Departure photos posted

DSCF3032, originally uploaded by oamcsinger.

A few photos from today's departure by the main group is now posted.

Large group departs 12:17 pm

Received this note via email from Glen Heagy, our "in-house travel consultant" of sorts.

1:02 PM

Northwest flight 92 departed the gate in Portland at 12:17PM and took off a few minutes ago. Everything went fine even though there were a few things that happened that were unforeseen. I send some pictures later today.

Thx,

Glen

Glen has been one of the people whom God has sent our way to help make things go more smoothly than they likely would have without him.

Glen has spent hours working behind the scenes with the Northwest Airlines folks to make arrangements for getting through customs smoothly and prepping members for international travel.

This last week the email wires were burning up with multiple messages from Glen with info for our international travelers.

Thank you, Glen, for all your hours and hours of hard work.

I'll post here when we have pictures in hand to view online.

A Suzuki Samurai and the Mission to Romania

Suzuki Samurai 'hopped up' for the trails

What does a Suzuki Samurai 4-wheeler have to do with OAMC and the Mission to Romania?

Just ask Leland Wilson. “There will be other Samurais, but there’s only one Romanian Mission,” he said, as he sold his Suzuki Samurai he had ‘hopped up’ for fun on the trails.

Taking 100 singers, family members and musicians on such a trip as this is quite an undertaking, as you can imagine, not just in planning and logistics, but in finding the funding to make it all happen. Members were told to plan on a cost of about $3,000 each for airfare and costs while in Romania.

Of course, not everyone has that kind of money just lying around waiting for a Mission to Romania. From a human perspective the task to raise that kind of money was daunting if not overwhelming for many.

But then, as believers we have the opportunity to invite God into the Mission. After all, it’s for His glory, not ours, that we undertake such a task.

Members were charged with raising as much of their own support as possible. They got busy, and they got creative. And the Lord blessed.

Ron Tilley and Leland Wilson acquired the nickname “Johnny Appleseeds” when they led in selling over 30,000 pounds of apples to raise money for the Romania Mission. (And there’s talk of apple sales becoming a regular fall activity to support the ministry of OAMC.)

Dana Lester sold his “prized” motorcycle to help fund his participation in the Romania Mission.

“I sent more than 60 letters to friends and family members. I was overwhelmed by their generous response. I was able to help three other singers participate in the Romania Mission. God made it happen.” – Richard Martin

Ian Edgerton, a 20-something singing with OAMC for the first time this year, became really excited about the Mission, wrote numerous letters, and he, too, was able to help two to three other singers as well from the responses he received.

Rick & Estee Pummel with Ron and Rhonda Tilley held a sacred music concert in College Place featuring Rick, a familiar face and singer for Blue Mountain Television in the Walla Walla Valley.

Other organized efforts supported by fundraising professionals John Korb and Sam Vigil Jr. raised thousands of dollars from a few key supporters. Each time John and Sam met to make plans, and when they met with a small committee, they opened with prayer, seeking God’s guidance, and that doors would be opened.

OAMC has stepped out on faith from the very beginning. With that faith has come a lot of hard work by many, both here in and in Romania.

While the dates we set for this Mission to take place is now upon us, we still have expenses that need to be met.

In addition to members finding support for their participation, we have the expenses of renting performance halls and hiring Romanian professional musicians.

We invite you to partner with us in this Mission to Romania. You can join us through prayer as well as financial support.

For more information, please view this PDF of a presentation we showed at our concert on April 4.

In addition, please visit our website at www.oamc.org/support.asp

Why this Mission to Romania? Why OAMC?

Perhaps you’ve stumbled across this blog, a friend invited you to view it, or you haven’t visited the OAMC website (www.oamc.org) for some time, and you’re wondering, why are these guys going to Romania?

I’m glad you asked. From the website (www.oamc.org/romania.asp), here are the reasons we feel called to this Mission to Romania:

The purpose of the Romania Mission is to:

1. Help build up the church in Romania; provide encouragement to our brothers and sisters.

2. Promote and support a major Adventist men's chorus in the country. The church in Romania has a long tradition of choirs and music festivals. And now, Alin Apostol (a former OAMC singer, now pastoring in Romania), has started what he calls the "Romanian chapter" of the Oregon Adventist Men's Chorus. We have the opportunity to support them in growing a powerful men's ministry.

3. Sing with our Romanian brothers in Christ, bringing together a grand international men's chorus. As we travel through the country, we will be joined by Romanian singers. By the time we arrive in Bucharest for our Finale Concert, over 100 Romanian men will sing with us.

4. Provide programming material to the Romanian Adventist media organization. They plan to broadcast these programs through their nationwide network of radio and television stations beginning with the Romanian "Passover" (Orthodox Easter).

5. Follow in the spirit of Paul the apostle, who was invited to "Come over to Macedonia and help us." While Romania is not Macedonia, the invitation to serve is from the same God.

See more at www.oamc.org/romania.asp

Romania Group Boards in PDX

To my inquiry about how things were going on this Easter morning as the large group departs for Romania, I received this reply from Estee Pummel, wife of singer Rick Pummel and one of our very helpful organizers:

11:43 AM

We are in line, boarding the plane. All has gone really quite well. We kept the airport paging system busy for a while, we are all getting on!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

See Presentation from April 4 Festival

See a PDF of the PowerPoint we showed at the April 4 Festival of Praise about the Mission to Romania.