Barcelona!
A typical Friday night on board the Next Wave might include a group movie, maybe going out to the internet to catch up with friends and family, or snacking on freshly baked goodies while playing yet another game of Settlers of Catan. Going to a Marilyn Manson concert is not so typical, but that's what three of us did.
I'd heard about the concert, in passing, a few months ago. We were planning on being in Barcelona around the same time as the concert, and I thought it would make a great outreach. After all, God loves angry gothy types, too! We would go and stand outside to pray over the venue, over the people, and over the band. There was no way we were going to be willing or able to pay the 100 plus euro ticket fees, so we would loiter until we were removed. The students wouldn't be able to go, as Friday happened to be in the middle of our lecture week. We asked our contacts at a church in the city if anyone wanted to join us and help us talk to the concert-goers, who may or may not speak English. They told us no, and that we were crazy for going and might get ourselves killed. The three of us, myself, Chris, and Ben, went anyway.
Not to downplay the spiritual significance of a guy preaching Satanism from a very noisy pulpit, but I wasn't afraid because God is so much bigger than Marilyn Manson. It's not as if Manson's message of self-gratification, drug-use, and sex is original. It's what the whole world has been saying for centuries. He just gets the reputation that he asked for. He does it to annoy and scare the religious community. He's no more evil than half the rock stars out there today. He just happens to be a Satanist. That's not even as scary as it sounds. Satanists don't actually believe in the Christian idea of Satan. The main philosophy is that we are our own gods, and have no need for God. Most Satanists don't sacrifice virgin goats at midnight under full moons.
Still, we went out absolutely surrounded with prayer. We didn't want to make more or less of the situation than necessary. We were heading into a spiritual battle, yes, but chances were we'd survive unscathed.
We made it to the venue and were surprised to see only a handful of people waiting outside. The concert was actually in a little tent, not in the building. We walked through what steps of intercession we could remember and just spent the next two or so hours walking around the building and praying. We tried to pray for the security guards and other people milling about, but we received a polite and confused “no” from everyone. For the most part, we respected their wishes.
I don't think I'd ever managed to pray about something continuously for so long in my life. I usually have trouble connecting with our twice-weekly intercession times, so it was miraculous that I didn't notice the time passing at all.
Ben had to go back on Saturday, but Chris and I were able to stay to build relationships with the church and be of some practical use while we were there. We spent a whole day helping out with renovating two apartments, or pisos, that the church is preparing for future outreach teams. We plan on going back next week when all the fixtures have been installed so we can help paint and finish the apartments off.
On Tuesday, a group from the church came for a day sail with us. It was a great way to culminate the time we'd spent with them. We'd lived a few days in their world, now they could see ours. After lunch, we had a time of worship, and a few students shared their testimonies. The pastor of the church had been a part of the School of Worship mentioned in “Is That Really You God?”, that prayed about starting a ship ministry with YWAM. It was amazing how God brought his story full circle, from praying about the ministry to actually sailing on the Next Wave. Our God is definitely a great God.
Chelanna Wesson
Next Wave Crew
