Ostrava Zpívá Gospel

With a bit of snowfall in the area these past few days, the sunset was all the more magical from Malenovice late this afternoon.

Mom, dad and I headed up here to see a special event taking place at the hotel.

A final rehearsal for the annual Christmas concert of Ostrava Zpívá Gospel (Ostrava sings Gospel, in English!) was in progress.

With my friend Amy as soloist!

In its fourth year of existence, this choir of 120 people and band of 11, from around the city of Ostrava, practices for two months before putting on an absolutely outstanding Christmas concert!

Since I won't be here next week-end for their concerts, and wanted my mom and dad to hear them too, we snuck in for a sneak preview of what they're doing this year. And let me say...IT IS AMAZING!!! The energy, joy, talent and message in the songs is something very special.

Led by Terry English, one of our JV staff, this is one of the coolest outreach events of the year in this area.

Next week-end they'll give three concerts in Ostrava, and 1650 tickets are already sold out for those concerts. (Sorry to those who live here and can no longer buy tickets!).

Terry says next year they plan to be in a bigger venue since this is such a popular event that more people want to attend.

It's not only an outreach for the Gospel into the lives of those who attend, but also to those in the choir.

Just one third are believers, while the rest have not yet made a decision to put their faith in Christ. Over the past few years, a number of choir members have and we're praying that more will this year!

Pray that the true message of Christmas penetrates the hearts of those in the choir, and those who will be at the concerts next week-end!