NEW LIFE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
June 5 - 14, 2025

We had another great project with our mission partners in Hungary, Dan and Rose Smith. They always create wonderful opportunities for our music teams in partnership with Melba Tours, run by Peter Barbarics, who handles all of the bus transport, musical instrument rental, meals together, etc. Peter is a believer and follower of Christ and fully understands the mission. Over 1,600 people heard the Gospel during our project.

This project was actually a New Life Symphony Orchestra project, a superb Christian orchestra based out of Dallas, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The conductor is Johnny Fuller, a gifted musician himself who always brings excellent musicians with him. As with all of the New Life Symphony Orchestra mission projects, we have other GMP participants who join this orchestra to share the Gospel and encourage the church.

As with all of our projects, building relationships is the high priority for us that we continue to build on each recurring visit. In Hungary we were based in Budapest, one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Even when we are out and about, our participants were connecting with people on the streets and inviting them to come and hear us, where they would hear great music and the Gospel shared throughout the concert. Our concerts also include individual participants from the orchestra sharing how God is working in their lives. There is nothing more important to share than how God has worked and is working in a life.

One of the significant moments on this project was our concert at a reformed church called Kápolnásnyék Református Templom. The building of the church is over 200 years old, but they are experiencing a revival there and some of that is fueled by music of a classical nature. This was a perfect fit for New Life Symphony. The building was packed and people were standing outside listening while the orchestra played songs of faith like “What Wondrous Love Is This” sharing God’s unconditional love for each of us.

Another highlight was our concert at Bicskei Baptista Gyülekezet, where our Global Missions Project teams have played on multiple occasions. Here is a link to our full concert at that church. The concert was on Pentecost Monday, which is a national holiday in Hungary showing the Christian heritage of the country.

We loved visiting the school where all of the children sing in choirs. Each grade has its own choir, and singing in the choir is required by all of the students. These kids were amazing singing in classic Hungarian styled songs in multiple parts as they sang. We were so impressed by their singing and we were able to share God’s love for them as well.

The final concert at the end of the week was in a beautiful concert hall located in downtown Budapest. We were privileged to premier a new work for Harp solo with orchestra by Geoff Logan that is a Hungarian prayer called “Magyar Imádság” and a new piece called "Hymn of Love" by Pánczél Tamás, a local Christian composer. We were also joined by a local Christian orchestra, Da Capo Symphony Orchestra, for a portion of the concert. It was a blessing to have them seated amongst us adding more vibrant sounds to the music and connecting with them again.

Another great plus was having the full choir from the elementary school singing with us as we played selections from The Sound of Music. They also sang a number of selections by themselves and we had lots of parents and other relatives of the kids present that heard God’s plan for them. Since we were in a public theater we were not allowed to share personal testimonies however, a local pastor actually presented the plan of salvation about midway in the concert that was a blessing.