ALBANIA MID-TOUR

A refreshing dynamic in Albania is the openness of people to talk about spiritual things. Although there are very few true believers, almost everyone claims one of the three faiths -- Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. In fact, one guy said he was a Catholic atheist. So we have had interesting conversations. 


In contrast to previous tours in Albania, this time we are beginning to see the effects of entertainment overload. Typically it has been easy to fill a hall, even for an unknown band. This time, the crowds for most of these well-publicized concerts have been smaller than expected by the sponsors. But in spite of that, and even when many of those who did come leave when the message gets serious, consistently most of those who stay till the end engage in long and deep conversations.

At our last concert, in Vlore, the crowd was so enthusastic we thought the theater must be filled with local believers.  But we found out later that at least half were new contacts! When the house lights came up we were surprised at how few people had stayed with us, but within seconds the front and aisles were crowded with people wanting to interact. One conversation was with 3 young ladies, each of a different faith. In another, several Muslim young men were genuinely interested in the information that the Qur'an instructs followers to read the Gospels. And three other young men became new believers. 

The manager of the theater was very anxious to get the place emptied immediately after the concert and started shutting down lights to get people to leave. At first he was very antagonistic, but our translator from New Life, who is traveling with us, began talking to him, gave him a CD and was able to share the gospel with him. He evenutally made a complete turnaround and assured us we could stay as long as we needed to.

The next day we had no concert scheduled and were able to spend the day in Vlore beginning with a team meeting, then taking walks by the sea, stopping to eat at one of the local seaside restaurants, catching up at internet cafes, and just resting. It was a refreshing time of physical and spiritual renewal.

One of the examples of God's provision on this tour was at our arrival in Vlore. We went directly to our hotel to find that our rooms had been rented that morning to some one else. That is after our coordinator there had reconfirmed our reservations twice that week. So we all waited there while our tour director checked another hotel around the corner. He was back in 10 minutes with the news that they had room for all 20 of us for the same price as the original hotel, and the new hotel was nicer. 

Today we returned to Tirana for the 5-day home stretch with a concert each day. We will travel out of town for 2 of those but return to our home base each night. Thanks for continued prayer. Several members have had illnesses or injuries but God has given the strength to go on with their parts in the concerts. We are so thankful for the opportunities here.

ALBANIA ADVENTURES

It was a bit of a rocky arrival day, but God was definitely in control. The 2 vans with 3 occupants driving from Germany had to change plans at the last minute when they found out the ferry they were planning to take to shave kilometers off the drive changed schedules in October and would not get them here in time. That meant a 3-day drive, getting the equipment through unplanned border crossings and ending with the last few hours at night in rain on treacherous roads. But they pulled in at 10:45 pm in good spirits. 
The last flight in was to arrive at 5:00 pm, but that flight was cancelled and replaced with one arriving at 11:00 pm.  The bright spot in that was the long drive to and from the airport with hardly any traffic instead of at rush hour.  And rush hour in Tirana is something you have to experience to believe!


If there's one item of baggage that doesn't make it, it will most likely be a large instrument that requires special handling.  Yep, the bass was nowhere in sight when we arrived at noon Monday.  At the 11:00pm airport run . . . still nothing.  But it was here the next morning before the first note needed to be played. Big sigh of relief!


Then there was the guy on a motor cycle who pulled out unexpectedly right in the path of our van resulting in an unavoidable hit and a trip to the hospital for the biker. In God's sovereignty there was an English speaking witness to the accident who assured officers that our driver was not responsible in any way for the incident. The whole thing, although distressing, was wrapped up in a very short time and we were on our way again. 


God loves to keep us aware that this is his tour. Before we had any idea we would be in this place for this ministry He knew every challenge that would be faced.  No doubt there will be many more as we go through the next couple weeks. 


Thank God for the reminder that we are totally dependent on -- and can have complete confidence in -- his care and provision for every situation.  Please continue to pray for our alertness to see and boldness to seize every opportunity that God gives us. 

New Life Christian Center - our home in Tirana

COUNTDOWN TO ALBANIA OCTOBER 10-27

(Kathie) Was it just a week ago I was traveling back from Indiana?  My sister and I spent 4 days there staying at my dad's and seeing as many family members and friends as possible. 

The big event was a princess birthday party for the ultimate 4-year-old party princess! I am thankful for that short but intense time. Electronic communication is a wonderful convenience, but there's nothing like being there. 


In the week since, we have been focusing on all the final preparations for the tour in Albania where we'll be heading this Sunday, October 10.  We are overwhelmed with God's provision through many generous donations and now have over 95% of the support we need for our flights and tour expenses. It is such a confirmation to know these funds are here before we take off.

The timing was tight for the release of the new Proclaim CD -- Next Exit: Mercy Street, on which we were depending heavily as a tool for this tour. The finished product did make it in time to get a shipment out to Albania for use in promoting the concerts, and we will take over a quantity to get the content into the hands of concert goers. Click here to see more about the cd.  See these links to hear samples of all the cuts: 

iTunes          CDBaby            Amazon

Listen on Jango, rate our songs and help us expand our ministry.

Please pray for our 19-member team as we gather in Tirana. Here is the schedule:
OCTOBER 11  Monday - arrival
OCTOBER 12  Tuesday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 13  Wednesday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 14  Thursday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 15  Friday - High School, New Life Institute (NLI), Tirana
OCTOBER 16  Saturday - Home Builders, NLI, Tirana
OCTOBER 17  Sunday - travel to Korca
OCTOBER 18  Monday - NLI University Ministry, Korca
OCTOBER 19  Tuesday - NLI University Ministry, Elbasan
OCTOBER 20  Wednesday - NLI University Ministry, Vlore
OCTOBER 21  Thursday - Day off, Vlore
OCTOBER 22  Friday - NLI Executive /Government, Tirana
OCTOBER 23  Saturday - Disciple's Church, Durres
OCTOBER 24  Sunday - Joint outreach of churches - Tirana
OCTOBER 25  Monday - NLI University Ministry, Shkoder
OCTOBER 26  Tuesday - NLI University Ministry, Tirana
OCTOBER 27  Wednesday - departure

Here are some things to pray about:

• Safe and timely arrival of all team members
• Team unity
• Physical stamina
• Boldness in witnessing
• Spiritual vigilance (The enemy doesn't want us there!)
• Electricity! This is a country that experiences frequent "brown-outs" to the power grid

SPASENIE BAND IN JACKSONVILLE

September 30 Proclaim hosted Spasenie (Salvation), a Christian band from Belarus that shares with us a conviction of the call to proclaim the gospel with creativity, humility and boldness.

For over 20 years these men have been pursuing music full-time in Belarus and across Europe. Their musical style has adapted to stay contemporary and relevant but the message remains constant.  In many places where Spasenie ministers there are restrictions on how and where the gospel can be preached. But their name recognition draws people to their concerts where personal testimonies and song lyrics point listeners to the Lord.  Audience members are then invited to visit churches and Bible studies. Through their ministry in their hometown of Brest, Belarus, a city of about 300,000 near the Polish border, hundreds have come to faith. A church planted in 1996 now has 700 members.  And in many other places believers have been encouraged and churches have been planted through their ministry. 

On this visit they shared the amazing opportunities they are having as they are increasingly being invited into schools. In fact, they began receiving too many invitations to personally fulfill, so they are sending other bands from their church to be involved. 

For some time Proclaim has been anticipating responding to the invitation of Spasenie to join them in an evangelism effort in Belarus. This is now scheduled to become a reality in February 2011. During their two days in Jacksonville we had a profitable time sharing together our common goals  for working together and coordinating plans. At the concert people caught the vision of how strategic this ministry is that we will be involved in.  On the tour our horn section will play with Spasenie, so on parts of this concert Jim joined them playing sax or percussion.

Please pray for Proclaim and Spasenie as we continue to plan for this ministry together in Belarus and Ukraine.