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WORD ON THE STREET
WORD ON THE STREET
Three Editions Together in Cebu City, Philippines
Three Editions Together in Cebu City, Philippines
horns muffles any type of conversation, and the smell that little bit of doubt and massive cloud of
for a Street Level Ministries Music Festival
for a Street Level Ministries Music Festival
of diesel exhaust and fried chicken overpower your excitement that flutters all around in the pit of your
senses. Sweat no longer absorbs into your soaked stomach right before everything takes off. We were
shirt as you go from business to business and person to a point where the calls had been made, posters
to person, inviting as many people as possible to a had been passed out, and the schedule was planned
concert happening in a few short days. to the best of our ability. The only thing left was to
wait, pray, and trust that God had it totally under
Members of Word on the Street experienced exactly control.
that in preparation for Shofar Music Festival, which
st
was held on Saturday, May 31 , 2014. But, our prep The next day we wheeled in amps, tables, piles of
didn’t start there. Long before we even got on the WOTS magazines, and all our sound gear out of the
plane there were bands and a venue to find all by wet, Cebu City heat and into our venue to kick
international phone calls from the U.S. Also, there months of planning into action. Sitting in the still-
were banners and posters to design and print, not to empty seats of dark auditorium, I prepared what I
mention numerous meetings about traveling and was going to say from stage about Street Level
joining a new culture. A lot of prayer was in the mix Ministries, and had an opportunity to watch things
as well, because we were fully aware we couldn’t come together. I looked down, scribbled a few lines,
take on such an endeavor on our own. If God wasn’t looked up, and drums had popped up. Looking down
involved, what was the point? again, I read what I had written, wrote some more,
looked up, and lights were filling the stage with
That Saturday we loaded up our equipment and color and shapes. Things proceeded this way until
drove down from the mountain to the Elizabeth Mall. the stage was set, the Word on the Street table was
There, we met the Philippines WOTS staff as well as assembled, signs were up, and we were ready to go.
the three bands that would be performing—Sheep, A few of us left to grab a quick lunch before
Jericho March, and Frontline. Between all of the everything began. We came back to an auditorium
hands that were involved setup happened rather blasting with sound, Filipinos filing in, and a music
quickly, and before long we had a crowd head- festival in full swing.
banging and dancing to the music. Concert-goers
came from all over the island to attend. Through After the first band, AV talked about Word on the
technology, word of mouth, and a ton of posters, our Street magazine from stage, and I went up to
advertising surely paid off. We’ve hosted concerts in explain what Street Level was, where we had come
the U.S. and the Philippines before, but we never from, and why we were in the Philippines. As I
stop wondering if anyone will show up. Thankfully, looked out into the auditorium, it was a huge
we had a pretty great turnout with over fifty people blessing to see rows of faces filling the space,
signing up to know more about Word on the Street. listening to what was being said and waiting for the
New faces showed up as well as familiar ones. We next band to take the stage. The day continued with
were able to reconnect with a lot of people we knew a second rock band, a speaker, a short video, tons of
from neighboring churches, college groups and youth issues of WOTS being distributed among the festival
groups. -goers, and a final band that left the audience
thrashing and rocking out to the glory of God. After
Ultimately, we wanted to use the concert as a way to the final performance, us Americans got to mingle
promote WOTS in the Philippines. We gave away among the Filipinos, talking about the bands, finding
quite a few issues as proof. Also, it was an incredible endless similarities between us, and making a lot of
opportunity to make known our global ministry by new friends. In the end, Shofar Music Fest was a
having staff members from all three issue locations challenge, a dream and a blessing that God totally
present. Our mission and purpose was made that used to shape each of us involved and to continue to
much more real by standing shoulder-to-shoulder spread the Good News in the Philippines. It is my
with those we’ve only previously seen through Skype. hope to see it become a tradition that more people
More importantly, the concert was an incredible are able to be a part of!
opportunity for people from all over the world to
come together and worship Jesus. Through all of our Susie– UW-Stout (Wisconsin, USA):
work, the music, and the people, His name was The Performance
proclaimed.
They came. They rocked. They worshipped God. A
Claire– UW-Stout (Wisconsin, USA):
lot of times when you go to a concert you leave it
The Perspective behind forever once the last shout of ‘encore’ is
over and the guitars get unplugged. But that’s the
Standing in the large, cool auditorium, I had a hard difference between musicians who are there to get
time imagining what it was going to be like filled with a drop of pleasure out of one good night, and those
lights, music, and a crowd of dancing Filipinos. It’s a who are there to give back to an audience that’s
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weird feeling that comes with planning all events; willing to respond. The guys who played at the first