We produce an evangelistic concert done by a North African musician for broadcast over CNA.
We first met Nassera Zeffane in 2007 while we were doing the audio and video production for the National Meeting of Christian North Africans in France. She sang a couple of songs during the weekend of meetings, and was very interested to hear of the kind of work we did with Proclaim. She left us her phone number and a copy of a CD she had done, which was nice. (You can click on the pictures in this article to see larger versions.)
We kept in touch, and almost a year later Nassera contacted us asking if we would be interested in working together on a concert that we could then produce and show over the CNA channel. The idea would be to put on a quality concert in a nice room, have Nassera share her faith in God, and invite anyone interested to make a decision for Christ. Basically an evangelistic concert of the kind that we have done so many with PROCLAIM! International.
We set a tentative date for the concert, and her church agreed to get behind the idea and pay for the costs to rent a local concert hall, which is the kind of vision and support that is rarely seen in France.
Unfortunately, after about six months of planning, the concert hall suddenly refunded the deposit money and refused the concert. When we asked why, they said they didn't want anything religious in their hall, and they didn't believe it would be a concert, simply an excuse to preach at people.
So we were back to square one, and had to find another concert venue and start all over again.
Finally in the second weekend of February 2009, everything came together. We organized a small production team with three cameras, a small switcher, and enough digital audio interfaces to capture all the tracks of the concert to remix afterwards.
We also took the time to do an interview with Nassera, where she could share her testimony, a bit about herself, and why she was doing this concert. This interview will be used to make the message of the concert more clear when it is broadcast, and also as an element for a women's series that Marjorie is producing.
Between the technical crew at the venue, the technical crew that Nassera found, and us, we had a few little technical hurdles to get through, including audio syncronisation problems between the two digital desks and three interfaces. We also discovered that the video recorder that we had planned to use had been purchased in North America and was not able to record the PAL signal that exists in Europe. Apparently the claim of being "multi-standard" only meant it could READ signals from all over the world, not record them.
In the end, in spite of the pressure and difficulties, the concert went very well. At the end of the concert three people came forward as an indication of their willingness to take the next step and follow God.
It was kind of a special moment for us too because we have for so long hoped to see others catch the vision for using the arts and music to share the story of God's love. The barriers are many, and it takes a strong will and a clear vision to see these kinds of projects through, and we were glad to rejoice with Nassera and the rest of the singers, musicians, cameramen, sound techs, and lighting designers that it all came together in a beautiful expression of what God has done.
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