WORSHIP leader Dave Bilbrough recently completed a three-nation tour of India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Dave, Pat his wife, and their team comprising of seven musicians and two prayer intercessors, led citywide worship events in all of these Asian countries at the invitation of local church leaders.
"As a team, we were so aware that God had prepared the way ahead of us in each situation that we visited," said Bilbrough. "Pat and I were thrilled to take a British team of musicians from both the black and white churches and, although many were established names in their own musical spheres, most of the team was in their late teens and early 20's. This mix of ages and diversity of expression embodied much of our aspiration to blend cultural styles together to create a new sound of worship."
Intercession, reconciliation and mission were the recurring themes that emerged through the worship times, said Bilbrough.
"One of India's national newspapers carried a positive report of the praise concert in Chennai (Madras), the venue being The National Music Academy; the city's largest indoor concert hall usually reserved for traditional Indian classical music and where Ravi Shankar and other top Indian musicians have performed," said Bilbrough. "The concert hall was full with over 2,000 people and such was the demand that scores had to be turned away. A worship seminar was conducted the following day when the team met with Christians from all of the citywide denominations."
In Sri Lanka, the team visited Jenny Sinnadurai, Karen Dey, and the growing Rainbow Church at the Paalam Project building at Watella, in partnership with the London Rainbow Church, and were able to link up with Generation Church's MAX initiative taking place at that time. Dave Bilbrough was part of the original team in 1997 that laid the foundation stone and at that time "prayerwalked" the area in the Watella jungle upon which the Paalam Project building was built.
"Two years ago myself, Pat and our band played in the empty shell of the building and on this trip it was a joy to play in the beautiful, completed building," he said.
The final leg of the tour took place in Malaysia where the team visited Miri in Sarawak for a series of meetings, which were the culmination of the local church's area-wide 40-day fast. "The church in Miri has grown to amazing proportions since my last visit there eight years ago," said Bilbrough. "A new building and a rising spiritual expectancy made this such a timely visit for us all. It was so good to renew and also discover friendships with such precious people."
Many more invitations were issued to Dave during this trip and plans are under way for further tours to take place in various nations 2002/2003 for Dave, Pat and team.
© 2001 Christian Herald