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Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Breath of Life 2 : Pedro Eustache Writer : Dawn FungThis is part 2 of the interview with Pedro and Sara Eustache. They live in Los Angeles where Pedro works full time as a professional multi-woodwinds player. He played 70% of the flutes in the soundtrack of The Passion of Christ and ministers in various churches. At the Nations2Nations Consultation in 2006, Pedro brought some of his flutes to play extracts of the soundtrack to share his testimony. The testimony included the Eustaches' history especially Ginette Esther, their three-year-old daughter who passed away 26 days after they landed in USA. They stayed on in the USA where Sara worked in a fast food restaurant to see Pedro through his music studies. On the verge of throwing his musical career to consider working to support Sara, Pedro gets a call to audition for Yanni. Yanni hired him on the spot 25 seconds after hearing him audition live. Dawn : Could you tell us more about your ministry? Pedro : The kind of ministry that I am involved in is outreach through music, and those times that we did such outreach were within church events. I would like to go public though because the only reason why God put me in this place is so that people will listen to what I have to say, given the authority and influence that He has blessed me with. I don't see myself better or worse than anyone, but I do acknowledge the gifting that God has given me. Case in point was the 25 second audition I did for Yanni. He had stopped me after that short time to let me know that I was the guy he had been looking for. He recognised something in my music. Therefore, I know that even if I were to continue my music under the canopy of a ministry, I really want to use that gifting to preach the gospel. It was my little brother who reminded me that it was time that I went out to do ministry. I was like, "Okay..." Basically I was looking for excuses not to preach the gospel so blatantly and I couldn't find any. So I started to use the presentation that I did last night to reach to non-believers. But I have often done those in churches because the facilities of lights and projection are available. Format wise, I will use the clips from the Passion of the Christ, and then I will share my testimony. I think it's a good package (of visual, music and narrative) to impact souls for the glory of the Lord - Christ's story is obvious in the clips. Dawn : I thought your testimony was very clear, simple and powerful. And I felt that every note for you counts when I saw you play during worship. It is that point about necessity - even in secular art, substandard work consists of unnecessary parts or irrelevance. Pedro : I am at a place in my life where everything has to count. Something has to happen when I play. I do not want to be complacent, therefore, not one note that I play can be a dead note. And I hope that I am not misunderstood for saying this. I want to impart my story to as many people as possible because I think that the testimony is powerful. If God has given me a cannon that shoots 600 miles, I am going to reach for that target. And in that sense, I want to try for the most people I can reach, out of this personal conviction. I was with Benny Hinn at Buenos Aires where he ministered to 60 000 people over two nights. In Korea, we met 20 000 on the first night. I am not saying that I pursue big crowds in stadiums, but I want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, accountable and effective for Jesus. It happened to us one time that we were at a church and thirty people were there - I don't undermine small crowds because Christ died for every single person in this world - but out of the thirty people, twenty eight were saved and the only two non-believers stood up and left. I said, "Sorry Lord, you did not give me this." I don't want to bring a cannon to kill a mosquito. Basically I don't see the relevance in reaching out to the converted. The level that inspires me to be working at is really to bear much fruit in terms of preaching to the non-believers. I can play in a jazz club with ten non-believers in the pub and that is precious. Dawn : I get that. It's not against anyone that you don't enjoy testifying to the converted, it's not just what God has put in your heart. Pedro : That's right. When I can, by God's grace, obey Him wholeheartedly to reach the lost, I find pleasure in that ministry. Dawn : Sarah, have you anything last words? Pedro : She's got two! Sarah : Thank you... (we all laugh) Pedro : I have something. Dawn : Go on. Pedro : If we are the sons and daughters of the Creator of the universe, the artist supreme par excellence, how come there are not more Abraham Laboriels? It is a big contradiction. I think just by the absence of world class Christians in the arts, speak such bad testimony. I am worried about the lack of sensitivity and awareness of the church of Christ concerning the place of art, as a vehicle to not only impact souls but also to impact culture as an expression of giving glory to God. Many times in the contemporary church scene, I see art is used as a celebrative tool. However, we need to observe it as a meditative tool, which carries an extremely different influence when it is used in worship. That night when Benny [Prasad] and I simply played on in meditative worship was an experience that I count as rare for myself. There is a misconception that when somebody comes to perform, sometimes well founded, that there is a performance. I suppose that in the US we view certain Christian personas with TV careers as extremely flashy and we doubt their intentions that motivate their content. What happens is that we water Christ down to a cultural form. This is inaccurate because Jesus is more than the contemporary signs of "Christianity" today. We cannot relegate the messages of the performer (artist) who preaches the gospel as simply an entertainment. Therefore, if artists only box God and worship to include celebration but forget the passion and the devotion of discipleship, we may miss out the deeper call to deep. In our spiritual life, and in our art. (Pedro talks about music and culture) Pedro : The key contribution of the western world to music is harmony. In melody you are not going to touch India, in rhythm you're not going to touch Africa or South India, and in expression you are not going to touch the east. For example, the depth of the duduk is unforgettable. But in the non-western world, they don't even have harmony. Yes they do play in unison and sometimes, counterpoints. When they put harmony in, it is the corniest thing in the world because they have no sense of it. Do you know harmony exists technically as music as the direct consequence of Christ coming into this world? Many hundred years ago, the common denominator between East and West was melody. Then the monks came glorifying Christ. They created the Gregorian chants and it grew with different voices and then counterpoints and then harmony. That was the church. And in the same way architecture was influenced - look at Notre Dame. I believe that the depth of architecture and engineering of the cathedrals arose out of the necessity to express of a higher level, glory to God. Literally out of the church, the West ended up with a profound stamp that said, "This is our contribution to the realm of music." That is very heavy. Dawn : That is heavy. Pedro : People don't even realise that. [We are made in the image of God, and we can fully utilise our creative potential for God in Christ.] So I find it an absolute oxymoron that classically trained musicians cannot break out of their reliance on sheets of music. By nature music should be creative, and by nature we are such creative beings. It is necessary for churches to recognise the place of art - just pure art. According to the greatest musician of all times, Joseph Sebastian Bach, music existed with a double purpose : To glorify God and to sublimate, to elevate the human soul. Dawn : That's true. I love the Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould. Pedro : Glenn Gould... (Sara laughs) Oh we cried when he died. Dawn : Did you know him? Pedro : We know of his music. Dawn : I don't know anyone who plays Bach like that. He plays so intimately. Pedro : We don't know anyone who plays Bach like that either. Now why isn't that [type of intimacy manifesting] in our churches? [We seem to have jumped from] Empty liturgy to the other extreme [of charismatic hype in worship]. I see jumping kids who are not educated with the reverence for the Lord. I understand freedom but I don't know if we can be libertines. Dawn : I think there is a time to communicate different things. I like melodies and hymns, but there is that time where I love a single note, pulled for a certain length of time just to express the need for communion with God. Music can do that but few go the distance. Pedro : I completely agree. I supposed that I resent what I view as the monochromatic expression of the churches. There is a lack of variety in terms of music expression. I compare that to food - you don't eat the same food three times a day. You get to eat Chinese for lunch, Mexican for dinner. It is ironic that while we view varied choices of meals within a single day so normal that we don't do the same for music. It is strange to me that some of my instruments are seen as weird and exotic. I love variety. I minister with Benny Hinn on one end, and as well, I have deep admiration for Ravi Zecharias. I have 80 sermons of his in my itunes. And in the middle of the two is my pastor Jack Hayford. He is an amazing balance between brain and the spirit. I like that. And I try to go with that in music. Here's an example. My younger sister is an Anglican Episcopalian, spirit-filled and transformed by Christ. My younger brother goes to an apostolic Pentecostal church. In her Episcopalian cathedral in downtown Orlando, where I notice the symbolism of colour and items on the bishop's tunic, I minister by playing a hymn alongside the pipe organist. There is this solemnity in the presence of the lord. On the other hand, I also minister in my brother's church whose pastor is dynamite. And i am jumping and playing all these incredible songs with my saxophone, you know, and I say, 'I love this so much.' We are so limited if we keep playing the same things over and over again. Our God is a God of unpredictability and variety. It is powerful when we experience that. Dawn : And even as we are relating as the body of Christ in the five fold ministry, we know that every church wants the full expression of the Holy Spirit but no church has the monopoly on the Holy Spirit. Pedro : Exactly. Read part 1 of the interview. We reviewed Pedro Eustache's latest album, Global Mvissionin Backstage. For more information on Pedro Eustache, visit http://www.pedroflute.com/
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