KNCSB Singing Men Share Love Of Christ Through Song In Portugal
By Tim Boyd
June 2008
At the end of April, I had the opportunity to travel to Lisbon, Portugal, with the KNCSB Singing Men. We went to share the gospel through song and to initiate a new mission partnership for KNCSB. This was my first opportunity to sing with the Singing Men. I had heard them sing often during the years that I have been in KNCSB, but singing with them was a special treat for me.
We arrived on Friday, April 18, 2008. We spent the first day rehearsing and trying to adapt to a new time zone. We were all glad to get to bed that night.
The next day we began our work at the Baptist church in Tires, Portugal. Some of the wives who accompanied their husbands on this trip along with Mari Jaquith, KNCSB Women’s Leader, and Heidi Nelson, her ministry assistant, spent the day with the women of the church. The men were divided between the youth group and a men’s Bible study.
That evening we performed a mini-concert at the church and the Pastor, Daniel Pascoal, preached an evangelistic message. During the events of the day and the evangelistic service that evening, seven people accepted Christ as their Savior.
Sunday morning found us at Third Baptist Church in Lisbon, where the Singing Men performed a concert before over four hundred people. That evening we returned to Tires and performed a concert before over four hundred people in a facility that had been rented by the church. In both of these concerts and throughout the week, we were received enthusiastically by audiences. Usually, we were asked to do encores. In some instances we had to close the evening because we were simply worn out, even though some audiences would have gladly listened to us repeat our concert program.
On Monday morning we performed a concert at a psychiatric hospital. This unusual venue proved to be a favorite experience with the Singing Men because of the way this special audience responded to the singing. At the end patients and nurses were dancing around the room as we sang “Days of Elijah.”
Monday afternoon we sang at a public school. This opportunity came because the wife of one our International Mission Board missionaries was teaching religion at the school. The elementary age children thoroughly enjoyed our singing along with the face painting and balloon animals that followed the concert.
This venue also provided a tremendous opportunity for our missionaries. A national television station agreed to come and videotape our performance. The missionary wife who taught at the school was interviewed and allowed to share the plan of salvation clearly. We are waiting to hear the results of this special “God-thing” that was made available to us. During the interview David Manner, the leader of the Singing Men and Worship leader for KNCSB, was declared to be our “Maestro.” The title has stuck.
Even on our off day on Tuesday, we had an opportunity to sing outside a palace that we were touring. We sang several songs and unbeknownst to us the Portuguese Minister of Culture was listening to us. This “God-thing” has created another open door for our missionaries.
On Wednesday we worked with a church in Estubal. Some of the group worked alongside the church as they passed out food to needy families in the neighborhood. Some ministered to the children of the neighborhood. Others walked through the neighborhood handing out flyers for the concert that evening. As we went we took several opportunities for six to eight of us to sing on street corners and in restaurants to attract attention. People would come to the windows and one of the missionaries with us could explain why we were there and invite them to the concert that night. Again, it was a packed house that responded enthusiastically.
On Thursday, our final day, we spent the morning doing a concert for a vocational college that the son of the pastor of the Tires church attends. We had an opportunity to chat with many of the students. Many in the faculty also attended and thanked us for coming to their school. Many Portuguese that we encountered throughout the week were surprised that we would come and sing without charge. They are used to paying for anything like this. We had opportunity to share that we were happy to pay our own way in order to share the love of Christ.
On Thursday night we shared a final meal with many of our missionaries in Portugal. At the end of this meal the leaders of the mission along with KNCSB representatives signed the partnership agreement.
On Friday, we said goodbye to our missionary friends, especially to Emily Rose, a young Journeyman. She had been our guide, encourager, and translator all week long. Southern Baptist mission work has a bright future if we can continue to attract young people like her.
Let me encourage you to think about sharing your heart and love for Christ with this nation that has become so secularized and far from God.
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