Beirut, Lebanon –
I was honored to join Mike and Marsha Herron in Beirut, Lebanon for a benefit concert at the UNESCO hall for the Bible Society of Lebanon on December 5. After ministering in a Baptist Church on Sunday, Mike and I rehearsed for a couple of days and then performed his ‘Prince of Peace’ concert on Monday night. It was very well attended and greatly received by all. We had some national talent singing and performing with us throughout the evening so it was very special. Mike weaved his songs in with some Christmas standards for a great mix of new and old. I joined him for seven songs on the cello and got to play the piano accompaniment to a wonderful soprano on ‘O Holy Night’.
Beirut is a very picturesque city that sits on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. What a beautiful view we had from our ‘hotel’ way up on the hill above the city. We hope to go back in the future for other endeavors to encourage the wonderful people of Lebanon.
Antalya, Turkey
Following the concert, Mike, Marsha and I flew onto Turkey for a week-long worship conference with about 200 pastors and leaders from all over Turkey, as well as Brazil, UK, Norway, Belgium, Jordan and others. The setting of the beautiful hotel was idyllic to say the least and gave us a pleasant background to worship God together for four days. Joining us for the ministry were many brothers from Brazil (Asaph Borba from Porto Alegre, Brazil was the leader) and a brother from Jordan.
From the very beginning you could tell this would be a very special week as they joined wholeheartedly into the time of worship with a Brazilian flavor! Then Mike shared on the ‘Earthquake of Praise’ (being very prophetically significant since a devastating earthquake had just hit Turkey a few days before) with a great response of worship at the end.
Each morning was given to worship, powerful sharing by local pastors as well as preaching and teaching from the team. We heard some amazing words from these great pastors as well as our Brazilian brothers. Profound would be an understatement for what God was doing. I got to share the first morning on flowing in worship as a team and then in the afternoon with Piano in Worship. You could see the lights coming on for the musicians in the workshop and many were able to get my book/DVD Piano in Worship to further their study and release for worship on the keys.
There were two workshops related to Turkish music, instruments and arts used in worship in Turkey and this a fascinating discussion similar to many nations around the world – integrating the indigenous instruments, styles, songs and expressions into contemporary usage in the church. This is an especially daunting task in Turkey since the instruments, scales, rhythms and pitches are much different than western-style musical expressions. And the instruments are much softer (though some have pickups now for amplification). We experienced the beauty of the ‘oud’ (turkish lute) and the saz in traditional music and heard 10/8 meter and even 19/8 in some of their songs! Natural to them, exotic to us.
The response overall was wonderful and gratifying, knowing we have connected significantly in this great land. We are working on follow-up and more resources to come their way to allow the seeds sown from this short time together, to grow and mature into the song that God wants to release in Turkey. His church, though small in size, will flourish even in this land and His song will be released in city after city by the wonderful grace of Jesus. We will return to continue to breathe on these churches and leaders.
After this significant week in Antalya, we returned to Istanbul for a short day of sightseeing and enjoying the cuisine and music of Turkey before we returned.
All in all, a great 12 days of ministry, song and blessing. I want to thank Pastor Mike Herron and Asaph Borba for inviting me to join in this wonderful time with their team. And thank you to all the pray-ers out there and supporters who make these adventures possible. Your sacrifice is touching lives around the world! To God be the glory!
in Him,
Dr. Tim Smith