May News Letter

Hello from France everyone,

Spring is nearly over Summer is on its way. While I know school is almost over in the states, our kids have about 6 more weeks to go. We won't be coming to the states this summer as we usually only come every other year. With the church building project in its final phases, those of us involved in the church leadership have our hands full trying to get ready for the first service in the new building, which is (if we have no more delays) set to be for July the 5th. There's lots of news, so I'll get to it.

God's provision for our new building has been a truly amazing thing to watch. We are nearing the end of the project and have just about 6 weeks to get the building ready for the first service. As you can see from the pictures, we still have quite a bit to do, so please pray the we, as a church, can finish this project well. It's the church leadership's desire to use the occasion of the new building as a way to reach out to the community and share the message of Christ. So we have a pretty ambitious program of concerts, open house/barbecues, seminars and guest speakers from the opening through October. Please pray that we can "finish well" and for all of these upcoming activities. We are so grateful and want to use this place for his glory.

I (Kev) recently got the opportunity to speak at a training weekend for youth leaders in Geneva. It was exciting to see so many committed youth leaders wanting to reach the kids of France and Switzerland. Thanks to all of you who prayed for this event. It was my first time as a guest speaker in French and it went really well.

One of the really neat things we get to do each year help with the Lifesprings Women's retreat, held here in Lyon. The retreat is in its 3rd year and had over 80 women that came from France, Africa, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. A number of women from the U.S. came to help out, and to meet and minister to the women here in Europe.

It is a great time of renewal and encouragement for these women. There was even an all-girl worship band (which was terrific, bat) that came from the states. Our job is handle anything music or sound related for the weekend. So Kev locates and installs the sound system and then clears out so that Cheryl can run the sound board for the weekend. She had a great time bonding with the girls in the band. We are grateful for God's provision and for all He did during the weekend.

We had our great friend David Powers, a pastor from McDonough Christian Church (near Atlanta), here to visit us. David has been a great encouragement to us over the years and it was a joy to get to show him first-hand some of what we do here. We even put him to work setting up for worship on Sunday!

The young adult group that Cheryl and I mentor is thriving. It is a joy to get to work with them and especially to watch the leadership develop in the group. This is just a terrific group! The church elders are in the process of looking at how to best organize the different groups (middle school, high school, college, and young adults). So, please pray for wisdom for them as they seek to best coordinate these groups and help young people transition for one group to the next. We also will be having a weekend camping retreat in June. We will be talking about how to live a Christian life out in the real world.

The choir from the Geneva Bible Institute is in it's most busy time as we approach the end of the school year. We just had a terrific concert at a smaller church in Lyon. The church has maybe 80 chairs and there were around 150 people there for the concert. Talk about standing room only! One neat thing is that there were about 30 non-believers, including some of our friends from the area at the concert. This weekend the group travels to Wittenhiem, in the region of Alsace and we have three concerts near Marseilles in the first week of June. Please pray for this group to continue to work hard and for wisdom in their decisions for the future, as many of them will be choosing where to do their two year internships, as they continue their training for ministry.

Well, there's a small window into our lives in ministry here in Lyon. Thank you so much to those of you who keep us in your prayers -we really need it. Please pray that God will give us strength and perseverance in our work here and that he continue to meet our financial needs, especially in these difficult economic times.Thanks also to those of you whose support us financially so that we can continue to be here, in this place, trying to use the gifts God has given us in a way that honors him. We are very grateful and could not be here without you. Please continue to keep us your prayers.

Kev (for all)

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