In Memory of Jon Karner

A HERO IN BLACK AND WHITE

One of my heroes, Jon Karner, was laid to rest on Saturday, June 2, 2007, in a verdant little cemetery outside tiny Milaca, Minnesota. When my wife and I first encountered him in 1980, Jon was Jaanus Karner, a leader in the underground church in the Soviet republic of Estonia.

We met in August on a street corner in Tallinn, where the highway crossed Looga Street, the dirt lane leading to his house. Jaanus had gotten word that some Americans were in town, wanting to deliver some sorely needed supplies from supporters in the West. But by the time our message got to him, so had we.

I had seen his black and white photograph hundreds of times. Now, standing there in the flesh, tall and strong with a coal black beard Samson might have envied, he struck me still as black and white. Mind you, black and white was good in the USSR, a land so devoid of spiritual color that it seemed to have drained even the natural world of every shade in the spectrum. Everything but gray, that is.

In a land where most men preferred the blurry haze of drunkenness to the stark clarity of belief, Jaanus' faith framed him in sharp black and white. He not only engaged in the dangerous practice of youth ministry at Tallinn Methodist Church, but enthusiastically embraced the highly illegal vocation of evangelism. If, as was often said, Estonia was the Soviet Union's "window on the West," this man was a rope dangling from it. More goods got in, and news got out, because of him than virtually anyone else. Want to meet with Christian leaders in Kiev? Jaanus knew them. Need contacts in Moscow, Leningrad, or way down in Armenia? He could put you in touch.

Living in black and white was good in the Kingdom of Gray. From Tallinn to Tashkent, Kiev to Kamchatka, the Evil Empire's vast steppe wore a trench coat of gloom. Charcoal clouds dotted gray skies hanging over gray buildings on gray streets. The pallor of the people was equally sunless, especially their eyes, fogged-over windows into hopeless souls. Strobe Talbott had once described Leonid Brezhnev and his Kremlin cohorts as "old men with faces the color of sidewalks." He was right. Even the elite, capable of neither passion nor embarrassment, could not muster a healthy pink blush. Yes, black and white was good, even necessary, because it kept one from drowning in the murk.

But it was also dangerous. Jaanus had already been kicked out of university, and consigned to a series of menial jobs. The KGB had ransacked his home more than once in the middle of the night, searching for Bibles and incriminating documents, yet never finding them because the Holy Spirit warned him every time that they were coming.

"Those agents always drive Volgas," he once told me. "And the click of that particular car door outside my house will awaken me from a dead sleep."

No wonder his older son, thirty-six year old David, told me the other day that he has clear memories from the age of three. Having the front door knocked in at 2 a.m. by thugs in dark suits would do that to a toddler.

I still remember Labor Day weekend of 1983. It was David's 12th birthday, and Jaanus wanted me to attend his party in Tallinn, before I flew back to America on September 2nd.

"You can't walk straight to the pick-up point," he said. "When you leave the hotel, walk around Old Town for awhile, like you're sightseeing. Then wait by the bus stop near Maripooiste Church. Use your peripheral vision to watch for Tani's red Lada. He'll stop about 50 feet down the sidewalk from you. When the back door opens, get in and lie down."

I followed Jaanus' instructions and eventually arrived at Tani's front gate, whereupon I was whisked furtively into the house. David and his little brother, Stefan, were playing with Tani's kids in the living room, oblivious to the ridiculous intrigues that somehow made a little boy's birthday party a threat to the State.

We hadn't been there for fifteen minutes when Jaanus pulled me into the hallway and cranked up the old tube radio they kept handy to defeat electronic eavesdroppers. Then, cupping his hands over my ears, he said, "This is probably the last time I'll ever see you," he said in his staccato accent.

I jerked away to look my friend in the eye and rebuke him. But he pulled me close again to explain.

"The KGB took me in a couple of weeks ago and told me that it's already been decided in Moscow. I will be taken to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years hard labor in Siberia. They said they would give me a few weeks to prepare my family to live without me."

I was stunned. Nobody tried under Soviet law was ever found innocent, because that would reveal an imperfection in the system. The noble State only ever arrested the guilty. I also knew that ten years in the Gulag could be a death sentence.

I flew home the next day with Jaanus' words a death knell in my ears. I hated the Soviet system. It was 100 percent evil and 100 percent stupid. And the KGB—how utterly cruel they were. "We'll give you a few weeks before we come for you," the arrogant Colonel Timusk had said, toying with a good man's life like a cat bats around a wounded mouse.

But somewhere over the Atlantic everything changed. I had been at a worship conference in California just prior to making the trip to Estonia, and on the last night of that event some fifty senior pastors had surrounded me onstage to pray for my ministry and safe return.

It was during that prayer, in the auditorium at Pasadena City College, that I had seen a—a vision, on the white facade that fronted that venue's massive balcony. I wasn't feeling particularly spiritual, mind you, and although I believed in visions, I never considered myself a worthy candidate for one.

I saw Red Square. Right there, in living color, on the wall was Moscow's Red Square, the gigantic brick plaza where soldiers goose-stepped, and ballistic missiles rolled by in May Day parades, where the old men of the Kremlin stood atop Lenin's tomb and waved to the throngs below who so despised them.

But now I saw dancers instead of soldiers, and banners instead of rockets, and tens of thousands of people worshiping the God that Marx had hated. "That's ridiculous," I thought at once. "If that ever happened there would be no Soviet Union. It's just my stupid imagination."

Suddenly, ten days later at 37,000 feet above the ocean, it wasn't so crazy anymore. "Read Numbers 13," a Voice inside me said. I grabbed my Bible and quickly turned to a section of the Scriptures I usually avoided, because of all those boring "so-and-so begat so-and-so" passages. I only turned to Numbers when sleeping pills wouldn't work.

It was the story of Moses, sending 12 spies into the Promised Land. Ten of the men had returned, utterly horrified by the giants they had seen. But two, Joshua and Caleb, had come home full of faith. "We can take the land!" they proclaimed, as they waxed eloquent about the bounty they had seen. It was as though God's promise to them had turned Canaan's giants into grasshoppers. And, of course, later on these two faithful men did indeed lead their nation to possess the Promised Land.

"What are you going to believe?" the Voice asked me. "Are you going to believe the big Soviet giant, or the picture I showed you on the wall in California?"

Then and there I knew that the mighty Soviet Union was going to fall as surely and resoundingly as the walls of Jericho. For the next eight years I blabbed that good news in churches all over America, and whispered it in living rooms and hallways in the USSR.

"I suppose this makes you a prophet," people said after 1991. "Nope," I always replied. "I'm just an informed tourist."

As for Jaanus, three a half months after we had parted so sadly in Tallinn, he and his family took up residence in Redondo Beach, California. A serendipitous contact with U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz had secured their release, and included a complete bypass of the KGB, who normally had to sign all exit visas. When agents broke in the door yet again in mid-December, the house on Looga Street was as empty as their legal case. As for the KGB Colonel who had taunted my friend so mercilessly, he was "retired" in 1991 when that spy agency was dismantled, and spent the rest of his life as a low-wage bouncer at a local bar.

Meanwhile, Annie, Jaanus' sweet wife, passed away in 1992. David grew up to become a race car drive, and Steven works for the City of Los Angeles. Jaanus became an American citizen named Jon, and helped establish a broad presence for Christian television in the former Soviet Union.

In 1994 he married the lovely Elizabeth and "immigrated" once more, this time to central Minnesota, where he spent the last thirteen years of his life on a quiet honeymoon, he and his bride frequently returning to his beloved Tallinn.

The cemetery just west of Milaca was bright green the other day, made greener still by a peaceful rain that cleansed the earth in preparation for Jon Karner's saintly body. We read the Scriptures, prayed a prayer, sang Amazing Grace, and said some words. Then we all just stood in the shade of a stately oak and silently listened to the birds singing.

They sang in color.

Eulogy From Estonia

From: Märt Vähi, Bishop emeritus Estonian Christian Pentecostal Church and founder of the Village of Hope, Estonia

Our many sympathies and prayers are with you Elizabeth, family, many friends and congregation, especially this day. From so many of us here in Estonia, far across the sea in Europe, from my wife Alta and I, Andrew and Erica, our family and us at the Village of Hope, Bishop Ago Lilleorg, the Sõnajalgs and all of us at the Estonian Christian Pentecostal Church we are filled with love for Jon, you Elizabeth and your family. We have so many memories of the great times spent together over the years.

Personally, I remember the first time meeting Jon in 1970, in an underground youth service in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. From then on it was the countless times of smuggling Bibles, organizing events, projects, secret meetings and music. Then the early days of the birth of our movement with Lorn Cunningham and others, Jon was there. Jon always had more on the go than he could do - a man filled with love, passion, vision and energy. He was always ready to put his life on the line. We all loved him.

He was a visionary - who, I don't think, ever got his dreams and ambitions fully realized. These kind of real pioneers never do - their dreams and aspirations are always bigger than they are. Jon we here in Estonia will carry on - just so sorry your not here with us - we will miss you greatly.

But, in another way, you will be - your heart and zeal will be talked about for years to come as we reminisce of the years gone by, giving us inspiration for the moment for the exciting things of God today. Things change, and these are different days and now again, with you passing on, changes come. But we live on with the challenges of these changes and you will live on in our hearts and memories until that great and glorious day - see you then friend!

Märt Vähi

Living Life With Integrity

By Michael T. McKibben

"If it is God's Will for me to go to prison, I am ready to go." Jaanus Karner, early summer of 1979.

These words changed my life. Not so much at that moment, but over the subsequent years as I watched my friends, Jon Karner, Herbert Murd, and their Estonian and Russian Christian colleagues live this commitment.

Jon's example taught me that personal integrity is to be especially prized among the virtues; that most of life's other endeavors are but shifting sand by comparison.

* * *

The year 1979 was part of the dark Brezhnev days in the Soviet Union. The KGB disinformation machine was perhaps at its pinnacle of power, having fueled the Vietnam anti-war movement in the United States and helped facilitate America's withdrawal from Vietnam. Moscow was preparing to host the 1980 Olympics and President Jimmy Carter was threatening a boycott over the Soviet Union's dismal human rights record and its 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.



Living Sound was a Christian missions organization headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma that felt called to use contemporary Gospel music as a vehicle for sharing the Christian message. Over the years following its founding in 1969, Living Sound felt especially led to take its pop, jazz-rock and light rock music behind the Iron Curtain into communist countries. We had already gained notoriety in Poland, where we had made some 16 missions forays, largely under the patronage of the Polish Roman Catholic Church and its leaders Cardinals Stefan Wyszyński and Karol Woytyla, who later became Pope John Paul II. Our primary organizer and translator in Poland was a brave soul by the name of Richard Pruzkowski, whose story of courage is not dissimilar to Jon's.

After we organized an initial, short trip to Tallinn, Estonia S.S.R. earlier in 1979 with our Living Sound Team IV (see photo below), I traveled back to meet with our contact Jon Karner to discuss the results of this first trip and the possibilities of further assisting the Church in the Soviet Union.



Nobody in modern history had ever done what we were thinking about doing: gospel concerts in the Soviet Union. The government was militantly atheistic. They had imprisoned tens of thousands of their citizens for their religious activities. They were no respecter of religions. Christians, Jews, Moslems, and Buddhists were all fair game, as were non-religious human rights activists, like the nuclear scientist Andre Sakharov, all of whom were vulnerable to disruption of professional careers, ridicule, threats, harassment, blackmail, coercion, and if those tactics did not work, muggings, beatings, nocturnal arrest and imprisonment by the ruthless secret police, the KGB.



After graduating in 1973 from The Ohio State University, me in Civil Engineering and a four-year member of the OSU Marching Band, and my wife Nancy in French and Russian languages, we traveled in Europe, North America, and Asia with Living Sound for three years as trombonist and journalist, respectively. We then moved to Malmesbury, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom in 1977 and I became Living Sound's European Director.

As European Director I oversaw all aspects of our musical teams' life on the road as missionaries from our UK offices, first in farm offices of the Withers Family near Lea, Wiltshire, then at High Street offices in Malmesbury, then in our Little Ingleburn House in Malmesbury, purchased with funds raised from the sale of 21 Royal Crescent in Bath which had been graciously donated by the David Hyatt family. We coordinated these efforts closely with our headquarters staff in Tulsa and with its founders, Evangelist Terry Law and Gordon Calmeyer, and Music Directors, Larry Dalton, Jim Gilbert and Don Moen among them, and our US Board, including Dr. Charles Farah and Dr. Gene Eland. Our UK staff and UK & Swedish Board and Advisors included Brian & June Kille, Lynne Catley, Dawn Whale, Elizabeth Ratliffe, David Strange, John Morris, Luther & Sandy Myers, Rev. Bo & Paula Melin, Peter Wilson, Randy Innes, Rev. John & Irene Wilson, David & Rosemary Wier, Geoff & Rhoda Johnson, Mike & Vera Finn, Ian Jones, Ron Jewell, David & Diane Bailey, Lord Hylton, Paul Davis, Goran Ivarson, Henk & Hanny Luykx, Richard & Renata Pruzkowski and George Hamilton IV among them. It took a wonderfully dedicated and loving team of people to make this story happen.

After Team IV's successful weekend in Tallinn, Estonia, where they made contact with Jon Karner, a Methodist, and sang at the Olevista Baptist Church, Terry and I discussed a follow up trip; perhaps a longer trip. A Finnish pastor in Helsinki who had extensive experience in supporting a wide variety of Soviet Christian groups suggested that we consider traveling to other Soviet Republics and making contact with the Orthodox Christians and unregistered (underground) Pentecostals as well.

Terry and I discussed this idea and we agreed that I should travel to Tallinn to meet with Jon and find out if such a plan was feasible or just plain insane. The reader should keep in mind that Living Sound felt a "calling" to the communist world. This means that Living Sound sincerely believed that because God had "led" Living Sound in this direction that God would "open doors" that were otherwise shut. And in the process, God would protect us.

Looking back, this seems pretty unbelievable to me. I have children now who are the ages that we were back then. Our parents must have also been given an extra measure of faith by God as well to have even contemplated letting us do what we were about to do.

I traveled to Tallinn and spent a number of days with Jon and his wife Anne and their two little boys, David and Steven. Jon and I bonded instantly. We were two peas in a pod. We both had academic backgrounds in engineering, which meant we both knew how to convert ideas into actions. We spent hours talking and sharing (whispering actually) and getting acquainted, always beneath the blare of a radio or his stereo pumping out smooth jazz into the room to avoid our conversations being picked up by listening devices of the KGB "snoopers" as Jon called them. Anne would serve us tea and cookies and the boys would run in and out, oblivious to the plan being hatched.

I told Jon that we would be willing to make a major commitment to come back... if they wanted us to and if we could help and not just make more trouble for their already persecuted Christian lives. I asked to meet with the pastors of the registered Tallinn churches, which Jon arranged. I shared with them how blessed we were by the previous trip of Team IV. We were prepared to do more, if they wanted us to.

The next day Jon gave me the report from the meeting with the pastors. "We'll support Living Sound's return." With that, Jon and I started planning a Gospel concert tour to end all tours. I now call it "The Miracle Tour."

As we discussed where we would go and with whom we would work in each location, I worried. I had read so many accounts of the persecutions of Christians in communist countries that it seemed impossible to me that such persecutions could be avoided for the people with whom we would work. So I asked a blunt question of Jon: "Brother, Soviet citizens go to prison for this kind of activity. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Jon made a characteristic, slightly puzzled, slightly humored, slightly worried smirk with his black-bearded face and said, "Well of course nobody wants to go to prison. I've got a family and responsibilities. But the Soviet system we live under is evil. It is cursed. As a Christian I must do what I can to resist this evil. It is my Christian duty. I hope it is not God's will for me to go to prison, but if it is God's will, I am ready to go."



I pressed Jon to make sure I had heard him correctly. "Brother, are you telling me that you are willing to go to prison for your work with Living Sound?" Jon said "Yes."

We then completed our plans for an amazing concert tour that would take us through Poland from Kiev, Ukraine to Tbilisi, Georgia to Yerevan, Armenia to Moscow, Russia, then Tallinn, Estonia, and finally Leningrad, Russia before arriving in Helsinki. The tour would take a month. We mapped out contacts with Baptists and Pentecostals in Kiev, Baptists and Orthodox in Tbilisi, Orthodox and Pentecostals in Yerevan, Baptists in Moscow to Methodists, Baptists and Pentecostals in Tallinn. In addition, all along the way we would be making contact with local professional musicians to play "jam sessions" in hotels and concert venues when the opportunity presented itself.

Jon also had a special request. He told me that their music ministry, Sela, was in need of a way to record Christian music. He said that it was virtually impossible for a Christian music group to rent a recording studio. He also described the great demand and need for contemporary Christian music in the Soviet Union; music that young people could enjoy and be inspired by.

He asked me if we could bring an entire recording studio on our up-coming trip!

I told him that we would ask God for the money to purchase a studio. (If the truth be told, we in Living Sound had developed a somewhat audacious [youthful?!] daring in missions to boldly believe that such seemingly impossible things could happen. We dared to believe our Lord's admonition: "You have not because you ask not. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full" John 16:24.) The plan was for me to travel back in the following month to visit each location in our plan, meet with the Church leaders and local musicians, and do our best to prepare for Team IV's coming. Jon had also introduced me to Herbert Murd, a fellow Methodist and professional music organizer, who was to be my translator on this organizing trip. I asked Herbert the same question about the risks involved. Herbert, a more analytical soul, said he too had weighed the risks of this plan and determined that his life's commitment was to be an "honest person" no matter the cost. Herbert believed that the statement to be made to the communist authorities was about as honest as one could make. He was ready to go to prison, too. (Author's note: He did. Twice.)

The plan set in motion, neither Jon, Herbert nor I had a clue if this would or could actually happen. Would the KGB shut us down, arrest us, arrest those with whom we made contact? We had no idea.

What we did believe was that God was with us.

Several months later I traveled back to the Soviet Union. After starting in Tallinn with Jon and Anne, I flew to Tbilisi, Georgia. What a contrast! Estonia is in northern Europe, but Tbilisi felt and looked like somewhere along the Mediterranean Coast. Herbert and I made a successful rendezvous and we began our meetings. We met with the Baptist pastor, then with the Secretary to the Catholicos of the Georgian Orthodox Church. I knew nothing about Orthodox Christians or Orthodox Christianity back then, but this man's Christian demeanor impressed me. We told them both what we intended to do and they agreed to support it.

Herbert and I then flew to Yerevan, Armenia. Now we were in the Middle East and in the distance, we could even see Mt. Ararat, where Noah's Ark settled. In Yerevan we met with the manager of the local concert hall, who showed interest at hosting a concert. The pastors of the underground Pentecostal movement in Armenia, an energetic, loving group of persecuted believers, were highly entrepreneurial and enthusiastic about our coming. Finally, we met with the Secretary to the Catholicos of the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Church founded by the Apostle Thomas, located in Eshmiadzin (20 km from Yerevan), to inform him of our plans. He indicated that they were under such tight control and surveillance in the run-up to the 1980 Olympics that he saw no possibility of organizing any kind of concert.

From Yerevan, Herbert and I traveled separately again to Moscow where we met with the youth pastor for the Moscow Baptist Church, among others (Author's note: this pastor was imprisoned later also). Jon and Herbert believed they had contacts for the rest of the itinerary well in hand, so there was no need for me to travel to Kiev or Leningrad.

I grew to love, admire and respect Herbert Murd on this trip. We spent many a breakfast, lunch and dinner meal discussing faith, family, politics, countries, philosophy, etc. Herbert is a highly inquisitive person with a steely resolve. We had humorous moments too, like both of us being equally aghast at the tradition among Armenian Christian men to kiss each other on the lips! Apparently Estonians are as uncomfortable as Americans with that tradition.

Herbert and I parted in Moscow and I flew back to London.

As we prepared for Team IV's fall mega tour back into the USSR, we were also preparing for our annual UK Missions Banquet. This year we had chosen the ornate Bath Assembly Rooms in Bath, England which organizations could rent quite reasonably. We used these banquets each year as a way of saying thank you to missions supporters and to raise funds.

This banquet was well-attended, and included the Finnish pastor who had made the earlier recommendations. Terry, who had flown in from Tulsa, announced to the assembled supporters that we were planning to send Team IV back to the Soviet Union and that we needed additional funds to meet a specific request for recording equipment. After Terry's departure, we went to work on the trip preparations at our Malmesbury office.

Several weeks later, we received a call from a gentleman by the name of Ron Jewell from Watford, England, a large city north of London. Ron had attended the missions banquet in Bath and he wanted to travel down to see us in Malmesbury, some 95 miles away. We did not know Ron previously. He had seen one of our groups at his church and had been following our ministry from a distance.

In Malmesbury, Ron sat in my office on High Street and explained that he wanted to help with our expenses for the trip back to the Soviet Union. He asked how much we needed. I explained that we had been successful at raising our basic travel expenses, but still needed funds for the recording studio Jon had requested.

I crunched some numbers on my calculator. Exactly 16,000.00 British pounds displayed (approx. $35,000 US dollars back then).

I saw tears in Ron's eyes. Wordlessly, he pulled a check out of his coat pocket and handed it to me, and soon I was blinking back tears, too. The check was already made out in the amount of 16,000.00 British pounds, the figure that Ron felt the Lord had told him to give the Russian ministry.

This trip, it seemed, was ordained by God.

But "The Miracle Tour" was on a collision course with the Evil Empire, as president Ronald Reagan would later describe the Soviet Union.

* * *

Future installments of "The Miracle Tour":

- How to conceal an entire recording studio?
- The Bible printing plates
- The Polish-Russian border crossing
- The rendezvous in Kiev
- The Kiev Baptist Church
- The KGB threats
- Tbilisi encounters
- Yerevan encounters
- Igor, the Intourist (KGB) "tour guide" from hell
- The itinerary shutdown in Moscow by the Soviet tour authorities
- Team IV Road Manager Randy Innes' call to Mike: "What now?"
- While Igor sleeps: The Miracle Concerts to the Soviet cultural elite at the Red Star Club
- The Time Machine jam session
- The Alexey Koslov / Arsenal jam session
- Alexandra Pakhmutova's / David Tukhmanov's requests to rearrange and record their songs in Living Sound's "refreshing" "lively" "upbeat" style; Pakhmutova, the "Henry Mancini of Russia"
- Nancy McKibben lyricizes famous Pahmutova and Tukhmanov songs
- Don Moen rearranges and records songs in disco style (popular at the time)
- Mike and Ron Jewell negotiate the purchase by Melodiya Records, the official state-run record label
- Living Sound's Pakhmutova songs We Can't Live Without Each Other and Childhood Dreams are placed on the Official 1980 Olympics Gold Medalist film (Film Credits), on the official 1980 Moscow Olympics LP "My Love [is] Sport", and distributed as an "EP" album "Pakhmutova songs by Living Sound" by Melodiya Records. Amazingly, these songs are available online on Pakhmutova's website today: Click here to hear Childhood Dreams (mp3, 2.2MB) and Click here to listen to We Can't Live Without Each Other (mp3, 1.9 MB). Jon, these are for you our brother.

1980

The Official 1980 Olympic Album (cover translation: "My Love [is] Sport"), produced by Alexandra Pakhmutova and sold following the Games (includes the two Living Sound songs mentioned above). These Living Sound songs were also included on the Official 1980 Olympic Gold Medalist Film and shown across the Soviet Union in 1980. Mike McKibben and Don Moen actually sat in a large Moscow cinema, saw the film and heard the Living Sound songs on their next trip described below. A special extended play "EP" album that included these songs was also distributed by Melodiya Records.


- August 13, 1980 - Living Sound Team III participates in an historic audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Team III's music fills St. Peter's Square and the Pope specially greets the team and recalls Living Sound's many visits to Poland. The Roman Curia seemed a bit stunned by the royal treatment being afforded this Gospel music group from America. (We were even allowed to run a large power cord out the front door of St. Peter's to plug in our equipment which was set up at the bottom of the St. Peter's steps.)

- Stas Namin invites Living Sound to a Soviet international music festival; Mike and Don Moen fly to Moscow to meet officials and make arrangements; rock video recorded in London; Mike and Don are monitored closely; they were placed in the same hotel and the same room (all Westerners in those days were assigned their hotel and room, there was no choice) that Mike had been assigned on his previous trip to negotiate the sale to Melodiya (!); the room next to this room was not a hotel room, but rather some sort of "Institute" (read: likely used for surveillance of the room Mike and Don were occupying.) Mike and Don were wined and dined, offered escort services of both sexes, etc. We declined these offers with the simple explanation, "We love our wives." We were even propositioned on the street corner outside the hotel, by women, then by men. No luck for the KGB, these American musicians were not going to be compromised.
- The KGB imprisons Herbert Murd under the "parasite" law; twice
- The Printing Press
- Mike McKibben meets Valeri Barinov in Leningrad; Valeri expresses a strong desire to produce Christian rock music to Soviet youth; Mike arranges for Valeri to meet Jon Karner
- The KGB builds its case against Jon
- On July 21, 1981 Living Sound Team IV appears on National Soviet TV. (PDF 1.8MB)
- In 1982, Sela produces underground recordings, including Valeri Barinov's Trumpet Call that was later broadcast into the Soviet Union by the BBC World Service and Voice of America. (Valeri was later imprisoned in a mental hospital, a KGB prison, and a labor camp)
- Lorna Bordeaux of Keston College publishes Valeri Barinov's story Trumpet Call; Mike ghost writes the "first encounter" chapter
- Jim Gilbert carries the Trumpet Call recording masters to the West.
- KGB prepares Jon for arrest and 10 years in Siberia
- Terry Law appeals to Secretary of State George Schultz; Jon and family are expelled from the Soviet Union (read Jim Gilbert's account of these events in this blog entitled: A HERO IN BLACK AND WHITE)
- Scott Wesley Brown and Mike McKibben produce and distribute Trumpet Call music album (see below) in the West.



- Terry Law and Joel Vesanen, and Jim Gilbert facilitate numerous teaching and publishing ministries in the Soviet Union via World Compassion and The Nehemiah Project respectively
- In 1996, Mike McKibben participates in an historic Orthodox Church procession in Moscow at the invitation of Patriarch Aleksy, beginning with a liturgy of thanksgiving in the recently reopened Church of the Assumption inside the Kremlin, crossing Red Square, past Lenin's unguarded tomb, past the toppled statue of Felix Djerzhinski (founder of the KGB), replaced by a large rough wooden cross lashed to its base, alongside Lublyanka Prison where the Martyrs of the Gulag were specially remembered with a solemn Orthodox funeral song "Memory Eternal" (that the memories of the Martyrs will live in the mind of God, and therefore, because God remembers, they will live forever), and ending with a Divine Liturgy celebrated and served by Patriarch Aleksy at a 15th century monastery in honor of Moscow's deliverance from a Mongul attack 450 years earlier - essentially Moscow's Christian July 4th; the entire 8 km procession was lined with a Soviet Army honor guard, spaced 8 feet apart; President Boris Yeltsin and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov participated; we all followed in the shadow of a large gold Cross held high and an icon banner of Christ the Savior, proclaiming the triumph of Christ over evil; Mike vividly remembers the sense that Jon, Herbert, others who labored in the Soviet Union, Living Sound's Western supporters, and every member of Living Sound were with him in spirit, and that he represented all who participated in "The Miracle Tour" in any way. The Miracle Tour was indeed, blessed.



"By their fruit you will recognize them." Matthew 7:16

- Jon Karner assists TBN to acquire TV broadcast licenses in the collapsing Soviet Union.

Fifteen years after The Miracle Tour, the Soviet Union collapses. Only God knows what small part the sacrifices of these brave souls and The Miracle Tour may have played. There is much yet to be told about this tour. One thing is abundantly clear, it was the fruit of a handful of Christians, led by Jon Karner, saying "Yes" to God.

* * *

Here are the next two album covers that Alexandra Pakhmutova produced following her encounter with Living Sound in 1980-81. What message was Alexandra Nikolaevna sending to her countryman? To us? The softness and spirituality of the artwork is not typical of harsh communist era proletariat art. Was she telling us in subtle Soviet fashion: Friends, we understood your message? God knows.

1981



1983

Hello:

I was doing some research for a project I am doing and looked into the group, Sela, and found the information on Jon Karner. I was deeply touched -- his story is a book that must be told. I have done some editing, book layout, etc. in the past and if I can be of any help, please let me know.

God Bless.

Lee-Marie Varner-Hotchkiss
Leemarievarner@CS.com

[Editor's Note: I wrote Lee-Marie to find out how she learned about Sela and Jon and to tell us about herself.]

Hello again:

To answer your question in short: I am an English teacher at a small community college in Grass Valley, CA. I hold an MA, and am married to Bill Hotchkiss, also a professor at Sierra College. Bill introduced me to the whole of publishing, book layout, editing,etc. He makes writing a book look very easy...he just sits at the computer, day after day, and writes -- but the lesson has been clear for me... don't procrastinate, just do it. Bill has given me several editing projects and I had the opportunity to do a project in grad school which included the whole of getting a book from copy to published result. I am a grandmother of six granddaughters, a diabetic with poor eyesight; however, (especially of late) I want to do God's will, not Lee-Marie's, which lead me to begin a project laid on my heart a few years ago. I have had a deep, deep love for music since an early age and I have attempted to follow that; singing in choirs (early years), touring with the group Sing-Out, (Chico), and playing the piano (not very successful there). But in my heart the love is still there; hence, my project.

The thought came to me about presenting a Christian artist (music) anthology of sorts... something to give to my granddaughters, a sort of help as they come to their turbulent teenage years... and then I began to think about all of the students that have come my way and those I attended college with -- there was a definite seeking of something; however, God was not in most of their vocabularies. I found this most distressing, as I have in my encounters within my associates and some family members. My personality is thus: I want to shake them and say LISTEN! Jesus loves you!, But I know in nearly all cases, this does not work -- at any rate, this is my project and as I stated before, this lead me to the page on Jon Karner, and I had to write and offer what I could. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I tried to make this short, and I fear I am writing you a book right here! [Editor's Note: Go ahead. Get started!]

The pages I have read throught the internet and your e-mail have deeply touched me. I can see God's hand in what took place -- and again am reminded that nothing is impossible for Him. What touches me as well is the acknowledgment of what freedom means here in the United States -- I am humbled to read of these courageous Christians, whose faith saw them through the risks, danger, and torments I can barely understand or only imagine. I would only hope that I would have THAT kind of faith to perservere through oppression of my Christian values and belief--when called to stand up, I have always thought there was not really a choice, one believes or does not, and nothing should come between that person's belief in Jesus.

I remember reading the account of Corrie Tin-Boom when I was a young woman--her story had an impact on my life at that time -- I still remember her courage. Perhaps that is the reason I have written to you with encouragement that Jon's story must be told. I am only just beginning to understand the enormity of his energy and what God accomplished through him...Wow. Again, I'm here if you need anything I can do--you have my prayers for sure.

Lee-Marie Varner
Leemarievarner@CS.com

I am 90 years old and a veteran of the 69th Infantry Division of WWII, whose fame is it was the first Allied unit to meet the Russians on the banks of the Elbe River, April 25, 1945. As Webmaster of www.69th-infantry-division.com it was my pleasure to meet Mike McKibben after he eulogized his father-in-law Jerry Hoovler who was in the 69th, on the 69th Website. I did not know Jerry but his untimely death has been the gateway for my meeting Mike, for which I am grateful.

I am an old friend of Elizabeth and John. I just found out about him being with the Lord
If there any way someone let Elizabeth know about this message please do so
My phone number is 972-704-8866
Blessings

I met John and Elizabeth 12 years ago here in Texas. I was blessed by their faith and love for Jesus. This same faith in His Promises and His Faithfulness will keep Elizabeth to take one day at a time. Blessings to her and the children. I keep praying for you all.

I never knew Jon Karner. However my life has been affected by what he and others like him did. Though I never personally knew Jon, my parents are Bo and Paula Melin, so I am familiar with Living Sound and the work they did. A great blessing in my life is my best friend Teele Kopli, daughter of Ulle Pope [Ulle is mentioned in Mike McKibben's post and there is a picture of her and her sister Mae with Nancy McKibben]. If it weren't for the sacrifices and risks of Jon Karner and others in the Living Sound group while in Estonia, Teele most likely would never have been a part of my life. So for that, I'd like to say thank you.

On another level, the life of Jon Karner is an inspiration to me. I've heard before from my dad some of the crazy stories of his time with Living Sound, but after reading about Jon, I was again taken aback by the life of sacrifice that Jon led. [Juliana, your dad and I went together once to Estonia in about 1981 to work with Jon in planning one of the Soviet ministry trips. - Mike McKibben] I'm 18 years old, so sometimes I feel like I'm too young to really make much of a difference, yet Jon and other members of Living Sound weren't much older than me when they were ministering; and that realization was almost a slap in the face to me. It made me question my life and what I am doing to be a living sacrifice to God. I want to be like Jon; and I certainly hope that there are others of my generation who will take up the torch and follow in Jon's footsteps. It is people like him, who say yes to God, that make a difference in this world -- even if they are only 18 years old. So thank you, Jon, for living the life that you did. You made a difference in my life.

I grew up listening to the Living Sound in South Africa in the 1970's. They certainly seemed revolutionary compared to the other gospel music we were exposed to and I have never forgotten their songs. I don't know these guys like you do, but their sounds have never left me. I don't know what became of the LP that we owned. Is the music still available? Where can I find it? I would love my teenager to hear it.

Dear Amanda,

Yes! There are several sources for old Living Sound albums. One online source is Paul Davis, New Music Enterprises in London UK. Just type in "Living Sound" and the albums Paul has in inventory will display. In addition, the inventory of unsold Living Sound albums is still in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA, I believe. Joel Vesanen of World Compassion Terry Law Ministries would be able to help I am sure. Joel was the Road Manager on some of those South African ministry trips you remember. Joel also worked closely with Jon Karner in the Living Sound Soviet ministry. Failing these sources, all of us former Living Sound members probably have the music in our libraries. One of these days we'll get the albums digitized and online.

Thank you for writing and contributing to Jon Karner's memorial.

God bless you,

--Mike McKibben

Hi Mike -

You may not remember me, but I was part of the Team IV trip back to the Soviet Union in 1981. It seems odd that one of the biggest victories of all - our appearance on Soviet Central Television - is not recounted in this history.

I have photos of that performance, as well as the single of the Pakhmutova songs we did, under a different cover. I secured these on a subsequent solo trip, back to Moscow in 1983.

Anyway . . . the 1981 trip was no inconsequential piece of the total history of Living Sound's activities in Estonia, Russia and the Ukraine - to say the least!

Steve Baker
Raleigh, NC
Trumpeter for Team IV, (1980-1981)

Hi Steve,

Of course I remember you! Visited with Todd and Tonya recently and we talked about that trip. Regarding the Soviet TV shows, you are right. I was kind of waiting for one of you to write that piece of the history. Will you? And share the photos you mention?

I agree, that trip was "no inconsequential piece" of what occurred.

If you want to send me the piece with photos, I'll most it as another long comment like the pieces Jim Gilbert and I wrote.

--Mike