Big answer to prayer

It is hard to believe that on January 1st of this year, we marked our calendar for June 30th and asked God that we would reach 100% by that day. Today, on June 28th we are at 97%. It seems reasonable to hope that we will reach 100% very soon, if not exactly on June 30th, it will probably only be a few days after. We are so thankful to God for answering our many prayers and for confirming that He is able to provide and that He desires for us to go and start new communities of believers in France.

Thank you to all those who have recently joined our team or have increased their giving, and thank you to everyone who has been on our team for a while! Your faithfulness has been a great encouragement to us. 

90% and still climbing

This week marked a bit of a milestone in our journey of getting to France, which is that we reached 90%. In fact, we are praising God because we are at 93%! Thank you so much for everyone who has been giving, praying for and encouraging us, it has been truly amazing! Seven days ago we were at 88% and we are floored that the Lord has provided 5% in one week (this matches a record only hit once before). Please keep praying, specifically that we would break this record and reach 100% by the end of June, one more week to go. 

Brief stop in Lexington & Knoxville

One of the biggest privileges in what we do is the opportunity we have to meet so many amazing people along the way. We are meeting with people to share about our passion and vision for France, and to ask if God is leading them to partner with that passion and vision in some way. But we are also forming new friendships with people on pretty much a weekly basis, which is a rare and beautiful thing. 

Last weekend a couple we had never met, invited us to stay with them for a couple days in Lexington, Kentucky. We share mutual passions in that we both love Christ and we desire to see Christ’s love extended throughout France and the rest of the world. So we went. And both nights we were there, they invited people to come and meet us and learn about the type of work we want to do in France. It was such an encouraging weekend and we are so thankful for the hospitality and love we were shown. 

As a bonus, we learned some new things about gardening, a passion of our hosts (and a growing passion of ours), and we took an afternoon drive by the many beautiful horse parks in Lexington, and even stopped to see a few foals, some that were only a few days old! 

We learned about harvesting & storing lettuce

And how to compost naturally and efficiently

Mother and child

I think you know who these people are

After that, we visited some dear friends in Knoxville, Tennessee. We walked around the downtown, and went up the Knoxville Sunsphere. It was build for the 1982 World’s Fair and was featured in a classic Simpson’s episode. 

It was a great weekend and a nice change of pace. 

Dark month of the soul

Disclaimer: This post is slightly outdated. I meant to post it a few weeks ago, but never the less it was what we were going through at that time, so I think it is still worthwhile to share. On with the post.

I’m just going to be real with you, the last month or so of developing partners has been difficult. We have been in Ohio since the Holidays and really going at it full steam since the first of the year, and until about the second week of March things were cruising. We had meetings galore and it seemed like the momentum would keep building and building. We were elated, excited, and confident. 

And then things just… stopped. We worked and struggled to get any meetings. Some weeks we had nothing to show for our efforts. From the outside it probably looked like we had a couple really restful weeks, but on the inside it felt terrible. Like we weren’t good enough or working hard enough. We moped and worried, got physically sick (a few times), then Easter came and went, reminding us of the amazing sacrifice, sufficiency, and triumph of our Lord and Savoir.

And then the bell went off. We’ll call it the conviction bell. When did we stop giving God the glory for everything and start thinking we were pulling this off by our own strength? When did we stop trusting the Lord to lead us each day, week, and month?

I don’t remember who said it, but a Christian leader once said that he was just a donkey, a dumb animal that wasn’t good for much. But then he brought it into perspective a bit as he explained that he was like the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as everyone cheered and worshipped Jesus. The Messiah, the chosen one who would make all things right. We are just like the donkey too. Sometimes, if we see people cheering, we start to think they are cheering for us. But it is Christ who deserves the glory. And, it is Christ who gives us our identity and our worth. 

I am sure I will learn this lesson again because I have learned it before. But maybe you can help remind us when we slip next time. Remind us that it is Christ we are taking to France. And it is also Christ that we need to preach to ourselves and spend time with every day.

Oh Lord, you are the beginning and the end. I thank you that you have a perfect plan, and even though I don’t always understand why, I trust that you will use us, broken and sinful as we are, to help bring about your plan and to bring you glory. Amen.

75 percent of the way

This is a brief excerpt of our March newsletter. If you don't receive it and would like to, it's easy, just sign-up using the form on the right sidebar...

Right now we stand at approximately 75% of our goal! We’re getting so close! Day after day we’re shown the amazing provision of our God, and God isn’t stingy. He’s lavish in the ways he provides. We often forget that fact, but we’re reminded over and over again. God has provided through individuals, through churches, through friends, and through strangers. Each and every time, we marvel at his timing and overall goodness, and each and every time, we are reminded that our God “will meet all our needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). 

End of February Retreat

Last week we spent two nights at a cabin in Hocking Hills to reflect and thank God for all He has done the past couple months in the support raising process, and to recharge and get ready for the next few months. We were aiming to get to 70% by the end of February, and we were 1 week behind but we just hit 70% today! Even while we were relaxing for a couple days, God was still faithfully providing. He is such an awesome God. Here are a few of the highlights in pictures.

Our retreat location in Hocking Hills (courtesy Valley View Cabins)

We had a nice fire going most of the time

We did a lot of reading

No really, a lot of reading

We had a late night visitor who was pretty cute actually

We took a lovely hike

...and saw awesome frozen waterfalls

It was a great getaway and now we are recharged and ready to go! Our next big goal is to reach 90% by the end of April. 

Sneak Peak: February 2013 Newsletter

The following is an exerpt from our February newsletter:

In October we told you about a new outreach that was beginning in Versailles called the Gospel Café. For whatever reason, the French adore Gospel music, and each month the team crafts a program, recruit musicians, and invite as many people as possible to a Gospel concert. 

One of our teammates invited a friend of his, who is a musician, to play at the café. This man is not a Christian, but after playing at a few of the cafés he started improvising during one of the performances. As he was singing and playing on stage, he made a profession of faith! Please join with us in praising God and praying for continued fruit for the  Gospel Café. 

If you want more than just a sneak peek, please sign-up for our monthly newsletter on the right. Thanks!