Peyton Harris: Istanbul, Turkey
“Worshiping in Turkey is a great privilege for us. Yet, it is so different than what we are used to in our home countries. As well, Nations Church intentionally welcomes the local population to worship with us and to hear God’s Word. Converge Conference dovetailed with our context and gave us tools to help us be more effective in an environment that is not as spiritually welcoming to us as we would like. At times we feel totally overwhelmed and outnumbered, but coming together for worship helps us to gain perspective. The Converge Conference helped to train our worship leaders to be worshippers who lead others who also feel overwhelmed and outnumbered.
Kathryn Baxter: Paris, France
Paris is on the verge of a major move of the Holy Spirit. On a citywide level, we have discovered that worshippers are often catalysts to such a move. This is why we unite worship leaders in events such as Converge: to train, equip, inspire, and release the anointing to a great level. When we understand that the Father seeks worshippers in spirit and in truth, we realize that the training given to, and the connections made among, worship leaders from different churches can go a long way in igniting a Holy Spirit fire. But even more importantly, we believe that one of the keys is teaching musicians, composers, singers and support teams how to be carriers of God’s presence in every area of their lives. Converge is an event that they can attend to receive a rich spiritual deposit as well as precious practical tools.
Chris Martin: Casablanca, Morocco
We’ve held ConVerges in 2012, 2014 and 2016 and attendees come from all over Morocco to Casablanca. Morocco is completely Muslim and thus there are essentially no development-type ministries like Converge here. The Converge team came to Morocco at their personal expense and did a fabulous job; training participants in all aspects of church worship from how to lead a church service to songwriting to how to manage the sound board. They are really an amazing and gifted team.
Jose and Carlotta: El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain
Converge was a great success as it brought over 100 worship leaders from different parts of Andalucia. Those numbers are ground breaking! It shows the hunger and need there is and that people didn’t go back hungry – only wanting more. It was a great event that inspired people in their place of worship to focus on Jesus, be excellent and ask God to bring creativity to their ministry. It brought unity, over 15 churches from different denominations were together, no questions asked. Thank you Converge team for your talent, generosity and servant heart.
Larry Henderson: Vienna Austria
Isaiah spoke of the ministry of John the Baptist when he said, |A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.” The Lord of the harvest is still calling laborers to Europe today to be His voice, to prepare the way of the Lord and to make the Gospel accessible to every person on the continent. Missionary Jeff Slaughter and the EWI are making an incredible investment in our international church leaders to develop that voice and prepare the way for every generation to know Christ in a personal way. We are very thankful for this tangible partnership with Jeff and EWI to equip and train our pastors, worship leaders, musicians and team members to passionately express a message of hope and accelerate the Gospel across Europe. Thank you for your partnership with Jeff, EWI and our FEIC network to make this training available so that we can be His voice in Europe.
Micha Wattimena: Jakarta, Indonesia
Converge gave my team and me a time to refresh and reboot our ministry. We learned new things and understood the old and basic stuff in a new light. I truly appreciate Jeff’s ministry and his willingness to tailor his materials to meet our needs.
Steve Gray: Padova, Italy
We really appreciate the heart and focus of the European Worship Institute. Europe is often ‘catching up’ when we speak of worship and developing worship teams, especially here in Italy. The national church has a lot of wonderful Christian hymns and classics that we all love to sing. However, when it comes to new expressions of worship, and new delivery of worship, they are hesitant to move forward. Much of this is due to the strong worldly influences of secular music. There is a fear of becoming like them. This is totally understandable. Coupled with the fact that the percentage of born-again Christians in Italy is so small, the numbers of churches and people you have are also small. Few musicians and singers in comparison to the American Christian culture. Very few trained musicians, let alone trained Christian musicians and singers.
The European Worship Institute enables us to gather Christian musicians from all over the country for the purpose of introducing new music, new techniques of delivery, developing and overseeing worship teams, and encouraging fellowship between the worship teams of several churches. This, in turn, enhances the overall worship experience of every church
involved. The training we have received is excellent and timely, as well as Spirit-filled.
God is on the move in Europe, and I believe that this ministry of the European Worship Institute is absolutely vital to the Body of Jesus Christ in this part of the world.