Leading worship and sharing life and ministry in a missions conference and exposure trip to France.

When we were first contacted by Roger Javens about the possibility of being a part of a project he was organizing in France for March of 2010, it didn't seem like things would work out.  Roger has started a ministry called "Let's Go Ministries" which is intended to mobilize young adults (or those who feel like young adults), give exposure to what is happening currently in missions, and encourage both missionaries and nationals who are serving in the field.  We've been involved in several projects with Let's Go, including one where we used music as an outreach and encouragement tool in a Muslim country a few years ago, and we've always appreciated our contact with Roger and the groups he's brought over.

The problem was that from January to June of 2010 we are concentrating on spending time visiting with churches and individuals in Canada, so getting to the event, held at the Camp of the Peaks in the French alps south of Grenoble would be significantly more difficult that the usual 6 hour drive down from the Paris area where we live.  We would have to fly over from Canada, which is expensive and a bit of a pain since we'd just get through the jet lag associated with arriving in France before we'd have to turn around and come back and go through it all again.

In the end, things worked out in a wonderful way.  It's like that saying that you hear a lot in missions circles; "It's almost as if God had a plan"!  

Roger received funding from a church to pay for our transportation from Canada down to the camp; we were able to bring both Martin Bartlett and Andrew Janssen along so they could have a little spiritual retreat and recharge time; we could check on our house, go through tons of mail, touch base with the Ecouen church plant, and have a great time worshiping and sharing at the conference.

Martin, Marjorie and I led the worship for the week, and were able to get reacquainted with the camp staff and see how things were going.  We haven't been there in a few years now, but there was a time when every other summer was spent working at the camp, so we have good memories and some history with the facility and the people working there, who we appreciate very much.  It's great to see the camp continue to flourish, and although they are still short of staff they are doing a great job with the resources that they have.  There were also several of our friends and missionary colleagues from other missions who showed up and with whom we were able to spend some time catching up and sharing.  Although our individual callings are different, we heard basically the same message from everyone "Ministry in France is not easy, but God is working in this country!"

One of the things that happens on these Let's Go trips is that people get to rub shoulders with actual missionaries in a context that is a little more significant than just picking up a brochure and chatting after a sunday morning presentation.  We had lots of good conversations with people, talking about the challenges of working in France, and the opportunities that exist for people to come and help.  In fact, there is a strong possibility that we may see some of them again in a ministry context as we sensed a calling in some of them to come and help us, which is great.

Both Martin and Andrew really appreciated the week as well.  Martin had been to the camp before, and although we kept quite occupied doing the worship morning and evening and practising a bit in the afternoons, he said it was a great time of spiritual refreshment and encouragement.  I know this is true of Andrew, who has probably been at the camp even more than we have, and who had just gone through some difficult times of cultural adjustment and adaptation in January and February and was able to use this March trip to get away and recharge a bit.

So, although it is true that we were tired for most of the week we were there and then for another week or ten days when we got back because of the jet lag, we were really happy to have had this opportunity to minister and be ministered to.

Thanks again to Roger & Jennifer and Let's Go for the invite!

Russ