...Lions and tigers and bears OH MY!! Well actually there were no bears but almost every other kind of jungle animal all the way from Australia. The TOADS are a group that does children's musical theater... and a very professional one at that. The alter ego of The Toads is Funky Mustard, a more traditional blues/rock band. Check out the The TOADS website.
Tour Highlights
Despite the fact that Lebanon is fraught with political tensions and the constant threat of war, TOADS and the Jungle Jam Band were able to minister to more than 4000 children in their tour of Lebanon! They did 21 programs in two weeks.
The best one was at LEI, a institute for children who were living on the streets or caught doing illegal activities. TOADS got to do a special program for preschoolers on who God made them to be. They also did sessions of conversational English with students, where despite the language barrier they were able to make meaningful connections.
One Life: Dustin connects with his audience speaking from his own experiences dealing with: rejection, parents divorce, suicide, relationships, purity, perseverance, becoming a world champion and more. One Message: to live a life surrendered to Jesus Christ. One Wheel: Dustin illustrates his life and message through a one-of-akind presentation using the tool of extreme unicycling to captivate youth of all ages. Check out the UniShow website.
Tour Highlights
The illusionist Craig Greenwood partnered with Dustin Kelm and his unicycle for another crowd-filled tour in Turkey. The two would set up spontaneously in city centers, next to bus stops, and in neighborhoods. Their tricks always drew a good crowd and over 60 people filled out surveys afterwards where they asked to learn more about Jesus. They also performed for over 2,000 school children.
Dustin got the chance to go on the Beyaz Show, a night TV show that is very popular in Turkey and with Turkish-speakers in Central Asia. He could not share the Gospel, but he established useful contacts.
Impact Performance Group in Azerbaijan
May 09 - May 25
What do you get when you throw together 6 dancing, singing, fire-spinning, viola playing, guitar-strumming TACO members and one awesome drummer from Nashville? Impact Performance Group! This tour was a weird mix of music, mime, dance, fire twirling/juggling and drumming. This kept things interesting and allowed us to use the incredible power of telling stories via drama.
Tour Highlights
Storybox, Unishow, the illusionist Craig Greenwood and hip-hop dancer David Graezer put on the most diverse, professional show to date for the first ever TACO outreach in Azerbaijan!
Even though events were scheduled a day ahead of time, there were 10 shows. The venues were orphanages, schools, city squares, cultural centers and the International Church of Baku. There were good crowds at every event, between 200–2000. Despite restrictions, the team was able to share the good news far more openly than they expected.
Our largest concert was in Daşkesen, where there were no known believers!
...Lions and tigers and bears OH MY!! Well actually there were no bears but almost every other kind of jungle animal all the way from Australia. The TOADS are a group that does children's musical theater... and a very professional one at that. The alter ego of The Toads is Funky Mustard, a more traditional blues/rock band. Check out the The TOADS website.
Tour Highlights
Funky Mustard did several performances in Istanbul and Izmir; they are the most interactive band we have ever seen and their performances drew a crowd! More than 30 people asked to be contacted with more information about Jesus Christ.
Other times, they donned the animal masks to do outreach specifically for children. One of their productions was organized by an Istanbul church for a local orphanage. Other times, they just found a convenient bus stop and rolled out the costumes.
Based in Istanbul, StoryBox mixes a little bit of local musical influence into their blend of Western rock/pop. In Turkey, set lists usually contain well-known Turkish pop, Western covers and original tunes - many of which tell stories. Between the songs, you can also be sure that someone will tell a story or two as well, and in recent years shows have added more dance and drama elements.
Check them out on Nimbit or ReverbNation, StoryBox uses a mix of English and Turkish pop/rock and stories (sung and spoken) to share the faith. Check out the StoryBox website.
Tour Highlights
This tour was the first collaboration between Jon Simpson and Storybox. Though it was wonderful to partner with him, it was a hard tour.
Our local believing contact skipped town with our money. Due to his behavior, the local city council cancelled our remaining shows there. Some of our sound equipment didn't come in time and a guitar broke down in a smoky and expensive fashion.
However, after all of our concerts we got to talk personally with a lot of people, and our concert in a Bursa bar went very well. So even in the difficulties, God clearly used us and brought us closer to him.
"No Longer Music" (NLM) was founded in Amsterdam in 1985 by David Pierce and has been touring the world ever since. Since its formation, NLM has made its mark through its bold and creative blend of music and theater. In many ways NLM has been and continues to be a refreshing exception to a music scene rarely daring to be different. Throughout the years the style of NLM has adapted but its commitment to cutting edge visuals and theatrics has ensured that international demand for the band has stayed strong. Check out the No Longer Music website.
Tour Highlights
NLM's tour in Lebanon was a great reminder of both how politically conflicted the country is and how hungry it is for salvation. Several of our concerts had to be cancelled or abridged because of hecklers, fist fights and the threat of riots breaking out. However many of the people who came to the concerts were obviously hungry for the Good News.
We collected the information of more than 150 people, and the church in Lebanon has done a great job on follow-up. Many of the 150 came to the church's follow-up events and said they would start coming to the regular church meetings. Check out a video from the tour
"No Longer Music" (NLM) was founded in Amsterdam in 1985 by David Pierce and has been touring the world ever since. Since its formation, NLM has made its mark through its bold and creative blend of music and theater. In many ways NLM has been and continues to be a refreshing exception to a music scene rarely daring to be different. Throughout the years the style of NLM has adapted but its commitment to cutting edge visuals and theatrics has ensured that international demand for the band has stayed strong. Check out the No Longer Music website.
Tour Highlights
This tour was blend of pure frustration and thankfulness for God's provision!
Just as we started, most our concerts got cancelled. We saw God's provision when we filled in the gap at the last minute with concert in eastern Turkey, where the municipalities were surprisingly open to our message.
When we got there, we did one concert only to have the police tell us the others were cancelled because they couldn't protect us! Though disappointed, we spent the next couple days out in the parks evangelizing and watching God provide opportunities to share.
Bill Drake, a published author and musician, using his songwriting to talk about his faith in Jesus Christ, and how God had redeemed his early life from brokenness performs his encouraging and uplifting brand of keyboard-driven symphonic rock with a full band. Check out the Bill Drake website.
Tour Highlights
Bill Drake was joined by the lovely interpretive dancer Tia to give outdoor concerts.
Due to heavy restrictions, at some of the concerts Bill was not able to mention God openly and the Azerbaijani authorities cancelled one concert and kept strict watch over the others.
However, the concerts were very well received by the local audiences and often had over a thousand people in attendance. Churches in the area held follow-up events where they could speak more openly with the people about the spiritual matters that Drake had mentioned. Hopefully this gives the churches a higher profile.
