Arizona Artists in Turkey
2000
Arizona Artists is a 25-member dance and drama company. They often perform "Overcoming the Dominion of Darkness," a theater/ dance performance summarizing the Bible story from creation through the resurrection of Christ.
Tour Highlights
Arizona Artists performed "Overcoming the Dominion of Darkness", a specially designed dramatic production with a Turkish soundtrack. They gave eleven separate performances during their three week tour.
We estimate that a total of 320 people turned in surveys during the tour. 230 people have received a Bible correspondence course, a gospel of John and audio cassette on the life of Christ. At least 150 adults await follow-up.
Two fellows from the Selçuk performances made professions of faith!
Steve Kercher is a musician who uses modern rock to produce moving songs with Gospel themes. From a packed club room in Istanbu to a marble courtyard in an ancient city near the Mediterranean Sea; from radio stations in Japan and Boston to a city park with a sprawling sea of 40,000 souls; Cartwheel Galaxy's original, eclectic pop-rock music has been celebrated and enjoyed. As the lead songwriter, Steve Kercher finds inspiration for many of his songs from literature and history. Check out the Cartwheel Galaxy featuring Steve Kercher website.
Tour Highlights
In Çanakkale, on the Aegean coast of Turkey, we had two evenings of concerts scheduled at the Annual Çanakkale Troya Festival. An average of 300 people attended each night, with up to 1000 stopping to listen at some point.
Fifty people attended the acoustic concert/ question and answer time. Many good conversations resulted, with a group of 6-8 receiving a full presentation of the gospel.
We were also asked to go play in the best rock/blues club in town and so one evening rushed over to do an hour long gig before dropping off to bed.
Viewfinder in Turkey
July 17 - August 01
Viewfinder was a very musically talented, eclectic band that borrows from rock, jazz, pop, funk and blues. They have a great heart for ministry, especially for sharing the Gospel in the Muslim world.
Tour Highlights
The seven band members spent the first three days working in an earthquake relief camp. It was a privilege to provide joy to those who have gone through so much loss.
Antakya is over %50 Arab and the band was actually able to sing a praise song in Arabic! It was an excellent way to touch the people! There were many good conversations after the concerts.
We had two concerts in Ephesus. These concerts are our best attended concerts of the tour with 300+ each night.
The last two concerts were in Istanbul at a blues/jazz club. There were many empty hearts searching to fill that emptiness.
Steve’s music has been honored with four Grammy nominations, 13 No. 1 songs, and seven Dove Awards, Christian music’s highest honor. With 33 recordings to his credit, including children’s projects and Spanish-language albums, Green has sold over three million albums worldwide. Check out the Steve Green website.
Tour Highlights
Steve Green gave one performance at the Gedikpaşa Church in İstanbul on July 20th. Steve has one of the most incredible voices in Christian music. Of equal quality was the spirituality of he and his band. They exuded the love and purity of Christ.
There were between 150 - 200 people at the concert, of whom probably 75% were believers. A number of Turks came from one of the earthquake relief camps. Others came from up to 6-7 hours away. Two people are being followed up and meeting regularly with other believers.
Echelon in Kazakhstan
July 29 - August 13
A super-likeable Canadian rock-band offer high energy rock originals and oddball takes of a few covers. [Broke up in 2002]
Tour Highlights
This was Echelon's third straight year of touring with us, though the first tour outside Turkey. The spiritual climate is quite a bit more open in Kazakhstan than in Turkey. One of the band members shares his highlights: "After we played, a local got up and did a altar call to which at least 20 people responded each night! We found out the next day that a boy who couldn't walk too well was healed after the concert. We also went to a town called Timurtau and did an outdoor concert starting at 7pm. About 5,000 people showed up to watch the local church band play, and then us."
Isaiah Six is the traveling team of Isaiah 6 Ministries, an evangelism and worship ministry based out of New York State. Isaiah Six travels the world focusing not only on doing evangelism, but also on training up and mobilizing the body of Christ. They use their acoustic guitar driven music and service to stir the body of Christ to "GO into all nations" and to a greater devotion to Jesus Christ. Check out the Isaiah 6 website.
Tour Highlights
A Gospel-centered concert in a Bursa university was well received by 250 students. A teacher from the university called the police; the lead singer and a translator were taken by the police for but released a few hours later.
Isaiah 6's concerts in Antakya were the most effective we have ever had in that city. Again, the band shared openly each night. They also gave three concerts on the ship Logos II in Mersin.
207 surveys were filled out, 179 requested more information and literature and 154 requested to talk further about Jesus. Several people made profession of faith.
