TCMI Worship Class

Sorry no photos tonight. The students took their final today and I was busy putting things in order and then grading the tests as they came back. Heldur (the National Director for the three Baltic countries for TCMI ) has been taking pictures... lots of them. No seriously I mean he's taken so many pictures that he has to put them on a DVD in order for me to get a copy of all of them. I promise I won't bore you with that many. But I know they are going to be quite good!! (Heldur reads this blog)

Class went very well here. One of the things I found out today is that they have a couple of christian musicians that have been writing praise songs for awhile now. That's just great. One of the subjects we discuss in class is the fact that each of the counties really need to raise up their own musicians. Writing songs in their national language, using phrases that are natural for their language. Praise songs that come from their hearts, that show their colors and emotions, that express the ideas of their country.

Every time I teach this class I get the same feeling, and I see the same look in the eyes of the students. It's completely overwhelming for them. It's as if I had a fire hose connected to a well of information and then pointing the nozzle turned it on. Then for an entire week I shot information at them at full force.

One thing happened here that hasn't happened before, several of the audit students wanted to stay and just take the final to see how well they learned the information.

The students here came from several different church backgrounds. They came from all over the country. They came and stayed here in Tallinn with friends, relatives and the mission house that the Olevista Church uses for just this need. We had lunch together, but all the other meals were on there own. The time away from family, from their jobs, from their loved ones shows the love they have for the lost. And it shows the love they have for worship - wanting to make their worship service experience as meaningful as possible.

The class was held in the Olevista Church here in Estonia. It's a building that I think is about 700 years old. It's a national landmark. It's a big cathedral style church. That's what made this experience different for me. People were always walking in and out and walking around the sanctuary. Even on Sunday just before the worship service was to start a group came up to the front and walked around a bit and then walked to a side aisle and walked out. Then it hit me, I was one of those people when I walked through old cathedrals in Europe. I was one of those people who walked into a church like this when the worship service was going on. This time I was on the other side. It was different. My classroom was up three floors so we weren't bothered...to much. We did have one person come up the stairs thinking that that was the way to the bell tower. We had to direct him in another direction.

I am a little wiped out now, but I won't be leaving for Bulgaria until Sunday. I leave here tomorrow at 3, fly to Frankfort and then to Vienna. I think I get into Vienna about 8. Then I'll leave for Sofia Sunday afternoon. So I won't have a lot of time at the Haus, but at least I can sleep in a familiar bed for one night, before I'm on the road again.

It was a great first experience here in Estonia and in Tallinn, and I look forward to coming back when the chance occurs again.
John