MTV or MTC? Choosing between good and best

Prior to serving a Mormon mission in February 1990, I was using my talents to save for my mission. I worked in an agency that supplied artists with dancers for music videos. With that job, working at a clothing store and performing at local venues with the band I was in, I found myself fairly busy and making good money.

A week before leaving to serve a mission, I had one last gig with the band. It was quite emotional. We were very close. I was the only member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the group. When I told my bandmates I was going to serve a mission, they understood because they knew how important the LDS Church was to me.

After the show, I noticed a lot of commotion among my band and the owners of the venue. It seemed as if they were reacting excitedly to some news but were keeping me out of the loop. Finally, the band and our producers cornered me and told me that something very important had happened, and that when I heard what they had to say, I would not want to go on a mission.

They mentioned that after our performance, we were approached by a prestigious management company that represented MC Hammer (who was doing a concert in London that very week) and which was offering us an opportunity to be a supporting act, with a potential deal with one of the largest record companies in the world.

We were all in a daze. I could not believe that this was happening. However, a still, small voice reminded me that I had made a decision to serve a mission, with a charge to leave all my worldly cares behind. I listened to that prompting, and to this day I have never had any regrets about giving up my music opportunity to serve a mission, and my blessings from that decision are too numerous to count.

That single life lesson has taught me that no other worldly accolade can ever match the experience and true joy that comes from serving the Lord.

Alex Boye is an international recording artist and his email is alex@alexboye.com. For more information, his music page is at www.facebook.com/alexboyemusic.