By Jonathan Bailey, CBF field personnel
Something unusual happened on June 29, 2025 at First Greenville. Their handbell ringers debuted an ancient piece of Balinese music. As far as we know it’s the second time ever that music for Balinese gamelan was played on handbells, (The first was Speedway Baptist Church in Indianapolis where we did an abbreviated version). And the ensemble didn’t just play the melody of the song. They played those bells just like we play gamelan in Bali. It has been a wish of mine for a long, long time that a church would experience the music that is at the heart of my ministry. We all had lunch together after the service and talked about what the experience meant to us.
One musician remarked, “When we were playing, it was like we were one voice, one instrument.” It almost brought tears to my eyes because she had experienced what I experience in the music in Bali and that the Balinese themselves say they feel too. When she said that, I knew we had succeeded. We shared something in common with the Balinese musicians on the other side of the world. The Spirit of God was there in the music, and we were connected. It was a sacred moment for us all and a dream come true for me!