In the history of the Christian church never there has been a movement so criticized as the ministry of music. Each new generation rises with concepts that still challenge the most liberal Christians. One of these generations was the generation of the Rock. What we do not know is that the Rock is practically born from the Church, its origin can be dated from the times of the Civil War of the United States of North America, variant and mixes of music like “Country”, “Gospel” -that came from the Slaves Trades that received the message of truth and embrace it- and the “Blues” -that is born from the Gospel-.

Also many of us lack of the knowledge that many of the famous singers from 1950's and 1960's, that blew the heads off of their fans making of Rock Music a phenomenon that dominated the Radio by more than 30 years, were been born and bred in the Church. One of these singers was the famous Elvis Presley who died wishing to record an entirely album of his favorite music, but their proposals were rejected by Recording Studios of those times, because they were not consider commercial products. This music was the Gospel Music and Christian Rock “n” Roll, which ironically attracted more the fans once Elvis sing to God in his concerts. But this is another history.

Nowadays, thanks to singers like Petra, Carman, Michael W. Smith and other famous names in the lists of the Billboard Top 10's in the Christian category, and also to the movement of the Worship Music, whose main base is the moderate Rock or Pop Rock, have allowed the Rock Music to be accepted in many congregations.
But in spite of this, still there are categories within this genre that are considered by conservative movements like a diabolic tool. Between the groups within these genre is the group Tesalonika.

Tesalónika, a native group of Bogotá Colombia is composed by Leguiz Trespalacios (guitarist), Jason Robayo (main guitarist), Fabian Carvajal (bass), Juan David Rojas (drums), Daniel Andrés Celis (audio-visual technician), German David Celis (main voice) and Gilberto Silva (voice/rap). Its origin is born in the heart from Gilberto Silva and German David Celis who developed this group in their work area, the School New Christian Gymnasium of Bogotá Colombia.

Both, Gilberto and German, felt the call to communicate the message of Jesus to more than 500 young people that were formed with Christian principles, but that “in spite of this they face different problematic related to their ages, tastes and beliefs” says Tesalonika. Each one of the members of the group knew each other in the middle of the musical scope and in Christian means, “when listening and knowing the proposal they decided to join our vision about Tesalonika” comments Gilberto and German.

“The Tesalonika name comes from a city that in the days of the Acts of the Apostles belonged to the Roman empire and was one of the first churches founded as a result of the apostolic work of Pablo. The idea to choose this name, besides being a catch name, comes like result when knowing the characteristics of this Church which in its beginnings fought with many difficulties, but with time its fruit was made remarkable, being a receptive place to the message of Christ and the Christian principles of the love, sacrifice, firmness, confidence in God and testimony (1 Thessalonian 1:2-10).”

It hasn't been easy for Tesalonika to being accepted by its genre of music, mixed with electronic Rock with Rap. Two controversial genre even though nowadays we had so many singers in both genre. Tesalonika clarifies to us: “Although we belong to the genre of the rock so stigmatized in Christian means like diabolic or of little acceptance by most adult people, we understand that this music beyond to have a strident sound is a powerful tool to share the message of Jesus Christ in places where by normal means it would not arrive so easily”.

Imagine trying to infiltrate to a traditional Christian singer in the “Ozz-Fest”, a rock festival that is celebrated or was celebrated in Europe, where the main groups invited declared themselves broadly as followers of Satan. But still in that festival, a group as Mortification managed to save thousands of lives because they took their Christian lyrics with a music that only the participants of this festival listened. The genre?… “Death Metal”, Mortification calls it “Rise From Death Metal”.

“Our first project” -Tesalonika says- “main objective is to present a proposal to show a difference approach to the masses in all Latin America and that this music and message can also reach within secular means, opening doors for other Christian projects. This first and new project which at this time will be in the Christian market firstly, will have the name of the ministry, Tesalonika. We could define it totally as the description of a life recovered by God, from being only ruins at the beginning, until finding its fullness, restoration and true way in God.”

Their first project will be distributed at the moment only in Colombia, but they do not discard the idea to promote and to sell their music through the Internet. This way to make it accessible for everybody.

Tesalónika exhorts the new groups - “most important in this walking it is to be constant and persistent in spite of the difficult circumstances. It is very easy to surrender at the first obstacle and specially if you are an independent band. In addition, it is very important to always look forward make the things with excellence, if you really wanted to touch this world with the powerful message of Jesus Christ”.

Gilberto, German, Leguiz, Fabian, Jason, Daniel… We blessed you all with all the blessings of God. That His peace and wisdom become the light of your ways, that the Word burdened in your hearts and to never surrender. Many, many blessings.

For more information about Tesalonika or to listen to their music visit their MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/tesalonika

Blessings

Rafael Vila

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