The Mall Tour in Turkey

Our Turkey tour has come to a close and we all concur that it was very worthwhile.  We did 11 shows, 8 of which were at shopping malls.  We were well received in all of them and many graciously provided meals for us.

Dustin was able to share more deeply with a young man after a show in Gaziantep who was blown away by how open and sure Dustin was about his faith.  We also got to meet another young man who came to faith as a result of our show in his city two years ago.  After a park show, Katie had the opportunity to share the full message with a young lady who was very interested in hearing more about God.

We were both interviewed after our show at Prime Mall in Adana for a national news service.  The show received press all across Turkey. 

We believe we maximized our outreach opportunities through mass seeds sown from the stage, conversations following the events and hundreds of surveys collected at shows with people's contact info for future follow up.

Thanks for praying with us for lasting fruit from these events.  Next stop…Kyrgyzstan.

Touring in Turkey

Our 3rd country of this TACO tour is off to a great start.  After Albania we had a few days to regroup before our performances in Turkey began.   After a day of rehearsal in Istanbul and we did a dress rehearsal of sorts at a local seaside park.  This part of the tour includes a band, StoryBox, and drama elements along with unicycling and dance.

Our first stop once we hit the road was Bursa where we did two shows just outside a large mall.  We performed here last year and have always had big crowds.  Each show drew around 2,000.

This year our sharing and dramas reflect our theme of raising awareness about violence against women.  We have found many open doors for performances when we are able to address a social issue and weave in the truth of God's love.  The truth is God loves women and greatly values them!  It's been neat to share hope with so many that truly need their eyes open and tell them God sees their hurt and is there with them.

Our next stop in Turkey's capitol, Ankara, was inside a shopping mall.  Shoppers watched from all three levels overlooking our performance area.  We were able to share more in depth with people afterward.  In Gaziantep we also performed at a large shopping mall with four levels for crowds to watch.  The mall management liked our show so much they have asked us to return next week for a second show.
Thanks for praying with us!

The equipment van is packed...time to hit the road!

Bursa Shopping mall show

David the hip hop dancer.

Dustin sharing his heart.

Dustin interviewed for a news program who guaranteed we would get press all over Turkey the following day, and we did!

Fans.

StoryBox.

Similar advertisements were at most malls where we performed.

A stop at the Tuz Golu (Salt Lake) en route to Gaziantep from Ankara.