| |
June 2003 Table of Contents
Special Feature
International Choir Tours
By Beth Hunnicutt
Minister of Music
First Baptist Church of Garner, NC
"Go to where? Malaysia? I don't even know where that is. What Minister of Music would agree to take a choir to sing Christmas music on the other side of the world the last two weeks of November with our own Christmas Musical scheduled the following weekend? 'Lord, You know my physical limitations...and none of my choir will want to be away for 19 days, especially over the Thanksgiving holidays.'"
Those were the objections I raised to the Lord (and my husband) when approached about this mission opportunity for our choir. But, God began to patiently work in my heart and He placed a burden there and a sense that this was exactly what we were supposed to do.
I left for the January 2002 J&J conference with a prayer: "Lord, if I am supposed to lead a group to Malaysia, I need at least 15 people to feel led to go with me. I need 12 singers (and they have to be the right voices), an accompanist, a sound guy and another church staff member to help with the logistics." All during the conference, I kept telling the Lord what I needed and what a huge task this would be. He spoke to me at that conference through the musical God In Us to remind me that no task is too big when God is in it. God asked me the same question that He asked Abraham in Genesis 18: 14-"Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
When I returned from the conference, I held my first meeting to see who might be interested. To my surprise, the room was full! On November 14, 2002, fifty people answered God's call to go to Malaysia. God is so good and He is bigger than my weak faith could see. Two other staff members, an accompanist, a sound guy, talented singers and six instrumentalists comprised this wonderful and obedient group of believers who God called to this Muslim country 12 time zones away from Garner, NC. While we were gone, the other 60 choir members left at home "stood in the gap" for those who were able to go. This was truly a mission opportunity for more than just our choir. Our entire church family prayed, gave, and supported by keeping small children, serving in church responsibilities and even working jobs in the place of those who were called to minister in Malaysia for those 19 days.
The logistics of taking a group that size was unbelievable. The total cost was $80,000 and God provided every dollar in faith-building ways. We believed we should take our handbells, and God used our folks who played to open doors in places that would have been closed to us without them. Handbells, music stands, foam for the tables, costumes and props for our drama, five banners plus the poles, teaching materials to give to the missionaries, gifts for our Malaysian host churches, three guitars, two trumpets, two flutes, a set of drums-all resulted in 220 pieces of luggage. We took 12 flights and flew for a total of 39 hours plus 24 hours worth of layovers going and coming back with no loss or damage to our equipment. Glory to God! Only He could have put together this project at this time to share His gospel. Each person who went with us had a testimony of God's faithfulness in providing the financial resources, meeting every need and overcoming every obstacle that they faced in order for them to obey His call. I am so glad that we learned first hand the truth of Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all of your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
The people of Malaysia are mostly Malay Muslims, but there is also a large Chinese population who are Buddhist and a smaller Indian population who are Hindu. The Christian church there is small (about 5% of the population) and faces many challenges due to the Muslim government. The churches lack a lot of the materials and training that we take for granted, however, their heart for Jesus and their joy in worship brightly shines.
While in Malaysia, we were reminded continually of the unity among believers in Christ that does not depend upon language or culture. We sensed God's Spirit there and He used us to win people to Him and to encourage the Chinese churches in Malaysia. The Chinese people are allowed to become Christians but it is very hard to get land for churches and the government has many regulations that make worship difficult. It is against the law for a Malay person to accept Christ, so we had to carefully witness to the Muslims. A 19-year-old Muslim girl who accepted Jesus at one of our concerts was afraid that her family would beat her when they heard of her conversion to Christianity. We saw first-hand the commitment and sacrifice that Christians in many parts of the world experience as they faithfully serve our Lord.
Our time in Malaysia was spent doing much more than singing the music and performing the drama we had prepared. We held choir rehearsals with their choirs and helped their worship leaders to find resources. There are no "professional church musicians" but they have many, many talented leaders and instrumentalists. By the way, the Chinese sing Praise and Worship songs almost exclusively and mostly use praise teams instead of choirs. We taught seminars to groups of the local churches on how to begin and organize a choir, children's choir leadership training, Creation Reality, Upward Basketball, Child Evangelism, discipleship, and women's ministry. You see, God had put together a unique group; people who could sing and people who had many other gifts that would benefit the people of Malaysia. It was truly a God thing. I was changed forever because of this mission trip to Malaysia. My faith has grown, my abilities and comfort level stretched and my understanding of the mandate of the great commission expanded. This was true for all of us. Each member of the team had to overcome the challenges of unusual food (fish and rice for three weeks!), uncomfortable cultural situations, and even the fear of terrorism (a new terror alert for Malaysia was issued by the State Department while we were there). We sang in a different location with a different sound system (or NO sound system) every day. I learned that I can direct in 100-degree heat and with Chinese children standing at each elbow. Even learning to accept a completely different concept of time was a challenge for us. The concert may have been advertised as beginning at 7:00, but that might really mean 8:30 or 9:00 pm. God stretched and grew our team even while we were ministering for Him. Isn't that just like God?
I strongly encourage you to consider and pray about an international choir tour. God has called us to use every means to share the gospel. Music is able to cross many barriers and is a wonderful tool to present the love of Jesus. Answering this call will bless you and all those who accept the challenge to get out of their comfort zone, step out in faith and "go into all the world!"
Back to Top
|
|
