Rolling in the Albanian Harvest

Dustin making the Albanian Eagle.

From August 25-30, 2016 our UniShow TACO team of 9 musicians, dancers and a unicyclist joined forces with an Albanian church planter for 6 shows around Albania. We presented to over 2,500 people and saw more than 140 responded to an invitation to follow Jesus. Most of these shows were the culmination of a year or more of prayer and labor by pastors and leaders in these communities as they utilized the platform to announce the launch of new churches starting within a few weeks. In other communities we were partnering with young churches to help them connect with locals. In every show we were able to share the Gospel openly and it was exciting to see many respond each time.

It seemed the whole village of Remas came out to watch us perform our first show of the tour on the street in front of a cafe. The assistant mayor welcomed us and greeted the audience at the start of the program. We heard afterward that many locals had been stressed and our show brought hope and new life to them. Not only had they never seen anything like what we presented, but even 60 year old men said they had never heard the Gospel message before. The ground was soft in this village and our organizer is confident a church will be planted here soon. 

Novosele is the hometown of a lady named Mira who has been driving 3 hours to this village weekly for 3 years to work toward starting a church. She organized our event there to help launch the church in a few weeks. During the show, when Dustin was holding up a wooden cross for the Gospel illustration and gave an invitation for people to surrender to Jesus, a man who was a bit tipsy immediately walked forward, crossing himself, wanting to respond. JuYoung prayed with him afterward, as the man cried and shared great needs. Despite his inebriated condition, it was obvious God was working in his heart. He connected with the local believers and they will continue ministering to him. We were blessed after the show by a local Orthodox architect who liked our show so much that he took us out for dinner.

The team at dinner with our new friend.

Next we presented in Divjake to help a pastor and 12 lay leaders promote their church starting in a month. The Director of Culture gave permission for the event and was very pleased with what we shared. He wants us to return and offered to loan his sound system next time to make it an even bigger event. The audience was subdued throughout the show. We were told afterward that they loved what we presented yet hadn't seen anything like it before so didn't quite know how to respond.

Katie moving with her hoop.

In Berat we presented by the river on a busy walking street, with the 2,600 year old castle ruins that we had visited earlier that day, high on the mountains behind us. Members were present from the thriving church that was planted a few years ago as a result of a UniShow outreach during TACO's first visit to the area. This church has now planted 2 other churches in nearby villages. At that first show, a girl was in attendance who was suicidal. After hearing Dustin's testimony and the Gospel, she gave her life to Jesus and has been serving in the church ever since. She came to our show this time excited to see us and we were able to pray for her as she is about to start university, still walking closely with God! About 20 new people signed up at our event to join the church. 

View of Berat from the Castle.

David and his dance moves.

We were able to support another growing church in Cerrik. Members were present with matching shirts and greatly helped by providing a sound system and being present as security. In this city, over 150 youth have been radicalized so we knew adherence to a different religion was strong in the community. We were happy to hear we could be completely open during the program since when TACO was there earlier this year, they couldn't even say Jesus from the stage yet still had an angry protestor afterward. We had no trouble this time and people even seemed to be paying more attention during the prayer of surrender to Jesus, where over 20 responded. 

Rose singing to her beautiful harp music.

Because we had attended an international church on Sunday, we me a lady who works at a Christian radio station. Through this connection, David, Dustin and Rose were invited to the station to record an interview on our last day of this tour, sharing about how we use the tools of dance, unicycling and music around the world with TACO to spread the Good News. Dustin got the Gospel in through his testimony, David promoted concerts the next week in and around Tirana and Rose shared her first-time visitor impressions of Albania.

Then we wrapped up the week with a show in Luc. We didn't learn until afterward that the state government doesn't even do events in this city because of its bad reputation. Kids were vocal and somewhat disruptive throughout but it was still a fun show with lots of enthusiasm from the audience. Thankfully, the quietest part of the show was during the Gospel presentation and about 50 people responded. We wished we'd had more help with security because after the show things got a little crazy and it's surprising the only thing that went missing was JaeHyeouk's hat. We still had meaningful interactions amidst the chaos. 

Sabri is part of an initiative with other Albanian pastors to plant 400 churches in Albania before 2020. His personal goal is to plant 70 new churches, greatly relying on TACO outreaches. So far, under his leadership 28 have been planted. It is always so exciting to minister in Albania where the fields are ripe for the harvest and the results are so visible with people responding to Jesus and churches being planted and grown.

Beautiful Albania.