The Lee University Symphonic Band ministering to refugees at the Cosmos Vision Center
The Lee ensemble performs its final concert in Athens for Cosmos Vision Center’s 10th Anniversary
The band at the Acropolis in Greece
Lee students interact with refugees following their concert
Dr. Mark Bailey, far left, with the Symphonic Band in Ephesus
The Lee University Symphonic Band participated in a missions/cross-cultural trip to Greece and Turkey from May 8-20. While there, students served at several churches, ministering to diverse congregations, and visited many historical sites and cities in the area.
The trip resulted from the invitation of two separate organizations, the Church of God and Waymaker International Ministries, to minister to refugees now residing in Greece. The students raised almost the entirety of the cost of this trip from families, local churches, friends of the Symphonic Band, and churches the group ministered to during the school year.
“In my 32 years of teaching at Lee, in many ways this was superior to any other trip this ensemble has conducted since so many people were ministered to. The Symphonic Band students received a world class experience and countless lives were changed by their ministry,” said Dr. Mark Bailey, director of Symphonic Band.
During their time in Greece, the members of the group served at churches in Thessaloniki, Athens, and Samos. Their first service was sponsored by the Greek Evangelical Church of Drama to benefit Ukrainian refugees. “It was a wonderful opening concert,” said Dr. Bailey. “The purpose of this service was to help Ukrainian refugees and to bring recognition of the Church of God in the Philippi region of Northern Greece.” The ensemble concluded the service by performing the Ukrainian National Anthem.
The band also held a concert for 150 refugee children and their families at the Cosmos Vision Center in Athens. After the performance, the students played soccer and other games with the children and were fed a special Afghan-style meal. The ensemble was also able to minister to local Church of God congregations in Greece, including a special Saturday evening concert for all the combined evangelical churches in Athens.
The band concluded its ministry in Samos, working with Waymaker International Ministries, by serving and ministering to refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria.
“The Symphonic Band trip to Greece was transformative in ways I did not imagine,” said Christian Davis, a senior music education major and the band’s student director. “We do great work with churches in the United States to spread the gospel through music, but the ministry we did in Greece was more than that. Ministering to the refugees in Greece and seeing their response opened my eyes to the power of music, especially music transfused with the message of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Lives were changed, souls were renewed, and hope was restored. That is the mission of Symphonic Band and Lee University."
According to Dr. Bailey, the Lee group was hosted by several outstanding hosts such as Brad and Margie Matheson, directors of Waymaker, and Jivko Jacobs, director of Church of God Ministries in Greece.
“Many of our refugee friends were filming with their phones because they wanted to remember these moments,” said Margie Matheson. “One man, a devout Muslim, said, ‘I have never seen anything like this before...a gathering with so many people and so much peace.’”
When they were not performing, the students were able to visit many historical sites associated with the Apostle Paul. The group visited a Greek Orthodox church in Thessaloniki and went to Ancient Corinth, Mars Hill, and Ephesus. In addition to the biblical sightseeing, the group visited Acropolis and the Parthenon.
The goal of Lee University’s cross-cultural core requirement is to foster in students a respect for the diversity of perspectives represented in the world community, to help students articulate an understanding of their own Christian values, and to show how these relate to another cultural perspective.
“In understanding the various people groups, the ensemble was able to better minister to them,” said Dr. Bailey. “This, and the music the band provided, proved to have a great effect on all who participated in these services. We would like to thank all those who helped make this trip possible.”
For more information about Symphonic Band, email mbailey@leeuniversity.edu.
For more information on Global Perspectives, visit globalperspectives.leeuniversity.edu/.