Fulfilling the prophecy
During our orientation in Pine Mountain, Ga, prior to departure for Taiwan, we received a visit from Dr. James Belote, the Area Director for East Asia. As we discussed our new assignment, he outlined my primary responsibility, which was as Music Promoter for the island of Taiwan.
As he was leaving, he casually mentioned that I might perhaps be spending some time teaching at the Baptist Seminary, and maybe working some at the Radio-TV studio there. At the time, neither of these two possibilities appealed to me, because I was focused on the music needs of the churches.
From previous posts, I think you can see that I did indeed spend time working in all three of these areas, and occasionally at the same time. During one of our terms there, the mission elected me as Mission Chairman, which was another task added to the ever-growing list of duties for which I was responsible. However, God was gracious and gave me the strength, wisdom and endurance to complete all the tasks competently, while directing the YMCA Oratorio Choir, and leading a new mission effort to be constituted as a church. Of course, Nannette provided invaluable spiritual and emotional support, even during her busiest times. Without her I would not have accomplished very much.
The Reverberations (chorus) continued to perform in concert as well as recording music for broadcast through the programs initiated by the Baptist Mass Communication Center. One of the last concerts was held at a church in Keelung resulting in 21 professions of faith. The final concert was held in the Jung Shan Hall in Taipei. More than 20 young people gave their lives to Christ following this evangelistic effort. A link to the concert (as well as some more recent songs by the Reverberations) is provided.
After being the leader in three successful church starts, it seemed appropriate to us to consider the possibility of serving as a music missionary in some other country. So we asked our Area Director if there was a request for a music missionary outside of Taiwan. In the ensuing weeks, personnel requests from a number of different areas were shared with us. The one that seemed more suited to my abilities and experience was from Cali, Colombia, to work in the Communicaciones Bautistas Internationales (Communication center). It was with mixed emotions that Nannette and I pursued this request, and after several months, found ourselves saying goodby to friends and co-workers that we had known for years. We felt God’s leading as we headed for the US, our furlough, and then language study (again) in Costa Rica.
The prophecy by Dr Belote had been fulfilled, and it was time to move on to the next assignment.