DJ Moz leads the Kubamba Youth Movement in Kenya. These young people are using upbeat music and dance to reach school children with the Gospel. You will be amazed and inspired as you listen to his story of how DJ Moz went from DJ to evangelist!
Connect with Kubamba on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kubamba.Tv/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today. I have a very special guest with me, DJ Moz, from a tremendous ministry in the nation of Kenya named Ku Baba. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining me today.
DJ Moz (00:17):
Thank you, Daniel. Thanks for having me over. So,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:20):
Tell me a little bit about your ministry and, and what you do. I I was just exposed to your ministry yesterday. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I went with some of your team members out to one of the schools here. Mm-Hmm. Near Embu. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, Kenya. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And you had a team of young people Yeah. That went into the school. They had some kick in music. It was that they had a DJ who was playing music Yeah. And they were all dancing. Yeah. And they captured the attention of the kids. Yeah. And then they ministered to them led them to Jesus. Yeah. And it was so beautiful to see what God was doing. And this is just one of, of many different teams that you
DJ Moz (01:00):
Have. Yeah. Yeah. First man, I love your energy. <Laugh>. Guys need to know, just waking up, you know, it’s excellent, man. You should join Kuku Bamba <laugh>. You have the right energy for it. So but thank you for having me on your podcast. So what Ku Bamba does, and first let me explain what Ku Bamba means, just in case for guys are wondering what’s, yeah. What’s Ku Baba? Ku Baba is a slang word from Swahili. So young people in Kenya you know, people have different lingos, you know in their, from their ba in their community. So we have a language that’s called Shang, and Shang is the language young people use. So it has like Swahili and English and Chinese and Indian. Like, it has a mixture of things. And so KU Baba is a word from that, and it means something catchy, something attractive, something cool.
(01:44):
And you know, God allowed us to start this 23, 23 years ago. And what you got to experience yesterday, it’s not something that we really had sat down and planned. And we are like, you know, this is what we you know, when we look back and see what God has allowed Ku Bamba to do, it’s not something we are sat down and strategized and say that this is exactly what we want to do 23 years down the right down, down the road. It’s just how God opens up your eyes and shows you what can happen. But a background is I’m a DJ by profession. I love music. And I used to work in the clubs. I got saved when I was still in the clubs. And I’m a product of music. Like music has had a, a significant influence in my life.
(02:27):
And so Ku Baba is pretty much built around music like urban gospel music. So we so when I became a believer I started looking for gospel music. That was the kind of music that I used to play in the club, something that would relate, I could relate with. And I was happy to come across, you know, albums from guys like Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary, and there was an amazing gospel hip hop crew called Cross Movement. I don’t even know if you remember them. They were like our Wutang clan at that time. And there was Toby Mac, you know, just come across the album by d dc talk that had, that’s called Jesus Freaks Now, that Jesus freak was like, man, I like this title. You know, that’s who I want to be. And so when Ku Baba started you know I believe in my heart that God, you know, God showed me that I needed to go back and reach out to my younger brothers and sisters who in the clubs and, you know, because I’d seen the impact the music had had on my life and their life.
(03:22):
And see how we can drop them in.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:24):
So, all right, now I want to take you live to the festival from last night so you can hear the music and feel the energy that Ku Baba brings when they minister.
DJ Moz (04:21):
And so I just, you know, when I became a believer, I told God, this is the gift that you’ve given me. I’ll give it back to you and use it for your glory. And so of course, you’re a new believer. The church doesn’t know what to do with you, the club where you’ve come from, they don’t know what to do with you. So you, they’re stuck somewhere in the middle, but was a beautiful journey. And I thank God that when he opened the first door for me to get on, let me say, let me let me say radio was a key significant part because media influences lives. So when that opportunity came up for me to get into radio May 15th, 2000, it was a turnaround point, not just for my life, but for the lives of many young people, because young people said, listening to the show and engaging and listening to what was you know, to loving the music, they’re like, oh, man, I can’t believe there’s such cool gospel music. So as they’re
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:13):
Doing that, so you didn’t really go into ministry having a specific plan of what you wanted to do. You just had the opportunity to do a radio program. Yeah. And you had a love for music mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And you started bringing the gospel music Yeah. Here to Kenya. Yeah. And young people started listening to it, and their lives were changed. I just come from
DJ Moz (05:32):
The clubs. So I have, and before that, I’ve never been to church for nine years, so I have no idea what ministry is. In fact, ministry was a term that I’d never heard. And I come from a Presbyterian background, which is very,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:44):
They don’t have your type of music in the Presbyterian
DJ Moz (05:47):
Church? No. My church my mom’s church where we used to go when I was growing up had no guitars and keyboards and things like that. Those were things of the world. <Laugh>, you can imagine I’m a DJ from that kind of having come from that kind of background. So but you know, the, what, when young people are engaging with this kind of music man, I can’t, from the first day when I did the altar call, you know, just inviting young people to come and experience what I had experienced through Christ, the listeners would call and giving their lives to Christ. And it, it was amazing. And so as this, as this continued, we’re like, okay, a couple of my friends now came and joined me a year later. And we said, okay man, what do we do to, to continue engaging with these young people who are listening to us on radio?
(06:34):
And one of them said, you know, he’s calling Gush. He said, you know, why don’t you go to the high schools? And so we went to high school and the impact, you know, those alliance girls, the impact was incredible. The young people dancing to the music. So, of course, I’m a dj, so, and dancing is a big thing in Africa. So the kids were dancing. The music helped us break the barriers, and we shared the gospel and the kids gave their lives to Christ in the droves. And it also helped that I had a cool dance crew that had met along the way that called All Lova who were amazing guys. And so together with the logo, we say, going around to the schools and then ano a music artist some of the few gospel music artists were say, rising up at that time.
(07:19):
They would come alongside us and join us to go for these tours. But it’s incredible. And I’m really glad that God opened up our eyes to allowing us to see the opportunity that lies in the high schools. The good thing about music, and I was, I was sharing with you yesterday, is music breaks barriers. I mean, it crosses borderlines. And, you know there’s one person who said the word, one good thing about music is when it hits you feel okay. And you know, music carries you through places and you know, it brings out emotions. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But if you have godly music, the spirit of God moves. And, you know, he just you know, he, he changes. You start singing you from the inside out and the music carries you through those spaces when you’re going through a difficult time or when you’re having a good time.
(08:03):
And David, in the scriptures, you remember there’s a time when King Soul would be tormented and David would play the music and he would settle, king Soul would calm down. That’s the power of music. And so I’m so grateful that you know, God allowed us to use music. And we say the music is our tool of influence as Ku Bamba because we have seen the power of music. And now through this journey, as you got to experience yesterday in the high schools, I mean, the energy is electric. It’s just like being in a concert, just a smaller concert.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:36):
The energy was absolutely huge. Everyone was dancing, they were celebrating. Yeah. But then I noticed that when the gospel was shared, everyone quieted down. Yeah. And they listened very, very intently. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And the message that your young evangelist was there Yeah. Speaking mm-hmm. Went right into their hearts.
DJ Moz (08:54):
Yes. And the good thing is, and you thank God that, you know, once you’ve done that concert you’ve connected with them, you’ve bonded with them, you are now, they’re now that now feel like, man, I can listen to these guys. And we don’t take it for granted that they would actually sit down and listen to us because they don’t have to. You need to remember that among some of those kids who are sitting in that space, some of them are Muslims, so this, this should be offensive to them. But they do sit down and they listen to the gospel. And what we’ve gotten to experience is young people from different religious backgrounds coming and accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. And so, and that’s the beauty about what sees that God has allowed us to do. And that we can be able to share the gospel with them in a manner that’s relevant in a timely way.
(09:44):
And they can be and hopefully they’re like, man, this Jesus, who these guys are talking about, I want to have a relationship with him and some of the young people who I dunno if it’s Erica, who was sharing yesterday at the school that you went to. Erica was a crazy kid. You know, in high school he gave his parents drama, <laugh>, he was kicked out. He was, I think he was expelled from five different high schools. Wow. Just from being truant or being rebellious. And so when he shares, when he goes in that pulpit or on that platform and shares with the young people he’s experienced, ’cause he was there where they are. And some of them are thinking about being rebellious. You know, they’re able to see their lives you know, through the guys who they’re seeing on stage ministering to them.
(10:29):
So I’m very grateful again, to see what God has allowed us to be able to do. And and maybe Daniel should let you know that the other thing is now seeing other other people from, you know, young people from other African countries reaching out to us and saying, man, we’ve been following you guys for a while. Wow. And we’ve started doing something similar to what you guys are doing in our country. Man we just wanted to know that what you’re doing is going beyond your borders, <laugh>. Like it was, it was interesting about maybe three years ago getting a getting a, a message from some young guys from Burundi who were doing exactly ministry, like how we started here, about 20, 20 something, 23 years ago. But I was so happy because that journey is so fulfilling. Like, they would go and set up their sound system in the, in the community, like in the marketplace, and they do a gig for the people in the market and share the gospel. You know? So it’s just encouraging them and telling them, man, where you, what you guys are doing right now is exactly where we started.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:32):
Wow. Yeah. Let’s talk about your team. How many team members do you have?
DJ Moz (11:36):
So I have about team of 69 that’s including myself and <inaudible> are the co-founders. We, 69 people,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:42):
And the team divides up into several different groups about how many would go into one school at a time.
DJ Moz (11:49):
So we have about 10 people per team who go out and so we have about, we have six vans. Okay. like you got to see the there’s some big vans, they’re called, you know, the Mercedes printers or the Volkswagen Crafter vans. So 10 people per team. But then when we get to a place like here in bu, where we are this time around is we also do get a couple of people from the community coming alongside us in advance to go to, to go to the schools. Because once we’ve been to a school, it’s the local churches that follow up with with the young people who give their lives to Christ. And what we try to do is we take the names of every single young person who gives their life to Christ. And we follow up with them now beyond that, like on social media and also sending them messages of encouragement. And, you know, we’ve come up with that like a discipleship plan for the young people. And it’s the same young guys who you see going around in the high schools from the teams. They’re the ones who who check on them during the holidays. They’ll come and do a gig for the young people in the communities here. So we try to make sure that we are always constantly engaged with the young people.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:57):
Yeah. I was very impressed yesterday mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, because you collected the Twitter and Instagram and TikTok Yeah. Handles for all of the students Yeah. That were in the school. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so that allows you to continue to have influence Yes. In their lives even after you’re gone. Yeah. You can disciple them mm-hmm. <Affirmative> 30 seconds at a time on TikTok.
DJ Moz (13:24):
Yes. And you know, the thing is, that’s the, that’s their world right now. That’s where they, they’re gravitating towards. That’s how they, those are the new communities that they’re making, that they’re building. And that’s a new space of influence for them. And so we try to be intentional being in the spaces where they are. And and I think I’m really glad that the church is also waking up and realizing that we cannot ignore those spaces. And so, man, we cannot afford not to be with them on those social media platforms.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:54):
Let’s talk about results. Last night you were sharing with me that about a year ago you set a goal of reaching 425,000. Yeah. Students. It
DJ Moz (14:06):
Was about two years ago.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:07):
Two years
DJ Moz (14:08):
Ago. Yeah. We wanted to reach out to 450,000 students by June of this year.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:12):
Okay. Yeah. And so you’ve just completed that time period, and you’ve looked at your numbers. What results have you seen in this two year period? Oh man,
DJ Moz (14:22):
<Laugh>, it’s unreal. It hit me, so hit me Good. Because you don’t even realize it. But we had just crossed the 1 million mark.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:35):
Wow. So you more than doubled more than initial goal. Yes. 450,000. Yes. You’ve already hit a million.
DJ Moz (14:42):
We’ve already hit a million. Wow. God is good. God is good. And it, it reminds me of, you know, when Jesus Christ says that the open your eyes, the fields are white, the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. That’s very, very real with what we are experiencing. And I know there’s some people who might be like, you know it’s responsible what you guys are doing, but be like, man, Jesus Christ said that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. All we are doing is harvesting what we need are more laborers in. And what we also do need is for the church to rise up and to come and walk along and be able to disciple the young people and not just here, you know, it’s happening all over the world, like sitting with you and you’re telling me that you’re planning to go to El Salvador and you know, God is opening those doors. Think about the highway that’s gonna come.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:33):
Amen.
DJ Moz (15:34):
You know? And so some really, my mind is blown away. And I know we are just starting off in terms of so we, we, we, as we were dreaming about what to experience in the next two years, the 450,000 we’re believing in trusting God that by 2030 we will see. Because when we’re coming up with this plant, it was in 2019, then Covid hit <laugh>. So our plans were delayed by like two years. When we were dreaming, we wanted to reach out, wanted to see 10 million young people coming, giving their lives to Christ through our ministry. And from what we’ve seen we know that in order for us to get to those numbers, we need to reach out to at least 20 or 30 million young people through the school tour that you’re seeing. And so I know that we are just starting off, but it excites me because I’m like man, that number, God has shown us that it’s actually possible, it’s achievable. It’s not by power, it’s not by might, but by his spirit. But then the other thing is we can never sit and settle because Africa has a population of 1.3 billion people. Daniel, out of the 1.3 billion people, 70% are below the age of 30.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:46):
It’s a very young continent. It’s a very young, young. So if you want to reach this continent for Jesus, you have to have a strategy for reaching the young people.
DJ Moz (16:53):
Exactly. So if and even to break it down farther, 41% are below the age of 14.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:02):
Wow.
DJ Moz (17:03):
So if you’re not speaking to this young generation, then who are you speaking with? But I share those numbers just to, just to highlight that even though we are thinking of reaching out to 13 million young people, that’s like an a drop in the ocean. Yeah. Because there’s such a huge population of young people to reach out to. And so my prayer is that that God would raise more and more ev you know, evangelists and you know for more churches to be planted where we can be able to do life together with the young people who are giving their lives to Christ. And maybe even a bigger challenge is to challenge those who are listening to the podcast that don’t just listen to the podcast. I believe that God has called each and every one of us to be actively involved with sharing the gospel.
(17:46):
Otherwise how will they come? Amen. You know, how will they come? And so for those who are listening to the podcast, I just want to say you know, just do not look down on what you have or the spaces that God has placed you in, where God has placed you. He was intentional to place you there because there are people who need to see your lifestyle being lived out of about being a believer. You have an opportunity to share your faith with people when they come and ask you, what’s different about you? Why do you do things this way? Those are such good opportunities to be able to share the gospel or when you do life with them, when you celebrate birthdays with them, or you know, when they’re having weddings or when they’re going through a difficult time, your presence just being there speaks a lot. And they’ll be like, you are different from other people. What’s happening in your life?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:31):
Amen. Yeah. Well, it’s impossible to do what you’re doing without partnership. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I see that you are partnering with Love Kenya Festivals with Andrew Palau. Yeah. You’re also partnering with One Hope. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you’re distributing some of the literature from One Hope. Yeah. And Rob Hoskins leads such a great ministry. Yes, yes. And I saw even you’re partnering with the First Lady of the Nation of Kenya. Yes, we
DJ Moz (18:57):
Are <laugh>
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:58):
What a tremendous privilege. And so she’s opened up doors into the schools. Yes. Yes. And, and it’s impossible for, for you to do what you do without partnership. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so for people who are listening mm-hmm. <Affirmative> who maybe want to invest in helping to reach the young people in Africa mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, they, they want to become maybe a, a partner, a friend mm-hmm. <Affirmative> with your ministry. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, how can they find out more about you?
DJ Moz (19:24):
So they can log into our website that’s www.kubambateens.com.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:29):
Alright. You’ll have to spell Ku Bamba so people can find it.
DJ Moz (19:33):
It’s K U B A M B A. That’s Kuku Bamba and teens like teenagers teens.com.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:40):
Yeah. Mbba teens.com. Yes. And so I encourage you, if, if you want to help reach young people here in Kenya, and now you’re expanding, you want to go to other nations in Africa. Oh bro. I encourage you to, to find out more about DJ Moz. Yeah. And, and support this ministry because what a tremendous impact that you’re having. Thank you. I mean, this team over a million people now. It’s unreal Minister too. <Laugh>.
DJ Moz (20:05):
It’s unreal. And I’m really excited about, you know meeting and just hearing what’s happening and the beauty about working together with like global network of evangelists is meeting fellow evangelists, you know, being able to encourage each other and be able to rally each other around and just see how the great work that God is doing out there. I believe that God says, the Bible says that, you know, we’re seen abound, grace abound even more. And so the world is getting more darker, but then grace is even more readily available. And the thing is, God will never stop pursuing people to their last breath. He’s intentional. He’s intentional man. And the way that God turns people’s lives around is through individuals like you, like me and others who are out there reaching out. And so again, my great call to, you know, again, people who are listening to this podcast is, man, the harvest is plenty.
(21:05):
Whether it’s one that’s a celebration in heaven or whether it’s a million, that’s a celebration in heaven. We just need to be intentional and to engage with God in the task that he’s calling us to do. And we are not alone, bro. You know, God is with us. And if God before us, man, we’re more than conquerors who can be against us, we can be able to raise that culture that we call the culture of the unashamed of in where we’re not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the Bible says every knee will bow. So it’s not a matter of if, but when.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:36):
Amen.
DJ Moz (21:36):
And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let’s give people the opportunity to do now, to do that now while they’re on this side of the sun. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:45):
Wonderful. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast.
DJ Moz (21:49):
No, thank you so much, man. And keep, keep doing the work that you’re doing. Keep this podcast going on. And I’m really grateful for the platform and the opportunity to be part of this.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:58):
Yes, sir. I’m bless
DJ Moz (21:59):
You now. God bless You too, sir. Thank you, man.
