The Hungarian word “Csodalatos” means “brokenness is the beauty”. English words fail to convey the exact meaning! Perfect love, total wrath, graceful beauty, complete brokenness, malicious cruelty and compassionate kindness all occupying the same space in one climatic moment. Such was the truth that God gave the Artslink, Dancelink and Bill Drake Band team for Baja, Hungary from 10-17 July 2011. The results were eternal.
An arts and English camp, a city square concert, regular team devotions, nightly praise and worship - all great opportunities for God to work on participants and short-term workers alike. The tipping point came on the Wednesday evening when the leader of the Dancelink team, Cheryl Vigereaux, spontaneously began to dance to the song "How Great Is Our God" in the little cellar that had been converted into a chapel for the language school where the team was based.
Sharing in devotions the following morning, one of the team broke down as she tried to convey a vision she had seen during that dance - the bricks in the cellar exploded outward in an array of blinding light, and all of a sudden Cheryl, who hadn't missed a step, was dancing before the King of Kings, who was on His throne. God was pleased with this worship, and was pleased to see the missions team from Operation Mobilization team glorifying Him with their talents and gifts.
Later that day, Hungarian translator Bence, exhorted participants to share what they were experiencing. One after another, they related how loved they felt here, and in that love, they were experiencing God. Bence related the love of Christ, which compels us to share Him, His truth and His love. A number of Hungarians were in tears, and a number gave their hearts to Christ. “It was an awesome evening,” reports Bill Drake, “but nothing prepared us for the explosive response we were to experience the following evening outdoors in Baja City Center.
“Hundreds of Hungarians were drawn to the vibrant sound of our bands, the colorful power of our dancers, and the awesome spectacle of our visual artist's graffiti wall, painted on a huge canvas during the last song of the Bill Drake Band concert that night. Moving away from the keyboard, I pointing to the graffiti wall at the front of the stage and asked the crowd if they would like Jesus to do in their hearts and lives what was so colorfully and skilfully displayed on the canvas: Csodalatos. Wetting their hands with paint, many came forward to make their mark for Christ.”
Praise God for His presence in Baja and the miracle of new life in Christ for many young artistic Hungarians who encountered the Ultimate Artist.
An arts and English camp, a city square concert, regular team devotions, nightly praise and worship - all great opportunities for God to work on participants and short-term workers alike. The tipping point came on the Wednesday evening when the leader of the Dancelink team, Cheryl Vigereaux, spontaneously began to dance to the song "How Great Is Our God" in the little cellar that had been converted into a chapel for the language school where the team was based.
Sharing in devotions the following morning, one of the team broke down as she tried to convey a vision she had seen during that dance - the bricks in the cellar exploded outward in an array of blinding light, and all of a sudden Cheryl, who hadn't missed a step, was dancing before the King of Kings, who was on His throne. God was pleased with this worship, and was pleased to see the missions team from Operation Mobilization team glorifying Him with their talents and gifts.
Later that day, Hungarian translator Bence, exhorted participants to share what they were experiencing. One after another, they related how loved they felt here, and in that love, they were experiencing God. Bence related the love of Christ, which compels us to share Him, His truth and His love. A number of Hungarians were in tears, and a number gave their hearts to Christ. “It was an awesome evening,” reports Bill Drake, “but nothing prepared us for the explosive response we were to experience the following evening outdoors in Baja City Center.
“Hundreds of Hungarians were drawn to the vibrant sound of our bands, the colorful power of our dancers, and the awesome spectacle of our visual artist's graffiti wall, painted on a huge canvas during the last song of the Bill Drake Band concert that night. Moving away from the keyboard, I pointing to the graffiti wall at the front of the stage and asked the crowd if they would like Jesus to do in their hearts and lives what was so colorfully and skilfully displayed on the canvas: Csodalatos. Wetting their hands with paint, many came forward to make their mark for Christ.”
Praise God for His presence in Baja and the miracle of new life in Christ for many young artistic Hungarians who encountered the Ultimate Artist.
Love this! Thanks for being faithful, for stepping into your callings and for sharing the good report!
ReplyDeleteThat was an awesome time to be sure. One thing that struck me was how God spoke to so many different people on so many different levels -- from teens making a first tentative step toward putting their trust in Him, to old seasoned veterans having their hearts cracked open to see God in a new way, to "ministering to the ministers" and standing together in the fight. I know I'll never be the same...
ReplyDeletePS - I love the new background image on the site. Maybe inspired by some of the things the team learned there??? ;-)