God is on the move and revival is happening around the world, Christian musician Michael W. Smith said. “Something’s happening,” he says. “I’m so grateful that I’m alive to get to see it.”
Michael W. Smith
The current movement of God extends beyond the United States. Over 14,000 Vietnamese attended the Spring Love Festival earlier this month at an outdoor field in Ho Chi Minh City, with Franklin Graham preaching and Smith and other artists leading worship in song. More than 300 local churches participated. In April, Smith will perform in Romania, Hungary, Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy.
The event was a miracle in itself as Vietnam’s Communist regime oppresses Christians with local authorities using violence in their persecution of believers. Voice of the Martyrs says just 2.5 percent of the country’s population is Christian.
Smith posted a video on his Instagram account of tens of thousands of Vietnamese singing the lyrics to the popular praise song “Waymaker.” Some of them sang in English while others sang in Vietnamese. It was a “bit overwhelming,” he said emotionally, to hear the Vietnamese crowd sing, in unison to music he had recorded. “God is on the move,” he posted on social media.
A news release from Graham’s organization said it was the first time the Vietnamese government has given permission for an evangelistic outreach with a foreign speaker to be held outside of a religious holiday.
It is edifying, Smith said, to worship with Christians in other countries. “Sometimes in western civilization in America, we think everything sort of revolves around our little world that we have,” he said. “It was just so authentic.”
Smith has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning three. In April, moviegoers can see Smith on the big screen in the documentary “The Journey,” which follows world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli, his wife Veronica and other musicians as they travel on horseback through the Italian countryside along the Via Francigena. It will be in theaters on April 2-6.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice