How music saved the soul of DJ G

From teenage tearaway to youth role model as a cool Urban Gospel DJ, Gary Smith says God has called him to ministry through music.

Tune in to BBC Radio Oxford at 9pm on Sunday evenings throughout June and you can join in 'the best praise party in town' with DJ G, aka Bicester-born Gary Smith.

His breakthrough into broadcasting is the latest development in this former chef's mission to share his faith through the power of music.

As well as rocking the airwaves, recent years have seen him turning the tables on the bad-boy image of urban-style music (such as rap and hip hop) by serving up a cool beat with a Christian message to young people.

He explains: 'Urban music is known for having very violent lyrical content, being derogative about women and using bad language, with the intention to shock.

'I believe music has a spirit and listening to music like this, with a bad spirit, definitely affects behaviour. I met a drug dealer once who told me that before he sells drugs he listens to gangster rap music.

'I want to show kids that you can still have the excitement of this music without the bad spirit; that you can have R&B and hip hop with positive images and lyrics and that it's cool to walk with wise people, not stupid people.' Gary's desire to show young people that Christian can be cool and warn them off drugs and violence stems from very personal experience.

He says he was an angry teenager struggling at school with undiagnosed dyslexia and often in trouble with teachers and others in authority. He hung around in a gang who one night, when he was not with them, kicked another boy to death.

'It was a turning point for me,' he says, 'I knew I had to find something to believe in because where I would have been going would have been detrimental to life and soul. That's when I got really committed to Jesus Christ.' Immersing himself in the music surrounding him at home and at his regular Pentecostal Church in Oxford, and joining the church gospel choir as a drummer, he says he found salvation: 'I found something I was good at and it gave me direction and self respect. That¹s what I want to show other young people now. Music is a powerful tool that can take people places where words alone can't go. Combined with the word of God it has a force that can change people's lives.' Although he has trained and worked as a chef, Gary¹s love of music is never far from the surface and he has grasped all opportunities to DJ. As well as stints at the Oxford and Reading Carnivals, in Northern Ireland and Ibiza, on local radio and at charity events, he can be seen on his website wowing crowds of more than 4,000 people at a Christian music festival in Slovakia recently.

He says: 'Faith and music have got me where I want to be in life and I love it with a passion. That is what God has called me to do and when I play music for people it is part of my worship. It is my thanks to God. I play his music and let people hear what he has given me, and when I see them dancing and singing his words it's fantastic.' Now with a son of his own, Gary says it has become even more important for him to reach young people through his music:

'When I go into schools for assemblies or to work and talk with kids, the music is my personal testament that to fight and to argue with your parents and teachers like I did is wrong, and to hang around with dummies is dumb. I show them how God has changed my life and turned it around.' The response is usually very positive he says: 'I think kids respond well to my openness about my faith. Some are afraid to tell people that they are Christians and I hope that seeing me DJ-ing and being on the radio, playing the music they like, shows them that you can be a Christian and do things that are glamorous and cool.' Gary hopes that his Radio Oxford show will not only introduce more people to 'The Urban Gospel Experience' but also help launch his latest venture to bring his DJ skills to the corporate world with a staff development course.

He also offers music-mixing sessions to schools, after school clubs, churches and other youth groups.

And his reasoning behind such commitment belies his former career as a chef: 'If you feed kids on a diet of bad food they will be unhealthy. So it is with music and if you give them fresh, exciting sounds and lyrics with positive messages you can feed their souls.'

Find out more about Gary's DJ career and courses, and watch him in action in Slovakia, on his website www.djgmix.co.uk