THOMAS' TRAVELS - January, 2008
France
Merlebach — Assemblies of God
I was last there sixteen years ago.
What a joy to meet people who still remember me, and who are still faithfully carrying on.
The young pastor is Michel Milia. He was with us last July in Kikwit, Congo.
A couple of years ago, God suddenly "blessed" this 50 member church with an influx of 80 new members, mostly Italian.
This happened because the Italians' church had fallen apart. But this sudden increase also brought challenges:
namely the need to develop a cohesive staff, and to teach the church the meaning of Body Life!
Michel invited me to minister there the first weekend of December. With only one day's notice,
he asked me to speak to his staff on leadership. This was the first such meeting this staff had ever had.
I was surprised that the concept of regular staff meetings was new to them. And the idea of a staff retreat
was something they had never thought of. Come January, they will start to hold regular staff meetings.
This area has its share of spiritual and social problems: drugs, alcoholism, occult practices, broken homes.
These are issues that the church (especially the staff) wants to address, but is ill equipped to do. The lack of training is sad.
We had a Friday evening meeting. Before the service, I asked Michel how many counselors would be on hand to pray with the people.
He said four. As it turned out, he and I were the only ones. The same thing happened on Sunday.
How does one pray with and effectively counsel 10-12 people?
After the service, l counseled with a former Muslim, Jasmine. She is a 36 year old single lawyer,
whose problem is affirming her identity as a female. Since childhood, her father (a diehard Muslim) had
been telling her how much he wished she was a male. Psychologically, she had been trying to please her father.
She and l had a most fruitful time of counseling.
Another woman was on the verge of leaving Islam and making a full commitment to Christ. I did not then know it,
but her desire was to have a baby. She came for prayer. I had one of the ladies take her aside and lead her
in a clear cut commitment to Christ. Afterwards, she told me that when I began to preach she felt pain in her ovaries.
I prayed that the Lord would bless her. We gave her a copy of the Gospel of Mark. Fortunately, some of the ladies
in the church are her close friends, and can follow up with her.
Another interesting happening in Merlebach: Two pastors from Kinshasa, Congo, showed up at the Sunday morning service.
One of them, Omer Kongo, knows the local organizers of "Arise Kinshasa". He gave me some interesting suggestions.
He also invited me to join him in a campaign in Congo-Brazzaville, just across the river from Kinshasa.
It is a country where spiritual darkness and sorcery are very strong. In fact, he would like me to come right after Kinshasa.
Oh, for more time and money!
Do continue to pray for me and my ministry. There are so many opportunities, but inadequate resources to meet them.
This month of January, I will be "on the move": Sommière Baptist Church;
a home missions gathering of the Baptist Federation;
a week of fasting, prayer, and preaching again in Eglise Pleine vie (Assemblies of God).
Next month, February 5-17, l will be in Vellore, South India, with several NGA evangelists.
(The photo below is of Muthu Mayandy, my Indian host, and me at a recent meeting in Oregon.)
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March 15-24, l'm planning to be in Colornbia, South Arnerica.
l do greatly appreciate your standing with me with your prayers and support,
l know that with the present economic situation that has hit the housing market, some of you are having a tough time,
so my prayers are for you too. But let us look to the Lord together. He will bring us through, somehow.
Blessings,
