[In 2011 Keynote celebrates 45 years of ministry. We thought we would use our Friday posts to look back on God’s faithfulness through the years.]
International ministry opportunities exploded for Keynote in 2004-2005. Here are a few highlights:
Tajikistan — New Life, a band from this former Soviet republic came to the 2004 Keynote Summer Project. The next fall, Keynote’s Dave Fackler went to help the team plan a recording studio — the closest one was 1200 miles away! While he was there, Dave saw the band in action in Ragun, a mountain village about 50 miles east of Dushanbe.
“New Life played on a concrete stage in the center of town. The longer they played, the bigger the crowd got, and the more people got into it–dancing, clapping, etc…Alexei estimated the crowd at 2000…. Two years prior, they couldn’t set foot in that village because extremists left over from the mid-90’s civil war controlled it. Since then, the village government has opened to other ministries …, –all because the band opened up doors of friendship”
Dave Fackler
The video below tells more of the story of how our friends are using the studio that was built in 2005.
Italy — a place where spiritual fruit requires much cultivation. X-nelo spent two weeks in Rome, Florence and Pisa working alongside U. S. students on spring break. Campus Crusade for Christ staff members and students in Italy said X-nelo was an answer to prayer; X-nelo helped them meet and build relationships with many non-believers. In the previous year, staff members in Pisa had only seen one person put his faith in Christ. Two weeks after X-nelo performed, four students came to Christ.
Jamaica – In January 2005 three Keynote teams came alongside the Jamaica Campus Crusade ministry: one led worship at the Christmas Conference; the second trained believers in Kingston in praise and worship; the third team, the blackSoil project, performed several outreach concerts on college campuses.
Australia — From 2004-2005 Keynote’s Paul and Carlyn Smith assisted Creative Arts Ministries (CRAM) in Australia. Keynote’s partnership there continued when 2005 Summer Project band Captain Oblivious toured Sydney presenting the gospel in high schools. The local staff team held a 24-hour prayer chain during the tour. God answered in a dramatic way: in 10 days the band performed 18 concerts for more than 2700 people; 279 wanted to talk to someone about God and 271 indicated decisions for Christ! Read about our most recent outreach trip with CRAM.
Brazil — Brazilian staff member Janiê Sucupira helped run the 2005 Summer Project. Her story began in 1999 when Kristin, a Campus Ministry staff member, participated in Keynote’s summer project. The following fall Kristin transferred to Campus Crusade’s ministry in Brazil. There she began discipling Janiê, a professional musician. At Kristin’s encouragement, Janiê joined Keynote’s 2003 Summer Project. Janiê dreamt of starting a Keynote-style ministry in Brazil. So she came to Keynote for a six-month internship in 2005. God brought her dream to reality: Brazil Music and Mission has four staff members and 29 volunteers
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