Don't Waste Your Life

Desiring God produced the music video for LeCrae’s new song, “Far Away,” over the weekend. It is now available for purchase, along with the mp3, for only $4.99.

If you want to buy just the mp3, it is available in iTunes for $.99. It is ranked 46 in Hip Hop as of now. Let’s try to move it into the top 10!

Buy either of these now and all proceeds will go to Haiti relief.

John Piper calls every young adult to make a radical decision now to pursue Christ as his/her greatest treasure as opposed to pursuing earthly comfort at the end of his/her life. There is too much spiritual blindness and physical suffering in the world to work in this life for your own comfort. If Christ is our treasure, then we will lay down our lives for the sake of meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the world

(Author: Lukas Naugle)
I went with the Churches Helping Churches media team to Haiti last week to identify the needs of the churches and help raise money to meet their needs. The things I saw, the things I filmed, and the people I met are still with me. I am haunted by the horror I saw, and yet the palpable hope of homeless and hungry Christians amazed me.

If you live in or near Minnesota, I want to personally invite you to a concert Desiring God is sponsoring called Hip Hop for Haiti on Friday, February 5, 2010. Order your tickets online. 100% of all the money will go directly to churches in Haiti through Churches Helping Churches.

Don’t Waste Your Life is partnering with Reach Records, Lamp Mode Records, and 3 Degrees to host a benefit concert to help the churches in Haiti rebuild and reach out again. Christian hip hop artists Lecrae, DJ Official, Flame, Json, and DJ Essence will be performing at this concert. In addition to the ticket price, there will be several opportunities to give throughout the night. 100% of the proceeds, from the tickets, merchandise, and all other gifts, will go directly to Churches Helping Churches.

This concert will take place at 3 Degrees (Downtown Minneapolis, MN) on February 5 at 8pm. Ticket price is $10.

Go here to buy your tickets. Buy your tickets in advance. We expect this to be a sell-out show.

Go here to learn more about Churches Helping Churches.

Go here to watch videos of Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald in Haiti just days after the earthquake.

Come, have a great time, enjoy hip hop music to the glory of God, and give sacrificially for the furtherance of kingdom work in Haiti.

Michael Spielman explains why he started Abort 73, why it exists, and how he is attempting to not waste his life.

abort73.com for more information.

We’re excited to present four new tools in the DWYL store that we pray will help spread the gospel of Jesus!

DWYL Tape T-Shirt, Scarlet

DWYL Patches (4 Pack)

DWYL Sticker Pack (20)

DWYL Buttons Pack (20)

September 11, 2009  |  By: Lukas Naugle

God has used Don’t Waste Your Life to change the course of many lives since 2003. In the Spring of 2006, I had a chance to interview Chad Johnson about how it was impacting him. Little did he know that God would call him to leave his successful position at Tooth & Nail Records and start a non-profit music label called Come & Live! this year.

Come & Live! is an expression of the major themes of Don’t Waste Your Life (radical generosity, risk taking love, making others glad in God, missions, living simply for the sake of giving, etc). The basic idea is that the label is like a missions agency, the musicians are like missionaries, and you do not have to pay for the music. I am encouraged by how God calls men and women in different industries and cultures to find ways to make others glad in God within their context.

You can download for free without registration their first music sampler I Am Living Vol. 01. If you enjoy indie rock, hardcore, and alternative music styles you will find some tracks you will appreciate (there is a great variety). Also included is a sermon excerpt from John Piper.

Edd Blott and I will be at The Legacy Conference this week July 30 to August 1. We will be teaching a workshop entitled “Developing Media Knowing the Gospel Counters Culture,” giving away Don’t Waste Your Life books, and test screening a new DWYL Documentary.

For those who don’t know, The Legacy Conference is a theologically driven, discipleship oriented conference for urban youth. LeCrae, Shai Linne, Trip Lee, Flame, and others will be there teaching and performing.

Walk up registration is still available. Hope to see you there.

June 11, 2009  |  By: Lukas Naugle

Seth Johnson has completed an internship this year with Desiring God’s media department and what a blessing to the ministry he’s been. His final project is now online.

We partnered with 1031sermonjams and produced a sermon jam video. The Don’t Waste Your Life Tour is using it this summer to kick off each concert.

And speaking of the Don’t Waste Your Life Tour, LeCrae’s music video for the song “Don’t Waste Your Life” is now available for purchase in iTunes.

April 17, 2009  |  By: Lukas Naugle

Reach Records and Desiring God are partnering this summer to spread Don’t Waste Your Life in urban centers around the country. We would encourage you to check out the upcoming DWYL Tour 09 for details and to see seven satirical promotional videos we produced for them.

Desiring God also produced the music video for LeCrae’s single, Don’t Waste Your Life, from his latest album, Rebel (Amazon iTunes):

Update: DWYL Song Lyrics

Hook (Cam)

Don’t wanna waste my life

Verse 1 (LeCrae)

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die/
couple of em thinking they’ll be livin’ in the sky/
but while I’m here livin’ man I gotta ask why,
what am here fo I gotta figure out/
waste my life?/ no I gotta make it count/
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about/
everything in Luke 12:15 down to 21/
you really oughta go and check it out/

Paul said if Christ ain’t resurrect then we wasted our lives/
well that implies that our life’s built around Jesus being alive/
everyday I’m living tryin’ show the world why/
Christ is more than everything you’ll ever try/
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire/

ain’t no lie/ We created for Him/
outta the dust he made us for Him/
Elects us and he saves us for Him/
Jesus comes and raises for Him/
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser/
he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him/
resurrects him/

so I know I got life/
matter fact better man I know I got Christ/
if you don’t’ see His ways in my days and nights/
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights/
man I lost my rights/
I lost my life/
forget the money cars and toss that ice/
the cost is Christ/
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that’ll cost that price.

Verse 2 (Dwayne Tryumf)
(Note: verse 2 is not part of the music video)

Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can’t handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin’ n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us

London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn’t abandon us
“I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac”
So are you ready to jam with us

So lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go

Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can’t say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Verse 3 (LeCrae)

Suffer/ Yeah do it for Christ
if you trying to figure what to do with your life/
if you making a lot money hope you doing it right
because the money is Gods you better steward it right/

stay focused
if you ain’t got no ride/
your life ain’t wrapped up in what you drive/
the clothes you wear
the job you work/
the color your skin naw you Christian first/

people living life for a job/
make a lil money start living for a car/
get em a house a wife kids and a dog/
when they retire they living high on the hog/
but guess what they didn’t ever really live at all/
to live is Christ yeah that’s Paul I recall/ to die is gain
so for Christ we give it all/
he’s the treasure you’ll never find in a mall/

Your money your singleness, marriage, talents, your time/
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine/
that’s why it’s Christ in my rhymes/
That’s why it’s Christ all the time/
see my whole world is built around him He’s the life in my lines/

I refuse to waste my life/
he’s too true ta chase that ice/
here’s my gifts and time cause I’m constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ/
If he’s truly raised to life/
then this news should change your life/
and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.