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Three Baptisms Kick Off 2020 with a Bang!

Dear praying friends and family,

The Joy of New Baptisms
We hope and pray that your first weeks of 2020 have been filled with joy like ours have been! The festivities kicked off on Sunday, January 19th with our latest baptism service. We had the privilege of baptizing three new believers from very different walks of life. One was from a Muslim family, another was a nominally Catholic car salesman who lived life in the fast-lane, and the third was a young student studying biology. It was truly wonderful to hear how Christ had saved and transformed each of them. David has the privilege of preaching at this service from Luke 18:35-19:10. In this text the diversity of those being saved by Jesus was also on full display as He saved a blind beggar and then the rich tax-collector, Zacchaeus. Over 180 adults attended this gathering and we continue to pray that the Lord would saved many of those who came to this event and to subsequent Sundays!

Lots of Teaching Opportunities for David Recently
We are blessed in Toulouse to serve on a pretty big team (for France) with around 4-5 people who preach somewhat regularly over two sites. As such, I (David) preach once or twice a month on average. This is a great rhythm as I have adequate time to prepare without neglecting other engagements like discipling, training and evangelism. However, since January my colleagues and I have been asked to preach in bigger blocks in order to experience the situation of most French pastors, who are often the sole preachers in their churches. I have thus preached 6 of the 8 Sundays in 2020, and I have another sermon this week. It's been a tiring couple months so far, but I'm learning to prepare faster and more wisely, and my French has been improving, too. To all my pastor and preacher friends who preach this regularly all the time, my hats off to you! And for those of you who have pastors preaching this regularly in your churches, don't forget to pray for and to encourage them!

Good News with David's Visa and Other Updates
We had a meeting in early January at the French government office in Toulouse to renew David's visa. FYI, Rebecca doesn't need a visa to live in France because she's a citizen of an EU country. Anyway, the meeting went horribly. The woman who oversaw our meeting was extremely rude and unhelpful, and to be honest we had no idea what was going to happen. We prayed and we asked others to pray as well, including you all in our latest newsletter. And God answered! Faster than any of the previous years my new visa was ready after only a month and it was indeed for 5 years like we had hoped! Praise the Lord for His grace!

In other news, we had another well attended and well received newcomer's/gospel class in January. And this class has already born fruit as we've recently added several new members to our church plant, and several others have requested to be baptized! In other news, Rebecca has been able to use her workplace as a mission field more than ever before. She's given Bibles to two co-workers and she has shared the gospel with several others. David has an opportunity to read the Bible with a non-Christian neighbor. And our overall evangelism efforts this year are going to be a little less event-based and more focused on inviting people into our lives and home to get to know them. We've noticed over the least several years that it's often these relationships that allow us to best share Christ's love with others. Please be praying that we would continue to do that faithfully!

With lots of love and thankfulness for your partnership with us,
David and Rebecca

Praises

For a fantastic celebration of God's saving work in the lives of the three who were baptized and for the 180 adults who joined us for this service!
For David's visa situation. We are so thrilled to not have to jump through all the hoops again for another 5 years! God is good!
For the many preaching opportunities David has had recently that have blessed him personally and have also been beneficial to others.

Prayer Requests

For Rebecca's co-workers, that they would come to church and continue to be drawn towards Rebecca and the hope that she has for eternal life.
For David's last sermon of this current cycle that will be preached on Sunday. Pray that God would speak powerfully through him!
For several people who are interested in being baptized soon, that we would be able to discern if they indeed have placed their faith in Christ and to guide them in their new lives with Him.