Weekend visit

This weekend we enjoyed a visit with the Désilles family: Matthieu, Jeanine, their nearly 2-year-old son Jonathan and their 3-month-old daughter Esther. We remember the first time Matthieu came to this church. It was in December of 2000, less than a year after he was converted. Ruth and I were here in France at the time, and I was serving as replacement pastor for my father (much like we are now). Matthieu had heard about our church through a friend and came for the first time to a Friday night student meeting.

Soon Matthieu became a part of this church and then felt the call to pastor. He moved to Paris to train for the ministry. It was during a visit back to the Bordeaux region that he met Jeanine for the first time here at the church.

It was no coup de foudre (lit., lighting bolt; i.e., love at first sight). Jeanine wasn’t impressed and didn’t like his manners. But grace prevailed, as has been evidenced by the sweet family of four they have become today. They are presently seeking God’s desire for their future ministry as they consider two different churches that are in need of a pastor.

Matthieu and Jeanine are trophies of God’s grace and proof that God is at work in France. It is such an encouragement to see God raise up Frenchmen for the work of the ministry. Sadly, there are very few like them. Please pray for their tribe to increase.

Church Retreat 2009

For many years, the three sister churches in the Bordeaux region have held an annual weekend retreat during the "Toussaint" (all saints) holiday. This year, as before, it was held at Le Château de Peyreguilhot. Though we had some difficulty figuring out how to transport everybody from the bustling city of Bordeaux to the countryside château one and a half hours away (only one of the university students in our church has a car), the break from city life was nice for all of us.

It was a busy but very good weekend, beginning with supper on Friday and ending late Sunday afternoon. Our speaker was a French pastor from the Paris region. I haven't spoken with very many others from our church yet, but those I've seen since the retreat have all been very positive about the weekend. One couple that has been attending church for only a few weeks asked why we only had one retreat per year! A student told us she had "finally found a family." Another student told me of a very helpful conversation he had had at the dinner table concerning his own salvation. It started when one of our other students spontaneously asked him "where he was with God." He recounted how when he had expressed his doubts, several others participated in the conversation with helpful input.

Thank you for praying. Please pray that spiritual fruit will remain and grow. Following is a picture slideshow of our weekend.

To view the slideshow in a larger format click here.