Winter News

It doesn’t seem like that long ago, but now we have been in France for seven years and we are in our fifth year at our church plant, Point Bible. Our purpose for coming to France was to come along side French pastors and help in planting churches among the less reached. Marseille has been a good fit for us, heavily immigrant, probably the least French city in France.

This last year has been the fullest for us and we have seen God’s grace in the work. The English Club has given us both a presence in the neighborhood and a good number of close contacts. The English Week outreach during the Spring Break exceeded our wildest dreams. The Basketball Outreach was recognized by our local Mayor’s office and they have said they want to support us even more this next year. Our Home Bible study has given our members a good, deep understanding of the Scriptures and we are amazed at the growth and hunger of Serge and Michèle. I have proposed them to become our first deacons.




On a more somber note, we have made this year a time for evaluation and reflection. As I look back over the last year, I counted over 50 people who have heard the Gospel, none of whom have responded by following Christ. This does not count the kids from the Basketball camp; that would bring the number to over a hundred. We have seen people greatly touched by God’s Spirit, acknowledging their need, but realizing the cost, they have turned away. None have openly rejected it, but just let it slip from their grasp like sand through their fingers. Really sad.



It has been a great joy to be part of starting a new church. In evaluating Point Bible we see that the church is entering a second phase. Here are the ways the church has matured:
Original situation:
o No building: limited space and an uninviting meeting place
o No trained/mature members: all new believers: unable to help
o No other male leadership
o No community activities/outreach
o No Sunday School
o No Bible studies

Current situation:
o Building finished, space for growth, attractive facilities.
o Most members now grounded in the Word and engaged in ministry
o Additional trained male leadership available
o Several community activities organized, recognized by the mayor.
o Almost all members involved in a home Bible study. We have studied Romans, 1 Cor, 1 Thess and just finished ‘The Return of Christ’.

At this point it seems that the local pastoral couple we have been helping should be able to assume the full leadership of the church, assisted by the other members.

As for us, this means that we will be able to invest in a new work. We are already starting to investigate several opportunities. One is in an area where there are no evangelical churches near Marseille. Another would be helping start a church targeting Arab speakers.

We will not be making a final decision until next Fall, so there is no hurry, but we appreciate your praying with us as we look into these opportunities.



For the cause of Christ among the less reached of Marseille, Rob & Vicki

First Contact

Every since we began our missionary career back in 1989, we have been
working among people who have never been reached with the Gospel. Most of
the time we are their first contact with a real Christian.
In Chad it was with a Muslim tribe, most of whom had never even met a
Christian, some times it was in nomad villages or islands on Lake Chad. In a
sense we were a curiosity. Especially a white person coming to visit them, much
less a white Christian.

In France this still hasn’t changed. Almost none of the people we meet whether native
French or immigrants, have ever met a Protestant, much less an evangelical,
someone who actively practices biblical Christianity.

And again we are somewhat of a curiosity.The Americans who live in ‘the northern
quarter’, which has the reputation as ‘the other side of the tracks’, the bad part of
town. Often they are so surprised they just laugh. They can’t imagine why an American
would come live here. But it does open doors; they hear our accent and start asking
questions.

It’s an interesting situation. We so often think of ‘unreached’ people as those off
in the deserts of Africa (they are there as well), but we rarely think of people in the
‘civilized’ world as being ‘unreached’. But the people we meet on our daily errands
have never heard the Gospel and have no one who will tell them.
Please join us in prayer as we begin this ministry year. The Youth Group and the
English Outreach have started. And we have contacts to follow up on from the
Basketball Outreach. Plus preaching and teaching the believers in the church. We
do appreciate and covet your prayers.
Here are some photos of those around us.

A 'New' Year - Hard Issues

We have begun this latest ministry year with several hard issues in the church. One African lady, a vibrant and faithful member for several years, began living with a non-christian guy. When confronted on this, she shared that her work had become too difficult, she could not continue her financial commitments and did not see any other way to survive except by moving in and possibly marrying her boyfriend. After several meetings and pleading with her to repent and not take this path that would surely lead to further tragedy in her life, she decided to ignore our warnings and has left the church. Most of the others were shocked to discover that this had been going on for over a year.

A second issue arose with a North African woman who came out of a Muslim family. Seemingly christian at first, her life is a disaster and shows no evidence of salvation. Vicki has started meeting with her, sharing the Gospel and confronting her with her sinful attitudes and need for Christ. She has had several outbursts during Bible Studies and at our Church Retreat last weekend and has also threatened suicide. Please join us in praying for Sonia that Christ would show himself gracious and powerful in saving her.

Attached you will find our latest prayer letter with some pix of Vicki in the neighborhood. Sorry, no pix of me, I' m usually the one behind the camera.

We are so to know that you are behind us.

Rob & Vicki

Basketball Camp winding down, 2 coaches less

You would think that a summer missions trip to the south of France on the Mediterranean would be a breeze. Blue skies, turquoise water, nice weather...Club Med!!
But add to that 40 kids 10 - 17 years old, 10 different ethnic groups running around on a hot asphalt basketball court in the full sun for 4 hours and it takes its toll.
So far we have one team member with a sprained and swollen ankle. One that had to see a doctor for stomach problems, one with a really bad cold & allergies and now one with 'lower level adventures' making 'frequent short trips' a necessity. Needless to say that today our grand finale for our weeklong outreach we will be short 2 coaches.
The kids have responded well. They have been very attentive to the testimonies of the guys. It even seems that there is less tension between the ethnic groups with Turks asking Africans to be on their team. The kids have gotten to know one another on the courts so that now they are more than just a face of a different color, a different ethnic group. That's something the city officials who have given us permission to use the public basketball courts really want to see.
For us its just one aspect of the healing power of the Gospel message. Barrier walls broken down, between men and between us and God.
Sorry no pics today, but will have more tomorrow after we finish. Ciao!

Basketball Outreach Begins

Sorry about the delay. Things have been pretty hectic here this Spring. Right after the English outreach, we had some longtime friends visit, then my sister and her family, then the team and that has left little time to sit down and write something.

The Basketball Club team arrived the 22 of June. The team is Jim - a seminary student, Dan, Dan, Wes & Lalo - All collegians most from UCLA and Lalo from COC.
The first couple of days were spent putting up posters and giving out flyers for the club and as they were getting over jet lag they were introduced to life in Marseille.

After a tour of Marseille and some time snorkeling in the Med things begin to get busy.






Saturday we had the last youth group at Serge & Michèle's. After a wild frolic in the swimming pool and Serge's fantastic pizza, Wes and Dan gave their testimonies and I challenged the kids to reflect on the messages of the last year and on their own lives.









Sunday we had church at our place. We spread a large tarp to give some shade, then set up chairs and tables for everyone. Lalo and Dan also play guitar so Vicki was thrilled to have other musicians helping. Jim preached from 1 Cor 2 and Dan gave his testimony. Afterwards we had a meal together and people hung around until about 5 pm.










We started the club two days ago, Monday the 29 of June and will finish July 3. This year we were recognized by the Mayor's office who gave us a banner to put up. First day we had 21 kids, Tuesday we had about 30. Today is Wednesday and we should still be growing.







A couple of the guys have been sick, a bad cold and some stomach problems, so far everyone has been able to participate in the club times though. We are short one interpreter so that has made things a bit more difficult. I am trying to run back and forth to translate for the guys who are trying to explain basketball to the kids.









Vicki also got pulled into the translator's role yesterday, along with fixing meals and keeping things organized around the house. This year's group is pretty quiet and she said they are not too hard to feed.

Simply Shocking English

I was shocked. We finished our English Outreach Saturday May 2 with an 'American Barbecue'. The team was 5 people from Faith Bible Church in Orange County, Vicki and I, plus a couple from church...who are great at sharing their faith. We had counted on about 20 people total, prepared for up to 25 and had 30 show up.

First let me bring you up to speed. In December we visited their church and they asked about partnering with us. We had never tried an English camp but they were interested. French Spring break saw two couples and the pastor arrive in France. We had put up flyers, told everyone we knew and hoped people would come. If we had 5 people show up, especially for the first effort, I would be content, if 10 came I would count it a great success.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday we had classes scheduled. Tuesday & Thursday were outings. Our first day we had 8 student. Mainly kids from our Youth Group and several from the neighborhood. Tuesday we had 10 for a walk around downtown. By Thursday we had 13. During the week we had 15 people participate in the classes. Each day a different team member gave their testimony. I translated it into French and them we used it to see how well they understood the English by asking questions about it.

Saturday was the big barbecue, and we needed to buy the meat on Friday...May 1. This is what is known as May Day here in Europe, Workers Day. Everything is closed. Everyone is off. No buses. No shops open. No stores open. We had completely forgot about this. Vicki left in a mad scramble to try to find someplace open. Fortunately she found a small Muslim butcher shop and bought some Hallal beef.

Saturday 8 am, I put the meat in the barbecue. The team decorated the courtyard. We prepared some games. The French are notorious for arriving late, but 30 minutes early everyone started arriving. Most brought friends, parents. Our yard was full! We had a total of 30 people!

We had crazy games: Cheesehead & Michelin Man that everyone loved. The barbecue turned out great. And as things wound down we had a short presentation from the team leader. John began by telling about why the team had come and then shared a bit of his testimony, comparing his life with the Statue of Liberty, beautiful on the outside, hollow on the inside, and how Christ had changed that.

This blew the lid off all the discussions. Suddenly everyone was talking about their lives, sharing their testimonies, and asking questions about the Gospel. Wow!

At one point I sat back, exhausted, and just watched the Body in action. There were people who didn't speak each other's language having conversations. Either by broken english or by grabbing someone who could translate. And everyone was raving about how great a time they were having.

Please join us in praying for the followups. We already have several more dinners planned with those who came.

English Outreach in Marseille

Just wanted to let you know about our outreaches here in Marseille. In addition to the youth group we have started an English Club to develop contacts with people in our neighborhood. At present we have about 10 people attending. Half are High Schoolers and the other half are their mothers and a couple of men looking to improve their business english. All are well aware that we are a Christian association.We meet in our 'Worship Center' and there is a large cross in front, but even here in France that doesn't put them off...so far.
We are hoping that as the youth get to know us, they will feel comfortable to start attending our Youth Group. Already one family has asked us to come camping with them. Vicki has really connected to one of the moms.

Frederic one of the men is Serge's nephew in law, a rescue diver for the fire dept here and together with his wife is investigating Christ. They have come several times to church are reading the Bible and other books. Pray that they would see Christ prove himself in their lives.


We are also planning an English Week during Spring Break. A team from Faith Bible of Orange County is coming out. They will be having various activities each day and sharing their lives and testimonies with the students...in English.

To Learn...Teach

We are back in Marseille. The trip back went well and everyone was happy to see us return. They were especially happy to see Vicki and have her back playing guitar for the worship singing. Two months of acapela or an 'almost piano' were a bit trying for them.

The house was ok, but the yard was buried under leaves. The next morning all of that was covered under a foot of snow, a very rare occurrence for Marseille. It hasn't snowed like that for 40 years. Several of you asked me if it ever snowed in Marseille and I answered 'Maybe once a year we will get a light dusting.' Well, I lied...but didn't know any better. We weren't here 40 years ago when it snowed. A week later when the snow had finally melted we raked the leaves and cleaned the yard up.

Anyway that is really not what I wanted to share. Sometime later I will try to express what our time in the States was like...we REALLY had a great time seeing everyone. It is just hard to live out of a suitcase for two months.

What I really want to talk about is the incredible joy of studying God's Word. Currently at our church plant we are studying two books: The Gospel of John on Sunday mornings, and 1 Corinthians in our home Bible study. In the past years we have looked at Ephesians, Romans and James.

In my times at various theological institutions I have taken courses on each of these books, memorized outlines and written papers about them. But I have to admit that once the final exam was written, those outlines faded into memory past. I have learned so much more in the past several years of going verse by verse, chapter by chapter through these books and seeing each passage in its context.

Right now we are going through 1 Corinthians and have arrived at ch 14. A hard chapter to decipher on its own, hard enough taking it in its context. Seeing how Paul struggles to correct a church gone wild. As we have gone through each chapter in our home group, I ask the question, 'Is the Corinthian church a model for us to follow or a warning for us to of what to avoid?'

I think the people are getting something out of the study, but I know that I am greatly profiting from being forced to think through and explain each verse: what it says and why it was put there. Rick Holland, a really great preacher, explained sermon preparation as 'Writing a research paper every week'.

It is really good to be back at my desk getting ready to present God's Word to the church !! Especially to those here in France who so rarely if ever have had the Bible clearly explained to them.

Thanks to each of you who give, who pray, who write, who encourage us. We are but the tip of the spear, God our Savior uses you to direct and propel us.