NEW VIDEO: Secular music better than Christian?

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Hey, hope you're well. Not to celebrate too soon, but I think I might be in the clear allergy-wise (pun intended). They tend to last a number of weeks during the transition from Winter to Summer, before disappearing for the rest of the year. This past week has been much lighter than the previous ones, so let's hope I'm good for the year. 🤞🏾😅Here's your digest for this week. Hope you find these, inspiring and encouraging.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Today’s thought is longer than usual. Brace yourself!

Straight up! I wanna be a millionaire in liquid assets! So how do I plan to do this? Well here’s how I WON’T do it!

Mixing money and the Christian message…cue Drake, “You know how sticky it gets!”

Agree or not, it’s much easier to get clarity on your motivations when they aren’t couched in pseudo-spiritual language.

Here’s what I mean…

The other day, I heard a Christian artist (who makes Christian sounding music) say “Souls Over Streams” referring to one of their songs….and yet I’m sure they’re doing everything to promote the song to get as many streams as possible.

I know another Christian artist (who makes Christian sounding music) who’s main message was how much they value God over financial gain. Yet this artist made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling merch with that exact message….the artist also drove a luxury car.

Or how about pastors who say they want to save as many souls as possible and so they build these mega churches that literally rake in millions, with the pastors now living luxury celebrity lives.

In these 3 scenarios, are they lying about their desire to promote God over the money they’re making? I don’t know….but they could be.

It certainly doesn’t sound nice to say, "I want to make money so I’m going to become an influential pastor/christian artist."

But which are they truly pursuing; the mission or the financial benefits that come from the mission…it can be very difficult to decipher, especially to the person/artist/pastor themselves.

This is why I personally had to separate my desire for financial success from my preaching of the Christian message.

I have much more clarity over my motives when I say “I want to earn $X doing this business in the next month or year.”

And when I preach my explicitly Christian message, I can do it without a financial incentive because my financial needs are taken care of through other means.

See what I’m saying?….I know when I’m trying to make money, versus when I’m preaching.

My personal conviction.

I cover this and more in my new YT video I just released yesterday.In it, I respond to comments from one of my earlier videos and go into a lot more detail about the Christian music industry.

Watch and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

VIDEO I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

Reacting to comments: Exposing the Dark Side of the Christian Music Industry | SHOCKING TRUTH

This is the new video I refer to above and is the follow up to my video explaining why I "left" the Christian music industry. That video is 150K+ views and 700+ comments/questions deep. So although I don't feel obligated to answer, I did feel it would be helpful to respond to specific comments and questions that viewers had. WATCH THE NEW VIDEO HERE

SONG I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

Don't Lie - Tay Iwar

Tay Iwar is perhaps one of the most underrated Afrofusion artists coming out of Nigeria. He's gotten some acclaim, but faaaarrrr from what is due to him. Tay's style is smooth, subtle, silky and laid back. "Don't Lie" is a cut off his new EP, Summer Breeze. My oh my, this song right here is giving the bliss of a summer drive.Listen by clicking the image.

BOOK/ARTICLE I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

Mark Cuban says successful people share 1 trait ‘most people’ don’t have: It’s ‘the one thing in life you can control’

Mark Cuban has a million times more clout than I do, so perhaps others will take it better from him. But I believe this deeply and try to instil it in all my team members. The singular character trait of going above and beyond what is asked of you will mark you out for greatness and propel you further than most. Where most are content to deliver the bare minimum, those who commit themselves to developing their analytical & problem-solving skills and then apply that to providing the most value to their employers and network will win every single time.Enjoy the article by simply clicking the image.

That's it for this week.Love you,Shopé

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