"Wait, You Mean We Could Get Arrested?"

“HELLO LAOS!” I raised a hand and shouted into the mic, “How are you feeling tonight?!?”

I paused amidst scattered cheers from the English speakers in the crowd, waiting for our interpreter to repeat the question in Laotian.

But no translation came.

I turned to my left, consciously maintaining a smile. Our interpreter was standing just off-stage, trying to reach his microphone. The cord was about five feet too short, and it simply wasn’t going to extend any further.

“Come on up…” I gestured to him to climb up onto the stage with us, “Join us, my friend!”

He clambered up quickly and grabbed the mic, translating my question. The crowd cheered in response.

His choice to join us on stage may seem inconsequential, but we were performing in LAOS - a closed country where “proselytizing” (trying to get someone to change their religion) is strictly illegal. Several military vehicles were parked on the outskirts of the open-air festival grounds, and fully-armed military and law-enforcement officers were lounging against the vehicles, watching the show. Our interpreter was a local pastor, and he understood the risks of publicly sharing the message of Jesus.

He also knew that we would probably share the message anyway…

I had been wrestling with what to do all day - our mandate is that Jesus should be shared at EVERY event, but I wanted to do it in a culturally sensitive way. Earlier I had texted my friend Mark from the outspoken Christian reggae band “Christafari” who would be performing after us, asking him how he was going to handle the situation.

His response was simple; “Testimony. Just don’t say ‘my religion is good, your religion is bad.’”

Good advice.

But now I was going to have to put it into practice.

And hopefully not get arrested.

“When they told us we were coming to Laos, we didn’t know it would be this much fun!”

Translation. Applause.

One of our prayers throughout the day had been that the crowd would respond well to the music - we knew that if they were excited and engaged, it would be much easier to communicate the love of Jesus.

And God had answered our prayer - the beautiful people of Laos seemed happy and responsive.

“We’re going to do another new song, but first, I want to tell you about WHY we do this - all of these songs are about our own stories of brokenness and healing…”

And there, from the stage of a “closed” country, we shared the incredible message of Jesus with the crowd - how all of us were created for relationship with God, how all of us have separated ourselves from God by our sinful actions, and how Jesus gave His life to purchase our forgiveness, freedom, and re-connection with God.

And they cheered in response.

And we didn’t get arrested.

After our performance, several young men approached me privately, thanking me in broken English.

“Thank you so much, you helped me to be more open - I have never heard anyone share that before.”

By the time Christafari took the stage for their incredible show, it had gotten late, and we were forced to leave before they had finished. I learned afterwards that they had shared the Gospel as well, and given an opportunity to respond.

And there, in a public, open-air event in a closed country, hundreds of people had said “yes” to Jesus.

And this is why we do what we do.

God is GOOD, friends - He loves the people of the world, and He is drawing them to Himself in miraculous ways.

We are deeply thankful, and we give all glory to Jesus, the One who gave His life to rescue the beautiful broken people of the world.

I received another text from Mark when I returned to my hotel after the event, “The good news is that I didn’t get arrested for preaching the Gospel…”

And several days later I received a message from the pastor who had been translating for us, “Thank you for your contribution to Laos. You are part of our history.”

And that is deeply humbling, and more than we could ever have dreamed.

Thank you Jesus.

Our mandate is to reach AS MANY AS POSSIBLE with the message of Jesus – every time you pray for this ministry, support the mission financially, or share the music and the message, you help us reach thousands with the love of Jesus, and we can’t thank you enough for your partnership. 

Already in 2019, we’ve shared this message in 10 nations and seen thousands respond to Jesus. We’ve just returned from Laos and Thailand, and now we’re preparing to perform and minister in FRANCE, ROMANIA, MOLDOVA, and the USA.

If you’re interested in being part of our team, here are THREE easy ways you can help:

1)  PRAY:  We have countless stories of being strengthened to fulfill our mission overseas as a direct result of the faithful prayer of friends like you.

2) SUPPORT:  Every gift helps us reach the nations with the love and message of Jesus!Thank you, friends - we love you and we’re so grateful for your friendship and partnership in reaching the world with the message of Jesus!

3) SHARE:  Music is our tool to reach the world with this message. LIKE, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE on social media if you like it – it helps more than you know!

If you haven’t heard our latest CD, THROUGH IT, please check it out! You can listen on Spotify or watch our latest video here:

Also, please check out our “mission” video if you’d a little more in-depth look at what we do. Thank you so much for standing with us, friends - we’re so grateful for you!