“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!” Education p. 271
This quote has inspired me for a few years now, and as a youth, myself, I have a strong desire to make it come true in my lifetime. I am a musician. I started learning violin at the age of 8 and lived a typical Seventh-day Adventist life until about the age of 13. Then, something started to change. My casual interest in music ignited into a passion and eventually a dream that has now become a youth ministry. From ages 13-16, God blessed me with numerous musical opportunities and experiences from co-directing music camps to writing an oratorio about Daniel, the prophet. I was able to take composition classes, participate in a professional youth orchestra, and write and perform music for various ensembles. God sent many people into my life to inspire and help me in ways that I could not have pursued on my own. I realized how blessed I was with opportunities that many of my peers did not have. As I associated with my peers, I also noticed something very concerning to me. I saw that there was a lack of guidance for young people in the field of music and a lot of them either ended up not giving it the attention it deserved or ended up pursuing the wrong kinds of music. I thought that there must be a better way. I couldn't understand why there were no options, so I decided to do something about it.
Through some painful, but providential circumstances, God brought me to live with a musical, ministry-minded family. Day after day, I watched this family incorporate their faith into their lives and into beautiful music ministry. They took me to my first GYC session in 2017, and it changed my life. As my faith began to grow stronger in Jesus Christ, He put a calling on my life to start a music ministry for young people. I decided to call it the Institute of Young Musicians for Christ (IYMC). My heart was burdened with the lack of attention to music ministry that I saw, even in my own church. I saw many opportunities for youth ministry training in the areas of health and literature evangelism, but where was music ministry training? How could I prevent my friends from turning to the world for their music instruction when I saw few other options for them or even myself?
I could not rest with these questions unanswered. I could not keep the blessings and opportunities that God had given me to myself, so in 2017, I talked with a few people and started my ministry team. IYMC was off the ground. We created a website and started offering youth-led music worship services such as hymn vespers or prayer-hymn sing-a-longs. We visited nursing homes with music programs and ran a music camp in northern California. As we continued to talk, pray and dream, we started creating bigger plans. What about giving young people an opportunity to receive compositional training from professional Seventh-day Adventist composers and then performing the best pieces live and recording them? And what about a high-quality youth orchestra that could learn both classical and sacred repertoire and offer community-outreach concerts, handing out GLOW tracts in the foyer afterward? These ideas starting taking shape, and we made plans for 2019 and 2020.
Then, the Lord gave me another life-changing opportunity. I went on my first music-focused mission trip to Bali, Indonesia. While there, we visited an orphanage, and I taught the young people to play a simple song on recorders that we had brought for them. Another idea exploded into my mind. Why don’t we train orphans in private music lessons and eventually music pedagogy so that they can leave the orphanage with a trade and a ministry? And as I talked with one of my friends on the trip, my vision for overseas music ministry continued to grow. Why not set up permanent music schools and start youth orchestras and choirs in various countries around the world?
My heart was nearly bursting as I came home. I could hardly wait to start making bigger plans and to pray for God to bless this ministry. I am about to begin college, but my prayer is for God to bless IYMC with consecrated workers and funding to help spread the 3 Angels messages through professional, ministry-minded music training. Our goal is to have camps in every state of the US and music schools in as many countries as have an interest. This may sound impossible, but God promises that “All things are possible to him that believes.” Mark 9:23
In His Spirit, Daniel Soochkoff-Cerna, Founder and President