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.
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