One of the words that would have to be used to describe the Proclaim! International tour in Poland and Ukraine in July of 2010 would have to be "perserverance".  Every tour has it's challenges, but this one seemed to require more than the normal share of "stick-to-itiveness".  I know that's not a word, I just didn't want to use "perserverance" twice in one paragraph.  Oops, guess I did it anyways. (You can click on the photos to see a larger version).

Marjorie and I had participated in the Ukraine advance trip, talking to interested partners about how we could help them with their current outreach plans and visions given the tools and resources in the creative arts and music that we have built up.  Although there was some interest, things just didn't seem to quite come together, and we were left a little unsure if there was really a need for us to come to Ukraine.

Normally two trips are made before we send in a team; the advance trip to talk with the various partners and discern what it is God wants us to do together, and the training trip where all the details of what needs to happen for a successful project are worked out.  In this case, Marjorie and I were not able to go on the second trip which really ended up being another advance trip, as another potential partner in Poland was contacted, Doug, a church planter who had been in Poland since 1985 and who had been working in one area for the last nine years.  They were planning a number of activities over the same time period, all under the umbrella of an effort that they had called "realna nadzieja" or "Real Hope".

So the result was a tour that crossed two countries, Poland and Ukraine.  The band that was chosen for this project was The Outlanders, a five piece rock/pop group.  Russ

was asked to be the Program Manager, the person who is responsible for the various aspects of the progam, as well as to play keys, guitar and sing backing vocals, and Marjorie was asked to be the Visuals Director, in charge of both lighting and video with live cameras and motion graphics.

We were really happy that Martin Bartlett, a good friend of ours who is an englishman living in France,was able to come along on this tour to play bass.  Martin has done many projects with us, but this was the first time he had participated in a tour organized by Proclaim.  We were also excited that Andrew Janssen (in the picture on the right), a volunteer who has been working with us in France for the last six months or so, was able to participate in this tour which would be his first.

Perserverance was required right from day one, because the start of the tour for the four of us (Russ, Marjorie, Martin and Andrew) involved driving from our home in France through Germany to Rabka in the south of Poland, a trip of several thousand kilometers that took three days.  We practised for two days in Poland, which for the musicians went relatively well, since three of the five members (Chris, Dominic and myself) had played the material for several tours already and knew it quite well.  Marjorie had a bit more of a challenge as she had a team of eager, but inexperienced people who needed training in their respective positions in lighting, switching, and video.

Our first concert was not promising.  The weather forecast called for showers leading to thunderstorms, and throughout the evening we were always on the verge of shutting everything down as the clouds and light rain came and went which is always a little stressful.  Fortunately we were under a large band shell on a stage in the middle of the town, but the weather was not conducive to people coming and sitting in the open-air theater, and we ended up with an audience of only about 50.  Just as we finished the concert, the clouds rolled in and the rains came down and "encouraged" a quick tear down to protect the equipment.  In spite of this, we had good conversations with people after the concert, several of whom were so entranced by what they saw and heard that they stayed the whole time, even with the less than ideal conditions.

This concert was the first of six in a row, and the perserverance theme continued as every day involved a very late night from the concert, talking to people and packing about two tons of equipment into vans, then getting up, rolling to the next location and doing it all over again.  The group of people that we had on this team were exceptional in the way they all worked well together in spite of the stresses and challenges and the fact that this was the first such experience for many.

For some reason there were constantly obstacles in our path, and it was not unusual for us to start traveling somewhere, find the road blocked off for construction (with no signs of course), head off on a detour, find that one blocked as well, and finally arrive at our destination after traveling many extra kilometers on poor roads we didn't intend on visiting.  This may have been a form of spiritual opposition to what we were trying to do.

Doug, the local church planter, was extremely busy as they also had a youth group from Ireland over doing a work project, AND a one-week english camp happening at the same time as our concerts.  On the other hand, he was really excited about the impact that he saw from these various events, and said several times that he thought we were going to see the results of many long years of plowing the soil in this city.

There were several times during the tour where we had a bit of trouble figuring out what was happening or where things were going.  One example was a concert in a sports complex in the town of Raba Wyzna.  The mayor had enthusiastically agreed to a concert, which was good although a little surprising given she hadn't heard of the group before, and supplied a very nice mobile stage that the city transported and set up for us.  However, just as we finished our sound check, we were taken aback to see another group show up with their instruments wanting to play on the stage, followed by an acappela folk choir, and a marching band (yup, with tubas and everything) doing show tunes.  We felt like we were caught up in some sort of Polish Family Folk Festival and I think you can see it on our faces in the photo at left.

We experienced many "minor" miracles; the holding back of the rain until the first concert was over was only the first of many.  Another was that we really wanted to do a concert at a café-bar located along the river where the "alternate" crowd tended to gather in the evenings.  It was a rougher crowd that met here, but as we told ourselves "the best place to go fishing is where the fish are!".  The problem was that the area was not too clean (no surprise), and had no stage or natural setting where we could put the equipment.  We went back to the major of Raba Wyzna and asked if there was any possibility we could use the city's mobile stage again and she said "Sure!  Where and when should we set it up?"  So we were able to have a great concert by the river with a stage, sound, lights and video, in one of the rougher parts of the city, and stayed afterwards and had some great contacts with the people there, although we did have to be a bit careful since many of them were drinking heavily.

Marjorie talked to a group of people sitting around a table, and helped one of them make a decision.  Here's what she wrote about it:

Down by the River

Rabka, Poland

Down by the river, where we were told most people don't like to go, was a shanty bar with men and women scattered around drinking beer in the hot sun. There we set up for our concert with blurry-eyed onlookers watching the unfolding curiosity.

After 3 hours of set-up and another 1 hour and half of the concert, the climax came where all the team had a chance to visit with the people and share their life story and why Outlanders had come to their city. I looked around for someone to talk with and then  I saw Margaret's group. They didn't really look like the others at the river.   Margaret and her 6 friends seemed to go down to the river because it was comfortably away from the average pace of life.  Perhaps a little more raw than the other bars they frequented. I walked toward their group, sat down at the edge and began asking questions. Does anyone here speak english?  Just a little.   Do you live here?  Some said yes, Margaret said no.  After a few awkward smiles, and some curious looks at each other than at me, someone asked… where do you live?  I'm from Canada but I live in Paris.  Two of the group smiled then left to get another drink from the little run down bar.

Suddenly, a fellow from across the way, who had obviously been drinking all night, came over to me and tried to strike up a romantic conversation.  Perfect timing as it gave me the opportunity to scoot over in the seat vacated by Margaret's friends. I was now right in the middle of the group, who were all laughing sympathetically at me as the drunk guy gave up and left muttering to himself. Margaret began talking and as she was asking different questions, I immediately noticed a warmth and openness in her. I moved again and sat right beside her.  And there began a conversation that quickly turned toward the reality of living in Poland, then to where purpose could be found and then ultimately toward Jesus Christ and hope for eternity. She was ready and open as I shared my testimony and other stories. I asked her if she wanted this same hope that had led me to a new life. She said yes and she accepted Christ as her personal Saviour. We talked more, making it clear what it meant to be a child of God. After awhile it was time that I left  the group to help finish packing up as it was after midnight. She indicated that she would see me again at the next concert in a different part of the city.  I said good bye to the group who I found out then had been listening to our conversation and walked away with the joy of knowing that they all had heard the way to accepting Jesus Christ personally for themselves.

Down by the river, where most people don't like to go, Margaret met Jesus and I gained a new friend. I may not see her again in this life time but I will pray for her and hold her in my heart each time I remember Poland and a little town called Rabka where a new river of life and hope runs through the heart of the city.