From my friend Silvia. A monthly newsletter from the Wave Church, December 18th, 2011:
We would like to encourage you to see the big picture. We are already impacting Marbella and Puerto Banus. Our very presence is a piercing of the darkness - there are stories linked with various events and of course the Wave Cafe on Wednesday mornings, which we hope to include on the website to encourage you.
One remarkable story is of a ‘chance’ encounter two weeks ago when one of the heirs to the Saudi Arabian throne arrived on the doorstep at 11am just as we were starting the Worship service. He was invited in to have coffee and to experience some beautiful worship music. He stayed for the entire message. He was visibly touched so much so that a few of us were invited to his Marbella home for tea that afternoon. Melanie was able to give him a DVD of supernatural Muslim conversions to Christ plus a copy of a Spanish/Arabic New Testament which she explained contained the reason for the joy that he had commented on earlier.
Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in Spain! God is good!
When I told people that I was going to Spain for a mission trip, the number one response I got was, “Spain? Why Spain?” In their minds, Spain is largely Christianized, so when they think missions trip, they think about China or Africa. But make no mistake: the Spaniards in Spain need Jesus just as much as the Chinese in China or the Africans in Africa.
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday: I got a little under the weather on Thursday. Thank God for those Vitamin C cough drops in a care package I received from Tabitha, Jenna, Heath, and David. Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’): On Friday, Tom took us to Ronda, a small little city with lots of history. We spent the day sightseeing there, before we played our final time at the music cafe at the church in Puerto Banus. I had a good time of personal worship there, and it also marked the third day in a row that a worker and his family from the neighboring Indian restaurant stopped by the church. He was of the Muslim faith, and Tom had given him a track in Arabic. We-we-we so excited We so excited We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday: At night we went to the Earth, Wind, and Fire concert. We got free tickets since we knew the lead guitarist, Lasse Olsson, for the opening act: the Santana Project, the number one tribute band for Santana (according to Santana himself). After the concert was over, we got signed autographs and photos from Al Mckay, one of the original singer/songwriter/lead guitarist from the band. And Sunday comes after…wards: We didn’t get to bed until 3am, so on 6 hours of sleep, we led Sunday morning worship for our last time at the Puerto Banus church. We saw the Lord working through us when Pastor Kurt happened to speak on the same message as our first song in the set Here I am to Worship. (We usually don’t find out what the sermon is about until Sunday). After service, the church put on a farewell luncheon for us. Afterward, we attended another service at a Filipino church, where we led worship songs for offatory as well as for response after the service. They invited us to stay for dinner at their potluck, and asked us to teach them some practical tips about musical worship. The words of the apostle Paul came to my mind: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong” (Rom 1:11). I’m thankful that I had an opportunity to bless and be blessed by the Filipino church. We didn’t leave until four hours later.
Teaching keyboard worship.
I don’t want this weekend to end.
Better yet, I don’t want this trip to end. But it did, and here I am back home, at a 2-day debrief in Venice Beach. I will miss the people, friends, and family I had in Spain.
45. The number of people who showed up at the music cafe last Saturday night. Thank you for all the prayers. God truly did answer them, more abundantly than we could ever imagine or hope for, or in this case, handle. Cristianos from all across Spain spent the night playing billards, ping pong, talking, and dancing. A band from northern Spain called the Melon Trees split the playing time in half with us. We were definitely grateful for their contribution, and amazed at their musical talent and showmanship, along with their humility. I got a chance to chat with a few individuals, all of whom the Lord has blessed and is using in various ways. Normally, on Saturday nights, we close shop around 1am, since Sunday service starts at 11 in the morning. This particular Saturday, we didn’t leave the cafe until 3:30am. Yeah, we were pretty dead in the morning during service, but thank God for his grace and his power, that we pulled through.
What was amazing to me was to see a generation of youth from all across Spain rise up, and be united by a common passion for Christ. God is indeed working through them, and it was encouraging to be a part of it. Ironically enough, as Kurt, Alex, Brian, and I made our way home that night, we spotted hundreds of young people drinking and smoking on the beach and others just arriving at one of the local clubs down the street, pulling up in Taxis. The stark contrast between the two reminds me that while God light shines brightly through the darkness, some areas have yet to see the light, or experience it.
Click the picture to see how the town’s ad was promoting the event.
On Friday, we performed a 3-song set at a charity event in the city of Alhaurín de la Torre, a Spanish city just southwest of Málaga. The event was hosted by Amigos Click—an NGO—and organized by the Asociación Benéfica Cristiana (ABC)—a branch of YWAM—and supported by the municipality of Alhaurín de la Torre and Centro Cristiano Alhaurín—a church started by Kurt and now overseen by Pastor Eugene Greco, better known for writing Christian songs such as Mighty is Our God.Other than the Chinese New Year Fair stint that we had at our church earlier this year, this was the first time we’ve ever performed live in front of an audience.
We arrive for sound check at 5:00PM. Having been in Spain for almost a week, it did not surprise us that city employees who should have shown up at 1:00PM to set up the electricity didn’t arrive until shortly before we did. Instead of a sound check, we helped set up the venue—tying paper cut-outs of musical notes and flowers to the stage. We got a chance to meet very interesting individuals: Craig, originally from Colorado, was involved with YWAM, and George, originally from Nigeria, was helping out at the Centro Cristiano Church with Pastor Greco.
Minutes before the children’s event started at 6:30PM, we got a chance to run a quick sound check. Not that it really mattered anyway, since the settings were not saved, other stints were to perform before ours, and the sound tech was…new.
Four hours and dinner and ice cream later, the show starts. By this time, we’re pretty tired from the heat. Eugene’s band is up first, and as expected for someone with a record label, he does a wonderful job doing an Israel Houton song called Just Wanna Say, another song that Eugene wrote, and a cover of Francesca Battistelli’s Beautiful, beautiful. Up next was a jazz/blues band that also did diabolo and juggling. Very entertaining. Tough act to follow. Secretly, I had hoped that our performance wouldn’t follow theirs during the pre-show. My dreams were shattered when I heard the emcee announce the next band to be “Los Californianos” and something to the degree of “a rock band from Los Angeles”.
While Bchan was setting up the cymbals on the drum kit, Alex wanted me to do a little bit of Mario on the piano—something I haven’t done in ages, and certainly not on a keyboard I’ve never used. After a rusty attempt at it, we were good to go. We started off with Brandon Heath’s “Give Me Your Eyes”. Somewhere in the middle of the second verse, an infinite horrendous feedback cycle started, which went on for a few good measures, throwing me and Alex off vocally. Fortunately, Bchan maintained a steady beat. And so we kept playing.
By the end our second song, “Deeply in Love” by Hillsong, I realized that half the audience was chatting amongst themselves. The other half was attempting to make out the lyrics that we were singing in English—a difficult task for a largely Spanish-primarily speaking population. By God’s grace though, we ended strong with our best, and most-practiced song “Analyze” by Tim Be Told, which stilled most of the chatter, and won back the audience.
We left shortly after, since Kurt’s son was feeling tired. I’m just thankful to God that we had a chance to participate in an event, though hosted by an NGO, organized by a Christ-following organization and church to benefit the poor and needy. Not a bad first time gig at all.
My running route: total distance roundtrip - 2.2 miles.
Thursday morning. I made a decision the night before that I was going to get 20 minutes of cardio everyday, as part of a birthday gift to myself. I figured I’d swim too, since I’d be at the beach, so I ran dressed in my trunks, shoes, and lots and lots of sunscreen. The run + swim + run lasted for a good 1 1/2 hours, with plenty of time in between to dry off.
For lunch, Tom and Laverna from the Puerto Banus Church invited us over to their place. My what a feast we had! First came the Manzana + Sweet Kiss Tea — chilled apple juice with this flavored tea from Germany. Deliciously refreshing.
Next came the spring rolls, followed by thai fried chicken, and white rice. Finally! Asian food in Spain. As if that wasn’t enough, finally came the main course: noodles with beef, shrimp, and everything in between. It was simply amazing. It wasn’t until the egg-white frosting cake came out were my suspicions confirmed: yup, Alex and Bchan had tipped them off about my special day. Thanks. To Tom and Laverna’s credit, they were originally going to throw this lunch for us already prior to finding out about the news. The cake was all they made extra.
I would have to say that this meal would probably have to go down as one of the most memorable birthday meals I’ve ever had. God bless Tom and Laverna for their hospitality and for my teammates for the surprise!
A view from the inside of the Wave Church. Left: Tom setting up the chairs for service. Right: Me setting up the midi controller. Photo credits: Alex Lai
Sunday morning. We arrive at Puerto Banus Church (aka Wave Church) at 10:30am, giving us just 30 minutes for setup. Hours before, we were here at 1am closing up another night as a music cafe. Same setup, except less chairs in rows, and more fold-up tables scattered throughout.
Service began with Kurt, our host and pastor, welcoming the church and introducing us as the church’s worship team for the next four Sundays. Worship was great…during worship, the peace of God transcended my mind and my heart, such that all my anxieties were all laid down upon Him…and that I was free…free to worship Him in spirit and in truth. No more concerns of whether the music sounds good, whether we were on key, on tempo, etc. Not even when the midi controller go whack did it distract us (much). Just enjoying what we were made to do: worship God for who He is and what He has done.
After worship, Kurt spoke on perseverance, taking from several passages in the Bible, including the parable of the persistent widow. After the conclusion of the sermon, Kurt opened up a time for testimony sharing. Several people from the church stood up, walked to the front, and shared what the Lord was doing in their life. One in particular that encouraged me was a guy by the name of Ray, a professor from Buckinghamshire University, in London, on vacation with his two kids and wife. He recounted how he was praying to the Lord that he would find a church a few days back, and as he made his way to the beach the night before, he heard some music playing—me, Brian, and Alex—and he looked up, and saw a cross on the outside of the building, and praised God for answering his prayer. (He never went inside, but just took note of where the church was located.) We got a chance to talk to him a bit afterward, and it turns out he was just in LA earlier, regarding in music business. He gave us his email address, should we know anyone who’d be interested in that.
After the testimony sharing time, Kurt called us back up to the stage to do an impromptu worship song. Good thing the Lord is gracious and abounding in mercy and is honored with our obedience as long as we give Him our best.
It was very encouraging to hear all the testimonies shared that day…and to see how the Lord uses our music to draw people to Himself, without us even being aware of it.
Last night, we had our first debut as a band at the Puerto Banus Church “Music Cafe”. The church’s sound system was super legit—a 17,000 € digital mixer. We opened at 9:00pm local time, hours before the other clubs were open. To our disappointment, we had only a few visitors, outside the core team that volunteers at the church. Melanie, our host Kurt’s wife, told us that the number of people can fluctuate throughout the tourist season—on some nights it can be pretty empty, and on others packed.
We did get a chance to meet a born-again family from Brussels, Belgium. Their teenager sons Natanel and Guillermo played drums and sang, respectively, so we jammed “Here I Am to Worship” with them. Their father asked if we knew any Jesus Culture music, which to my ignorance and surprise was well-received and sung throughout many parts in Europe. The only one I knew was Revelation song, so that was cool to jam.
Melanie encouraged us by saying, “We have no idea what is happening in the heavens…how the angels are rejoicing” after seeing our disappointment. For me, her words served as a helpful reminder that often I define success of a ministry based on the number of people that come. The lesson I’ve been learning all summer is that God is in control of the results, and success of a ministry is simply participating to what the Lord is doing around us, and being obedient to his calling.
What I failed to recognize was that while we were all jamming inside the church, outside Melanie, Kurt, and Tom (another faithful guy at the church) were having conversations with the passersby—those who would stop for a few moments, listen to the music, and carry on to their destination. One of them was with a Spanish lady who has been living a couple of years in Marbella, who has never been to this Church. Melanie invited her to drop by again. Sharing the love of Christ must be done more subtly here, at least more so through actions and relationships, rather than through words initially.
Pray for us to be bold in our witness, in our words, actions, and music.
Hello supporters, friends, and followers! We made it safely into Marbella, Spain. Local time: 5:44 PM, or 9 hours ahead of LA time. Current temperature: a modest 79°F, a rarity for this time of year. We are jetlagged, full of Argentinian ice cream and homemade chicken and veggie curry, and resting comfortably in our host Kurt´s house. Kurt and his family are very hospitable. Some of the highlights so far:
On the first flight from LAX to JFK in New York, I had an interesting conversation with the passenger two seats to my left. He was asleep for most of the trip, until the last hour or so, when he awoke and made a comment on a book I was reading (The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer). He was in his late 40s, with salt and peppery hair. We struck up a conversation about religion, where he let me know that takes he takes the similarities from each religion, and adopts that as his own belief system. He didn´t believe in good or evil, but believed in love, and spirituality, and channeling chakras. He described himself having once been a hard-core Christian, but after seeing miracles from other religions, has come to see each religion as a tool by which each one of us can be God…God not in a sense as an ultimate being, but as in each of us had a piece of God within us. No gospel opportunity was present, but he did give me his business card and asked me to befriend him on facebook. Pray for Mateo.
Kurt´s son Kyle is free of leukemia and now might be possibly dealing with some of the complications of a bone-marrow transplant. We picked him up from the hospital today, where his liver checked out to be fine. PTL! Today, we´ve found that that the days that Kyle has been in and out of the hospital totals up more than a year. Please pray for his scleroderma to be healed.
That´s all for now. Please pray for my heart to be continually transformed by the power of the gospel.
