In Search of Jubilee
For Lamont Hiebert of the band Ten Shekel Shirt, the pursuit of social justice around the world is a natural extension of worship.
by Andree Farias | posted 10/13/2008
 1 of 3
Lamont Hiebert has a new day job. In the early part of the new millennium, he and his band Ten Shekel Shirt scored a hit in the CCM charts with the song "Ocean," but shortly after they released their second album, they went on an extended hiatus. Through the study of Scriptures, God gave Hiebert a heart for exploited children, which moved him to co-found Love146, an organization that provides safe homes for victims of sex trafficking and abuse. Eventually the world took notice, and Hiebert's organization received high-profile awards from the likes of GQ magazine and MySpace. In this conversation, the self-described abolitionist explains this change of course, his return to music, and the inextricable connection between worship and justice.
Lamont Hiebert (second from left) and his band Ten Shekel Shirt have extended their worship from simply performing music to expressing it through social justice.
Your band has been out of the spotlight for five years. Why the long hiatus?
Lamont Hiebert In the making of our second album, Risk, I decided to become more than a spokesperson for the cause of abolition on behalf of exploited children. I just felt like once I heard that more could be done practically on the ground, it wasn't enough for me to be talking about an issue—I had to be more practically involved. So I founded a charity, Love146, formerly Justice for Children International. With a couple of colleagues of mine we founded this organization and, thankfully, now it's grown its own legs and it's much bigger than Lamont Hiebert, much bigger than the cofounders, and much bigger than Ten Shekel Shirt.
It sounds like you're truly changing the world. If that's going so well, what made you come back to music?
Hiebert A combination of things, really. I was sitting at the charity offices a couple of years ago, and I got a call from Rounder Records that they wanted to meet me. I didn't know a whole lot about them—they're a mainstream record company out of Boston. I ended up sitting down for lunch with their A&R guy and he just said that they were interested in signing me. It kind of caught me off guard, and I ended up laughing out loud. But it put a bug in my ear that if it got to the place where the charity is stable enough, and if I wanted to pursue music again, I had an open door there. So I went ahead and recorded the album and ended up signing with Rounder after [that].
What was it like recording again?
Hiebert I like to surround myself with good people. I'm the primary songwriter for Ten Shekel Shirt—always have been. But I always have good people around me to work with. So even though I've been away from the recording thing for a while, it was quite natural to return to that environment. I also had so much in me from life and from working with this charity [that I wanted to express], especially the need to help restore these survivors of tragic abuse. So hearing so many stories of their suffering and pain, I knew I wanted to restore and bring healing and hope to these children. So many of the things in the album reflect my heart for that, and hopefully listeners can hear that.
Your new label's web site calls you "an artist with a message." What is it like to be known that way after being associated with worship music for so long?
Hiebert I believe that it's a natural step, from worship to loving our oppressed neighbors. As you know, the links in the Bible between worship and justice are incredibly strong and summarized by Jesus' statement that we are to love God and love our neighbors. As far as me being an artist with a message, I wouldn't say we're heavy-handed, which is a good thing. People who come to our shows need not worry about the guilt trip. There are a couple of intense moments—there's one song on the new record called "It's Slavery" that's pretty combative. But for the most part, it's very hopeful, empowering and inspiring and hopefully has the fingerprints of God in it.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today Free!
|
 |
|
Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.
Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.
If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
