Annual Albania Outreaches

For the 9th time in 9 years, the UniShow did an outreach tour in the beautiful country of Albania.

From 16 August to 2 September, 2019, our team of 10 from Australia, USA and South Korea unicycled, danced, painted and played music during our hour and fifteen minute show.  We partnered with local church planters as we presented the Gospel for 4,750 people during 11 events around the country.

The harvest is truly plentiful in Albania.  It has been a joy to work with strategic Albanian church planters for nearly a decade and see over 20 churches planted, grow and even plant other churches through our outreaches.

During this tour, we again had the privilege of openly sharing the Gospel during each event and it was always exciting to see people respond to Jesus during Dustin's invitation.  Our Albanian partners let audiences know about the existing church in the area or one about to start.  Contact cards were filled out by those who were interested in learning more about what we shared.  The follow-up by the church planting team was excellent and they didn't let a day pass before they called each person to connect with them personally and plug them into Christian fellowship. 

After our show in Lushnja, we met a 16 year old who was at our event there 2 years ago where he had raised his hand and given his life to Jesus during Dustin's invitation!  He said his life has dramatically changed and he's never going back; he's on fire for Jesus, serving with the church and wants to be a missionary!  It was exciting to be able to pray with and encourage him!

During our show in Rrogozhine, an angry Muslim, supposedly sent by the local Imam, came to pull the plug mid-show, but our power source remained intact at the cafe since the owner was the Mayor's wife and was a fan of our show!

We had several shows in and around Tiranna.  After our first one, we met friendly 10 year old Melvin, who spoke perfect English he learned by watching YouTube videos.  He became one of our team's biggest fans and came with his grandma to the next 3 events we had in other parts of the city because he said he really enjoyed our show and liked talking with us.  As a result, he connected with our local partners and has begun to attend their church.

We presented in another village where we were told the Gospel had never been shared before.  What a privilege to be the first!  We shared openly in another city considered the seat of Islam in Albania.

Albania is an exciting place to serve because we see so much encouraging fruit, immediately and over time.  Thanks for helping us share the Good News with those eager to receive it!

Typical older Albanian men looking distinguished while hanging out at the park.

Aloha from Albania!

'Aloha' is the Hawaiian word for love, peace, compassion and mercy, commonly used as a simple greeting. Our team of 8 from Australia, Albania, America and Korea, chose the name Team Aloha and had the privilege of extending these virtues across Albania packaged in a performance infused with the Gospel. We surprised ourselves with how much fun the Aloha show was to perform.

Donning Hawaiian shirts, we hit the stage for 65 minutes of non-stop action combining unicycling, drama, dance, music and most importantly, the Gospel message. We partnered with an Albanian church planter who has used these creative performances over the years to start more than 20 churches. In some cities and villages we partnered with young churches and in other cities we joined nationals who are working on starting a church where none exists.

Our organizer worked hard to secure permission from mayors and officials in each city. Police were present at most events, blocking off streets and diverting traffic, clearing parking lots, helping keep the peace among rowdy kids, and generally keeping an eye on things. On this tour we also had the unique experience to record some of our show at TV 7 studio in Tirana, which aired a week later.

We heard very encouraging feedback regarding our presentations. One pastor said he felt our event changed the atmosphere and showed that the church comes out of their walls to share with the community. He noted that people were very affected by the message. Another long-term partner thought our show was the best he's seen from our group over the years. He was very encouraged afterward with the amount of youth who asked him for details about how to connect with the church. 

 
Another pastor said in his 4 years of leading his church he has never seen so many people interested in taking Bibles and literature before. He was amazed to see how the performance drew people in and opened them to the message. Local workers said it was a beautiful performance unlike anything the community has seen before. 

During a city center show, we were surprised that the nearby cafés turned their music down as Dustin led in a prayer of surrender to Christ. Church members saw a lady who is a known atheist pray the prayer! Another lady said she felt deliverance during the message and a Presence she had never felt before.

In another city, believers are trying to plant the first church. A local Christian lady was so encouraged by our show there and even helped hand out literature at the end. She and her husband were part of the church that fizzled many years ago and their own walk with God went with it. She asked us to pray for the opportunity to fellowship with other believers again. Team members talked to an Imam who started to debate until he was shown verses in the Koran that say Jesus died and rose again. They read to him from John 1 explaining what we believe. The Imam was open to reading the Bible and learning more. And we know of several people who made professions of faith in Jesus during the show! With the great response and so many interested in learning more about Jesus, it looks promising that a new church will begin here soon. 

We performed in front of a Mosque in a city which is half Muslim, half Catholic and mostly in need of a relationship with Jesus. During the invitation and prayer of surrender to Jesus, several people indicated they were choosing Jesus for the first time! One of those people was a 21 year old who said, "Today I changed my belief. I was a Muslim but when I heard the Christian message I wanted to follow Jesus."

We performed in another city which is 95% Muslim and has not had a church in 15 years. There is a Christian couple whom our organizer and a business man have been driving 3 hours each Saturday to disciple and mentor. Since unemployment and poverty in Albania is common, and often the reason new churches struggle, they are implementing a new model of simultaneously opening an electronics business in the city along with the church, to help support the pastor and church. This ambitious couple hope to get both the church and the electronics shop up and running as soon as they are grounded and have a solid team prepared to lead.

Our church planting organizer has a wise strategy of not hastily throwing a church together but waiting until the foundation is strong enough to support a lasting fellowship. He wants to plant churches, not play church, and his methods seem to be working. He reminded us that as we do these evangelistic events we are pushing, fighting, attacking the gates of hell. We are not just preaching the Gospel but breaking mentalities. He said people in Albania think church is stale, boring, lifeless tradition. But when they see dancing, lively music, and a world champion performing and sharing about Jesus, they realize people in the church are normal, fun and it shatters misconceptions about who Jesus is.

After each presentation, many surveys were collected from interested people requesting follow-up. Church members will contact each person and begin discipling them. In summary, we presented to 3,150 people during 11 events plus a TV broadcast that will be viewed by many people in Albania, Kosovo and USA.

Please pray for:
-The thousands of people who heard the Gospel and the hundreds who indicated a first time commitment to Jesus, to keep growing in their understanding of who Jesus is.
-Wisdom as church members follow up with those wanting to know more about the Bible and Jesus.
-The churches to grow in depth, numbers and unity.
-More workers and believers in Albania to serve in the church and reach out in evangelism.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Colossians 3:12

Albania WhAM! Tour 2017

We called ourselves the WhAM! Tour because we had Wheels, Aerial acts and Music (punctuated with dance!).  From 18-30 May 2017, our TACO (Turkey AfriAsia Creative Outreach) group of 9 from Korea, Canada, Australia and America traveled around Albania performing and sharing the Good News.

Though Albania was declared 100% atheist in 1967, it is now wide open with freedom of religion. God is on the move in Albania and His church is growing. Since Albania is not new territory for TACO, each time we return we see young churches maturing which we've helped start. They are now planting others and there is always new vision for more. It is a privilege to partner in this endeavor. We again worked with an Albanian pastor and church planter who is well connected across the country.

In the city of Kavajë we presented for TACO's 3rd time. Past audiences have been resistant or apathetic. Believers have been working in this city for a few years and were finally ready to launch a church. Our presentation helped promote and announce the first service a few days later. We learned that 15 people came to the first meeting and are now involved in a discipleship program.

In Maliq the local pastor was surprised to see how well our team cooperated with each other, being from different nations. He thought the testimonies were great, appreciated how we really connected with the people and was glad the city could see good Christian art. Apparently they are already asking when we'll be back. Others thanked us for coming saying no one ever comes to Albania to perform these things.

The band sang a song in Albanian. It was a crowd favorite, resulting in the audience clapping and bursting into traditional dances as they sang along.

Joel wowed the crowds with his aerial acts and would always receive gasps and applause when he included in his testimony that he is almost 58 years old.

People liked David's dancing so much they asked for lessons after the show. 

Whenever Dustin would return to the stage with his unicycles, cheers would erupt from his many fans.

In each show Dustin gave a clear Gospel presentation and led in a prayer of surrender to Jesus.

We performed 9 shows this tour for over 3,000 people and saw at least 245 indicate they were surrendering their lives to Jesus for the first time. We were thankful that only one show was cancelled due to rain. Several other times rain stopped just before or started when we were nearly done performing.

Please pray for:

- The new church in Kavajë to grow and thrive.

- Churches we partnered with across Albania as they follow-up with interested people.

- The church in Maliq who is building a new ministry complex to care for street kids.