Sarah Boulos Opens Up About Faith And Her Performing Arts Society In Lagos
Born in Lebanon of French heritage, but also American, Sarah Boulos is the founder of the Society of the Society of the Performing Arts Nigeria. She opens up about how through tragedy, her performing arts society in Lagos was founded. She also talks about faith and how she came to know Jesus personally
“Being a woman after God’s heart is being vulnerable before Him, and learning how to follow His footsteps of love and forgiveness- and loving our enemies too. It also means to do good to those who persecute us as well. This requires the grace of God and to bask in His presence, to be part of a community of encouragers and God-fearing women who can uplift you every time you’re down.”
Seele Magazine: You were born in Lebanon, you’re French and American, you’re married to a Lebanese man and you live in Nigeria. You have a multicultural life. How does this multicultural life impact the way you see the world and your role in furthering the Kingdom of God?
Sarah Boulos: My multicultural life has taught me many lessons and drives me closer to Jesus. I lived in Houston, Texas for ten years, was a student of Houston Baptist University, where I graduated surrounded by great Evangelical movements, but it’s only when I left Houston in 1996 and came back in 1999 to St. Vincent Of Paul with my friend Rita, that I was touched by Jesus, was transformed and got born again.
I believe being moved from one place to another and interacting with other cultures pushes you towards a new way of life, the Jesus life, to be a changemaker and a child of God that opens your eyes to see beyond cultures. It also pushes you to see the child within every human being, to learn and train yourself how to love the Jesus way.
SM: What’s a typical day like for you?
SB: I wake up with Jesus on my mind and start to get ready to take of my body through dance or Pilates or antigravity lab. By listening to worship music, the tune of grace lingers in my mind before I can get ready to face all the tasks ahead.
I teach dance, I educate my 8-year-old, I manage the imports of La Pointe Delicatessen in Lagos and make sure the SPAN [Society Of The Performing Arts In Nigeria] team I lead is prepared for the daily activities of the week. I juggle many tasks in my life and I am filled with many projects in my head, so I don’t really have a daily routine but I try my best to cover the four areas of my role as a Proverbs 31 woman.
SM: How did you know dance was your calling and how have you used the art form to enrich the lives of Nigerians?
SB: In May 2003, I was praying to God for more and a lady came to our Bible study and taught us how to hear the voice of God. When she was placed in my group, she asked me: “Sarah do you dance?” I responded “yes, in parties and when I was child I danced ballet.” She replied, “now you have to dance for God.”
I was stunned. I was raised as a Catholic and I never heard worship music and suddenly everything took shape. My friend Tanya gave me the book, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I started reading and the fifth chapter changed my life, and my journey totally transformed that morning.
That morning in 2003, I was about to wake up and received images in my head of people dancing on a pentagon-shaped stage. I heard the number “15,000” and I saw dance music and drama artists, and a big stage. I subsequently asked my friend and she said this sounds like the performing arts and from there I began searching for the story of King David, who danced before the Lord. My friends shared with me the Maranatha Singers, and their song: ‘Here I Am To Worship.’ I was praying, I was dancing in my room, I was receiving, and I was waiting for more information from God on this thrilling adventure that was about to begin.
SM: Can you talk a little about SPAN and what it does?
SB: SPAN is the Society Of The Performing Arts In Nigeria. I found it with the spirit of David and with international charitable ladies in my community, who came to my rescue after the dreadful Christmas tragedy of 2003 to help me breathe again from that pain.
You see, I was sharing my vision and my intentions, and people were listening but I was kept in the back. The more I shared the more I was presented different options until Abbi Ayoku, in December 2003 told me ‘you know Sarah, you have been talking about David to me and you want Christmas singers I’ll send you a group I just met for your party’ (she was helping me organize my Christmas party). A man named Deji, who has dancers, came to my house and shared that he and his group dance for Jesus, with the spirit of David. I knew God had answered my prayers, to know people to help me build what I had seen in my vision. We paused and said we would meet after the holiday and they came to my house where we all practiced dancing.
On Christmas Day 2003, I was in Lebanon in the mountains with my family when we received a call that our uncle and aunt were in a fire. We rushed to the village and we learned they left candles on the Christmas tree. They died of asphyxiation and we were devastated, especially me- they were the ones I was the closest too. I was raised by them in my last year of high school and because of them I met my husband Massad.
Broken hearted, I fell asleep and a few hours in the morning of the 25th, I called my mum who was in Benin Cotonou. She said they were going to the airport to catch the first flight to come to the funeral. You see my mum 59, my brother Michael 27, my sister-in-law 24, her father 52 and my cousins arrived at their airport and changed Air France tickets for another plane to arrive early. The plane crashed and I buried these 7 members of my family. They left two kids orphans who have grown beautifully today.
So why was my response to this to cry out to God to receive a vision, and in the same year I was hit with tragedy??
Only God knew and this propelled me to heal, and out of this healing came the founding of SPAN, exactly a year later, with a big dance competition, dancing His name and the whole community came to support this initiative.
Today, 15 years later SPAN, which started in a garage at home teaching dance for free, still has the vision to build a performing art center for Nigeria where we can educate, empower and present performing artists. Their God-given talent has raised over 10,000 youth in performing arts education, which has acquired a thriving drama franchise called the Helen O’ Grady drama for Lagos Island. It has graduated over 200 musicians in their jazz contemporary school, and 450 dancers in their dance academy.
The community center in Lagos is the hub for free performing arts and leadership education, to create wealth for these young artists. We recently founded the classical music academy and we hope to raise enough to continue our academic programs and our dream to achieve our building in Eko Atlantic.
SPAN is a place where art sours and our young artists can fly, because of our drive, and with God by our side, over 20 dance studios have opened in Nigeria.
SM: You’re a mom of four. How do you balance being a mom, a wife, a friend and running SPAN?
SB: Only by the grace of God has allowed me to manage. It’s tough yet thrilling, exciting, and transforming. I need to rediscover myself every day and train to be more like Jesus every day to get that balance
SM: Can you share a little about your testimony when you encountered the Holy Spirit, gave your life to Jesus and began walking with God?
SB: In December 1999, I was broken, tired, betrayed by friends, confused, and depressed. My husband sent me back to Houston and asked me to just get myself together. My friend Rita Robinson received me and told me about making sure I knelt on my knees and ask for Jesus. I made fun of her until she dragged me to church at Vincent Of Paul in Houston, and she asked me again to make the effort. I finally did and said, “God if you’re out there, please I need you I am around I am knocking on your door, please I need this,” I prayed to God.
And the priest without knowing my thoughts opened Matthew 7:7 and the rest is history. I felt a huge sort of electrical feeling and heard in my head ‘I am with you, you’re not alone,’ and I broke down in tears and felt peace and joy at the same time. Rita my friend was shocked actually, she never thought it would be that powerful. It was and my adventure started with Jesus seeking for the right Bible study, which I am part of still today.
SM: Nigeria is a beautiful nation filled with rich history and beautiful people, the same is for Lebanon… France has had its domestic challenges the past few years and the US is going through racial tension and a very political election. You’re connected to all these nations and at times you must feel burdened and sad for the challenges they all are facing. What is your prayer for these nations?
SB: My prayer of these nations is to find Jesus and stick to His teaching of love, peace, joy, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. If nations and their communities keep reacting with hate, hate will grow and feed violence, revolt and unforgiveness. It’s a terrible virus, hate. It feeds the mind and rejects what is good, edifying, and nurturing. As soon as you plant a seed of animosity against your fellow man, love cannot be part of your life and chaos will settle and grow like a virus.
SM: God is obviously doing a lot in the world at this very moment in time by allowing the pandemic to happen. How would you articulate what you see Him doing and how has this year strengthened your faith in Him?
SB: This year has opened my eyes to train more under Jesus’ principles and Kingdom principles. I joined the Pedro Adao team and I am now being coached to become a certified coach for Kingdom entrepreneurs, it has allowed me to see beyond what I have in my hands and reminds me how precious we have to be to one another.
For people who can’t deal with the grieving process and have attacked me and my faith, I have either responded with a prayer program- if they do not need my help, or, are aggressive because of their pain. I have learned to help those who need me in their lives and be present for them.
I have also learned that if I want to move forward in the vision that God has entrusted me with, I have to find a balance between leadership, emotion, creativity, and to keep empowering and training with the wisdom of the Kingdom. As my team moves forward, I need a kingdom-minded team to establish the true foundation of Jesus in SPAN.
SM: You often speak a lot about the power of community. In your opinion, what is the role of the community in shaping a nation? In bettering or worsening a society?
SB: Community is the soul of a society. We can speak all we want about our leaders and presidents and blame even our bosses for our plight, but if we don’t start ourselves to be change makers like Jesus in our community, we will never grow and find happiness in the midst of our chaos.
Jesus is our anchor for better and if we don’t use His way of life, our lives will be miserable and we will be destroyers of our communities and our nations- not builders. Societies have worsened but when people have not been touched by Jesus, they don’t respond with love and forgiveness. They fuel their emotion and disagreements with revolt, violence and continuous attack. If you disagree be a changemaker by responding with love and forgiveness, by accepting the role of Jesus in your life and letting go of your own hurts for the benefit of someone else’s healing process
SM: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
SB: In the heat of the moment or when you are being attacked or shouted at, retrieve and flee- don’t respond but ask God for advice and return when ready.
SM: When you look at your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give yourself?
SB: Your 16-year old self? Jesus called and you should have asked Him for more so you don’t waste your years wondering ‘what’s my destiny?’
Your 25-year-old-self? train to be a Kingdom-minded person so your destiny will prosper, and follow what Christ has called you to be.
Your 40-year-old self? - Forgive, don’t take revenge, and keep going. Focus on what Jesus is capable of doing in your life and the life of your community with love and compassion. Let go of the pain by acknowledging it, confessing it, and pardoning it. It’s part of the process and in embracing moments, we learn to give back, which is empowering to contribute and create impact.
SM: Looking at Biblical womanhood and Proverbs 31, what is it that women need to succeed as a daughter of the King in this world, and as she matures, what makes a good wife and mother?
SB: A good wife and mother will always put the interest of God first and then her family. She is guided by her counsel from God because He is perfect. In my role as wife and mother, Jesus helps me every day, and corrects me when I fall astray. He also reminds me to enjoy being a wife and a mother, and He transforms me into becoming less self-centered and more God centered in what I do and how I act.