Gospel Choir Leaves Today

This morning the Grace City gospel choir, a group of 20 people, leaves to give concerts in Ishinomaki. On Saturday at 10 am they are performing at Ishinomaki Christ Church, which serves as a distribution center for 200 people in the community every day. The church was completely inundated in the tsunami, but many volunteer groups have worked hard to clean out the mud and debris so it could be used for worship and to help the neighborhood. Above is a sign advertising the concert in front of the church and a picture of the choir in concert at Grace City two weeks ago.

The choir will also perform at Watanoha Elementary School, a shelter for 440 people in a suburb of Ishinomaki.

I put a lot of work into planning and leading this trip and know it's going to be a powerful experience for everyone involved. Because my wife is still in the hospital, I've decided not to go but assigned someone else to lead the trip.

To the left is gospel singer Nozomi Fujii, who came with me on the last trip. Everybody loved meeting her and hearing her perform. Here she is playing with some kids at the home below which became a distribution center for about 200 people in the nearby area. A photo of the home with our cars and truck parked outside is below.

Below is also a daytime photo of the lobby of the beautiful resort hotel we performed in last week in Minami Sanriku. Because it is one of only a handful of buildings still standing, it has become a hub for all relief activity and a place for the workers to stay. It usually costs hundreds of dollars per person per night to stay there! It was quite powerful to see the place full of muddy workers and the parking lot full of all kinds of utility and military vehicles.

Concert in Minami Sanriku

These are pictures from my concert at the Hotel Kanyo in Minami Sanriku on Thursday April 21 along with gospel singer Nozomi Fujii. This hotel was one of the only buildings in the whole area not devastated by the tsunami. As such, it became the center for all government, military, and NPO activities for clean-up, rebuilding, and caring for people in shelters and communities. The hotel owner allowed us to give a concert there for all the workers.

There are many smaller communities in the mountains not getting the supplies they need. Every day at set times, about 200 people in each area visit the one house in the community that has a barn or a large structure to hold goods for distribution. We spent the day visiting 5 of these places with OGA for Aid, a non-profit group we look forward to cooperating with long into the future. One of the things distributed was milk. The girls in the picture have had almost no milk since the earthquake 6 weeks ago!

The steel structure in the middle of the picture below is the remains of a gas station, the only one in town which was able to be reopened amidst the destruction. The government has also been fast about putting up electric poles to bring electricity back to surrounding areas.

Concerts in Shelters

"Please come back! And play longer next time!" people greeted us as we said goodbye. These video clips are from two concerts given for people evacuated from their homes around Fukushima nuclear power plants to shelters in Iwaki on April 14-15. On the second day, we were joined by gospel singer Daisuke Yokoyama. It was my first time to carry the digital organ to a shelter. People loved it!

After giving the concert at Taira Kyoikukan, we walked around the room and asked if anybody would like a massage. While rubbing one lady's back, she told me how her house was not inside the evacuation zone but was in danger of falling down. Two weeks after the original quake, she did go back to her house to try to live in it until the huge aftershock we had last week. She said "That's enough!" and went back to the shelter. Don't underestimate the psychological stress of hour after hour of aftershocks. We had one just a few minutes ago!

Japanese Article

Here is another article telling the story of what is happening in the Tsukishima community. Abi was interviewed while I was bringing another truck of supplies collected by the mothers in our community. It appeared in the "Christian Newspaper" on April 10, 2011. You can download the article here.

"Cooking a hot meal" video

GraceCityRelief from Shane Burgett on Vimeo.

Starting with the chaos of 5 generators, making dinner for two thousand people, in a tent at night, this video shows clips of our tonjiru (pork miso soup - the chicken soup of the soul for Japan) project last week. Leaving at 1:30 a.m. and not returning until 5 a.m. two days later. It was a grueling schedule but also very powerful in many ways.

Picture, Article & Story

Rev. Fukuda's two boys Motoki and Satoshi along with their friend Takeshi on the Grace City youth clean-up trip to Ishinomaki March 29 - April 1.


***New article about Grace City Church on CNN's iReport! Read the article here.


Fisherman's Survival Story (as told to Abi by his daughter):

One older gentleman was driving his pickup truck in Minami Sanriku when the earthquake hit in the middle of the afternoon on March 11. Since he is responsible for the support of his daughter and grandchildren, his first thought was "Protect my livelihood!" He raced his truck to the top of the nearest hill, jumped out, and ran with all his might thru town. He then got in his boat and sped off into open water (as fast as a fishing boat will go!), hoping to be far enough out to sea to not capsize by the giant tsunami heading his way or be sucked back to shore by the current. Can you imagine what that would feel like! He made it. Broken boats littering the town were a sobering reminder that many did not.

Grace City Relief Logo

Description of the logo by the designer: Geert de Boo, Grace City Church staff

The logo in the colors of emergency and rescue, darkness (black) and hope (yellow), is a variation of the Grace City logo. In this case, however, the circle refers not only to the city, but to the sun, symbol of a whole nation, Japan. The lower half is darker yellow, an image of the earth burning. Creation is in pain and in need of hope and rescue. The upper part is bright yellow, the color of hope. It is reflection of the belief in restoration of creation when God himself will be the sun (Revelation 21:23). A subtle yellow cross is added to the bolded RELIEF. This expresses that even though Grace City executes the relief work it is the Gospel of Christ that empowers the church community to do so. The cross is the only thing that can truly make sense of hope through suffering.

Cooking a hot meal

The cook and owner of a restaurant near our building lost family in the tsunami and wanted to prepare a meal for the survivors...a great hot meal, the first since the earthquake hit three weeks ago.



I invitated musicians living in Tokyo to bring joy and beauty to the neighborhood while passing out the food. Here is a video of Bruce Huebner, jazz flutist and shakuhachi player, performing for everybody while the food is being prepared and while waiting in line to receive kerosene to heat their homes. A number of ladies were in tears at hearing the Japanese folk melodies.

The people in the neighborhood cleared out this area hoping that someday soon someone would come bringing supplies. They were so happy when our group showed up!


Chopping vegetables!


Mixing the ingredients...

The finished product: Tonjiru (Pork Miso) Soup!


A little girl playing nearby in front of her house...

Minami Sanriku

Here are some scary pictures of the power of a tsunami. Minami Sanriku, the town Abi visited on Monday to bring supplies to a shelter, was hit so hard that almost everything was leveled. Even steel structures were stripped bare. The building in the distance is a hospital made famous in the news. 200 people made it to the roof and were stuck there in the freezing cold (it was snowing at the time) all night long. By writing "SOS" on the roof, helicopters eventually found them the next day.


The standing water was so high that a car floated right side up to the roof of this third story building.


You can tell how high the wave was by the fact that it submerged and destroyed this entire four story building. Unbelievable!

This was a very difficult place to be emotionally. Everyone was sobbing. The tsunami inundated both evacuation centers sweeping everyone away. Over half the population of the town died, around 10,000 people! The schools were on high ground protecting the children, but most are now orphaned. No one imagined that a tsunami could get this high...

Can Artists Be Involved?

So many are involved! Shop owners delivered fresh vegetables and fruit for people who haven't seen that in 3 weeks now. One company donated half a truck load of kerosene (to keep homes warm). A cook, who had lost family in the tsunami, went with us to cook a great meal for 2,000 people. Hoppy Beer Co. donated a 4 ton truck and driver for one trip. A masuse gave massages to volunteers. A non-profit consultant donated her time and services. A dentist donated toothbrushes. Hundreds of housewives have collected supplies, made rice balls, made a blog, and used their networks to spread the news. Children made pictures for the boxes.

How can artists be involved? On March 31, 2011, I was part of a birthday party celebration for all survivors of the tsunami with a March birthday. The atmosphere was full of the celebration of life on this my third visit to this temple-become-shelter. Music makes all the difference between a concentration camp-like feel and a party. Over the past week I have been talking with community leaders and shelter managers about the possibility of concerts in the future. All have unanimously agreed that this a huge need over the next 3 months.

By the way, notice how my keyboard stand is a person on either side. That was a first for me! Helped make the evening fun. Everyone laughed.

The Japan Times

Grace City Church Tokyo appeared in The Japan Times (page 3!) this past week, leading relief efforts up north and getting the community of Tsukishima involved. Japan Times has a readership of about 500,000 people. Read the article here. 日本語版。