France Update

Hey all you readers,

I had a second to give an update, so I thought I would. Here in France, we have three short-term teams in right now. One of them is doing a "Bilingual Camp" in the St. Paul church. The other two teams are helping out with ESL in Nice and the Discussion Table on Wednesday nights. Things are busy but in a good way.

If you feel like praying for our ministry here, you could pray that we will have wisdom in how to use the short-term teams to start relationships with people that will continue after the teams and I are gone. Because people here do not trust Christians and because the area is fairly wealthy, ministry here by necessity is relational. With that objective in mind, I am hoping that we will be able to hang out more with the nationals in order to start friendships that continue online and through the mail. We have also started up an open forum Discussion Table in which anyone from the area can come in and discuss current (and classic) issues. However, only people from the church and missionaries have come. So, pray that people would come and that through this ministry, we can establish a network of relationships. If the community has no knowledge of our existence, we cannot even develop a reputation with which to show the love of Christ.

If any of you have any ideas for "relational" ministries, post them please!

In Christ,
Anthony

Tour de France Video

We managed to catch the Tour de France in Cagnes-sur-Mer yesterday. Here's a video of all the riders passing by.

http://www.facebook.com/v/680230500700

Lance Armstrong Video

We went to the Grand Départ of the Tour de France yesterday in Monaco, and I shot a video of Lance Armstrong as he flew by. Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/v/679989892880

Thoughts on France and materialism

I figured I should update, because I haven't in quite a while.

I'm a little over the halfway mark in France, and it has been such a great trip so far. It has been humbling for me to learn how to make it another country, and I think I've really begun to realize that I don't need most of the things I think I need back in the States. I've also had to come to terms with a sparse population of Christians.

The Gospel is desperately needed here in Southern France. The people do not want to live to glorify the righteous God because they have everything they need and more. But like the rich fool in Luke 12, soon their souls will be required of them, and their possessions will go to someone who did not earn them.

We can't take our belongings with us into eternity.

This is the message I want to get out to French people and Americans. God's message is real, and it is relevant now. We either treasure Christ on earth and, in so doing, worship and enjoy the glorious, all-satisfying God for eternity, or we make gods of our pleasures on earth and worship our puny, incapable selves for eternity.

I pray that you treasure Christ.

Made it to France

I made it safely to Saint-Paul de Vence, France and have been spending time with James Arnold, the pastor of the International Baptist Church, and others. We will have a number of short term teams coming, and things for me are going to get busy soon.

Belated blog post from France

I'm sitting in Torie's apartment in the old town of Nice, France. We are leaving in a few days. The trip has been amazing (although it is not over yet), and I'm really glad I've been able to come here.

The philosophy of the trip was to meet people so that we could hang out with them and share Christ's love with them, so it has been a lot more relaxed than other mission trips I have been on. Typically, we start our days by trying to meet people in cafés, and then doing some type of ministry in the afternoon, or hanging out with the people we've met. Also, we have been going to beach parties held by the International Baptist Church and have been helping out with ESL classes.

Collectively, we have met a wide range of people. So far, we have met (and I'm sure I'm misspelling names)...

• Nicolae, a Frenchman with Italian and Spanish heritage (I think) that works in a boulangerie (a bread shop)
• Damien and Harmony, a French couple that recently traveled to NYC to work in their uncle's restaurant
• Garie (sp?), a French hotel employee that competed in the Ironman triathlon that we saw 2 Sundays ago
• Omar, an African who we played drums with on the beach
• Two Egyptian men coming to France for work, whose names escape me

We also met many more people that I can't remember right now. This list also does not include the people we met from the churches.

I'd say that we are completing our goal of meeting people for the purpose of sharing Christ's love. We have been able to share the gospel and tell people what we are here for. Once again, I'm so glad that I have been able to experience this culture and live in France like a Frenchman.

Nice, France

Hello all, I don't have much time, but I just wanted to say that we arrived safely in Nice. It is a beautiful city, and I'm so thankful to be here. Hopefully I can update more later.