Our new Romanian friend

A couple of weeks ago, the worship staff had a unique opportunity to invest in a worship leader from another country. Raul Chirica is from Iasi (pronounced Yahsh), Romania, and was in the states for a couple of weeks. Our team had the great privilege to get to know him and spend time learning from one another. We always welcome the opportunity to meet with worship leaders from other countries. One important part of our ministry is to invest our resources and time into training and equipping people for ministry outside of Brook Hills. When we meet people who are already doing the work of Christ in another part of the world, we jump at the chance to spend time with them to share information, methods and to encourage one another with what God is doing throughout the world.

Romania is a country roughly the size of Oregon, in Central Europe with a population of about 21,400,000. The major religion there is Eastern Orthodox. Evangelical Christians there are very misunderstood and sometimes persecuted. A year or so ago, a small group from Brook Hills took a mission trip to Romania and met Raul. One of our musicians was on this trip and began a friendship with him. Raul plays guitar, piano and cello, has a great voice, and writes music. He leads worship in his home church where his father is the pastor. When the Brook Hills team was there, the worship ministry was contacted to see if there might be a possibility of us working with Raul at some point.

So, a couple of weeks ago, Raul came into the office for a couple of days and we spent some time together. Our team met with him throughout the week showing him how we do different things in our ministry. He spent time with us doing some day-to-day tasks such as stage reset, rehearsals, meetings, etc. We also had some practical training times.

We studied the Biblical Non-Negotiables of corporate worship together. In a nutshell is says:
1) God is more pleased with purity than professionalism, substance than style, and attitude than appearance.
2) Worship seeks to please God rather than man, and our evaluations should be based on what He thinks rather than what we think.
3) Worship involves a rhythm of revelation (who He is) and response (our reaction to that), so that the Word must be central in worship.
4) We are a community of faith, not just individual worshippers, so participation is vital. 5) Worship should reflect the unity (we belong to Christ) and diversity (every nation) of heaven.

There was a songwriting time where we encouraged him to make the Word central in writing songs, to write for the purpose of corporate worship and edification of the church, as well as some practical things (song structures, choosing the right key, etc.) We talked about how the goal of our songwriting is not to come up with “great songs” for the sake of great songs, but to encourage and challenge our congregation to seek Christ and to be active in our faith.

We also spent time talking about purity in our lives and ministries. We must pursue purity in order to know God more and in order to be an effective example in our ministries. One of the struggles that Raul faces is that in Romania, he has experienced fame. He is a well-known musician there. Not only does he lead worship in his local church, but he also plays in a band outside of the church. Many people recognize him from television and he must continually keep his motives and humility in check.

Raul was able to see how we go about planning worship services, working with our pastor, leading our volunteer teams, rehearsing and recording. His situation is a bit different than ours. He has a smaller team that he leads worship within a smaller church. We were able to share some ways to lead our teams effectively as we seek to honor God.

One of the most encouraging things about our time with Raul was hearing about the ministry he has back home. His church is very involved in the community. There is an area in Iasi called the Phantom Block. Most of the members of his church are from this area and because of the poverty there, it is a great opportunity to show the love of Christ. People are coming to faith in Christ and then ministering in these areas. There are a lot of children there who have HIV. They are the outcasts. Raul ministers to these children personally and shared about how God has changed him to be able to love these kids. He also leads a small group of younger boys where he is sharing his faith and challenging them to follow Christ.

We also were able to have some “fun time” with Raul. The weekend that he was here, our staff and families went down to the lake and spent the day on the water. Raul had his first jet-ski ride and his first inner-tube ride. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and having fun. Afterward, he wanted to eat pizza for dinner. There was a funny moment when he asked where the ketchup was. He was willing to try ranch dressing instead, but exclaimed… “This is weird for me. I not like.”

We really enjoyed getting to know Raul and training him in some areas as well as learning from him. We are praying for him and his ministry in Romania. On the following Sunday, we were able to lead worship with him. It was such a great picture singing with him…us in English, he in Romanian. Truly a small picture of what worship in heaven will be like…people from every nation and language.

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