Tag Archives: AIMUPCI

France & Luxembourg with AYC

June 27, 2015 By in Blog, Events, People, Places Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

According to “theFreeDictionary.com” the acronym AYC could stand for:

(1) At Your Convenience
(2) the Association of Yukon Communities
(3) the Austin Yacht Club or
(4) Are you confused? 

In our week, however… it has referred to Apostolic Youth Corps…
and they’ve lived up to their name!

Ministry

Melun, France, AYC, Apostolic Youth Corps, Missions Trip

The #AYCFrance team arrived last Saturday and barely did the wheels of their Delta flight touch the ground but that they were off to the races!

Day one started off with orientation at the Headquarter’s church in Melun, getting settled in to the hotel and then heading into downtown Paris for a river cruise on the Seine followed by dinner Chez Clément on the Champs Elysées… I was VERY impressed with this restaurant – fine cuisine but not at all overly formal!

The next day, Sunday, was spent back with the Nowacki’s church family where the AYCers ministered in song, testimony and through the preached word.

Pictured along with Liz & I are veteran missionaries John & Anne Nowacki, AYC chaperones Josh & Rachel Carson and Luke & Amy Levine.  By this point the team had only been together for two full days (give or take a little jetlag).  Can’t even begin to say what a great team these chaperones make… just incredible!

Luxembourg

IMG_1956

Over the next few days, the group did 3 more services in as many days, visiting Romilly-sur-Seine, Longwy and Arras, in northern France.

Along the way from Longwy to Arras, however, they had a neat opportunity to visit the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg where we handed out – in roughly 1 hour – nearly 2,000 business card invitations for church services being held weekly by AIMers Jeremy and Khrista Favors.

There was a “God-moment” when Bro. Levine met a man from Brazil in whose town he (Bro. Levine) had preached several years ago. Although they’d never met personally, the man shared that he’d been looking for some time, for a church that preached about the Holy Ghost as it was his desire to have this experience. He immediately put the man in touch with Pastor Favors who did a short Bible study with him there on the sidewalk and voilà… God opens a door for someone who is hungry.

AIMers to Luxembourg

Jeremy Favors, Khrista Favors, The Sanctuary Luxembourg, Luxembourg, AIM, UPCI

Here you can see the Favors along with Liz & I. It’s one thing to do what Liz & I are doing…. jump into a community where there is already an established work in place (with a building, a core, etc.). It’s something very different, however, to go into a completely new community and be the one to lay the foundation for a brand new church.

I admire this couple!

Prayer

Luxembourg, The Sanctuary, UPCI Church, #AYCFrance

Some of the team members, as they were handing out invitations, met Pierre a cab-driver who, when asked if there was anything in particular the team could pray for, said this…

“There’s never really been a real-led revival in Luxembourg and every day I pray that God would raise up an army of believers who would bring God to this country. Pray that God uses me, in my taxi, to be a witness for Him… for only what’s done for Christ will last.”

We prayed.

Sowing & Reaping

Within only two hours of us leaving Luxembourg, Pastor Favors texted us to let us know that he’d already had several calls from people wanting to come to church. Praise the Lord!

Normandy

WWII, Normandy, Normandie, Colleville, American Cemetery

Several in the group really wanted to visit Normandy so we did our best and managed to fit it into an already jam-packed schedule.

We visited the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, run by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Pretty incredible and very sobering to see several thousand white crosses overlooking the English Channel… either crosses or stars of David… most identified, some “known only unto God.”

Following that we dipped down to the city of Arromanches, where a Mulberry Port (artificial port) had been built to offload some 9,000 tons of weapons and supplies each day, with some days seeing as many as 18,000 tons.

Today

Today we’re accompanying the team to Disneyland Paris before spending another day tomorrow in services across greater Paris. Before we head to Disney however, I’ll be teaching a 1-hour course at the Bible School (this is going to be a very long day!).

Prayers

Today we could use your prayers for strength. It has been an awesome week, but one during which we’ve gotten little rest.

Thank you for praying for us… as you pray, you are part of the work here and our victories are YOUR victories too!

New, Bizarre & Everyday…

March 14, 2015 By in Events, Places Tags: , , , 7 Comments

If it weren’t for “the bad” in “the good, the bad & the ugly,” I suppose I could’ve used that as a title for today’s post – there’s lots of good and a little bit of ugly, but no bad – instead, let me just use… The New, the Bizarre & the Everyday as a way to order my thoughts.

The Bizarre

IMG_8139I’ll start with the bizarre because I promised it two weeks ago and failed to deliver.

I’ve shared a number of pictures with you, showcasing the beauty of Châtellerault, but there is something that still makes my skin crawl a bit every time I drive by it (at least every other day): “la main jaune” (the yellow hand).

Smack dab in the middle of one of the busiest traffic circles in the entire city, it is the first thing that visitors & residents see when they exit the Paris-Bordeaux highway, coming into Châtellerault.

At 24m (72′) high and 20 tonnes, it’s a giant forearm supporting a hand, in which sits a huge black egg. Descending the arm and continuing behind the sculpture (barely visible) are 7 famous cars (incl. a 2CV, Fiat 500, a VW Beetle, etc.) also painted black.  …Makes me think of giant black ants crawling down my arm when I see it… Oh yes, and they’re like ghost ants because at night, the car lights are on. WEIRD! 

It supposedly represents the valiant nature of the community and the past connection to the automotive industry… a resilient people who will rise up out of the rubble of the past. I, however, just see ants on arm.

This sculpture is visible from our church property and the one redeeming factor is this:  from the angle at which it is seen from church, neither the cars nor the egg are visible and it would remind you of a hand raised in surrender and worship to God – the only one who is worthy of our praise and adoration.    May that be the case for many in our city and beyond in Western France!

The New

Subway, sandwich shop, Châtellerault1. Châtellerault just got its very own Subway & we ate there this past Sunday. The French have heard about it and/or tasted it elsewhere and are very excited to have one in their own backyard, so to speak. The kids were glad to find a familiar taste of home as well.  Still… at about $45 for 5 people (that’s with no cookies or chips)… it’s a treat & won’t be a regular thing.

Happy Birthday Balloons, craquant abricot, auchan2. Liz has begun a new year… #41 to be exact (honey… don’t hang me out to dry for sharing this…. but the smart ones would’ve figured it out anyway from the numbers on the cake!  🙂 .  She was saluted with 41 balloons and presented with a challenge… burst them all in less than 30 seconds and she would get the second part of her gift (she managed).  We got an apricot mousse cake with some café éclairs to go with our coffee. God bless the baker at Auchan!  Thank you too, to the many who have sent cards, emails, texts, Facebook messages, etc.!

3. This one is a bit more difficult to define I think… something else is new to us.  We are accustomed to be in a large church setting where a good portion of our involvement is in managing… events, tasks, structure, etc. and much of our time is taken up with that. There are 275-300 people who invite others to church, share their faith, etc. We spend a great deal of time preparing the church and the church body to receive those guests that come, make them feel welcome, etc.  Working in what I’ll call a “home missions environment” is new to us.

I found myself asking God this week… “God, how do we share our faith in a city where, outside of the people in our little church, we know very few?  How to we do it? How do we find people interested in a home Bible study, etc.?”  The question was not asked out of discouragement… not at all, but out of an eager desire to know how to grow and move forward in a new reality.  (Incidentally… I was encouraged by an article written by Kent Carter that will appear in March’s Pentecostal Messenger – “How Church Planting Saved my Life.” For those of you in the Atlantic District… I highly recommend the read!).

Pray that God helps us to do great things in the new as we rely on Him.

The Everyday

mini oven, new way of cookingI suppose that the lines are really blurred in this last section because it bridges both the new and the everyday.

One of the things that Liz has had to get used to is life without a microwave oven: How do you do all those quick little heat-ups without a micro-wave?

  • those 2-3 last portions of yesterday’s leftovers that will become today’s snack.
  • that mug of milk for hot chocolate
  • the small pitcher of milk to froth and put in coffee

The other thing that we don’t have yet is a full-sized oven. We will have one in two weeks (as well as a micro-wave) when we move into the Brochu’s home, but for the time being we’ve been using this neat little counter-top convection oven (purchased for us using a gift from the U.P.C. of Bordeaux, France – “shout out” to Pastor & Sis. Paul & Melissa Majdling – THANK YOU!!)…. btw, if you haven’t seen their video promoting the upcoming Pentecost Sunday Convention… take 2:10 to watch it… VERY well done!

Very excited to be there in just a few weeks. Derald Weber (Lafayette, Lousiana) will be guest speaker.

Prayer

  • I’m teaching at Bible School today – likely as some of you are reading this.
  • Tomorrow is Bro. & Sis. Brochu’s last Sunday service in Châtellerault.
  • Pray that we excel in the new… for God’s glory.

Summing it up

Getting us out of our comfort zone is causing us to rely on the Lord to a greater degree than we would normally have back home. The exciting thing is… God has an incredible track record of doing “exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever ask or think…” when we put our trust in Him.

Here’s to more hands reaching to the sky in Western France!

God bless you today!

Cheeseburger Chips & Mustard Pickles

February 28, 2015 By in Blog, Process Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Lays Chips, Cheeseburger, Mustard Pickles

A week or so ago I posted a pic on Facebook that got a lot of response… did you see it?  It was the pic of cow tongue … something that is readily available in grocery stores here and is considered a delicacy by many.

Don’t worry… we left it there! However we did discover two flavours of Lays potato chips that have our mouth watering whenever we pick up a bag… Cheeseburger and Mustard Pickles.

It’s almost creepy how much they taste like cheeseburgers!
(or maybe it’s just that we’re in withdrawal!?)

Change

Have you ever found that, amidst change, there is that element of change that you anticipate and the element of change that kind of catches you a bit off guard?  It’s pretty normal in all situations of change and we’ve experienced it.

  • Groceries – you know how, in your local grocery store, you can just “pop in” and get something really quickly?  Doesn’t happen here. We’re still learning the layout of the stores that we go to most often, the brand names and which products are the closest equivalent to home.
  • Car-space – 4 words…. Narrow roads, fast drivers.  carBack when the French all drove cars like this… no problem, but as cars grew and schedules got tighter… driving became a bit more intimidating… (sometime I’ll post a pic of a parking lot I regularly use)… it’s a little like holding your breath every time you pass someone. (Now that I look at it… THIS car could be OUR car’s great grandfather!)
  • Personal space – The house that we’re living in has an open concept so, apart from the bedrooms and washrooms we all pretty much live in the same space – homeschool, meal prep, working, reading & thinking….. er…. uh…. sometimes thinking is a problem.   🙂

(This is only a temporary thing and will change at the end of the month when we move into the Brochus home)

Change… they call it change for a reason….  It can take you off guard and try your patience by times – seriously – but can I tell you the payoff?

Two immediate Payoffs

#AIMKids, AIMKids

  • Seeing the kids involved in ministry… incredible training… serving as a family.
  • Knowing, beyond any shadow of doubt, that we are in the center of God’s will.

There will be other payoffs with time… but we’ve seen these already.

Change in Frequency

Just want to give you a heads-up that going forward I’m only going to publish once per week (each Saturday morning).  We don’t have internet at home which makes it difficult to publish 2 posts per week. We typically have to head over to the public library or to a local coffee shop in order to have access and by then, there’s usually a lot to catch up on!

Installation Service

Tomorrow will be our installation service as interim pastor of the work, during the Brochu’s absence.  We appreciate your prayers. We’ve been involved in church for a very long time and have no shortage of experience, but still, we’ve never been the one to bear the lion’s share of responsibility – spiritually or materially… first time pastors, can I get an amen?  

Finally…

Here are a couple more pics of our city. Next Saturday I’ll share pics of something a little less beautiful (the kind of creepy yellow hand) as well as some pics of the service tomorrow.

Have a great day all and for those of you back home… Bon Courage! with all the snow you’ve been getting.  I can’t even imagine!

You all are precious and God is GREAT!Châtellerault, Centre-ville, Vienne (86), Place Émile Zola

Roasting Chamallows!

February 21, 2015 By in Blog, STM Tags: , , 2 Comments

Never heard of Chamallows you say?
Oh yes you have… you just gave them another name…. Marshmallows.

Yard work

Campfire, Feu de camp, Missionary Paul Brochu, yard work

Earlier this week I read an instagram post by AIMer to Brazil, Jonathan DeVall, that pretty much nailed it!  In summing up what AIMers do, he said:

“What do AIMers do exactly? Well, we help career missionaries in any way they need it. Today, for instance, our old fuel truck needed its carburetor rebuilt. so, I got some parts and got ‘er running again. It’s not all preaching. Sometimes you get your hands dirty!”

This week held a bit of dirty hands work for us as well.

Last fall, the electrical utility trimmed a treeline on the back of our church property to protect overhead power lines. They did it at their cost but the church was left with the cleanup responsibility.  They rented a large bin last fall for just over $700, filled it with trimmings and sent it off, but the larger branches & pieces of wood could not be included.

We spent one day last week as well as another 7+ hours this past Thursday, cutting, hauling, picking up and burning much of the remaining wood & trimmings… and we’re not quite done yet. Perhaps one more good day  might do it.

It made for some stiffness and a good night’s sleep after the fact, but in the meantime… we found the silver lining in all that work. Bonfire time!

The kids joined us after their school day was done and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  Get this… hot dogs here are called “Saucisses de Strasbourg”  (or Strasbourg Sausages) Man! The French can make even hot dogs sound fancy!

In addition to that, the boys got to learn how to manoeuvre the tractor with help from Andy (one of our local Bible School students) and Sophie had some “tree time”  (who said that skirts can’t climb trees! …girl power!)

AIMer Jonathan DeVall

Jonathan DeVall – whom I quoted above – isn’t just any AIMer: he’s a float plane pilot and works with the DeMerchants in Brazil. You need to check out his incredible Instagram Feed: Using a GoPro camera attached to the fuselage of PT-Lee, he has some truly awesome pics!  You can also check out his website Mission-Brazil.com… all AIMers need support and if you are able to help him in any way, you would be advancing the work of the Kingdom in Brazil.

Question of the day…

Do you remember the last time you used a public telephone booth?
Any memorable phone-booth story you’d like to share?

I remember one time arriving in Brussels central train station after a standby flight via London. Liz was already in Belgium with Dominic and I was arriving with Sophie (we had to go through Toronto Pearson in the height of the SARS crisis). I had change, but no chip-enabled phone card… Balancing a tired 4 year-old Sophie on one hand and our luggage on the other, I had to put a $5.00 phone card purchase on my visa before I could use the phone… ahhhh memories!

Thanks for visiting today… and thank you for your prayers. They are essential!

Praying for our #AIMKids

December 20, 2014 By in Blog, Process Tags: , 2 Comments

Today I’m serving up another infographic for you. The last time you saw one was on October 18th and it detailed the Timeline of the Call.  In today’s post, we’re focusing on the kids and a tool I developed for Sunday School personnel and youth pastors who would like to adopt our kids as a “Prayer Project” during our time on AIM.

AIMLong.ca/Kids

We’ve launched a new Top-level page on this site:  AIMLong.ca/Kids

This new page will serve as a) a general introduction to our kids for those who don’t already know them and b) will have links to 10 AIMKids Missionary Moments: 5-min long, France-related object lessons that will help kids pray not only for our kids  but also for their own outreach potential.

Why?

…largely as a result of the following quote:

“In some churches you will raise support and in others you’ll raise supporters.”

I read that quotation in a book by Steve Shadrach, The God Ask, and so, our goal in developing this infographic is to not only garner prayer support for our kids but also to give leaders tools that can help them connect their kids & youth to missions.  If these young ones can feel a connection to missions from their youth, then there is a greater chance that they will be open to either giving or going themselves as they get older.

Feel free to download and print the graphic below. Use it in your Sunday School classes, Kids’ Prayer groups, Youth classes, etc., and connect kids to missions!

AIMLong.ca, France, Châtellerault, #AIMKids

 

 

 

 

5 Weeks & Counting!

December 17, 2014 By in Blog, Process Tags: , , , Leave a comment

I’ve stated that the goal of AIMLong.ca, during the time leading up to our departure, is to keep you up to date on the progress of preparations. So for now… here’s how the hive has been humming!

Day to day

House & Car: The house is still for sale and while there is no firm offer, there is someone who wants it but they will have to sell their own house first & it goes on the market in January. That can cause us some anxiety if we focus on it, but we try simply to stand still, and trust in God’s faithfulness.

We’ve bought a storage shed & have a place to put it. We’ll store some furniture and other items that don’t require heat.  Liz has been doing a lot of the packing and sorting but I started a couple of my bookshelves and did a large part of the garage some weeks ago. (There’s waaaayyyyy more yet to do!)

We’re thankful to already have a buyer for our car.

Work:  My replacement as Assistant to the Pastor at Mission Point is now onsite. Pentecostal Messenger, Atlantic District UPCIMark Robertson (originally of Hatfield Point but most recently of Miramichi) and I have been working very closely in an attempt to get 8 years worth of stuff out of my mind and into his (poor guy!). I can tell that he is going to do an incredible job and is a credit to the pastoral leadership that has trained him to-date.

Pentecostal Messenger: For those unaware, I’m editor for a 12-page printed publication that goes out to our churches in the region, with a readership of roughly 750.  While in France, others will look after logistical details, but I’ll still look after editing and layout of the content.  I’ll be putting together the better part of both the January and February issues prior to my departure.

Missionary Lynne Jewett

Missionary to Guatemala, Lynne Jewett, with our #AIMKidsOn Monday we got to spend the afternoon with our friend and missionary to Guatemala, Lynne Jewett. What an inspiration!

She came for lunch and since she is synonymous with kids’ ministry, we wanted to chat with her about:
a) building a church through kids’ ministry &
b) doing all we can to set our own kids up to succeed on the mission field.

She had some GREAT advice!  Including preparing them for the effect that distance will have on their friendships… some will undoubtedly fade a bit over time, but the true ones will remain.  That’s straight-talk and she is bang on!  She also encouraged them to see themselves as missionaries…

Looking ahead

Departure: We’ve tentatively set our departure date as somewhere around January 25-27.
AC-Flight“Wait, what? …no specific date?” ….We’re going to fly stand-by, which means that, yes, we’ll save money on airfare but we’ll fly according to seat availability.  (If there are seats available, we’ll seat our seats on the plane, if not… we try again next flight). That may seem stressful to some, but it’s how we traveled the whole time Liz worked for the airline, so we’re used to it.

Final Mailout: We’re on the verge of doing our final mailout prior to departure. It’ll be an oversized postcard for Sunday School & Youth Staff, focusing on “adopting our kids as a “prayer project” and various way to pray for & connect with them / us. Look for the infographic in this Saturday’s post.

Thanks in advance!

It goes without saying that, with all of these things going on… we need your prayer. It all comes at a busy time of year and if I were to focus too much on it, I would be overwhelmed. We take one day at a time and rest in the assurance that, if the Lord tarries, we will be there in just over 5 weeks from now!

 

Old Memories & Daily Challenges

November 5, 2014 By in Blog, Churches Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

As I mentioned Saturday, this past weekend was our 7th in a row to be on the road…. and it was a special one!

Fredericton NB

In a couple of ways it just felt so right to be at Capital Community Church (CCC) this past weekend.

Wood-Howell

The guests for their weekend Missions Conference were ourselves and Bro. & Sis. Bruce Howell (Gen. Director of Global Missions UPCI), but because of flight delays, the Howells weren’t able to get in until late Saturday night, missing the first service. In his stead, CCC Lead Pastor Raymond Woodward spoke.

The reason it felt so great was this: when I first came into Pentecost in the mid 1990’s, Bro. Woodward was in the Saint John church and music was led by Jack & Kathy Leaman… so everything just felt so familiar!

Sunday

The services were great on Sunday!  In the morning, Bro. Howell preached on the protection that can be found in the walls of salvation… and in the evening, on the fact that Christians should always be Ready to Rejoice!  One of the neat surprises though was that the choir went from singing in English to French (without warning)… How cool to hear that!  It caught me by surprise, so I didn’t catch all of it, but here’s what I did get.

.

Budget Progress…

FullSizeRenderCCC members gave liberally this weekend and their generous offering put us up to 65% of our required budget.

But over and above that offering, they also showed some love to our kids in a special way as well. Saturday night the kids went forward and church members put a total of $329 in their hands… so just under $110 for each of the kids.

Can’t thank you enough CCC for all the support you have shown us!

Crunch Time

To finish off today’s post I’m going to be a bit transparent. I’d ask for and extra covering of your prayers over the coming weeks.  There is so much that needs to happen and only so many hours in a day. Feelings of being overwhelmed are never far off as there is a keen awareness of the pressure to:

  • sell the house & correct a few things in preparation for that
  • prepare to transition my church and District responsibilities, including the publication of the monthly district magazine.
  • continue sorting / packing / purging
  • maintain responsibilities in our local church where I’m employed full time
  • prepare paperwork & immigration formalities
  • complete fundraising our budget

…all while we continue to travel each weekend for the remainder of November
(We intentionally have no services/travel booked for December).

Do we know that we are in the will of God? …yes
Do we know that he’ll take care of the details? …yes

But in the meantime it’s still a great deal to juggle in the day to day… we need his strength more than ever, not just to get it all done, but to maintain our joy in the process.

the Bottom Line

God is getting ready to do some incredible things and we’re so privileged to be part of it. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Thanks for following us and for praying so faithfully!

#IAmGlobal

October 25, 2014 By in Events Tags: , , , 5 Comments

For today’s post I’m reaching back to the Global Missions Service at this year’s UPCI General Conference… thinking not only about the incredible things that God did that night, but the “trickle-down” effects of that service as well.

UPCIGC_GMService

$4.3 Million Dollars

That’s what was raised in the span of roughly 2 hours, by 6-7,000 people in one room and more that were watching via streaming video. It didn’t happen by itself however…

The service began as many do: Anointed singing, some preliminaries and Liz & I were invited to participate in the parade of nations. What an honour! Then someone introduced the #IamGlobal offering that was about to be taken. Missionary kids began heaving inflatable globes through the audience and Liz caught a couple, with the help of missionary to Ireland, Cindy McFarland (pictured above). People or churches offering $5,000 or more would receive a small “I am Global” crystal globe. Some went up to do that but more went once the number dropped below $1,000.

Then something changed. Pastor @AnthonyMangun (Alexandria, LA) got up to preach. #WowQuote of the evening was this:

“We’re very quick to use the term apostolic on our facebook & twitter profiles, but before we use that term next, we need to also look at our bank accounts.”

… his implication: does our giving reflect the same pattern of sacrificial giving as seen in the life of the apostles?

IamGlobalSomething happened. Conviction swept in and many people gave offerings larger than $5,000…without the promise of a trinket. One person was selling a business for $150,000.00 and that money has already been received by Global Missions.

Therein we see the power of the word of God: to convict the hearts of Christians and bring about sacrificial giving for the purpose of global missions. What caused that miracle offering:  the teaching of God’s word received by soft hearts.

More than an offering

I love the name of the offering… “I am Global”,  because every time we say it we:

  1. Reaffirm our connection to that miracle offering and
  2. we reiterate the need to look for a harvest beyond ourselves.

Our Kids are Global

Kids_IamGlobal_1Liz brought back a globe for each of the Kids. They weren’t in that service, but we want them to be connected to that same spirit… to see themselves as Global.

Of course, they’ll see themselves as Global by virtue of the fact that they’ll be living in France for a time, but more than that, we remind them that they’re not just going to France to “watch mom & dad do their missionary thing,” rather, God wants to use them as well: whether through helping with music in the church or showing the love of God to new friends outside the church.

Prayer

  • Pray that God prepares our kids; that they truly grow to see themselves as Global. That he use them to Advance His Kingdom.
  • Later this evening we’ll be ministering in the first French service being organized by Pastor Mike Noel of Life Church, in Campbellton, NB. Pray for revival among the French community of northern New Brunswick.

Thank you for your prayers… they make you part of #Revival_inFrance!