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This is the blog for the 2009 No Longer Music Evangelistic Church Planting Tour. No Longer Music uses a creative blend of life modern music, theater and other special effects to present a relevant, yet uncompromising Gospel message. Long-term ministries and church plant teams will be established to follow up and continue to reach the lost people in each location.
Our first few days here have been crazy, but great! Sorry for my lack of posts, the internet access has been limited. Below is a summary of our first few days: We arrived at the venue for our first concert at around noon on Friday. We had been in the country for less than 24 hours and we had very little sleep, but we were ready. The name of the venue loosely translates to "Sex God". It was a large two story night club with a multi-level stage. As mentioned before, the event was a big "heavy metal" battle of the band competition featuring 12 bands and we were the judges and headline band.
Every one of the bands were non-Christians and each brought their own group of dedicated fans. One of the bands - which arrived with a big bus full of rowdy supporters - was from the southern part of the country and had ties to an Islamic terrorist organization. Very quickly, the club was filled with many wild young people. There was no doubt that we would be reaching "lost sheep" at this concert!
Sometime after midnight, after all the other bands had played, we began our concert. The crowd was glued to the action. As we began sharing the Gospel story, however, some people began to mock - which is very normal and a sign that we were reaching the right people!
Afterwards, David stepped into the crowd and began telling people how Christianity is not a fascist, religious system intended to control people (which is the common conception in Lebanon), but rather that it is about having a personal, loving relationship with God. He explained that Jesus cares about the hurt and injustice in the world and that he was willing to demonstrate this love by sacrificially dying on the cross for our sins.
Then, while surrounded by hundreds of young people, David invited those that wanted to respond to the message to gathering around and hold hands in a circle - not a normal request after a heavy metal concert. In spite of that, 60 people joined hands and prayed out loud and in front of everyone for Jesus to enter their lives! Praise God! |
