When we were first invited to be a part of a music outreach event in Sicily, Italy, I must admit that my first reaction was not wildly enthusiastic.  We've already had ministry experience in Italy, and we know that it is not an easy country to work in; although the Catholic church influence is everywhere, real believers are very rare and there is a lot of opposition to the gospel.  Evangelicals are looked on as cults, and church planting is very slow.  (Click on the pics in this article for zoom.)

Plus, there was that Mafia thing.  I mean, I've seen those Godfather movies.  What would happen if we were playing somewhere and "disrespected" someone without knowing it and suddenly got there were bullets flying around...  Ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated, but the Mafia is still alive and well in Sicily.  Current estimates are that 80% of businesses in Palermo, the capital, are still paying "protection" money.

When we heard more details about the project we became more interested.  This music tour would really be the culmination of about seven years of effort made by an Italian/American Proclaim! missionary named Vince Costas.  After successfully planting one church in the city of Catania (no mean feat!) and seeing how long it took, he became convinced that another method needed to be used.  So he invested in a group of "Timothy's" - young Italian men and their wives whom he trained and encouraged and prepared to plant churches of their own and to continue to use this multiplication method as a church planting strategy.

After hearing about what Proclaim! did with music outreach concerts, and seeing first hand what happened on a tour in Poland, Vince (wearing the blue shirt in the pic) became really excited about using the Proclaim band called The Outlanders as a kickoff for six house churches in Catania and surroundings.

Russ was asked to play keyboards, guitar and sing, and Marjorie worked on the video end, and doing on-stage camera work.  The band came together for three days of intensive practise in Kandern, Germany, where a majority of Proclaim full-time staff are based.  Then we traveled together with the equipment and staff (15 people all together!), taking a ferry to end up in Sicily.  Because of the way the travel worked out, Marjorie and I took our motorcycle, which was quite a change from the usual van ride.  It was nice to be riding like that, although we did get rained on a bit, and it was a loooong trip.

Usually on a Proclaim tour we do about 10 or even more concerts.  This time in Sicily we only had six concerts planned; one for each of the churches that the Timothy's wanted to plant.  Each concert was sponsored by a different couple, with publicity and handouts available, and a follow-up meeting for those who expressed interest was planned two days after each concert.

What happened during the tour astonished and amazed us.

First, the type of music that we did (pop/rock) proved to be very popular with the audiences, showing that the planning for the tour had gone well.

Second, the spiritual interest of the Sicilians was higher than we dare to believe.  Many times I heard people that I talked to say, "I can't believe that you play in a professional band with music this good and then you talk about knowing God at the same time.  I've just never encountered anything like this."

Personally I had the privilege of praying with three young Sicilians who accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour after one of the concerts (in the photo left we are just preparing to pray, with the translator in the teal coloured shirt).  It was a thrilling and emotional experience, especially when my expectations had been so low.

In the end, at least 500 people heard the band and the evangelistic message and 25 people prayed at the concerts, five of these being first-time commitments.  Others prayed during the follow-up meetings.

But it was after the end of the tour, when we had all dispersed and gone home that we got the greatest news.

Two weeks after the tour, FIVE new house churches had come into being in the region of Catania, all as a direct result of Vince's faithful work and preparation of the Timothy's, and the catalyst that the Outlanders tour provided!

We learned from Vince later that the Timothy's were actually even more fearful than we were about what was going to happen, and they actually came very close to calling the whole thing off, and thinking that the whole project was too big and difficult and that nothing would come of it.  However, when they worked with us, and saw people responding, and saw their planning and training put into practise, they became very enthusiastic.

As the team disciples this new generation of believers using the home church model, they have embraced as a group, the planting of 100 churches within the next five years.  This experience has encouraged them to step out in a three fold ministry to seek the Lord in worship, seek a "body-life ministry" in caring for each other, and to experience a passion the lost.

So what everyone involved had approached with a definite amount of trepidation and even fear, God used in a mighty way.  We have never before seen such a lofty goal for an evangelistic outreach realized in such an amazing way.

Thanks for your prayers, encouragement and finances that enable us to be involved in these kinds of activities.

Russ and Marjorie