Monday, May 30, 2011

SMR in Berlin Day Three

Sonrise Mountain Revival Berlin Project
Day Three
By Kristin Gaffney

            Oh boy.  How do I begin to describe today?
            Breakfast was at the hotel and very good.  We all ate hearty because we knew we had to, we had three services to do today!  (It is Sunday)  And I loved breakfast.  I seriously am just in love with the breakfast here even though I just eat hardboiled eggs and bread.
            Anyways, we got our stuff onto another train and walked over to the first service.  It was at a German church with an international flavor and when we got there we discovered that the service was being taped to be televised on 6 regional networks, two satellites and rebroadcast in several other locations.  It was even going to play in China!  That was hectic, but the people there took care of the slides and we sounded great!  Everyone was wonderful, in that giant room with the four story high ceiling, the organ in the back, and the up-to-date sound system.  Our ministry was well received – afterwards people could not stop expressing their appreciation.  Evidently bluegrass does speak over here!  The only problem for us was that almost the entire rest of the service was in German, which we don’t understand.  Needless to say, despite that it was great to worship with God’s family in another part of the world; singing old choruses like Majesty and God is So Good and praying the Lord’s Prayer in English while everyone around us did so in German was an incredible experience.  And the service had so many other people involved in it including this incredibly gifted black gospel singer who closed our time of worship with a song in English.   The message was given by the visiting regional head of their denomination – all in German, so even though it was about Martha and Mary, it was the one part of the service difficult to follow along.  Afterwards they gave us a pretty good, but weird, lunch of bratwurst in some spicy sauce and odd potatoes.  Then we were already running late so we had to rush to get to the next church!
            Aaron, the pastor of the church we went to last night, helped us tremendously by taking a van with our heaviest equipment and Rich and my dad.  Their knees have been bothering them and we’ve done a lot of walking on the trip, so please pray for them.
            The next church, Crossway International Church, was very gracious to us.  We were basically their entire service that day.  We rushed to get everything set up with their sound system and although there were some minor glitches the entire thing was very well received.  Most of us even managed to stay awake the whole time – no minor feat with jet lag, a late night back the night before, and such a busy schedule.  The good news, it was an English church so we understood the whole thing!
            After the service we had a light snack and got to spend some time meeting and sharing with the congregation.  Then of course we had to run off to our next event.
            This place was a very small church called the Jesus House.  The worship room was the size of one of the subway cars, but the people there were very warm and receptive.  We managed to get all of our instruments in and still have room for the audience, even with our bass.  (By the way, Michael’s bass came without a bow, and his fingers are really bothering him and blistering, so please pray for his health as well.)  Jeff and I gave our testimonies, which was nerve wracking for me, but it all turned out alright. 
Dad gave the message with our music wrapped around it throughout the service.  We were again well received, even though once again we worked through a translator so that people could hear both the English and German.  Once again, afterwards there was food and a time of talking around it.  They gave us a number of different foods, including a really, really good cheesecake and some cool chocolates.  The conversations were even better.  This church works with a lot of people who have had difficult lives and many seekers or young believers.  Jeff was especially excited because his testimony opened the door for three very deep conversations.  It was exciting
            We took the train system back to the hotel – playing on the trains is becoming a regular event for us - and then got a good, big meal.  Pastor Aaron Bowes was able to eat with us and it was good to hear more about his heart for the Lord and his ministry.  He sends his greetings to all the PowerSurge family, he misses all of you but is happy to meet this new group – us!
            Tomorrow our day is not nearly as busy, the highlight being an concert sponsored by the Jesus House and another church whom they are partnering with for this outreach.   Please pray for God to use us to open more doors!
             Oh, and Leanna and I are finally going to get some Starbucks – we need it!
            With love from Germany, Sonrise Mountain Revival.

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