Transparent Christian Magazine

Recently I was able to catch up with the hard working and ‘envelope-pushing’ Christian, independent progressive rock band, Scarlet|Snow. Next month they are releasing a new EP titled “The Needle”. The pre-produced tracks on their blog sound great, and you can listen to them here! Mike told a story about ministering to some folks that just blew my mind. I asked him to share that story with us.

Transparent: I’ve heard there are some new and interesting developments for Scarlet Snow!
Mike: Yes! Finally after a year of haggling and $600 our purchase of the once porn site (www.scarlettsnow.com) has been finalized. We have owned scarletsnow.com (with 1 T) since we changed our band name. However, there was this dominatrix type porn site called Scarlett Snow.com. We received many calls and emails of upset parents whose kids had misspelled our website. After countless emails and negotiating, we have officially bought the domain from the webmaster. Apparently he had invested thousands of dollars into Scarlett Snow, the porn actress. However, after hearing our music, our testimony and showing our general, heart-felt concern for him (a Pastor’s son) and her (a runaway), he agreed to sell us his rights to the domain. We consistently and genuinely asked how he and “Scarlett” were doing which I am sure helped.

He has also thoroughly enjoyed our CD and our story. So God still works in crazy ways.

Transparent: Man, that IS a crazy story.
Mike: Well it actually goes a little deeper. After we first started discussing this with the webmaster (Jerry) he put us on his Myspace friends page. Well, what I mean is that he put us on his top ten Myspace Friends. He has hundreds of “porn star” friends, who started sending us friend requests….so, after some debate, we accepted them. Then some amazing messages started arriving! I think we have a dozen or so messages from different porn actresses telling us how much a certain song or songs had ministered to or spoke to them.

At first we were a bit anxious about this, and Suzanne (Mike’s wife and the uber-talented lead singer of Scarlet Snow) especially was a little freaked out. But after some prayer we realized, if we don’t love these gals… how are we living out our faith? Who else is going to love them? We have even gotten a couple emails from a handful of them lately asking when our next CD is coming out!!

Go figure, s|s ministering to the porn industry! I guess that if they invite us to play at their convention, we will have to go! (Smiles)

Transparent: How have your music industry friends reacted?
Mike: Many of our Indieheaven friends have supported us and our decision; it was an accidental ministry opportunity I guess. You really do need to be ready (whenever God opens a door). Seriously though, it’s a good picture and reminder to us that we should always love first - and judge last - which is some advice I need to take myself from time to time.

Transparent: What else have you learned through this process.
Mike: We learned some things about copyright and names. It’s definitely prudent to protect your name even if that requires making sacrifices in order to do so. In this case, we were blessed that God created an opportunity out of it. Heck, if it meant that just one girl found her way out the porn industry, then the money money was well spent, and really just a small sacrifice for a big gain. What’s great to know is that God is never idle in our lives or our ministries. He is always working, always scheming, always plotting. He never stops… neither should we.

Our friend Nathan Clark George asked me if we still had contact with them and we do. Jerry (the Webmaster/Manager) has me on his email list and is always sending me forwarded emails. It turns out, (despite him residing in California and his “business”) he is a hard right conservative. Go figure. He and I email back and forth from time to time, i tell him about the band, the songs, our lives, etc. He always responds graciously. We still hear from the actresses through Myspace, telling us about the songs they like, asking when they can expect our new CD, and how awesome Suzanne looks in her red boots on stage. (Smiles)

All we can do is love them and pray for them, which we do.

Transparent: Suzanne, I know you were treading lightly during the early stages of your relationship with the ‘other’ Scarlett Snow folks. What are your thoughts now?

Suzanne: If you are willing, God will lead you to people that most Christians would disregard and be offended to associate with. That is the story in this case. I am honored that anyone would listen to our music, but especially those that most likely do not listen to any other Christian music. My greatest hope is that they would be drawn closer to our Lord, who loves them so much and is willing to meet anyone in any circumstance… right where they are.

Transparent: This story really spoke to me. I had tears in my eyes when you first talked about it. This hits so close to my heart, and my mission to love people where they are. Not forcing scripture on them, but acting scriptural, acting like Jesus, in real ways. What a great display of showing Jesus to others. I appreciate what you are doing and I’m excited about the future of your ministry.

Transparent: Earlier, you mentioned your new CD and I know you have some upcoming gigs. What’s going on there?

Mike: We are finishing up our next EP. “The Needle EP” We have been running blog post updates on the progress of the CD. It should be ready in October. When it’s released we will be offering it for free download for one month and running a big ad in our local arts paper. We are playing are normal schedule of gigs

News-wise that’s whats going on with the band. We do play more in bars and clubs and in the streets of Athens than we do in churches these days, although we still do the youth and college ministries. We are definitely focusing on getting out of the church and in front of people who need to hear the gospel. Be sure to pick up a new copy of “The Needle” when it is released in October 2008!

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Join Scarlet|Snow on their mission of loving people regardless of their circumstances or ‘place in the world’. God has chosen to love us! This band walks the walk, and I want to follow in their footsteps.

Jason