The Wave ~~

There are so many good things to catch y'all up on. (letting my southern show) So I'd better get busy...

So in April there was the LAM conference. Thanks so much for your prayers it was a great success! There was a lot of fruit and healed relationships during this week, even testimonies of marriages being saved from ending completely. The Sunday after the conference I remember there was such a sweet presence of God unlike any other time I had experienced. I am sure it was fruit from the hard work the couples had done that week. Now a couples group is being put in place for the autumn to continue the process of healing and freedom.

In May the Alsace-Arkansas connection continues and continues and continues... Andy and Christie Moore came to visit and have ended up staying to help out! Yes, I know. I have awesome friends.

In May, the Moores got to know folks here the first weekend when we had a conference with Martin Scott and his wife Gayle. What Martin shared was very encouraging. He talked about needing a Peter conversion. It took God showing him 3 times the vision of the sheet descending with all types of animals and telling Peter, "rise up and eat," before Peter would agree to it. Peter had to have a conversion to be able to line up with God's will. Interesting. I had never seen it like that. The other thing that really sticks with me from that weekend was Martin saying that there will be a movement in the arts that will change society and the culture. I hope Christians will be the instigators and not imitators.

OK, back to Andy and Christie... Nadine, Andy, Christie and I were able to stay with one of Nadine's friends in Brittany and see some of western France. We had a great time. We visited the Normandy beaches and we were really touched by the history there and the sacrifice that was made to free a continent. There is nothing like being on the land where such history was made. I was proud of what my country gave to set men free. Thank you to the veterans and their families. Words can't express... Even just this week we ate with an Alsatian family and the mother thanked us for the part our country had in liberating Alsace. It's humbling. Our country is not perfect, no country is, but there are moments where the USA has really shone brightly.

During this time I mentioned to Andy and Christie that there were some camps in July to work at Daniel School doing lots of fixing up to get classrooms ready and a need to cook for the teams. It didn't take long before they decided to change their tickets (which was expensive) so they could stay and help. They have been working hard for three weeks, Christie in the kitchen and Andy painting,etc. Everyone tells me how wonderful they are to which I whole-heartedly agree. This is the last work week and we will get to chill and see some more sights next week before they head home. It's been so great to have a piece of Arkansas here this summer. I forgot to mention that in May they also did a songwriting workshop and 2 dance workshops and Andy has been adopted by several of our worship bands as you can imagine. They have fit right in and WE, not just me, will miss them when they leave.

Another benefit of their visit is a stronger FOC connection with the school and church here. Greg Burns and Andy have been in touch and I have the impression that Andy has been spying things out and continuing what Greg started on his brief visit here. Thanks guys for looking for God's heart in this connection on how to serve Daniel School!

DON'T MISS THIS BIT!:
OK, so here's one of the most exciting bits of news! Christie had been gluten free for 5 years because of a gluten allergy. Well, we had dinner with some friends one evening and Roland told her that God was going to heal her and that she would feel heat in her stomach when God healed her. One night during our trip to Brittany, Christie woke up in the middle of the night and she said she felt like she was on fire so she threw back the covers and eventually cooled back down enough to go to sleep. Andy said "maybe God's healing you" but Christie didn't think any more about it until later. So a week or so later there were the Healing Rooms here in Guebwiller. The Healing Rooms are made up of believers from several different churches in the area and Nadine leads the team. I went with Christie to translate and a team of 3 people prayed for her for maybe 20 minutes. It was peaceful and the team never even laid a hand on Christie but they were certain that she was healed. Andy and Christie were full of faith and that morning they had bought some lovely French pastries called 'pain au chocolat' before she even came to the Healing Rooms. That evening Christie ate 2 pains au chocolat!! And she's been eating bread, pastries, pizza, pasta, tartes flambées and all types of gluten rich products since without ANY side effects! SHE IS HEALED!! Praise be to God for this gift and the timing of it so that she can fully enjoy being in France with its wonderful cuisine!

That's not the end of the good news. Haha. I'm having fun writing this!

We have had a 'House of Prayer' or 'Prayer Room' at Joshua Church of a couple years now. The Leighs, Emilie Pierre-Elien and Rusty Richards have set the stage with faithful 'watches' over the years. In May, the 'Tente de la Rencontre' (the Tent of Meeting) got an infusion of the Swiss variety. The Tendon family have moved to Guebwiller and we are happy to have them. They have spent 2 years at IHOP in Kansas City soaking in all that God had for them and now they are Swiss missionaries in France. Of course their heart is for the house of prayer. I have also decided to take a watch and there are others who have watches that are not musicians but they bring their color to the prayer and intercession times. My watch is from 7-9 a.m. on Thursday mornings! (Yes, all of you that know me well can now pick yourselves up off of the floor.) It's been really encouraging to see what the Holy Spirit wants to do during each of these times. I'm also getting some great calluses from playing guitar for 2 hours straight. So the expanded hours have made the watch times accessible to more people and has made us get more organized in general. Growth, gotta love it!

On July 6th, a team of French, Germans, Alsatians, Swiss and Americans lead by Rusty Richards participated in a prayer initiative to repent for an act of treachery of the Louis the Pious' sons. The sons, grandsons of Charlemagne, decided to publicly humiliate their father and take his power. This lead to many iniquities that still effect Europe and countries that come from Europe. We prayed and prepared prayers of repentance and blessing beforehand and then spent a whole day repenting and cleansing history and releasing blessing over Europe. We expect big changes to come in Europe because of the repentance that has been done! Jesus blood even redeems history!

The image that I've had for this season is of a wave of God that has come ashore in our community here in Guebwiller. There is a lot of power in a wave and at the same time in churns things up. Since the wave is from God, it's all good. That's the reason for the picture of the wave that goes with this blog.

I will not be in the States this summer. I am saving my trip to go to my niece's wedding in Oklahoma in October! It's my first full summer in France. I am coming up on my fifth anniversary in France and fourth in Guebwiller. Where does the time go? It's been a great adventure. I thank all of you for being a part of this adventure with me through praying, encouraging and all types of support! It wouldn't happen without you. "We are family...all my brother, sisters and me..."

Here are some prayer requests:

~Even though a lot of work and progress has been done this summer at Daniel School there is still a lot to do and the need for the finances is always there. Thanks to all the teams and individuals who have helped out this summer!
~Continued growth and development of the 'Tente de la rencontre' (house of prayer) at Joshua Church.
~Blessings and safe travels for Andy and Christie as they finish working and prepare to travel home to Arkansas.

Where's spring?

So, I knew it had been a long time since I last wrote a blog...but I was a little surprised that it has been since October! Oh well, at least I've sent out a few e-mails to keep folks up on what's going on.

In the last post I listed my activities and jobs so I won't repeat that here. I will just say that things are going well. In the music schools most of my students are from 7-9 years old. This is a big change for me. I'm used to starting students around 11 years old. So it has been a bit of an adjustment but I like it. I am thankful for my 3 groups at church where the youth are from 15 to 21 years old. And then at Daniel School I have the ages in between. It balances out nicely. Doing a variety of groups and types of music keeps things interesting.

At the end of February we had 3 friends from FOC come to visit. It was a great time of discovery, building connections and releasing God's goodness for one another. Greg, Bobby and Amanda came ready to give and receive. There has already been a lot of fruit from what they released during their time here and from the relationships that were started. It was clear from the beginning of the trip that God had great things prepared because they had a lot of trouble getting here! Chris Abington, who had organized the trip, was unable to come because his daughter broke her arm the day of the trip. Then the three missed every flight because of delays, etc. But they got here and they were in a good mood when they arrived after all of that. Thanks guys, for going the extra mile! I am very grateful to see my two homes becoming more and more connected. I think we will see relationships grow from here on out as the bridge from Arkansas to Alsace gets bigger and wider. One of the people that will be continuing that connection is Deborah Beck. She is a young French woman who will be doing an internship in webdesign in Russellville starting sometime in April. You folks in Arkansas be sure and give her a warm southern welcome and help her feel at home. I know you will. That's who you are and what you do! Deborah is great and she's going to fit right in and have a blast discovering Arkansas and it's culture.

I am happy to say that we are seeing progression in the areas of the school that I asked you to pray about. There have been several financial gifts to the school. It is amazing to see God's provision and His timing. Please continue to pray for a steady stream of financial blessing for Daniel School. Also, we see God's order coming in the leadership and organization of the school. It is a process but things are moving forward. Please keep praying for the school and for Christian education in France and French speaking countries.

Another important event coming up in April is the Love After Marriage (LAM) seminar that our church will be hosting. LAM is a ministry of Bethel Church in Redding. The couple that leads it is coming to teach and two couples from our church are helping to organize and lead. The Leighs and the Becks have both already done the seminar and will be counted on for translation and leading small groups. Thanks for all of you who have already been praying because of my e-mails. Please continue to pray for these couples and for all of the couples that will attend the seminar. This is the first time this seminar will be held in France. It is a powerful tool to heal and equip couples for strong, happy marriages and families.

Personally, I've been feeling the urge to get 'out of the four walls' a bit. After talking with others I think there might be several of us who would like to do Treasure Hunts or just get out and pray for people and see God speak and heal people. I'm not looking to start a program. We just want to see the Kingdom grow and the miraculous in our town.

Like many of you, we are waiting on spring to reveal itself. Winter doesn't want to let go. It may be a little slow in coming but when spring hits it's going to be splendid. I have this same hope to see the presence of God manifested in my church, in my town, in my country and on my continent. Let's go, people of God, let's love God and release heaven on earth!



Prayer requests recap:

~That God continue to grow the Alsace-Arkansas connection according to His desire and plans.
~Prayer covering for Daniel School in all areas and for French Christian education.
~The Love After Marriage seminar the week of April 22nd and the Leigh and Beck families.
~God's Kingdom come, His will be done in our lives and that we can take it to the streets.