#MPTeamFrance 3

July 9, 2014 By Mike in Blog, People, Places Tags: Château, Châtellerault, French Evangelism, Melun, Paris Leave a comment

in the Homestretch…

France composite pic 3 Yes… we’re still in France, and yes… we still have Nick Cannon with us (He may just make it home Tanya & Jason!).

Over the past few days we’ve covered a great deal of territory and witnessed some pretty incredible things!

After saying good bye to the Brochus in Châtellerault, and in Bordeaux, we got to spend a few short hours with Pastor & Mrs. Paul Majdling, while our young people had a service with the youth of their church. We got to meet and hear an incredible testimony by one of the young men in that church before singing, testifying and bringing a message from God’s word.

After church, we headed back to Bro. Nowacki’s church in Melun (roughly a 6+ hour drive from Bordeaux). We arrived rather late and readied ourselves for a full day Monday:

Prayer meeting at 8:00am (one of the local young people was filled with the Holy Ghost in that prayer meeting).
Breakfast all together at 9:00
Downtown to hand out invitations for church from about 10-11:30am
Back to the church & then to the Bois de Bréviande for a BBQ lunch
Youth service at 8:00pm (another local young person was filled with the Holy Ghost in this meeting… incredible!!)

After a busy few days, Tuesday was a “sleep-in-a-little-later” kind of morning followed by a visit to the UNESCO designated “World Heritage Site”, the medieval city of Provins where the ramparts date back to the 11th & 12th centuries. This was the first real rain that we had all week, and did it rain! Later that evening we attended the mid-week Bible Study at the church in Melun with Bro. Nowacki. (to the right you can see our young people mixed in with the young people from Melun).

Today… Paris!

Liz & I with the Majdlings (top). Shown with the Brochus (bottom), standing in a field of ripened wheat… with Châtellerault in the background.

As you are reading this, we are SOME-where trekking through the city of Paris. The team is, of course, very excited to see this incredible city!! We got on a bus at 8:30 to take us to the local train station where we caught one of the RER trains that whisked us in to the Gare de Lyon. From there we begin to tackle the city one attraction at a time!

Ka-BOOM…. Paris!

Since we will end our time in France in the capital, you can be assured of one thing… by the time we hit the airport tomorrow, we will be completely wrung out!! To all family members reading this… please have nice comfy beds ready to receive some very tired bodies!! 🙂

Overall it will be a “good tired” though…. our hearts are full!
Thank you LORD for all the good things you’ve done during these days!!

#MPTeamFrance 2

July 5, 2014 By Mike in Blog, People, Places Tags: Château, Châtellerault, French Evangelism Leave a comment

5 days in…

Châtellerault’s City Hall

On Thursday, I had just left you off as we began our first day of active ministry out and about in Châtellerault.

We had devotionals at church in the morning followed by some instruction on how we would go about our prayer walk… this instruction would apply to both days – Thursday and Friday.

Rather than focusing on the negative and stirring up trouble in the Spiritual realm, we simply prayed that God’s light would spread throughout the city and the region. By necessity, when light enters a room… darkness is banished… so it is on a spiritual level… the light of Christ pushes back any form of darkness. That was our prayer.

On Thursday, we split up into three teams and went to different areas of the city. Friday’s time of prayer walking focused on the downtown core… including in front of City Hall and (pictured below) in front of a monument dedicated to the glory of the French Revolution… a pivotal moment in French History, which provoked a great shift in attitudes toward God and the Church.

During Thursday’s service, Bro. Ryan Shephard brought the message and his wife Trisha shared a testimony.

Friday

France composite pic 2 While going through the city, we stopped to take a picture of the team in front of the Henri IV bridge, built in 1564. During WWII the German army had wired it with explosives in an attempt to completely destroy it and prevent American tanks from crossing the river. A German-speaking Frenchman pleaded with and was able to convince the soldiers to disobey that order, thereby saving the bridge… which is to Châtellerault what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris – an irreplaceable and immediately identifiable municipal landmark.

After Friday’s prayer walk, we had a BBQ at the church with members of the family of God… where the girls got to do something so typically French…. (apparently) … walk around with a bouquet of flowers and a baguette (French Bread) in hand.

*Inside joke alert*
This is something that they’d seen the previous day (which was market day)… a lady walking down the street with a fresh bouquet of flowers and a baguette under the other arm.

Following our BBQ lunch, part of our team spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the Sunday School room in preparation for the new Sunday School year which will begin in August. What a HUGE help they were! In this way, our time here will be remembered and appreciated each Sunday morning for many weeks & months to come!

To God be the Glory!

In service last night (our final service), a first-time visitor (who’d been visibly moved upon on Thursday) had returned for the second time. Praise the Lord! She will be moving to an adjacent village at the end of August, but has already left open the possibility of Liz & I coming to visit her upon our return in January. Pray with us for this open door!

Today… Bordeaux!

This morning, we will leave Châtellerault and proceed to the city of Bordeaux where our youth will minister to and have service with the young people of this church.

As always… thank you for following our activities in, and in preparation for, France. Let these updates inform your time of prayer with the Lord. God bless you today!

#MPTeamFrance 1

July 3, 2014 By Mike in Blog, People, Places Tags: Château, Châtellerault, French Evangelism 1 Comment

3 days in…

After months of preparation our team of 13 young people are finally in France! Twelve hail from Mission Point, in Saint John, NB and one from Capital Community Church in Fredericton, NB. All are impacting the kingdom of God! We left on Monday, June 30th on an overnight flight from Montreal to Paris. Both passengers and baggage arrived safely and at the same time! Continue reading →

Paris in July

April 26, 2014 By Mike in People, Places Tags: Brochu, Châtellerault, French Evangelism, Mission Point, Travel 3 Comments

More than just Paris

Unless you’re in our local church, you probably don’t know that in addition to preparing to move to France in January, we’re also leading a team of young people to France, in July, for a 10-day missions trip. Although I’ve entitled today’s post “Paris in July” it’s really Châtellerault and Paris in July… with a few more awesome stops along the way.

#MPTeamFrance

14_04_26 FX1 pic We’ll be known as #MPTeamFrance
(where MP = Mission Point, our home church)

Strange name?

Perhaps… but it’s “hashtag-able” and isn’t it all about hashtags nowadays? After all the twitter invention is now key to huge social media players like Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and even Facebook, which integrated them in June 2013 since users were using them anyway.

Hashtags are powerful because they allow users to follow public conversations outside of their own network of friends. Whichever of the above-mentioned platforms you use, come July there will likely be a steady flow of the #MPTeamFrance hashtag as team-members share their experiences and photos with family & friends back home.

The team is made up of 12 people from Mission Point and a lone courageous member from Capital Community Church in Fredericton (three were absent when the photo above was taken).

Preparation

Because we will be involved in ministry on various levels this summer, it was important to plan some prep-times… when we could focus on:

sharing information on travel arrangements, timetable & activities

planning roles, responsibilities & involvement

gaining interaction experience… a.k.a. team-building (just because we all attend the same church, we don’t take for granted that we automatically know how to work together).

praying together

Preparing testimonies & music, to be shared in service settings

We call these prep-times FX-Nights.
(France X-travaganza).

Last night was our second one and among other things,we had to breathe life into those that were still hyperventilating from FX#1, when we told the team that they could only bring a carry-on sized suitcase each as well as a personal item (Stopping to think though… it can’t be about how much an individual is able to carry… but how much we can fit into the cars once in France, and 26 pieces is already a lot!). So one of the things we did last night was show them just how much you can put in a small suitcase, when done efficiently.

The Plan

One of the main ways that we expect to be able to lend support to the Châtellerault church, once on site, is by helping prepare for and distribute several thousand invitations to a gospel music concert that they are currently organizing. This will be the first time that outreach on this scale will be attempted in Châtellerault and we expect it to accomplish the following:

Build awareness of the church among thousands of local and regional residents

Provide an opportunity for those same residents to experience anointed worship in a Holy Ghost-filled atmosphere

Build a foundation for contact with those in attendance

Obtain Home Bible Study opportunities with hungry individuals that would desire.

Overall… our goal is to put the local church in touch with a much larger number of contacts than would normally be possible, from which they may obtain followup opportunities for later in the summer / year.

Who knows… when Liz & I get onsite in January, we may get to be involved with someone whose first contact with the church was during this summer’s outreach!

If that’s the case, it may be part of God establishing the “Crown” around Châtellerault, like he said he would.

We will also spend a bit of time in the Paris region, with the church in Melun, but plans are still being formulated for that leg of the journey…. more to follow!

Exposure

One of the other great things about this summer’s trip is that it gives more people from home a first-hand experience with the field in which we’ll be working.

When they pray for us… they’ll do so with personal experience.

When victories are won spiritually…. they can know that they were part of it.

When others wonder about us, the work, the field… they can help educate others.

More to come

You’ll likely hear more about this trip as we get closer, and certainly when we’re there, but for now know that it’s one more way that the Lord is working out his calling in our life. I’m so jazzed for the team that we have preparing to go… Great things are in store #MPTeamFrance.

As always… thanks for stopping by!

What about you?

Do you think YOU could do 10-days abroad with only a carry-on sized suitcase?

Have you done it already?

Tell me about it in the comments section below. (Your comments could encourage & inspire the team… of course your horror stories would be fun to read too.)

The Châtellerault Church…

February 15, 2014 By Mike in Churches, Places Tags: Brochu, Châtellerault, church growth, Dream 3 Comments

A bit o’ history…

Châtellerault Church, D749 et La Fontaine, Pasteur Paul Brochu

The first time I set foot in the Châtellerault church was in 2005…. but it didn’t look like this and it wasn’t in this building!

Paul Brochu, who founded the church in 2000, was in the USA on deputation that year and Steve Schobert was covering his furlough. Cécile LeDay, the first to receive the revelation of Jesus’ name, was still alive, and the church met in her large downtown home at 57 Boul. Aristide Briand, on the intersection of Rue de la Paix.

I have fond memories of Sis. LeDay who was a former nun and had impeccable French. The fact that I was a French Teacher at the University of New Brunswick at the time, meant that we had some great discussions about the finer details of the language. She would, from time to time, gently correct my use of a particular structure or expression. More than a French resource though, she was a faithful lady who wholeheartedly served the Lord in Spirit and Truth; truly an example of discipleship in action. She always sat in the back row, on the right side (even at that though, given that we were meeting in a living room, she was still only about 15′ from the pulpit!)

Click here to see Bro. Brochu, preaching in that building in 2006.

Our first look at this building…

In 2006, we were on a family vacation in western France and joined the Brochus for service on Sunday morning. Following the service, they took us out to see the new building, just outside the city. God had blessed them with an incredible property and building right on the Ave. de Richelieu (Route Départementale D749, at the corner of La Fontaine, directly across from the Centre d’Équitation). It wouldn’t be until 2009 that I would set foot in that building for the first time.

Repurposed…

The building had once been a small manufacturing building so the large hangar (top pic, left side) was the workshop and the smaller section (top pic, right side) was the office area. It would be repurposed… a workshop yes, but for assembling and repairing lives broken by sin, with the power of the gospel of Jesus.

The building had been damaged by fire and so the church initially met in one of the smaller offices and could comfortably hold about 20 people. I preached there in 2009 and the Lord spoke to Sis. Jeannette about her need for baptism in Jesus’ name. Over the next 3 years, work progressed on the larger office area which would, in 2012, be dedicated as the new sanctuary.

Dedicated to a Dream

The picture below is a pretty special one. It was taken on September 22, 2012 during the dedication service for the new sanctuary. Though it wasn’t taken by me (I wasn’t in attendance), it’s special to me for a number of reasons…

Bro. & Sis. Brochu can be seen front and center, being ministered to rather than ministering (for Pastors in smaller churches, this can a rare occurrence).

This ministry couple have indeed been dedicated to a dream: planting a church in the heart of western France.

This photo represents my dream as well… a full church in the city of Châtellerault. It is my prayer and my desire to see 100 people, regularly worshipping in this church, by the time the Brochu’s come back from their deputation.

Is that a daring dream? a big vision? Yes.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? No.
… and so, I dream!

church crowd_b

If you’d like to partner with us and be part of the dream coming true… click here.

A “Long” History of Châtellerault

January 15, 2014 By Mike in People, Places Tags: Brochu, Châtellerault, patience 1 Comment

If you consider our upcoming time in France as an engagement, then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that we first started dating in 2005.

2005 – First time in Châtellerault:

In 2003 I began my Master’s Degree in French Linguistics at the Université de Moncton, in Moncton, New Brunswick. In the context of these studies I found my self at a linguistics colloquium in the city of Tours, France, located about 1 hour from Châtellerault. At that time, missionary Steve Schobert was living in Tours, but looking after the work in Châtellerault. We connected and I was able to join him for a service on Sunday. At that time, they were meeting in the large, downtown home of Sis. Cécile LeDay, a former Catholic nun whom God had filled with the Holy Ghost and revealed himself in his fullness.

2006 – First time meeting the Brochus:

2006 - Bro. Brochu leading

In early summer, 2006, we were in Belgium to spend some time with Liz’s family. We wanted, though, to take a few days of family vacation, just the 5 of us so we packed up a rental car and headed to western France. Surviving the traffic on the highway that surrounds Paris was our first major accomplishment! We soon made our way to Châtellerault where we spent a couple of nights in a 15th century castle… the Château-de-la-Motte, located just outside the city. The Brochu’s, back from deputation, met us at the Château and we followed them to church. The church was still meeting in the home of Cécile LeDay (where this picture of Bro. Brochu was taken), but they were in the process of purchasing a larger building, just on the outskirts of town (You can read more about that visit here).

2006 - envisioning the "new" church

Once a small manufacturing facility, this building was strategically located on a very busy national road and benefitted from an acre of land, an office area a small production area and large equipment hangar. Having been damaged by fire, it would take time and work to bring back to a useable condition, it was key because the hangar area allowed a large space for future growth.

2008 – France comes to Canada:

Although there would be other trips to Europe between 2006 and 2008, none brought us into contact with our churches in France. A new door would begin to open up in the summer of 2008 however, for it was then that we met Bro. & Sis. John Nowacki for the first time. They were on deputation and came through our city. We were able to share a couple of meals together (the one pictured is with retired missionaries to Pakistan, Bro. Ron & Joy Hanscom). Bro. Nowacki asked me, for the first time, about the possibility of coming to France to teach in their Bible School the following summer.

2009 – Introduction to Bible School:

Bible School Staff, summer 2009 I was in France for the purpose of teaching at the Bible School, and that for 3 weeks during the month of July, but, having become familiar with the church at Châtellerault through the years, I desired to go with Bro. Brochu and spend a Sunday there. Since he was traveling back anyway, to look after the services, I went with him and got to attend church in the new building. What a thrill to have seen the growth and the jump to the new building. At that time they had managed to make repairs to the office area, which is where the 15 or so people were meeting (July is a heavy travel time in France, so numbers were low that Sunday, but the presence of God was wonderful). Work had already begun on the small production area which would be the more permanent sanctuary and they had a Sunday School room as well.

Incidentally, another Atlantic District pastor was there that summer, ministering in the week-long seminar: Rev. David Ferrell of Calvary Tabernacle in Perth-Andover, NB.

2010 – Back to Bible School:

2010 - with the Nowacki family

During this second time back to the French Bible School, I was only there for two weeks and did not make it down to Châtellerault. During this trip, I was able to share the time with another Atlantic District minister, Rev. Daniel Desroches who soon fell in love with the people and the work there… and the feeling was mutual as they fell in love with him as well. Here, Bro. Desroches is pictured with the Nowackis, Bro. Nowacki’s mother, sister and brother-in-law.

This would be my last time in France until the summer of 2012 when God did major surgery on my heart and set a new direction in my sights.

Summary:

As you can see… our connection to the church in France is not an overnight thing, but God slowly and steadily planted seeds in my heart and, with time and patience, watered them until they began to bear fruit. In fact… one could argue that it goes back even further than all this… Liz & I spent 2 days, during our honeymoon, in the city of Tours… where we later met Steve Schobert in 2005… but that is for another post.

Big & Little Crowns

December 4, 2013 By Mike in Places Tags: Châtellerault, couronne, Paris 5 Comments

Hold onto your hat… er, your crown, for the first paragraph or two… it’ll make sense… REALLY!

French Administrative Structure:

In contrast to the USA (where regional divisions are called ‘states’) and Canada (where they are referred to as ‘provinces’), the regions of mainland France are called départments, and there are 96 of them.

We need to let that sink in for a moment, because for North Americans a department is found in a retail store (the ‘toy department’ or the ‘kitchen department’) or it denotes part of an institution (the ‘loans department’ of a bank or the ‘human resources department’ in a corporation). In France though… it’s geographic!

Unlike in North America, not only do the départements have names… they also have numbers; for example: Seine et Marne (77), Vienne (86) and Paris (75 – yes… Paris is both a city and a département, just like Quebec, QC). These numbers constitute part of postal codes, social security numbers and vehicle license plate numbers as well.

Île de France = Grande Couronne (Big Crown)

It is necessary to understand this as you’ve already seen me refer to one region called the Île de France (which, when translated means the “island of France”). We are, of course, not talking about an island. The term ïle de France refers to a collection of départments which surround the capital… Paris. You can see île de France at the right. Paris is the red area in the middle, denoted by the départment number 75. So then île de France, is made up of 8 départements all together.

95 – Val d’Oise
78 – Yvelines
91 – Essonne
77 – Seine et Marne
92 – Hauts-de-Seine
93 – Seine Saint-Denis
94 – Val-de-Marne
75 – Paris

Another name for this area (Île de France) is La Grande Couronne (the big crown)… so named because it visibly forms a large, thick, ring around Paris.

Petite Couronne (Little Crown)

What really interests me for the purpose of this post though, are the three other départements which form a smaller, innermost ring around Paris: départements 92-94. If the larger ring is called the large crown, then it makes sense for this smaller area to be referred to as the petite couronne (the small crown).

God’s Little Crown…
….in Western France

Why does the notion of la grande et la petite couronne interest me? Because of something that God told me in 2012 while visiting Bro. Brochu’s church in Western France. He impressed upon my heart that, in the same way as Paris had its petite couronne, so too would the Église de Châtellerault… it would have a ring of churches around it… whether full blown churches, preaching points… all of which were, of course, subject to His timeline.

I’m not sure whether that is something that we’ll see the results of of not during our 1.5-2 years. Perhaps it will begin while we are there onsite, or perhaps it’ll be further in the future. Nonetheless, I’m glad that as a family we will quite simply, not just “go with the flow” but we have something to dream of… to plan for… to work toward during our time there.

Please join us as we pray for a ring or a crown of churches surrounding the church in Châtellerault, in western France.