FYI Messiah Project The mission of the Messiah Project is to present its Judeo-Christian heritage through the visual and performing arts by providing: venues for artists to share their faith through the arts, performances and displays that speak of God’s excellence in the world and share the gospel among the nations through the arts.

Source: The Messiah Project WebsiteFrom devastation to delight, Japan was an unimaginable experience for five Northwest Arkansans, who just returned from an 11-day tour.

More than 40 people, including the local contingent, presented concerts in four Japanese cities from June 30 to July 7 as part of the Friendship Tour, sponsored by the Messiah Project in Springfield, Mo. The Messiah Project choreographs cultural exchanges between the United States and various countries around the world.

Mike Bedford, music director of the Singing Men of Arkansas, was music director for the tour, which included 18 singers from Arkansas, Texas and Missouri and 15 dancers from Ballet Excelsior of Houston.

Along with performing, Bedford said, the musicians and dancers also tried to bring encouragement to the people they met along the way. Their second performance was at a community center in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, an area that was devastated by a tsunami a few years ago. They then traveled to a place where people had built a community to accommodate refugees, Bedford said. He saw cars rolled up into balls by the tsunami.

“I’ve never really seen anything like it before,” Bedford said of the devastation.

But there was also great delight on the part of both the American performers and the Japanese audiences.

Ernest Whitmore of Siloam Springs, also a member of Singing Men of Arkansas, said he was attracted to the tour because of the mission of the Messiah Project, which is “to present the majesty of God through quality performance in the arts.” The visual presentations of dance and music pointed everything to the glory of God, Whitmore said, and showed “how credible and incredible God is based on his creativity, his love for us, and reaching out to us in redemption through Christ.”

Japan was chosen for the tour because the culture appreciates beautiful art and music, Bedford added, and because “less than 1 percent of the population is Christian in Japan. Many people are seeking truth and meaning for life.”

Bedford said the “missionaries” wanted everyone to feel welcome at the performances, and he believes people not of the Christian faith enjoyed them, too.

The music included a selection of Broadway hits from shows such as “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma” and “The Sound of Music,” Bedford said, along with a work called “Saviour,” a story of God’s passion for his people as told through music and dance. It is a piece well-suited for choirs, and it begins with creation, Bedford said.

It has some contemporary flavors and harmonics, he added, in numbers such as “Kings of the Earth,” “We Need a Saviour,” and “Rose of Sharon.” The latter mentions “how the rose loses its petals in sacrifice for us,” soloist Seth Long of Springdale said.

For the concerts, the choral group was on the side of the stage while the dancers - who did a variety of styles including hip hop in addition to ballet - took center stage. Brett Vinson, another member of the Singing Men of Arkansas, said not only did he learn about Japanese culture and meet all kinds of people during this tour, but he was able to see how much skill and emotion is involved in dance. He saidthe dances were “almost mesmerizing,” and he never tired of watching the dancers perform. Wade Caldwell of Fayetteville, a vocalist who is also a member of the Singing Men of Arkansas, added that he enjoyed watching the little girls in the audience as they watched the dancers.

They never seemed to take their eyes off the performers, he said.

Long added that he fell in love with the Japanese culture.

“I got here a week and half ago, and I’m already about 1 percent on my way to learning Japanese,” he said with a laugh during an interview July 6 via Skype.

Long too loved seeing the audience’s reactions. He couldn’t understand what people said about the show, he joked, but they were smiling.

Bedford said the warmth the Japanese people showed the performers was extremely gratifying, but like his colleagues, his favorite part of the tour was “seeing Japanese people delight in what we have brought to them in music and dance.”

The performers will present their concert for local audiences on Sept. 7 at Arend Arts Center in Bentonville.

GO & DO Friendship Tour Concert

When: Sept. 7

Where: Arend Arts Center in Bentonville

Cost: Free

Information: 466-8208, singingmenofarkansas.org or messiahproject.

org Friendship Tour: Japan Tour Schedule

June 30 - Concert at Shizuoka Performing Arts Hall in Shizuoka

July 2 - Concert at a community center in Ishinomaki, Miyagi

July 3 - Concert at Fukushima First Bible Baptist Church in Iwaki City

July 5 and 6 - Concerts at Household of God Church in Tokyo

July 7 - Concert at Christian Academy in Tokyo

Style, Pages 25 on 07/11/2013