Well I’ve been back from my missions trip to Sri Lanka for a week now. I’m still having trouble adjusting to the 12 hour time change! Check out my previous post for an overview of our mission serving the least of these.

Here’s some final thoughts and take-aways.

1. Intercession. Don’t leave home without it. 

Over the years, I’ve been kind of hit and miss with organizing prayer partners back home to cover my missions trips.

For Sri Lanka, I knew we had to have a strong intercessory prayer team. God brought some trusted friends old and new to come alongside me for this trip.

I tried out a secret Facebook group for communication with them and that was very effective.

This trip had the potential to be very difficult and even dangerous, but the Lord protected us through it all. I believe it was the prayers of the saints that made all the difference.

Thank you,  prayer warriors!

2.The compelling need for the gospel.

We were ministering in the Up Country tea estate region. Through out Sri Lanka are temples and idols for Hindu or Buddhists “gods”, they are everywhere.  

We ran across these Hindu idols when we visited the plantation next door.

Idol worship is for real in this part of the world.

3. Sri Lankan food is very spicy.

It’s a good thing I love spicy food, because the food here was the spiciest I’ve ever eaten!

Lots of rice and curry flavored dishes. The scrambled eggs were awesome, although brown …

4. The head waggle thing is charming

I noticed this on the first day, to indicate “yes” Sri Lankans don’t nod up and down, their heads waggle form side to side. Quite unusual and difficult to replicate.  I found this video on Youtube that explains it, but the friends we met did it much more charmingly than these cats.

5.  At our conference, men and women sit on opposite sides of the room.

Very interesting.

6. Drums from the keyboard.

No drummer? No problem.

At the youth conference, and at the big church on Sunday, the worship leader played keyboards and used the built in drum machine for drums. They were really good at it though.

On Sunday at the end of my message, I was teaching the Sinhalese congregation the chorus to A New Anointing / This Is The Day. After a couple of repeats, the keyboard player jumped in playing the chord progression and the drum beat spot on. Impressive!

7.  The need for quality instruments.

All my missions trips are in under resourced areas of the world. That means they need training and equipment. We donated a guitar and accessories to a very worthy recipient.

You can see and hear about it in this video.

Ruwanta is a very humble and low key guy. He works with the youth, and was teaching 10 students how to play guitar and bass, despite not owning an instrument of his own! He had been borrowing a guitar. We’re thrilled to support the work of the kingdom through his ministry!

8. The power of a team.

I really enjoyed spreading the teaching load amongst our other team members. Each of us carried a piece of the content puzzle that made for an excellent and well rounded conference.

I was very blessed by the youthful perspective of Anna Johnson and Elliott Diaz; and the experience, wisdom and cultural intelligence of Tom Johnson.

It was a great team!

Once again, this was a wonderful mission to experience. The feedback from the attendees was “life changing”. I am grateful and humbled to have been part of it.

It would not have been possible with out the prayer and financial support  of our partners. Thank you so much! God provided everything we needed in just the right manner and timing.

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‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40

Right now I’m writing during a rare moment to reflect, sitting outside in the beautiful “hill country” of Sri Lanka.

We’ve just finished the first worship training conference, perhaps ever, in this region. The testimonies from the participants of what the Lord did here was amazing.

The Backstory

Before coming here, I knew very little about this country, formerly the British colony of Ceylon. It’s an Asian island nation at the tip of India and one of the largest tea exporters in the world.

I had never heard of the “tea plantation” system before this week. Today we visited a “tea estate” next door.

I think I’m beginning to get it.

This is a rural agricultural economy. Generally speaking, many if not most of the people here are poor with little opportunity, limited education and low English literacy.

These the are poor and disadvantaged. They are literally the least of these.

The churches we’re serving are ministering the gospel among some of the lowest members of this society, the tea estate workers.

Generation after generation of Tamil laborers have lived in near-poverty working on tea plantations, some for as long as 200 years. Some conditions have improved but, not a great deal.

Today I watched a scene that’s been playing out for many years on these hills. Women working on acres of steep tea fields doing what their grandmothers and their mothers grew up doing. Plucking tea leaves by hand, earning $7.00 for a 20 kilo bag, the required minimum. They can earn double that if they pick more, so there is an incentive is to work long and hard.

Most do.

This is truly an under-resourced area of the world. Most are poor. Racial prejudice and social stratification  are engrained in the culture.  Christians are a tiny minority and persecution is a very real and on-going concern.

This is a part of the world where the gospel offers real hope.

You can see that Christians here really love the Lord, and one another.

God is doing a great work here.

The Conference

On this trip, we had the great privilege of not only seeing, but being allowed to contribute to the work of the kingdom in this land.

Our teaching team was led by Tom Johnson; with myself, Elliot Diaz and Anna Johnson teaching biblical and practical leadership principles of worship.

We saw God moving on hearts of participants as they embraced the call to worship as a lifestyle.  Tom opened and closed the conference with powerful, prophetic and challenging messages. We saw the Spirit open up a new level of corporate worship and raise up a new generation of Sri Lankan worship leaders.

The conference was translated into the two languages of Sri Lanka – Sinhalese and Tamil.

At our last morning session, I was looking at their smiling faces and greeted them with my best Saturday Night live impersonation of “you look marrrrvleous”.

They laughed. One of the few jokes of mine they actually got.

In our 8 teaching sessions, I taught 3 sessions on Practical Theology of Worship, a Guitar Workshop, a fourth session on Heart of David, and a practical teaching “How Do You Know If You’re Called To Lead Worship?” We concluded with a panel Q&A session.

Elliot Diaz taught on the role of the Holy Spirit in worship, character, the pastor /worship leader / worship team relationship and the presence of God in worship.

Anna Johnson taught on unity and servant leadership.

We had a powerful ministry time where we prayed impartation for the participants. Something broke and there was a deep work of repentance for disunity, then an extended response of intercession for the churches and pastors, their villages and nation.

The conference was very well attended by pastors in this area. Currently many of the preaching pastors are also the worship leader. Musicians are in short supply. There is a great need for trained and anointed worship musicians and leaders.

Results

At the end of the event, Pastor Yoganathan, leader of a 90 church network sponsoring the event, shared a few words. He said they have done many conferences for pastors and different things, but the feedback from everyone was this was the best conference by far.

Then several people came to the front and gave testimony after testimony of how they had been inspired, encouraged and changed for life.

 

The Future

Dreaming out loud. We’ve been invited to return. If the Lord allows, I think it would be great to have a worship conference next year and add an intensive music instruction element. We would need quality worship musicians to come and volunteer as coaches to teach guitar, keyboards, drums, vocals and bass.

Let’s pray about it.

If you’re interested partnering with us, send me an e-mail (see my About page for contact info)

Overall, this was a humbling and incredible mission to experience and contribute to.

Thanks to everyone who supported our work through prayer and financial support. 

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This post recaps my time at the School of Worship (Scoala de Inchinare) in Timisoara, Romania.  It’s the second in a trilogy of reports wrapping up my missions trip to eastern Europe. See all the posts in my Balkans missions trip series here.

THANK YOU VIDEO:

In this video, students say “Thank You and God Bless You” in Romanian to everyone who has supported the school and instructors like me, Randy Morgan, Tom Johnson and others.

At the end of the video students share about their experience.  If you care about missions, I hope you’ll watch it, especially the last testimony. You’ll be encouraged to see that lives are being changed. This mission is a good work that glorifies God, makes disciples and is helping to build His kingdom.

Teaching at the Scoala was the largest segment of my 26 day mission. I was there for 14 very active days. It was a blast.

I share an in-depth view of the Scoala de Inchinare experience with a lot of pics in this post, A Day In The Life at Romania’s School of Worship.   The school is 4 weeks long during August and quite intense. Check out “A Day in The Life”  to see what it’s like.

Randy Morgan, myself and other guest instructors live in community with the students while we’re there.

I taught worship theology in the mornings, Randy coached vocals in the afternoon, I lead songwriting class in the late afternoon /early evening.

We’re investing in a generation that will change nations.

Behind The Scenes

This video “100 Stairs To My Room”  is just for fun, we journey up the five flights of stairs to my dorm. 100 steps of joy.

The School of Worship is hosted at Timisoara Christian Center & Agape Church.

This is a large facility that has been partially unfinished for many years. Romania is one of the poorest countries in Europe and Romanian economic woes wrecked havoc on the buildings completion. They still need HVAC, elevators, flooring, paint and other cosmetic finish.

The Fearless Leaders Hard at Work

Randall Morgan and I are in the back of class “helping”  Genu & Ramona Olariu and Pica Mengher, Directors.

This little sign was worth the trip alone …

Conclusions:

Investing in the destiny of others, in any context, is rewarding.

Serving at the Scoala de Inchinare has been the highlight of my missions work the past seven years. I feel very blessed to be part of what God is doing in Romania.

I really hope we can raise more money for the school in 2013 so more students can attend.

NEXT UP:

You can help send me on my next mission trip  to Sri Lanka, find out more. 

Stay in the loop! Follow my updates! Enter your e-mail here:

 See other posts in this Balkans Missions trip series.

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This post is about the series of worship seminars we held in Cluj, Romania.  It’s number three in the trilogy of reports wrapping up my missions trip to eastern Europe. See all the posts in my Balkans missions trip series here.

My 3 days in Cluj-Napoca marked the final leg of my 26 day assignment.

Cluj is a thriving college town with a youthful, optimistic energy. My good friends from SOZO, Nick and Carole Decean,  organized the event with several other churches in the area. They invited me to speak and teach on biblical worship to train and equip their teams and ministries.

Worship

We held a series of seminars for three consecutive nights, 3 hours each night.

I introduced some new songs.

Teaching

I mixed teaching with experiential worship, stories and songs that illustrated teaching points.

Joyful

Wholehearted

 

Attendance was very good, about 50 each night. 

They wanted to keep it a small group for more interaction. There was plenty of group discussion with some very tough questions!

The issues  brought up during Q&A inspired several ideas for articles.

The first being this series of posts on Character Guidelines for Worship Team Members:

• Biblical Character Necessary for Worship Leaders & Teams Pt.1
• Biblical Character Guidelines for Worship Leaders & Teams, Pt 2

 Mentoring Next Gen Leaders

 

Connecting

It was a joy to hangout and connect with several local leaders.

 

Staying at The Deceans

I had a great time staying with Nick and Carole Decean, their daughter Rachel and twin sons, Joshua and Nico.

We had a blast hanging out together.

The Deceans spoiled me with rest, wonderful Romanian food and hospitality.

Cluj-Napoca Behind the scenes

The Cathedral – St Michaels Church, Cluj-Napoca

CONCLUSIONS

The feedback on the event was fantastic.

A group of pastors have asked if I can return next year and present this teaching in a larger context in another city, so we’ll see.

I’m thankful for everything God allowed me to accomplish and experience. Thanks to everyone who prayed and supported my trip.

NEXT UP:

You can help send me on the next mission trip  to Sri Lanka, find out more. 

Stay in the loop! Follow my updates! Enter your e-mail here:

 See my other posts in this Balkans Missions trip series.

Comments? We Love comments! Leave yours here.

 

 

I’m reporting on my epic Balkans missions trip in a trilogy of posts,  chock full of media with photos, links and videos throughout.

This first post is quite in-depth about SOZO Festival held in Novi Sad, Serbia. I served here as Director of Worship and Seminar Instructor during the first week of the trip (July 22-29).

I think there were about 80 folks from 26 nations serving as staff.  Participants attending the seminars numbered a couple of hundred. At it’s peak, attendance at the outreach concerts numbered under a thousand.

As staff, we were quite busy working on set-up and planning from our arrival Monday afternoon until the event officially opened on Wednesday night.

 

“SOZO” is Greek word that means salvation, healing and deliverance. That’s what we are part of doing in the Balkans.

I’ve organized this report around four major components of SOZO Festival: worship, training seminars,  outreach concerts and fellowship.

I also share some insider scoop in a few never-seen-before “SOZO Behind The Scenes” videos.

Worship & Word

After our Wednesday night opening ceremony, we began each day with worship and a time of reporting what God was doing among the nations.

It is is amazing, inspiring and eye opening to worship with so many people “not like you”, from diverse cultures and languages.

Read my other blog posts on SOZO worship:

• July 29 Worship Recap, SOZO Festival Novi Sad, Serbia!
• How To Lead Multi-national Worship: 7 Tips From SOZO Festival

[VIDEO] SOZO BEHIND THE SCENES: Reflections on “The SOZO Spirit”.

In this video, folks from many nations share about “The SOZO Spirit”, the worship experience, and Children’s School of Worship.

Seminars

We had a busy schedule packed with meetings, worship, seminars and outreach concerts.

Seminars offered & leaders:

The training seminars are a huge part of SOZO. During the day, participants could attend a variety of classes to be equipped in these areas:

• Counseling / Addiction Recovery – Linda Woodsmall, Tami Walker
• Leadership Development – Dennis Woodsmall, Herman Bouhouzen
  
• Cultural Intelligence – David Durham
  
• Worship Theology and Leadership – Rob Still
  
• Youth Explosion – Andy & Samm Cheesman
  
• Children’s School of Worship -  Rachel Mello, Lydia  & team

 Children’s School of Worship

My wife Ivalene has taught CSW several years, she gave Rachel some coaching and ideas. It was a blessing to see the fruit of her labors!

 

 

Evening Outreach Events

Cafe Sozo (6:00 – 8:00 pm)

Cafe Sozo is a casual, intimate “open mic” coffee bar with snacks. Performers from all over the world share songs and stories. Lots of fellowship is built up here.

 

The Strand (Danube River Beach, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm )

The Strand was a big stage with pro sound and lites with the first ever public gospel music concerts on the beach recreational area on the Danube River. Music offerings included Christian rock bands, Christian pop, acoustic singer-songwriters, church worship teams and awesome gospel choirs.

Crowds would reach about a thousand to hear music glorifying Jesus.

Local Press Coverage

 

 

[VIDEO] SOZO Gospel Choir “King of Glory“

Read the “King of Glory ” blog post here. 

Route 66 (After hours club, 10:00pm – 2:00 am)

Music groups performed from all over eastern Europe including Christian heavy rock bands, blues, pop, acoustic singer-songwriters,  and the SOZO gospel choir.

[Video] Team 4D Boldly proclaiming the gospel in the bar!

I love these guys and girls in Team 4D from the Czech Republic! They were bold about the gospel of Jesus, an awesome band, wonderful people and greatly contributed to our worship teams! Check out this video excerpt.

SOZO Gospel Choir with Darijo Sehic

 

Fellowship: SOZO Behind The Scenes

[VIDEO] SOZO BEHIND THE SCENES: Lots of walking.

In this video, I take you on the walk from our dorms to the location of the worship and seminars. You see the beautiful streets of Novi Sad and the people.

 

Fellowship.

In this pic the gathered staff is praying before a bar-b-cue the night before the event launches. You get to meet so many cool people from other nations!

Great food.

There is a big traditional homemade lunch for the staff everyday.

Ana’s Baptism.

Ana’s family is from Romania and has been to every SOZO Festival. The SOZO clan gathered on the Danube to worship and be part of it.  It was so beautiful to see her  baptized by her father, Levi. He’s my favorite SOZO drummer!

Learning About New Cultures & Languages

During this cab ride in Novi Sad, Dave Durham and I discuss “How To Learn Another Language” (blog post link)   

[VIDEO] How To Study Languages: In the Cab with David Durham

Serving

[VIDEO] SOZO BEHIND THE SCENES : There’s tired, then there’s SOZO tired.

In this video I grab a few seconds at The Strand with Dennis & Linda Woodsmall, seminar instructors. We’re shouting above a Serbian christian pop band  about the invigorating and intense  Sozo pace.

There’s tired, and then there’s SOZO tired.

CONCLUSIONS:

It seemed a miracle that we had SOZO Festival back in the Balkans, after a long hiatus from eastern Europe. (SOZO was held in England the last 3 years).

The attendance was good, especially at the outreach events. The spirit was awesome.

One participant declared on Facebook “best festival ever, city & people & God!” 

The people of eastern Europe pulled together with SOZO founder Randall Morgan and made it happen.

God is doing something here. It’s messy, difficult, strenuous and beautiful. I’m excited to see it first hand.

Thanks be to God!

NEXT UP:

You can help send me on the next mission trip  to Sri Lanka, find out more. 

Stay in the loop! Follow my updates! Enter your e-mail here:

 See my other posts in this Balkans Missions trip series.

Comments? We love comments. Leave yours below.

I’m so grateful and thankful to have been on a mission for God this summer of 2012 in the Balkan region of eastern Europe. This post serves as the landing page for ALL the posts in this series. 

This trip had three major projects:

• Ethnic & International Reconciliation serving the SOZO Festival as worship director
• Investing in A Generation That Will Change A Nation teaching at the School of Worship in Timisoara, Romania
• Empowering Local Churches leading a series of worship workshops in the Cluj-Napocca region

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