For a long time now I have wrestled with the thought of returning to gospel music. Many of you might not know but I use to be a Gospel Rapper, Holy Hip Hop Artist, Christian Rapper, a lay-minister of the gospel…whatever you want to call it (yeah… can you believe it). My dream was to be in full time ministry and travel to do outreach in the streets to make a difference in peoples lives. But I stepped down from ministry over two years ago and my life’s path was totally detoured in a direction I never thought it would go in.      

At the time I was totally drained and I wasn’t receiving much support from the church so I simply said enough is enough… I’m done. I had spent over a decade of my life (twelve years to be exact) reaching thousands of people seeing God do miracles, healings, signs, wonders, and the wildest thing of them all…use my music to inspire people to live for him. After everything I witnessed you’d think I’d be happy and satisfied with the fruit of my labor, but I wasn’t. I was tired, heart broken and I felt very unappreciated. People loved my music and sometimes supported me by purchasing CD’s and showing me love after shows… but that just wasn’t enough.

You see the problem wasn’t the people… it was the church. I felt like the stepchild that had to stay inside the house on a nice sunny day to do all the chores while all my other brothers and sisters got to play outside and have ice cream and ride their bikes and do what little kids are suppose to do all summer…have fun. Why did I feel this way you ask? Well despite the fruit I did see and the support I did receive from people that liked my music, my ministry was at the cost of my family, a substantial amount of my time, and all I had financially to stay afloat and touch souls while working a full time job and sometimes even a part time job on top of my full time. The majority of churches I ministered at were basically non paying events or they could barely cover my expenses to get me there and back home. Not to mention the lack of support and freedom to do my ministry the way God would give it to me seemed to always be an issue.

I always had a hard time with the fact that the ministry of Holy Hip Hop just didn’t seem to get the esteem, attention and respect that a pastors ministry would get from the elders in the church. I mean it just seemed like no one else really cared enough to say “Hey… I’ll take Mouthpiece under my wing and I’ll stand side by side with him in the hood to reach a hurting and dying generation or… I’ll partner with him to make sure he has what he needs to travel and preach the word and still be able to provide for his family”. But I never heard those words… and God knew that I was going to let it get to me sooner or later because I’m the type of person that let’s things build up inside me for so long until I just can’t take it no more and then…yup you know it…I blow up. And this… was probably… the biggest… blow up I ever had. I felt like an atomic bomb had went off inside me.                                              

Since that time, I have been keeping myself busy making secular music. I have been enjoying life with family and friends going out kicking it and having a good time might I add. I go to church occasionally and I read from time to time, but my spiritual life is nothing like it use to be. One thing I can say, I never stopped praying. I love talking to God because I truly feel like he is my best friend. You might be wondering why I am blogging about this when last week I just announced that my upcoming secular album Jay Colbert 4 $ale is done and will be out by the end of this year…well it’s because of “The Call”.

I know I’m still called to minister. Lately I have been feeling the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart asking me to prepare myself to go back into ministry. For the last few months God has been dealing with me about inspiring people with my music again. I even started visiting churches last week. I truly believe that God is going to raise my ministry from the dead just like he raised Jesus. And when he does… you’ll know it’s because of “The Call”.

P.S. A.K.A. Mouthpiece will be back sooner then you know

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Jay Colbert A.K.A. Mouthpiece Jizzy Gully of the DBA