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.