West Germany
CELEBRATION ORCHESTRA
October 11 - 21, 2024
Our recent visit to Germany with Celebration Orchestra led by Richie Kingsmore was nothing short of phenomenal. God was all over it with the unique connections that were made through our mission partners and the orchestra members.
The orchestra was primarily American but we were blessed with over 25 German and Ukrainian musicians as well, plus one wonderful Clarinetist from Israel. Strong numbers of String players are often difficult for us to gather, but on this project we had 27 strings consisting of 19 Violins, 3 Violas, 4 Cellos and 1 String Bass. It sounded amazing! We are always blessed with strong Wind instrument musicians and excellent Rhythm players, but with this full String section the orchestra was truly a Symphony!
The churches we were serving through our mission partners are Russian-German churches with roots in Mennonite theology. Unlike many churches in Western Europe, these churches are on fire reaching many people in a variety of German cities. Since 1970 there have been over 1,000 of these churches planted!
We experienced the movement of God in churches in Fulda, Cologne, Gummersbach, Nuembrecht, Bonn, Niedernberg and Phungstadt. Every church was packed and we shared God’s good news with over 4,200 people in the churches and over 14,000 on live stream. We saw a number of decisions to receive salvation and rededication through the message shared during the concerts.
In Cologne, Johannes (one of our German partners) met a very successful businessman after our concert. He was Muslim and he told the story of his wife coming to Christ a few years earlier. She had been praying for him to come to know Christ. He said he was on a search for peace and purpose.
For a few years he pursued a cocaine habit that cost him over $100,000 a year but eventually came to the point to accept that this was not the answer. After a period of being clean, someone invited him to our concert. That night he heard the Gospel presented through the music and through our German hosts who shared the way to find peace with God and with yourself. After the concert he told Johannes that he had prayed the prayer that Johannes led everyone in and had given his life to Christ that night.
At our concert in Niedernberg, we heard from people at the church that there was a girl there at the concert that had been suffering with depression for four years and was at a high risk for suicide. She told her friends that she had given her heart to Christ at the concert.
Another great blessing on this project was having 20 first time participants with us. We love to see more and more musicians added to our “tribe.” It has been extremely rare for anyone to go on only one GMP project. Once you go, you catch the vision of what God has ordained us to do.
We are already planning a return visit to Germany in 2026 with Celebration Orchestra, and hope you will join us!
