Praise and Prayer October 31, 2013

Praise the Lord for …. Heat!  Yesterday, our heat was finally hooked up and we have been enjoying much more comfortable temperatures in our home.  The Lord blessed us with a nice Indian summer this year, so there were not too many days that we were uncomfortable for lack of heat.  We are thankful for God’s work in our lives and ministry and appreciate your prayers for us. 

God sent us a special blessing this past week with the visit of Cherith’s sister Hannah (Sherd) and her daughter Katie.  They were here for only five days, as they had to hurry home to Dad and Katie’s five brothers and sisters in Tipton, IN.  But we were able to pack a lot into those five days, including visits to Bordeaux and some area medieval castles.  They were here over a weekend so were able to visit our new church, and even take part.  Hannah shared her testimony (in French!) and Katie and Adrianna did a special music number with Katie playing her flute and Adrianna singing.  That afternoon we attended Timothée Corenthin’s baptism at the Bordeaux center church.  The auditorium was packed to witness Timothée share his testimony of God’s work in his life and take this step of obedience in his walk with the Lord.  Hannah and Katie even went out with us to distribute church flyers one afternoon.

Praise for:

- continued progress distributing church flyers.  2500 homes in Saint Medard have received flyers. 

- the visitors that we have had who have responded to the invitations.

- Timothée’s baptism and the testimony and challenge that were heard by a large group that day.

- God’s protection for Hannah and Katie’s travels and for their visit and participation in our ministry.

Pray for:

- the 4 church retreat this weekend, about 2 hours from Bordeaux.  We look forward to the 5 services, workshops, children’s program and fellowship with about 70 others from these sister churches.    

- Pray for Jonathan as he leads a workshop on preparing worship services, and that God will use it to equip others for this ministry.  Pray for the other workshops as well and that each would have a positive impact.

- Pray for God’s direction for Emilie, a Franco-American in part time ministry who has visited our church and is praying about the possibility of moving to Bordeaux to join this endeavor.  She has also visited some other works, and with her Bible College training will be a help wherever the Lord chooses to lead her.

- God’s provision for our financial needs and the needs of our church at this time.

Praise and Prayer October 8, 2013

It has been too long since our last update.  When it seems like the days couldn’t be any busier we find ourselves with more and more to do!  Our need for your prayers and support has been so evident to us as we endeavor to fulfill our responsibilities and be used of the Lord, though we get stretched physically and emotionally.  This week we have nearly all been fighting colds and viruses that are going around.  We want to say a big Thank you to all who have been praying for us, even without an update in several weeks.  The Lord knows what we face on a daily basis, and He uses you as you pray, giving us His help in answer to prayer.

The Lord blessed our first Sunday of services for our new church plant on September 15, and continues to bless and answer prayer since.  We have welcomed several one-time visitors, and a couple that returned this past Sunday for the morning Bible study (Sunday school) and service.  Each responded to the flyers that were distributed.  This past Sunday, we had our first Communion service.  The team of workers that the Lord has put together continues to pour themselves into this new work with a wonderful spirit of oneness in purpose and mission.  We began a weekly distribution of the church flyers early on and quickly ran out of the first 1000 flyers.  More flyers were ordered (2500 this time) and we continue to make a bigger dent in this city of more than 27,000 residents and covering nearly 33 square miles.  It would be so nice to have a team of helpers with us to help to cover the city more quickly!  We are thankful though for the help God has provided for us, as we have typically been 6 or 7 people helping, including a young lady from the church in Floirac who has joined us for some of these distributions, just because she wants to help.  Our prayer is that God would use the flyer to touch many more hearts and bring them into the hearing of the Gospel.

On the home front getting settled has taken much longer since the church has been the priority.  We are thankful that the painting of walls and ceilings is now finished and most of the work of getting shelves together and boxes unpacked is nearly done.  On Sunday evening we had several friends over from the church downtown to practice for a special music number at the church retreat coming up in a few weeks.  It was great to have guests and not have full boxes around the floor. 

Praise for:

- God’s working in the start up of our new church, helping each one with great responsibilities, helping with flyer distribution, bringing visitors to services, even helping the children adapt to all the changes.

- consistent though slow progress in getting our home prepared and settled while keeping up with ministry and the children’s schooling.

- the way the Lord has helped the two churches that have lost leaders and members as the two French couples, the Christys and ourselves have left to begin this new work.

- God’s help for our children with their rigorous schedule with subjects both at school and at home.  Josiah who knew very little French has had the hardest time adjusting to being in French school each day.

- the help that our children have been in our ministry, setting up and tearing down the meeting rooms each Sunday, helping distribute flyers, singing, and Adrianna running the computer for projecting the songs on Sunday morning.

Pray for:

- Ed Christy and Jonathan as they prepare the weekly Bible studies and messages, and for each one involved in teaching Sunday school. 

- Pray for the annual church retreat coming up November 1-3 for the sister churches in our area.  Pray for Jonathan as he prepares a workshop for the retreat on how to plan and lead the song service portion of the worship service.

- the Lord’s provision for special financial needs at this time.  Besides the euro/dollar exchange being at the lowest point in the past year, we were recently hit with a very large social tax bill from the French government and our desktop computer died this week.