So it all started when I came back from my two week Nigeria missionary trip two years ago. Dr. Fyne asked me to help out with web design for http://www.globalnetinc.org/, which I accepted. I would read Dr. Fyne's newsletters for latest news with anticipation, and one news letter in particular challenged me in fund raising to build a water well. I thought how fun that would be and wondered how I could help. I realized how much a clean water well would radically change a community in Nigeria for the better, and imagining the eternal impact this could have.
I started to pray about how I could help in building a water well. One night around Christmas time 2008, God kept me up all night with a vision of how to produce a fund raising concert. Hours I stayed up, different details and ideas creatively exploding through my head. I was too excited to sleep! The next day at work I was very tired, but alive with a plan of fund raising for a water well.
Days are going by and I have a burning ambition to build a well for God. I tried my hardest to be patient and not push the concert through with my own strength, waiting for signs and clear indications that God wanted me to proceed. I did not do everything perfectly. I feel I could have had more (fellowship) meetings with volunteers. And there were several occasions that tried me where I thought the concert would have to be canceled or postponed, but, God's fingerprints were still always there, too many to be ignored, more incredible then mere coincidence. I faithfully proceeded, amazed and worshipful to my Great God. The planning took the past year and 4 months of planning.
One of the most powerful occasions where God was guiding the concert through providence was when God gave several indications to take a theater class at College of Lake County. “Are you crazy God?! I'm an accounting major!” was one particular concerned prayer to God. I signed up and the first day of class was extremely powerful. There was a class mate who introduced herself being from Nigeria, she had the Old English/Nigerian accent and everything! I've never had a Nigerian in any of my three years of college! This instantly brought me to the realization of God's presence and I started crying in class from the obvious power and glory of God!
My theatre teacher started lecturing about how theatre is a very powerful communication tool and can relay messages in very artistic and powerful ways. I suddenly realized how the gospel message could be powerfully presented to an audience through the art form of theatre. That's when the Jesus Drama idea popped into my head and became a MUST DO for the concert.
Later on, when I was looking for a band to come play the concert. I had no idea what to do except: pray and then do a Google search. BAM! Almost instantly I discovered the band named A Gain of Ten, whom knows and plays the Jesus Drama's song called “Everything” by Lifehouse. It instantly became clear to me we could perform the Jesus Drama to a live band! Totally a God fingerprint there!
There were several other occasions of the concert event being directed by God. Who would play the parts of the director, the main girl, Jesus, and the other parts, simply came together with prayers being answered. God pulled all the strings for this concert to happen. Simply put, I can't imagine a better band, or better actors for their parts (except for maybe Brad Pitt playing my part in the Jesus Drama), but otherwise, God was anointing this event from the beginning. .
So the day of the concert arrives, and I'm so nervous. I have feelings of inadequacy, not prepared to do my sermon, and not sure that anybody would come. I was nearly consumed by the feeling of letting everybody down: the band members, the actors and actresses, the audience...if anybody would come. Who does a worship concert at a secular public school anyhow? Especially at CLC where there usually is not a Christian witness per class.
Before the concert I found encouragement from Scripture. The context is God calling Moses to do some crazy leadership things, Exodus 4: 10-12:
Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore GO, and I will BE with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Moses had it worse then I, he had to trust God to lead Israel, I have it easy. I meditated on this Scripture all morning. I am not a pastor, I'm not smooth with words. In fact, I am probably the shyest person on earth. I don't care for public speech, especially acting in the Jesus Drama, in front of a live audience! But God, you gave me my mouth to preach, and teach and speak. You gave me my body to perform the gospel dramatically. You gave me my ears to hear my cues (very important in acting). Please be with me, God, my tiny mustard seed of faith is shaking in fear!
So, I introduced the band, and they started playing worship songs for an hour. They were very good! I was able to worship God through their music. Music is my favorite way to worship God by the way. Then it was time to do my twenty minute sermon. As far as I know, I did not keep to my 20 minute speech like planned. It felt maybe five minutes long.
I was done with my mini-sermon and introduced the Jesus Drama actors and actresses, and the band came back on stage. We got ready, we performed the Jesus Drama, and we nailed it! I looked through the bright lights and saw audience members clapping and jumping to their feets, giving us the standing ovation! The actors and actresses left to backstage hugging each other. Everybody was glowing. All the hard work paid off. There were signs of joy on everybody's faces! We did it! Woohoo!
The band did another half hour of worship songs, and then the concert ended. I stayed out in the open to shake people's hands and thank them for coming. Everybody had the nicest words to say to me, it made me melt with joy! All my worries were squashed! In fact people said words like, “I have not worshiped God like that in a long time!” One gentlemen said he was extremely impressed with me and the event. Several people said that seeds were being planted at CLC that day. (Oh God please grow these seeds!) Fyne's wife said that we were missionaries right here in Lake County. A prayer warrior friend of mine said the whole event was anointed by God. And another lady with an extremely serious look in her eyes nearly demanded me to be performing the Jesus Drama all over Lake County! And in fact, another lady asked her pastor the next day, and we were invited by a pastor two days later to perform the Jesus Drama at their church!
All these kind words were so amazing to me, I could hardly believe it. I went home that night and collapsed in exhaustion, only to wake up in the middle of night again, wide awake and amazed at God almighty how He would give me the strength to do this type of event. And I did not do much, God raised up exactly the right people to help out and volunteer and make sacrifices for this concert.
Thanks to Sarah Wiersema who takes the hardest science classes at college but dropped everything to work on what God is doing at this concert. Thanks to Emma whom helped a ton with directing and brain storming and asking the hard questions. My roomie Rylan who has a huge heart for seeing God being relevant in other's lives! Carrie and her faith is so encouraging to me, she is only in high school but shares her faith with college students! Everybody on the band has a HUGE heart and worshipped God with ALL their ALL that night, they worked extremely hard for the student's hearts of CLC and for God's glory to penetrate the darkest corners of the Illinois public school system that night! Josh from Campus Crusade came—thanks for coming brother!--I pray that too many CLC students will be trying to join the Cru! And all the hearts of people I'm forgetting, but I want God to have all of the praise and glory and honor go all to Him, and that's why these people came tonight, to serve Him who gives us life, and life to the fullest. We served the students of CLC with a tremendous measure of faith, which will spillover to the Nigerian community that will have a well built for them. So the last thing to mention is the concert raised $2,500 for a well to be built in Nigeria.
Praise God, may this money not be squandered, but used for kingdom of heaven building on earth. Pushing the gates of evil back, and advancing God's kingdom forward in Nigeria. Not only will it transform a community with clean water, I pray, but that the community will know that God gave them this well out of love! God gives living water abundantly to all who believe and rely on Him, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. We partake in a mutual faith with you, brothers and sisters in Nigeria. Amen.
Sincerely,
Don Tjader
P.S. For more information on GCM's Living Water Ministry please visit this link:
http://www.livingwaternigeria.blogspot.com/