Daniel and Tristan Davis NORTH BRUNSWICK — Daniel and Tristan Davis are two young adults trying to make a difference in the lives of their peers.
The two township residents established Kingdom Disciples Hip Hop Praise Ministry three years ago to combine their hiphop dancing skills with the need to talk about social issues from the Bible as they relate to social issues today. They project messages of domestic violence awareness, substance abuse, teenage experiences, college years, community issues, gang violence, peer pressure and finding peace in life.
“With dancing, you show your emotions. I think dancing shows more emotion than any other expression out there. People nowadays are visual learners … so this shows the message stronger,” Tristan said.
Tristan, 19, said that during his first week as a member of the Agape Family Worship Center in Rahway in 2005, someone saw him dancing and invited him to a “shut-in.” A shut-in invites youth from all over the country to remain inside of a church for 24 hours to praise-dance, listen to guest speakers and learn how to conduct themselves properly in the world.
“It was something I had never experienced before, something that was mainly geared toward teens … and there were youth who had a purpose in life, so I started hanging with my peers,” he said.
After the shut-in, Youth Pastor D. Wright asked the boys to join him as he traveled to preach God’s word.
Using the formal dance training they received for two summers when they were barely teenagers, the Davis brothers decided to incorporate their experience in jazz, ballet, tap and modern dance to develop their own ministry outside of Wright’s travels. They named themselves Kingdom, after God’s kingdom (a home away from home), and Disciples, after their interaction and counseling with their peers.
“We were giving youth a better understanding about Christ,” Tristan said.
Since praise dancing is usually done by women, the young men wanted to show that males can dance too, and that hip-hop can be less about cultural stereotypes and more about expression. They choose Christian songs that are inspirational and choreograph a dance about 20 minutes before a performance.
They also incorporate sign language, poetry and the spoken word into their dances.
“I find that dancing allows us to get through the door to talk to people. It lets us talk to people about life in different angles,” the 21-year-old Daniel said.
“To me, it gave me a reason to live and to actually have a purpose in life,” Daniel continued. “Before, I was searching who I was and what I was about … and I found with dancing, it gave me an opportunity not only to realize who I was but to understand how I could help people.”
The two working college students also do tribute dances, such as for their great grandmother, Elnora L. Nixon, who passed away in September; for family friend Idell
Battle, who also passed away in September and who had physically built the Church of The Living God in Plainfield; for their mother’s friend who died of cancer; and for an anniversary celebration for their pastor. They also performed at Win One for Jesus, a transitional housing facility that helps women afflicted by
substance abuse who are trying to establish productive lives.
Managed by their mother, Gena Davis, the young adults only hold volunteer performances, and Gena travels with them to wherever they are asked to visit.
In the future, Gena said her goal is to develop a 501(c) organization, Tristan said he would like to use his skateboarding talent to raise money for cancer and Daniel wants to start his own youth business.
“It helps them mature more. They realized there is more to life than what ‘I’ want. It made them more sensitive to the needs of other people,” Gena said. “It helps a generation that ‘appears’ to be unreachable.”
For more information, contact Gena at [email protected] or at 732-310- 9430.