A tree is a wonderful image of God’s provision: a source of shade, protection, shelter and abundant life. And the 63 comes from Psalm 63, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

These three guys, all originating from South Africa, have hearts to encourage true and genuine worship of the God they love. They know He’s the ultimate source of satisfaction. Read on as John shares about his heart for his home in South Africa, his dealings with divorce and Tree63’s ministry to the body of believers.

Brio: What hopes do you have for South Africans?
On one level I’m very hopeful. This year we celebrated our 10th year of democracy. We’ve seen the fabric of society shift, and it’s become much healthier. On another other level, society is being ripped apart by AIDS. Generally, the black African communities have a big problem with AIDS but don’t want to admit it’s an issue. They have superstitious feelings about what AIDS is.

The battle is in getting people to acknowledge AIDS exists and that it’s a problem. You can look at South Africa and think What a mess! and How’s it ever going to change? But we believe God has a plan for South Africa, and He’s working it out. We’ve seen the benefits of it already.

How can teens help to promote change in South Africa?
A lot of kids come over on missions trips. They want to experience Africa and try to help. Every pair of hands is going to help somewhere. It’s great.

I’m a firm believer in prayer as a force of change, too. You can throw money at a cause, but to spend time on your knees praying is something else. Communing with God about things allows us to get to His heart. We can see in the spiritual realm what needs to be done. Teens can have active prayer programs for Africa, and even more specifically for AIDS, because that’s the big issue.

What led to your decision to leave your home country and give the U.S. Christian music industry a try?
It was a genuine call from God. Tree63 is focused on worshiping God and bringing this music to a room full of people.

If that means recording albums and putting singles out on the radio, OK. But first and foremost I’m here because God has a call on my life to worship Him with my talent, which is music, and to expose that music to the world.

Is there a particular group of people you’re called to minister to?
It’s definitely the church as a whole. As much as non-Christians need to be reached, what I do can benefit the church. More and more, the church at large is my passion. Not just kids, not just adults — we find people from all walks of life who appreciate Tree’s music.

Coming from a divorced family, what advice would you give Brio readers who are in a family dealing with divorce?
It wouldn’t take anyone with half a brain to say divorce is difficult. It isn’t something you get over and pretend everything is fine after a few weeks. I spent years trying to get on with life. I didn’t acknowledge how much I was hurting. Divorce was the end of my childhood.

I didn’t know anything about God, and Jesus wasn’t part of my life, so I didn’t know I could turn to Him. I spent years trying to deal with it on my own. There’s no way to deal with the emotional stress of a divorce on your own. You need to turn to God and allow Him to minister to you and to minister some truth to you, despite the fact that it’s really hurtful. Even though I became a Christian a long time after the divorce, God was still able to heal those old wounds.

Tell us about your song “But Now My Eyes Are Open.”
When I was younger, I looked for truth in things besides Jesus. We’re always driving to find truth. As a teen, things can seem like absolute gospel truth when they really aren’t. Teens don’t always realize that a song lyric is someone’s opinion or someone’s poetry. For teens, everything has intense meaning.

I listened to secular music in the ‘80s. Things were dark then, but they seem even darker now. If you’re going to look for truth from musicians, you’re not going to find it. You’re going to find opinions that can appear like truth. If you believe them, you’re going to get yourself in trouble.

When I became a Christian, I realized these people making the music I loved were just human beings. Therefore, they’re sinful and not able to get things right and not able to look at truth properly.

Young people today need to learn not to put their trust and faith in opinions, ideas and thoughts. They may be good illustrations of the world around us, but they’re not expressions of the truth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, musicians can possibly be admired up to a point, but they definitely cannot be heroes.

The one true hero is Jesus Christ. There’s no president, no actor, no musician, no one in history who comes close to the heroic act of Jesus. It takes a while to work that out, because as a young person you’re looking around you for immediate role models. You’ll only find it in Jesus. You’re not going to find it in the Top 40.

What’s your band’s goal as you make music and perform before people?
To get before a room full of people — 30 or 40,000 — to worship Jesus. We all want to experience the touch of the Spirit. Rock ‘n’ roll is such a passionate art form, such a passionate expression of human life. To marry that with the passion of the gospel is a pretty potent combination.

I believe in the power of those two things. That’s why Tree63 is a band. We’ve seen people respond to rocking out for Jesus. We see people in front of us touching His heart in the same way. There’s nothing more rewarding than that.

John Ellis’ Favorites
Book: Your God Is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan.
Rainy day pastime: Sitting in front of a good movie with my beautiful wife and our beautiful son playing at our feet.
Place to shop: Best Buy
Fast food: In-n-Out Burger
South African city: Durban
U.S. city: New York
Scripture: “When I’m asked for autographs, I can write John, because it’s my name, and then I put 3:30 after it. It’s something I need to remind myself of all the time. It talks about how He must become greater; I must become less.”