either
be an inspiration to someone, or a solution to something.
So you need to take the time to find out,
God, what have you created me to create?
Because we are in His image, and you will create something.
I will create something, but we want to create that God thing.
And when we're creating that God thing,
we were purpose beforehand.
The Bible says that we are the workmanship of God,
prepared beforehand for good works.
The word workmanship is a word poema, which is really
where we get the word poem.
So the creativity is even found in Ephesians 2 and 10.
And so we just want you to know right now
that we believe that some of the best creativity is
about to be expressed.
There's no way that a secular world or a fallen world should
out-create kingdom people.
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