|
Langley musicians Russ and Sandy Rosen will participate in Missions Fest
Vancouver (MFV) next month. They spoke to Missions Fest CEO Dwayne Buhler about
their ministry. They also discussed the inspiration they derived from
missionary Jackie Pullinger, most notable for her work with drug addicts in
Hong Kong.
DB: In 1991, you were part of the worship group at a youth rally for Missions Fest.
At that rally you first met Jackie Pullinger. What was the impact she had upon
your lives?
Russ: It was an interesting time. I remember seeing her team and you could see that
there was something different about them. We knew a bit of her story because
Sandy had read Chasing the Dragon. But as soon as she came in I could recognize that the ‘things of God’ were on her mind. For her it was a kingdom moment – her and all these young people – and not about a conference.
Sandy: After we finished our sound checks we went to prayer with Jackie and her whole
team . . . I could see that Jackie was really agitated, not really focused on
the prayer time. I went up to her after and said “Jackie, are you doing okay? Are you feeling good about this?” She looked at me with this stare and said, “Why are you doing this here?”
And I went “Wh . . . wh . . . what do you mean?” “You’re doing all this entertainment for these Christian kids. They already know this
message. Why are you doing this here?” I got really nervous, and asked her, “What do you mean – we could just do this on the streets? You think people would actually listen to
what we have to sing and have to say?” She said, “Of course you can. People are hungry for it. Just go out and do it!”
The conviction hit me so hard, and soon after we took on a challenge to go out
to the streets of Canada with a mission called Upstream. We went town to town
across Canada doing our music and expressing the gospel in the streets.
DB: Did you feel that Jackie was giving a prophetic word for you to step out of your
comfort zone?
Sandy: I think it was a practical word.
Russ: It was more like a rebuke.
Sandy: I think that it was her coming from an Asian world that was so completely broken
and so completely hungry for the gospel. And there she was preaching to the
choir. It made me feel nervous, and it was like she was saying “Get out of here. Go into the streets!”
DB: Your book Off the Map speaks about this journey. What happened in the five years when you went across
Canada?
Russ: The journey was in partnership with Justyn and Joy Rees, of Upstream Ministries.
We helped lead a team of young musicians, dancers and actors on a five year
pilgrimage of reconciliation from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland.
Sandy: We lived in a motor home and travelled coast to coast. We gathered a team and
built a mobile theatre with four semi-trailers. Three trailers had bleachers
that folded out and a stage was in the other. We held meetings in each town . .
.
Russ: The first piece of equipment we were given was a hot tub. We looked at it and
thought, hmm, a baptismal tank. Before we did any thing, we sat on the edge of
the hot tub as if there was water in it and we prayed, “Okay Lord, we pray that every place we go that there will be people who not only
become Christians, but that they will be baptized in the faith by local
pastors.”
Continue article >>
|
There was pouring, sprinkling, dunking and water fights. It seems a bit
sacrilegious, but was so holy and so sacred and so much fun, all at the same
time! (laughing out loud) It was all a party and a chance to tell the gospel.
DB Since that time, you’ve been involved in ministries that incorporate music and the arts. It sounds
like you’re still hitting the streets as you are leaders of one of the working groups of
More Than Gold . . .
Sandy: There is a way that the arts can speak things that we [Christians] can’t speak. There is something about the arts that offers per- mission to speak,
even in a place like the City of Vancouver which is often seen as a spiritually
closed place. When you put an artist on the stage it’s a different thing.
Russ: Just tell the story – do whatever it takes! We’re excited about the opportunity to do the thing that we love to do.
DB: Where is the Lord working in your lives right now?
Russ: It’s been an interesting journey. You look back, and in one sense, our ministry has
not changed at all. It’s been exactly the same – just get out there and do the stuff. But it has changed immensely in the way we
perceive ourselves and the people around us. That’s where we’ve really grown; learning how God sees you and sees others and how desperately
we are all in need of his grace and his mercy.
Sandy: I think that there is a shift that needs to happen in the church. We need to
learn to speak in a different language than we have been. We need to learn to
really live effect-ively in a broken world. We’ve been on a journey to discover how to best communicate with culture and how to
ensure we are expressing the gospel from the place of our shared humanity.
Russ: My favourite thing to do is to get out among the people and see them drawn into
the celebration. It seems to me that every human was created to worship God and it’s the job of the artist to call it out. Sometimes that happens in church,
sometimes in nature, and I know it happens in a profound way, when we get
behind artists who love God and support them to tell the wonderful story of
redemption in the midst of this culture.
Russ Rosen and Ben Woodman will lead worship at the MFV Youth Rally January 8,
at the Italian Cultural Centre. Jackie Pullinger will be the main speaker.
December 2009
|
