Recap: "Ben Drops Beats"

Jill & Jessa: Counting On "Ben Drops Beats"

• Last week, we saw Jim Bob and Michelle make a surprise visit to Central America. While there, Michelle gives Israel his first haircut. “It’s amazing to think how much life has actually changed over the past few years,” says Derick.
• Although the visit is short, Jim Bob and Michelle enjoy joining in on some of the Dillards’ mission work.
• Back in Arkansas, Jinger, with help from Jessa, does a photo shoot with Mark and Sierra Dominguez and their five kids. The Duggars met Mark and Sierra when they had just one child.
• The older kids continue work on the treehouse. Jessa tries to convince John-David to add electricity, plumbing, and air conditioning, but John isn’t too keen on those ideas.
• Jana, Jinger, and Joy help the boys cut and haul boards. Joseph says his sisters often pitch in with indoor and outdoor construction work.
• Jana, Anna, Jinger, and Joy chat with Jill and Israel via Skype. Jill fills her sisters and sister-in-law in on Israel’s latest milestones and demonstrates how her son responds to words in both English and Spanish. The Duggars look forward to traveling down to Central America on a mission trip in a few weeks.
• The Seewalds head to St. Louis, Missouri, to meet with Christian hip hop artist FLAME.
• Ben is passionate about ministry work and is interested in serving in inner-cities. He reached out to FLAME, who grew up in inner-city St. Louis, via email, and the two struck up a friendship.
• This will be Spurgeon’s second time on an airplane. He is an easy-going child, and Jessa says that traveling with three is much easier than traveling with a family of 21.
• The Seewalds visit FLAME’s recording studio and meet the rest of his group. “It was really cool hanging out in the studio with these guys and just seeing their passion for Christian hip hop,” says Jessa. “It’s a different type of music, but it’s still got that message, and it’s really great.”
• “Really, I wouldn’t have really known anything about Christian hip hop if it wasn’t for Ben liking this type of music,” admits Jessa. “I probably mostly listen to bluegrass and classical and some Christian-country type stuff.”
• Spurgeon enjoys “singing” along to the music, so the producer records some of his sounds. FLAME convinces Ben to step into the recording booth and try his hand (or should we say voice) at hip hop. Jessa cracks up when she hears the finished product, which features music by Ben and Spurgeon.
• Later, FLAME takes Ben to the neighborhood where he grew up. He shows Ben his basement bedroom window, where, as a child, he witnessed a man being killed across the street. FLAME gives Ben advice for successful inner-city mission work: “Be genuine. Be yourself. When people see you’re genuine…they let you in their hearts.”
• Meanwhile, Jessa tries Indian food with FLAME’s wife and her sister, who are from India. 
• “It’s great getting to meet new friends and people who have come from very diverse backgrounds and getting to learn more about their culture and their customs and how we differ,” says Jessa.
• What do the other Duggars think of hip hop? 
• Jana: “I wouldn’t know how to describe hip hop music.” 
• Joseph: “Hip hop, I would say that would be more of a modern type [of] music.”
• Joy-Anna: “Hip hop…is kind of like rock music, I think.” 
• Jinger: “It’s one of a kind, that’s for sure.” 
• John-David: “You don’t even have to be…an excellent singer, I don’t think, to do it.”
• Anna: “Hip hop is a beat, and rappers rap on hip hop beat. Is that right, Bill? The sound guy is telling me what hip hop is.”