To Poland with the Celebrant Singers

After the shock of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many people felt a great burden for the Ukrainian people and wondered how they could help. The images on the news of family members saying good-bye to each other at train stations as fathers and sons stayed behind to fight in the war were heart breaking. And the exodus of people leaving the country was unimaginable, over ten million of them, mostly women and children.

With compassion for the Ukrainian refugees as well as for the people who have taken them in, the Celebrant Singers under the direction of Jon Stemkoski, planned an outreach to Poland this summer, “Operation Poland.” The Celebrant Singers is a contemporary music and missions ministry based out of Visalia, California.

It was fitting that Jon travel with the team to Poland  because it was in that country where he first felt God’s call to take the message of Christ around the world. In 1975, Jon started the Celebrant Singers ministry, recruiting teams of musicians and vocalists to give concerts, pray with people and share the Good News of Jesus.

Also traveling with the team were Pastor Tom Buratovich and his son Jason. Tom, who is currently the pastor of two churches in Porterville, California has had a longstanding friendship with Jon Stemkoski and in 2016 went with a Celebrants team to Greece.

Pastor Tom was the assistant director for Operation Poland, overseeing the setup of the equipment at each venue, taking over for Jon when necessary and participating as one of the singers. Jason was a percussionist, also helping by setting up the drums at each concert. This was Jason’s first time out of the country and his first time traveling with Celebrants.

When asked what his first impression was of Poland, Tom shared that it was beautiful in many ways. They crisscrossed through the small country by bus, passing fields of sunflowers and seeing the beauty of the land. The hearts and spirits of the Polish people also impressed Tom as being beautiful in the way they graciously received the Celebrants team—the same way the Ukrainian refugees were being received.

The people in the group came from California, Wisconsin, France and Poland. During a week of preparation and rehearsing in Visalia and then two weeks of traveling abroad, the group of about thirty folks fell “into a rhythm of cooperation, flexibility and following marching orders,” according to Pastor Tom.

Originally, his wife, Judy was going to join the team also, but had to stay home at the last minute. According to one of the Polish members of the group who was dealing with a tough situation in her home, watching the loving, nurturing interaction between Tom and son Jason encouraged her greatly.

When Jason was asked to share his testimony during one of the concerts, he spoke about the value of the Bible, God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice for us. He liked talking to the audience and “at the very end, everyone loved my testimony.”

Something God impressed upon Pastor Tom  was to thank the Polish people for demonstrating “radical hospitality” to the world by opening their doors to receive their Ukrainian neighbors. This he did at every opportunity.

            Some of the pastors Tom met were carrying heavy burdens; some were exhausted from housing people in their churches. He was able to pray with many of them. Tom and the team also prayed with refugees at the concerts and listened to their stories…sad stories of separation from loved ones, of waiting to hear news from home and of leaving everything behind.

            While speaking to a congregation during one concert, Pastor Tom used the illustration of sunflower seeds to convey a message of hope and encouragement. “We saw sunflowers everywhere,” he shared. “Veggies were even served with sunflower seeds!” He praised them for the seeds of kindness, love and good-will that they were sowing, and reminded them that the harvest was coming.

Think of the harvest of souls, of lives forever transformed because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. May we also be faithful in planting seeds, good seeds, in the lives of those around us. Thank you, Pastor Tom and Jason, for serving the Lord in Poland!

“Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’” John 12:23-24 NIV