Christian Music Online

Ryan McAfee

August 25, 2009 – 9:30 am

“I don’t want to spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything

Instead of going through the motions.”

From “ The Motions ,” by Matthew West.

“God does indeed work in mysterious ways.”

Lance McAfee

McAlester teenager Ryan McAfee copied some words from a song he had heard and posted them on his Facebook page shortly before he died following a tragic accident last March.

His actions set in motion a series of events that will result in contemporary Christian artist Matthew West — who’s had three number one hits — kicking off his national “The Motions Tour” in McAlester in October.

West’s manager, Joel West, who is Matthew West’s brother, sent an e-mail to the News-Capital on Friday confirming the event.

“We’re excited to come to McAlester!” he said.

And that’s just the beginning.

The Oct. 15 Matthew West concert is set for 7 p.m. at the Pittsburg County Fairgrounds’ outdoor stage, which is adjacent to the Southeast Expo Center. It’s to help raise money for the Ryan McAfee Scholarship Fund to benefit youth in the McAlester area.

In addition, the original concept has grown to include hopes that all of the churches in the McAlester area will come together to form a special partnership called Unified Motions. One of the dreams, in addition to service projects, is to build a homeless shelter for men, since the new Hope House for women and children has just opened.

More details should be available soon.

Meanwhile, advance tickets for the concert go on sale Monday for $10 each and initially will be available at Shared Blessings at 1558 S. Main St., said Shared Blessings Director Scott Walker. Shared Blessings is normally open from 3-7 p.m. on Monday, and from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday.

More outlets should soon be available, Walker said. Tickets are also available online at itickets.com and unifiedmotion.net, he said.

Any minister who wants to contact him for more information about working together with other churches on the Unified Motion project can reach him at 421-0444, said Walker.

Everything is now in motion, but it all started with a mystery.

Ryan McAfee, a 19-year-old McAlester resident who graduated from Canadian High School in 2008, died on the morning of March 2, after heavy equipment fell off a truck onto the car he was driving to classes at East Central University in Ada.

The day after the fatal accident, Ryan McAfee’s brother, Lance McAfee and his mother, Linda McAfee, recalled in their grief that Ryan had written something on his Facebook page the night before the accident.

They decided to see what he had written — but when they checked his Facebook site, they saw some unfamiliar words. Ryan McAfee had long professed his faith in Christ, and the words they read appeared to be a prayer, or perhaps a song.

“Ryan had written the words ‘I don’t want to go through the motions, I don’t want to go one more day, without your all-consuming passion inside of me,”’ said Linda McAfee.

“I said ‘What’s this?’” she recalled. “Lance said ‘I don’t know.”’

The resourceful Lance McAfee soon found the origins of the words, however. His brother had heard a recording by contemporary Christian music artist Matthew West.

Called “The Motions,” West’s lyrics professed Ryan McAfee’s hopes that he wouldn’t simply be “going through the motions” in trying to live a more Christian life.

He said he wanted to live his life with the passion for God talked about in the song.

When Lance McAfee heard “The Motions,” he told his mother and his father that they had to play the song at his brother’s funeral.

Ryan McAfee was well-known as an outstanding basketball player to many in Pittsburg County through his award-winning performances in the Pitt 8 Basketball Tournaments. He also participated in and led religious youth groups.

He had a large funeral.

“At the funeral, there were approximately 2,000-to-2,500 people in attendance, and during it we played Matthew’s song ‘The Motions’ and the crowd was in awe,” Lance McAfee later recalled.

“Needless to say, God is amazing,” he said. “At Ryan’s funeral, 15-to-20 people were saved.”

Following the funeral, Kandi Smith, a friend of the family, sent an e-mail to one of Matthew West’s Web sites. Linda McAfee would later learn what she told him.

“She said ‘I just heard your song for the first time, but it wasn’t on the radio. It was at the funeral of a 19-year-old boy.”’ Others who were at the funeral also contacted West.

West had already had two number one songs on the Contemporary Christian Music charts, “More” and “You Are Everything.” When he released “The Motions,” it also shot to number one.

He had a busy performing and recording schedule, but he found time to contact Lance McAfee through an e-mail.

“I’ve been getting these e-mails saying you played my song at your brother’s funeral and I want to thank you. What an honor,” West said, as Linda McAfee recalled.

“We thought that was the end,” she said. “We were honored that Matthew West had heard Ryan’s name.”

It turned out to be not an end, but a beginning, however. Unbeknownst at the time to the McAfee family, Matthew West had started talking about Ryan McAfee during his personal appearances and concerts.

That’s exactly what he did one day on K-LOVE, the California-based contemporary Christian music radio station with a nationwide link.

“We got a phone call around 7 in the morning and we were told that Matthew West was a special guest on K-LOVE and they were talking about Ryan,” Linda McAfee said. They turned on their radio, already tuned in to K-LOVE and indeed heard Matthew West talking about Ryan with radio personality Lisa Williams.

“He said he tells Ryan’s story at every concert before he sings ‘The Motions,”’ Linda McAfee said,

Following an inspiration, Lance McAfee telephoned K-LOVE and almost miraculously managed to get through while Matthew West was still on the air.

“Lance said he was just calling to thank him for telling Ryan’s story and letting God use Ryan through Matthew,” Linda McAfee said.

“The next day I e-mailed Matthew West’s manager, Joel West — who turned out to be Matthew’s brother — to thank him, and later on he called me.

“He said ‘We want to do more.” I said ‘What more could you do?’ He said ‘We want to come to McAlester and do a benefit for Ryan’s scholarship fund.’”

Linda McAfee said Joel West then asked about her other son, Lance, and she told him that Lance is a mass communications major at ECU, who wants to be involved in the ministry and who also wants to become a sports announcer.

Both Matthew and Joel West had already been impressed by Lance McAfee’s articulation and how he handled himself on the air.

Joel West then told her they were thinking about asking Lance McAfee to go on tour with them this fall, to share Ryan’s story with those at Matthew West’s concerts.

Now, Lance McAfee is listed along with Josh Wilson as a special guest during Matthew West’s “The Motion’s Tour.”

The family finally got to meet West this summer at a concert in Tulsa.

They also got to hear West personally tell Ryan’s story before a huge concert crowd.

“It was the proudest moment of my life,” Linda McAfee said.

Now, she and her husband, Danny McAfee and their son, Lance, are in wonder at the events that are transpiring.

The help of friends, including a concert committee and a scholarship committee, is making the McAlester concert and the Unified Motion plans possible.

K-LOVE radio personality Lisa Willliams summed it up this way.

“This is Ryan’s legacy,” she said.

Ryan McAfee

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