The SFC:Brussels Story

Our friend and colleague Stephan Hughes, film maker extraordinaire, has just finished a brief video about our work in Brussels.  Please check it out and tell us what you think!

Quarterly Report

When you invest financially, once a quarter you receive a report on how your funds are growing.  You have invested your prayers, hearts, and dollars in the work in Brussels.  As 2013 ended academically, here is some of the growth we’re celebrating:

• This year we saw 4 students baptized in water, publicly declaring their commitment to follow Jesus!

• Thursday nights have grown! In April we had the largest gathering of students in the last 2 years, as around 45 students coming to hear the Word!

• This year saw the launch of 4 discipleship small groups--20 students gathering each week to go deeper in relationships with each other and the Lord.

• We ended the semester with a bang, as we had 2 teams of Chi Alpha students, from UL-Lafayette and LSU come on mission trips. Through “Cajun Supper Nights”, coffee giveaways, and contact evanglism on campus, these 17 students helped us spread the good news of Jesus all over the city! (Below: UL Chi Alpha Pastor Kelsey Tomes preachin' it straight and true!)

• Our first intern, Sarah Lecerf, completed her internship and will continue ministering as a campus leader for the SFC group in Mons, Belgium for the upcoming year. 

“Charles, we’ve had such a beautiful ending to our school year.  I can’t wait for next year!”  One of our student leaders sent me this text after our last meeting of the year, excited about what’s to come.  I hope you’ll join us in celebrating these eternal “gains”, and praying for more in 2014!

SFC Facelift

Our ministry center was in need of a paint job.  No big deal right?  Well, except that the building has 5 flights of stairs, 12-foot ceilings, hadn’t been painted in 10 years and is heated with a diesel furnace (soot everywhere!)   3 missions teams, 3 Maps workers, 6 student volunteers, and 32 gallons of paint later, we put the finishing touches on the last of 9,000 square feet of wall just last week.  It was a really EXTREME makeover!

Family News

This summer, when not busy washing his Hot Wheels, Aidan has indulged his love of wildlife, going to visit the zoo in Antwerp and a nature park in Wallonia, and he has become one of the tallest 2 year-olds in Belgium.  His favorite topic is “Remember when we saw the hippos?”  He can now count to 5 in French, and “eleventeen” in English.   Charles is reliving the stress of student life while trying to finish 3 seminary courses this summer.  Amanda has been blessing us all by coming up with new ways to make smoothies, chocolate chip cookies and cakes while not having the American ingredients she’s used to.  We’re thinking that the new baby that’s coming must be part Asian because he craves Vietnamese take-out on a daily basis!  He’ll be arriving around Nov. 14, so we’d appreciate your prayers for his and Amanda’s health. 'Til next time!

All-Access Pass

Last newsletter, I told of being chased off by  security at the Free University of Brussels when we do outreaches there.  In January, at a prayer meeting with fellow missionaries, we received a prophecy:  “God is giving you an ‘all-access pass’ to this campus”.  Since that time we have had no trouble with the administration, and God has enabled us to launch a Bible study on Fridays in a café on campus!  Thank you for praying!

Chicken, Rice, the Gospel

Coming into this year, we sensed God calling us to concentrate on sharing the Gospel more in our gatherings.     But how to do it?  We remembered that in Louisiana Chi Alpha we had a great program called Café Chi Alpha in which we shared the Gospel with students over a noonday meal.  Being the visionnovators that we are, we decided to just  rip off this idea and transplant it to Brussels.  We even copied the name, and thus Café SFC: A Meal with A Message has taken place once a month at our ministry house.  It usually features some chicken and rice, (which I’m pretty sure is what the disciples ate at the Last Supper), and a presentation of the wonderful news of Jesus’ saving work for desperate people. 

 

We are now in the last month of the academic year, and we have seen two things happen over the course of the year for which we praise God.  First, He has been faithful to provide food for us every month through different churches and missions teams. Secondly, our students have been motivated to invite their friends. Over 50 new students have come through to eat and hear the Gospel.   Some have stayed and become a part of our group, and some have not, but we know that they have heard the only message that has the power to transform a person.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Rom. 1:16

Seeds

 A few weeks ago, we were at home when our missionary colleague Blair Bonin called, “Charles, I just saw on Facebook that Jérome got baptized!”  Sure enough, I clicked on his page and there was Jérome coming out of the water.  When I lived in Liège, Belgium, 7 years ago, Blair and I met Jérome at a contact table on campus.  Over the next 2 years, we would occasionally share a cup of coffee and talk about life and faith.  I never really knew if he was a Christ-follower or not. I left for the States, and he graduated and found a job in Arlon, in southern Belgium, and we would just keep in touch from time to time on line.  Just before I left, Jérome met his eventual wife, Pierrette, who is a Christian, and he began to go to church with her.  Two years ago, some former SFC leaders were led by God to plant a church in Arlon. Jérome saw their page on Facebook and visited a few times.  Slowly the Gospel seeds began to sprout, and he quit playing soccer on Sundays and became a regular attender at church.  A few weeks back he took the “plunge” to publicly follow Jesus, and he even recently preached his first sermon!
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

 Big News!

We thought we’d save our best news for last.  As you might guess from the photo:  Amanda’s pregnant!  This November, by God’s grace, we’ll be welcoming another little boy to our family!  Please pray for our health and safety.  We appreciate all of you so much because not only do you support our work, but you also support our little family as well.  Thanks for being a part of both. 

Thank-Full

In this past month or so, we've had several reasons to thank God.  Here's just a few:  

 

Madeleine

First of all, just before Christmas, we participated in Madeleine's baptism.  Like many from her home island of Guadeloupe, Madeleine comes from a family whose Catholicism is more of a cultural practice than a faith-based walk with God.  Approximately 4 years ago, she moved to Brussels to study nursing.  About 2 years ago, she was confronted with a life crisis when her mother passed away.  This loss came at her like a wave shaking the foundations of her life.  She began to seek some answers, even attending some Church of Scientology meetings thinking she might find something there.  Fortunately,  her roommate Audrey, a leader in SFC Brussels, saw what was happening and began to both warn her of the dangers of this cult and tell her of the love of Jesus for her.  Audrey's friendship and sharing, as well as that of other Christian friends, began to establish some pillars to which she could hold on to.  Soon after, they invited her to an SFC Belgium retreat.  During the retreat, a pastor gave a prophecy which spoke directly to Madeleine's situation.  She sensed the love that this God, whom she had been hearing about, was now speaking to her personally.  Soon after, Madeleine committed her life to the saving care of the Lord Jesus, and began to build her life on the rock that does not yield.     We arrived in Brussels several months after Madeleine's conversion, and we have been honored to be a part of Jesus' loving construction of her new life.  The questions of if, when, and how she should be baptized were not easy for her to work through, but ultimately she decided that she must obey Jesus, despite some opposition from her family.  Throughout this school year, even though she is no longer a student and works long hours as a nurse, Madeleine has continued to be faithfully involved with SFC by serving at our large group meetings and helping lead a small group.

Following The Master's Plans

As I'm typing this, Amanda is on the subway making a one hour trek across the city to teach a class called Discipleship by Design.  Last night, I finished teaching a group of 4 students at 9:30 p.m. and as soon as Amanda gets home from her class, I'll be starting tonight with another group of 2 young seminary students. Ministering in an urban setting with multiple campuses, and a bi-lingual group of students with crazy schedules mixes life up sometimes.   The bottom line is that 13 students have signed up to be trained in the work of leading other students into the Kingdom life, what Jesus called making disciples.  In an era in which we have 35 year-old adolescents devoting their lives to 24-hour entertainment, it's encouraging to find students who will take the call of God seriously like this, and put in the time and work to grow in their effectiveness.  We're thankful for the chance to help equip them.  Now if we could just get them all to show up at the same place at the same time. :-)

Community

Our ultimate goal in teaching these student is to see the growth of a community, a people who will represent Jesus here in Brussels.  In a very real sense, all of you who support us financially and pray for us are also a part, albeit unseen sometimes, of this growing community.  We are so thankful that you are with us, and we hope that you too can give thanks for Madeleine's story and these 13 growing students.   Que Dieu vous bénisse!  Blessings!

Words of Life

“Amanda, it is just so nice to have a time where we can just read the Bible, talk about it, and pray for each other. Thank you.”  It sounds simple enough, but those words were a gift of encouragement from the Lord.  It was a Wednesday night after our women’s small group.  I was feeling tired and a little discouraged. I needed to be reminded that it’s the simple disciplines—reading the Bible, talking about it, praying for each other—that are so vital to our spiritual lives. 

For the seven young women that have been coming to small group this semester, reading and discussing the Bible in a relaxed setting and praying for each other every week has been a brand new experience.  They ask questions, express their ideas and learn together how to apply the Bible to their lives. It is exciting to see them get excited about sharing God’s Word with each other.  

This small group has been a new experience for me as well.  I’ve been leading small group discussions with college students for over ten years-- in English.  This one is in French.  Even though my French is much better than it was a year ago, trying to not just keep up with but lead a Bible Study results in a headache, some frustration and serious lessons in relying on the Holy Spirit. I’m learning to trust that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness!

Coffee Talk

One day, we posed the question, “Where is God?” and students could vote among 4 choices: 1-Church, 2-Inside us, 3-Everywhere, and 4-in Nature. Several suggested we add the choice, “Nowhere.” Pictured here is our coffee stand that we do at the Free University of Brussels.  We set up by the bus stop, offering a free cup of coffee  and the chance to converse about God.   The Free University is committed to atheistic principles, so the last 3 times I’ve done this, the police have forced us to leave, even though it’s a public sidewalk.  Please pray for a breakthrough in this spiritual stronghold.

The Next Generation

 Along with the SFC Belgium staff, this semester saw the launch of our internship program.  Our first intern is Sarah Lecerf,, top left in photo, a 2012 graduate of the University of Mons.  Aside from working full-time, Sarah gives 10-15 hours a week to outreach at her old school, discipling, and biblical studies.  She’s doing a great job!

Family News

Hi, I thought I would represent myself this month and tell you what’s up.  In the last month, I’ve been working on my singing a lot.  I easily mastered the “Itsy-Bitsy Spider”,  “The Wheels on the Bus” and I’m currently working on “Away in a Manger”.  I don’t have a girlfriend, although I never decline when the toddler girls offer me their snacks.  We have a library nearby; I like being read to by Mom and Dad, and I usually pretend not to notice when Dad skips pages.  See you next time!