Messengers of Peace

From October 30th to November 1st, 2009, all the French Protestants from France got together to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth. It was heart warming to see all those Christians worshiping God in one accord. We left aside what separates us usually to be together a strong witness, first in the city, Strasbourg, then in our humanistic country.

Every effort was made to make this important anniversary a real success.

When you are surrounded by atheist, muslim, boudhist, new age, etc., it is always good to see other beleivers in Christ.

The youth were involved in this event, so they were especially encouraged.

The French Protestants are planning to celebrate again next year.

We took the opportunity of the Protestant gathering to meet all the Foursquare France pastors and leaders. It was a refreshing time for everyone.
We had time to meet emergent leaders but also make new contacts with pastors interested in joining the Foursquare movement.
Please pray that our church, Light of the Nations, and the Foursquare movement in France will continue to reach out, touch and change people’s life, and that every soul will hear the Good News of a Savior, Jesus-Christ.
God bless you!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
Joy in giving

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice ! Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jésus. Phil.4:4-7

Love one another

Why did Squanto, Samoset and the tribe of Massasoit decide to rescue those strangers? Without their help, the Pilgrims would have surely died during the next winter.
It was a long time ago, so should we still be thankfull for that? I am convinced that the Pilgrims, the governors who established this day and the Lord want that we remember this. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. This is our time! Will we, in crisis time, help those who need us? Jesus warns us that the love of most will grow cold. Lets stand firm and continue to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in the whole world with zeal and love!

Squanto and the Pilgrims in France

“We want to celebrate Thanksgiving” suggested strongly the people in our little church, “and we want to invite strangers, fatherless and widows of our town”. So, we started by renting a place in town for that day. Then, we prepared a theater piece on the Pilgrims, a skit, worship songs, games, the yummy Thanksgiving menu and, of course, a Word calling the people to enter in the Real meaning of this feast. After, we went in the streets and invited strangers, neighbors, widows and friends. Thirty people accepted our invitation and joined us for this joyful day.

In a time of crisis, a warmfull invitation to our neighbors to discover the joy and the kindness of the Lord.

Our guests were amazed by the generosity, love and joy of this feast. They listened to the Word and acknowledged the wisdom of the Lord and His mercy. Many bowed down recognizing their need to submit to the Lord with confidence. Our little church was happy to touch the lives of our neighbors, but something else happened too. While we were serving our guests through the different parts of the feast, we were filled with a new understanding of His love for us and we tasted His kindness. Our eyes witnessed the flow of the Holy Spirit transforming each one by the power of love. Finally, the church consecrated her life to the Lord with a full surrender.

I believe that Light to the Nations is ready to stand up and honor and worship the Lord in a deeper and newer way. I believe that you will hear more and more about this little one, she will put the region and the country upside down. The church has grown through this feast. She is beautiful. She is powerful.

Praise the Lord for He is worthy of all praise!
Nathalie

Give thanks in all circumstances

We cannot conclude this newsletter without thanking you for your amazing faithfulness and love for us. You have sown in us as we are sowing your love to the people in France. We are so grateful for your commitment. There are many people that we know and we cherish in our heart. For others, you have sown in our ministry without knowing us personally. We would like to hear from all of you. Everyone who helped us in the past and/or in the present, cared for us or prayed in a regular basis, would you send us a little word this month about you. It will really encourage us and allow us to pray and thank you in a better way.
Much love to all!
Gendron’s family.

For about two weeks now, I haven’t stopped singing two great songs : The Desert Song by Brooke Fraser and Take My Breath Away by Derek Loux. They are powerful songs! They encouraged me in my faith and just last Thursday, I experienced them.
By Eve Gendron

The Lord is my shield and the horn of my salvation. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.” 

Psalm 18:2-5.

I was driving on the highway coming back from dance class, singing and praying, when a white cat sprung up from the left. He stopped in front of my car and looked me in the eyes. I tried to avoid it but turned my steering wheel too strongly and lost control of my car. While the car swayed, then twirled and finally rolled over and over again, I repeated: “ Oh no ! Lord, please help me! Help me my God!”.

The Lord was there, in my darkest moment; He protected me and held me tightly. When my car came to a stop, I tried to open my door but it was blocked. In the accident my window had broken loose so I was able to get out through it.
Another car stopped and two men ran out to help me and called 911. When they took a look at the car, they were astonished that I got out of there by myself. I just kept telling them that God had protected me. Ten minutes later, the firemen arrived and they too were amazed when they saw my car destroyed and I still on my feet.

More reason to worship

Apart from a throbbing headache, a bruised leg and hand and a few light scratches, I have nothing that could make you think I had been in a deadly car accident. My car may not have survived but I’m alive. My God is an amazing and awesome God!
He gave me life abundantly!

“All of my life, in every season, you are still God and I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship”!

Later that night, I remembered a phrase of Derek Loux’ song that I used to repeat day and night: “You place a seal upon my heart make it stronger than death, make it stronger than the grave.”
-Eve Gendron

Hello
I, Nathalie, hope everyone had a nice summer and enjoyed some restful and precious time with family and friends.
For us, August was one of the greatest time of our lives. We celebrated our daughter Kim’s wedding. A few years ago, at Pacific Bible College in Surrey, British Columbia, she met a young man, Chris, and they fell in love. Last Christmas, Chris proposed and they both agreed to get married in France.
For this event, we had the pleasure of receiving my family from Canada for a visit. You cannot imagine how wonderful it was to see them. Our nieces and nephews had grown so much since the last time we had seen them. We have been living in France for over 10 years now, but with our tight budget, we were able to visit our families in Canada only once. Now, it was the turn of my dad (78 years old) and my mom (74) with my sisters, brother and their family to come. We hosted between 12 and 20 people almost every day during 2 weeks and a half. I was amazed by the grace that covered us during these days. It was fabulous! My family, who is not Christian except for my sister Stephanie, came to one of our Sunday service and was moved by it. It was the first time that my parents and siblings heard me preach.

The Queen of Sheba’s visit
The wedding was an exciting preparation. It had to be bilingual since Chris and his family are English Canadians and our family and friends are French speakers. It was an excellent opportunity to allow my family, and the people we have evangelized over the years, to meet a living Church. A wedding is such an incredible object lesson and tool since it represents the love covenant between Christ and the Church. My desire was that each guest would come to see the splendor of the « Church » and the glory of the Lord through different parts of the wedding.
You know the story of the queen of Sheba : The queen heard about the fame of the Lord and spent a lot of money and time to come and visit Him. It is written that « when the queen saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. » 2 Chro 9:3-4 With this objective in mind, we prayed and got ready for the “big day”. Of course, we are not Solomon, we could not depend on our finances, workers nor resources ; they are too limited. But Solomon is a type of Jesus, our King, and we are his servants or officials.
So we were trusting Him that He would show His wisdom and glory to our guests. We have learned through the years on the mission field to never walk by sight but by faith if you want to accomplish something. So when the Lord blessed us with a beautiful church building for that day, we knew that He would “paint a masterpiece” and all we had to do was work with Him. We had many things to prepare: the ceremony, the cocktail, the dinner and its organization, plus the meals for two weeks, housing and tours for the families and friends (30 altogether) coming from many countries during these weeks.

They will never be the same
I believe that the Lord and the Church succeeded! My family, the unbelievers coming from different nations, the groom, and the guests, all came to tell us how much the ceremony and the dinner were the best they had ever seen. They were overwhelmed by the splendor of the Church in action; our position; our relationship with the Lord; the garments of praise of the worshippers; the crown of beauty of the servants; the goodness of the food they ate through the Word of God; and the offering of our love. I know for sure that this day will ever be engraved in their heart, for the Lord showed His wisdom and glory.
Our daughter and son-in-law have left to live in British Columbia, Canada. My family and our friends have also gone back to their countries, they never will be the same. They heard the gospel, were touched by the Holy Spirit, amazed by the Lord, loved by the Father, welcomed by the Church. I am a very happy and grateful woman for all that the Lord has done for us.
Praise the Lord!
Nathalie