The first thing I remember is getting a phone call from someone from Far
East Broadcasting in the Philippine Islands inviting the group to come to
Manila for some meetings, as we were "bigger than the Beatles" in Manila.
It seems that our song "A Love Song" had been released to local radio as a
pop single, and had risen to #1 on the charts.
How this came to be was because at that time the first Love Song album was
distributed by a secular label, United Artists. It was their policy to
send new releases to local distributors in foreign countries, who would
review the albums content and decide which songs they felt could be hits in
view of the taste of their culture. Someone in Manila decided that our
sing could be a hit, and released it as a single. It did go to #1, and
when the local missionaries heard about it, they realized that we were a
Calvary Chapel band, and saw the potential to reach large amounts of people
with the gospel. A baseball field, Rizal Stadium, was booked for the
event, which was to be a five night "festival", starring us, and featuring
different local artists each night.
It was arranged for Philippine Airlines to comp our tickets for promotional
considerations, and flights were booked. We boarded at LAX for the long
flight, and took our seats. The first hint that we had that the
observation that we were "bigger than the Beatles" over there might
contain a modicum of truth, was when the flight attendant came to serve our
drinks. She looked at us and practically shrieked: "Love Song...Chuck,
Jay, Tommy". She knew each of us by name. When we arrived we were greeted
by TV camera crews filming our arrival for the evening news. None of us
had brought anything onto the plane by which we could freshen up before
arrival, and the text of the evening news account of out arrival carried a
sub-head that read "Love Song Arrives!" "Love Song arrived today, looking
much like the POW's who have been arriving from Vietnam.......". We made a
great first impression!
We were whisked to the hotel, and on our way through town, we were greeted
in the main square of Manila by a huge approx. 60' cloth banner which
carried our pictures and a greeting. We were recognized everywhere we went
partially due to the fact that we were the only men in all of Manila who
had long hair. Manila was under Marcos at the time and under martial law.
It was decreed that no men could have long hair, and we had to obtain
special government permission to enter the country without cutting our
hair. So consequently we were easily spotted, and crowds followed us
wherever we went. I had never before felt such a sense that I had to be
witness 24 hours a day, that I could never really relax my witness while
there, as everyone knew what we stood for. It was actually quite humbling,
and the grace of the Lord was very apparent as He was obviously under
girding us with the strength we needed to represent Him with honor and
without compromise.
The meetings, held outdoors on a huge specially constructed stage, were
attended by about 10,000 a night. You must realize that part of the reason
for the great success of the meetings was due to the fact that no foreign
artists had appeared in Manila for at least 2 years. This was because
under martial law, the economy was fluctuating so radically that no
promoters were willing to take a chance on bringing an artists in on the
possibility that the profit margin could fade away with a change in the
value of the currency . It was also a factor that the public in general
did not realize that we were a Christian group, as the song "A Love Song"
did not contain an overtly Christian message. So as far as most of them
were concerned, we were just a rock group from the states. Add to that the
fact that the concerts were free, and you can understand the huge numbers.
It was a very thrilling experience, and as we gave altar calls each night,
literally thousands walked to the front of the stadium to receive Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior. Little by little, word got out that we
were a group that had a spiritual message, but it didn't seem to be a
negative factor in the attendance throughout the five nights. In one
interview, the host made the comment that he had heard that our meetings
were "a lot like a church service". It was fun at that point to explain
our real mission in being in manila, and all in all, in this largely Roman
Catholic country, we found the response to be positive and affirming.
While there, we stayed in rooms which were donated to us by a national
chain. The management made a request that we might upon occasion over the
week do a complimentary appearance in of all places, the lounge. We saw
this as an evangelistic opportunity, and on two or three evenings went up
to the lounge and sang and preached just like we would at the meetings,
Although we didn't actually give altar calls there, we felt that
uncompromised message would have an impact on many of the lost people in
the bar.
We also played at a huge local university, "University of the East", I
believe. We played in a courtyard for a special assembly for over (gasp)
100,000 students. We were escorted past the crowds as we arrived for the
performance, cordoned off by a National Guard unit, who locked arms to keep
back the press of the crowd. I remember what an overwhelming sight it was
to see all these students gathered in one spot, and then to realize that we
were going to do our performance with the most rudimentary of sound
systems. I believe it was one mic, and can't remember what else, but this
was way before the days of sophisticated sound systems, and don't remember
how we even managed to be heard before this huge crowd. As always, the
gospel was preached, and it was truly a highlight in our musical ministry.
It was a whirlwind tour, peppered socially with dinner engagements, meeting
and hanging out with some of the power elite of Manila, although we were
not able to meet the Marcos'. We left tired, but satisfied that we had
fulfilled the purposes of God in this wonderful opportunity.
Years later I had occasion to talk to one of the missionaries who was
involved that week and had moved back to the states. He had said that the
impact of this event was so far reaching, that they had salvations for
years to come where the people had indicated that Festival. He estimated
that over the years over 10,00 people had made commitments to receive Jesus
as Lord, either as a direct or indirect result of having attended those
meetings. - Chuck Girard (Nov.1997)
