Hello Prayer Team –
Thank you again for your prayers and support as we ministered in Italy! We are in the process of collecting pictures and videos from our journey last week. You can view our media on our blog by going to https://italymission2014.wordpress.com/, and then clicking on the links of our menu. This collection will grow as our Chorale Members add their pictures and videos.
God Bless You, and have a great day!
Good Evening Prayer Team –
As of this post (11 PM Eastern Time on Thursday), most of our team is back in the USA and headed toward our final connections in Nashville and Knoxville toward home. We had seven members of our team that had a glitch in getting their boarding passes, which caused them to miss their flight from Frankfurt to Newark today. Five of the seven re-scheduled and are on their way home late tonight, some without their luggage. Lyndel and Cheryl Littleton will be flying into the USA from Frankfurt tomorrow.
Please pray for God to work everything out for them to get home safely late tonight and tomorrow, and for everyone’s luggage to get home soon.
We are thankful and overwhelmed at all that God has done over the last ten days. We will be posting more testimonies, pictures, and videos of our experiences in the coming days on this blog. Again, we could not have done what God called us to do without your prayer support and encouragement all along the way. God bless you, and have a great night!
Good Morning from Florence –
Our team will be traveling the 5,000 mile journey home today in two main groups. The first group is now on the way to the Florence Airport to connect to Frankfurt. The second group will be on their way in a couple of hours. Please pray for us – for smooth and safe travel, for our health to stay strong, and for Gospel opportunities all along the way. Thank you!
Good Evening Prayer Team –
Our final day of ministry has been empowered and blessed. Our team divided into two groups. One group ministered at a church in Arezzo, while another group ministered to a congregation in Pistoia. It is hard for us in the United States to imagine the magnitude of the lostness here in Italy, but there are so few evangelical Christians here that local congregations in Italy can feel isolated and alone.
Tonight’s ministry at the churches in beautiful Tuscany encouraged these two local congregations that they are not alone. We had a great time talking about worship with the local congregations and answering their questions about how to develop thriving worship ministries that reach people with the love of Jesus. We were encouraged by their questions and enjoyed a time of fellowship and getting to know one another tonight.
During our concerts tonight, we shared the bittersweet feeling that this mission journey is nearing a close. We are looking forward to seeing our families again, but we also hate to leave our new friends here who are serving Jesus one day at a time. We are impressed at how God is advancing His Kingdom here, and how He is using Charlie and Shannon Worthy to shine the light of Jesus here.
Let’s continue to pray for Charlie and Shannon, along with their children, in the coming days. Let’s also pray for Carlo Lello as he partners with Baptist churches in Italy to help them have effective worship ministries. Pray for the individuals and families God has raised up to serve Him as members and ministers in evangelical churches across this country. Let’s pray for God to open the hearts of the Italian people to the Gospel in a way that only He can do!
Please also pray for us to maximize our short time to rest tonight, before we head to the airport in just a few hours to begin the 5,000 mile journey home. Thank you for your prayers!
Good Morning Friends –
God is truly good. We have heard from Bill Carver that he made it home safely and smoothly to Nashville. Let’s continue to pray for his doctors and nurses to have wisdom and to take care of all his needs today and tomorrow.
Last night, the concert in Florence was again anointed. Quite a few people joined us in the sanctuary before we started to sing, but once our worship began, the sound of our men’s choir drew people in from the street to hear the Gospel in song. Within just a little while, the sanctuary’s seats were filled and people stood in the back. After our concert, we found that our listeners were again people from all over the world.
One man that was there last night heard us out in the square in Rome and had also come to Florence when we did. When he realized that it was us singing the Gospel again in Florence, we went and got some of his friends and brought them to the church to worship God with us. God literally brought people from the both, south, east, and west to hear about Jesus!
After the concert, our team had a time of sharing after we enjoyed dinner together. The common thread was that we have an overwhelming sense that God is at work. Even though only one half of one percent of Italians have a personal relationship with Jesus, we are seeing that God is at work drawing all kinds of people to Him.
We all have a strong sense that Jesus has anointed us and used our singing and sharing to open people’s hearts to the Gospel during this entire trip. Because the people we have ministered to are from every populated continent on earth, God has used us to have a truly global impact. Let’s pray that God will continue to open the hearts of those we have encountered, and that we will find a host of people from many nations in heaven with us, both directly and indirectly as a result of this mission!
Today, we are going to be dividing into two groups to minister to two congregations in the Pistoia and the Arezzo communities of Tuscany. It is amazing that we get to take the Gospel though singing to public square in the place where Guido developed sol-fege and choral singing. Please pray for continued divine appointments all throughout the day, and for our safety and favorable weather. God bless you!
Good morning friends- while you’ve been sleeping, we have completed a four hour bus trip from Rome to Florence.
We will now get checked into our hotel, and then we will prepare for a worship concert this evening at a church in the Florence area.
Please pray for us to have favorable weather today, and for us to make connections tonight to share the Gospel. Also, please keep Bill Carver in your prayers as he makes the early trip home to get the medical attention he needs.
Thank you for keeping us covered in prayer!
Good Morning Prayer Partners –
We have a special prayer request this morning. One of our team members, Bill Carver, had a fall in Naples, and while the injury is not severe, it has been determined that it is serious enough that he needs to go home early to get American medical attention.
He will be flying home today to Nashville. Please keep him in your prayers as he makes the long journey home.
Good Evening Prayer Team –
We were blessed tonight to get to sing and share the Gospel in the public square just outside of Rome Baptist Church, just a couple of blocks away from Italy’s Parliament Building. As the sound of our voices filled the square, people from literally all over the world gathered around to hear our message. They sang along, clapped, and cheered as we sang. The Filipino Congregation at Rome Baptist provided food and drinks for our team before our concert, which we greatly appreciated!
During our concert, Gospel tracts in several languages were provided to our listeners. As soon as we finished singing, all the members of our chorale went out to have Gospel conversations with members of the crowd. Some of us met sculptors, others diplomats, tourists, business people, and shop owners. It was an hour of wonderful conversations about the blessing of knowing Jesus. Please pray for those we were able to reach tonight, that God will work in their lives to draw them close to Him. Also, pray for God to bless the faithful churches and Christians in the Rome area.
As one Filipino Christian, Silvia, we met tonight, told me, “God has opened a wonderful window for the Gospel to spread to the world from Rome.” We are definitely seeing that God is at work here, and we are glad that He invited us to be a small part of His plan to reach people in this beautiful cosmopolitan city.
Pray for us tonight to be able to get packed and sleep for a few hours before we rise early to depart for a packed schedule in Florence. We will be traveling four hours by bus, checking into our hotel, making important connections with our partner churches, and singing a full worship concert for the people of the Florence area.
You are a vital part of our team. God is using your prayers to cover us in His protection and to give us favor with everyone we speak to. Please continue to pray for us. God bless you!
Good Morning Prayer Team –
We continue to be blessed on our trip. Yesterday was a day filled with ministry and powerful worship experiences as we divided into groups and enjoyed worship, fellowship, and clinics related to worship in three different Baptist churches in Rome. The churches where we sang left their doors open and as the sound of our men came out of the church, people walking outside would come in to hear the music of our choirs. Every church had a large, enthusiastic crowd for worship, and we were shown incredible hospitality.
Yesterday evening, we did a concert in the square just outside of Rome Baptist, which was heavily attended as well. Pray for the people from all over the world that we were able to minister to yesterday, and also for the pastors and congregations of the baptist churches of Travestre, Teatro Vale, and Rome Baptist Churches, that God would use them to reach those around them with His love.
Today, we are going to enjoy some sights of Rome this morning, then return as a complete men’s choir to the square outside Rome Baptist for another outdoor worship concert. Please pray for us! Have a blessed day today.
Here are some pictures from the last couple of days of ministry:
TN Mens Chorale Mission Italy 2014 