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Did You Know?
ZOEgirl has traveled on summer mission trips the past two years. They have just recently partnered with Big World Ventures to launch ZOEgirl Missions. Last summer, they took a mission group to Quito, Ecuador where they visited retirement homes, played with children in orphanages, performed drama and music, and participated in various work and building projects for local churches.
MQ: Are there any issues on your heart - that you feel that you and others our age our dealing with in this culture?
Alisa: Well, yeah - particularly with the song 'Scream'. It deals with pain and just the self-destructive things that we can do to ourselves when we're in pain. One thing that we've come across so much in the last few years is meeting precious young people that love God with all their hearts, but they're just in so much pain and whether it's because of things going on at home, or abuse, or just getting their hearts broken - just the world that they live in - they're just in so much pain. I know that for me, I was able to really tap into my own experience and that I've dealt with depression a lot in my own life. I wrote 'Scream' on a day that I was really depressed. 
I was having an awful day. Instead of turning self-destructive or whatever, I just put it into a song - what I was feeling. It was an amazing experience because half way through writing the song, I really felt like God reached down and just ...really touched me - and kind of gave me a shot of hope to really step towards healing in my own life. That was about a year ago, and I really feel like a different person and a lot of it has to do with that song really ministering to me. So, I never thought it would be on the ZOEgirl album, or anything like that but the girls got behind it, and the label got behind it. So, we're really praying that it will minister to people much in the same way. It kind of talks a lot about ...just pain, but hints at and touches on sexual abuse and the issue of self mutilation and cutting. Particularly with cutting, we've met so many young people that are doing that. We just learned the other day that 3 million teenagers in America cut themselves. According to teenhopeline.com, which is closely tied in with Dawson McAllister ministries, they believe that number is closer to 8 million. So it's something that really needs to be talked about, especially within the church. That's something that we've really been passionate about on this album.
MQ: Isn't it cool how a bad moment can lead to healing?
Alisa: Yeah, I know! Totally...
MQ: Are you touring right now?
Chrissy: We're touring right now with Jump 5. That will go on until the middle of May. Then we'll be on the Revolve Tour that the Women of Faith will be putting on - some conferences for girls. So, we're going to be doing that in the Fall. We're excited.
MQ: What's your live show like? Do you have a full band?
Alisa: We have a live band - they're really great! We have a brand new band. It's three guys that we've never actually worked with before, so that's kind of fun. We're having a great time with them. Our live show is really energetic, but it's really important to present the Gospel in a very clear and concise way. So we do that. We try to just let God use us however He wants to and invite His presence to really change peoples lives while we sing.
MQ: Has there been any particular concerts that stand out for you?
Kristen: We did a show - just on this tour in Lansing Michigan - that was at a big church there. It was sold out which was just awesome - and what a great blessing that it was sold out. I just remember that night. And it was interesting because I was kind of sick that night. I had been really struggling vocally with kind of a respiratory type infection, but I had such a wonderful time seeing all the young girls - they were close so I could see a lot of then very well. One thing that is amazing to me is just watching their faces as we're doing these new songs. I've been watching a lot when Alisa is singing Scream and the reactions - they are just hanging on every word she is saying as she is describing this, because I think so many people are identifying with this, from whatever perspective. We all ... everybody knows it feels like to just want to scream, because we feel misunderstood or we feel like nobody is listening. So, I just love watching the transformation and watching them as she's speaking. And then as we get into the song - obviously, it's like I'm seeing them being so ministered to. It's a great feeling. I remember that night, a couple specific people that I can still see in my mind that I could tell that they were very moved and God was obviously really doing something. So that stands out to me. That was a more recent concert we did, but it was a memorable one.
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