A Provincial Movement: 

The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists in Quebec (which we partner with here in Quebec) are in the middle of their vision: 30 new churches, 100 new workers, in 10 years.

This vision began in 2002 and we are now looking at its successful completion in 2012. We are beginning on average 3 healthy new churches every year all over Quebec. This in and of itself is motivating. God is moving throughout our Association.

A Regional Movement:

On a smaller scale, L'église Baptise Évangélique de Terrebonne Mascouche (www.ebetm.org), of which Louis Bourque is the pastor, has developped what they call "La Vision Conquérante" (Literally "A Conquering Vision"... but a phrase like "Movement Quebec" may better capture the spirit of the phrase). The elders unanimously accepted and are behind this vision of planting 10 new daughter churches before 2025. All of these are above and beyond the three daughter churches EBETM has already birthed throughout their history. The church in St-Jérôme (of which I am the lead planter) is the first of the 10. We began weekly Sunday services in January 2008.

To move the vision forward, the elders of EBETM put together a church planting action team (of which I am a part). This team has created and now practices the following strategy: 

4-Part Strategy:

All four parts of our strategy are intended to liberate gifted church planting teams (the vast majority are native Quebeckers who were discipled, trained, and mentored in our local churches) as they fulfill the great commission and great commandment in their communities. Of course, we have a much more detailed plan, but this overview will gives a general idea.

• L'ÉVALUATION (Assessment): Finding gifted church planting teams. Our desire is to invest enormous amounts of time, finances, and people in each team, so intentional evaluation in people with the needed gifting is essential:
  
• Informal evaluation: An extended conversation as we get to know the person, their desires and availability.
  
• Formal evaluation: Meeting face to face, resumé, references, theology, church planter evaluations, psychological evaluations, financial status, their favorite hockey team (a must as well... no Bruins fans allowed), etc.
  
• LA FORMATION (Training): In conjunction with SEMBEQ, we are creating a 1-2 year full-time internship process where the couples would come and be a part of EBETM for 1-2 years. During this time they would go through a church planter boot camp, be coached by Louis (the teaching pastor) and others, work and learn from Noël Morrissette (the pastor of evangelism at Louis' church) on how to form and train disciple-makers in a local church situation, learn how to form and train leaders in the church, and form and train their core group that will eventually be sent out.
  
• LA MISE À PART (Send-off):  The church planting leadership team, along with their core group, will be sent out with all the financial, emotional, spiritual, and personal resources necessary.
  
• L'ENCADREMENT (Support & Accountability): The daughter church will continue to exist under the wing of the mother church for a time. The leaders will be accountable to the mother church. Why? To keep them liberated to put all their energy into church planting instead of becoming bogged down in the myriad of administrative tasks within a new church. The mother church will also help organize their finances, help with preaching duties, and the many other issues that always come up in church planting.
  

We have gone from the question of "what are we able to do?" to the question of "what does it take?". Yes, all of the above costs much and is a huge investment by the mother church. But part of our desire is that right from the start, the daughter churches would contribute financially, emotionally, and spiritually, as they are able, back into the network which is "La Vision Conquérante". The desire is that in time we will have a self-propogating movement. Our church in St Jérôme is already doing this.
 

I found this over at the desiringgod blog today, which is always a source of encouraging and convicting, God-glorifying discussion. But I'll tell you what... this is simultaneously inspiring and exceedingly difficult: 

May 29, 2008  |  By: John Piper

Category: Commentary

Over the last two weeks in our church in St Jérôme, one family gave birth to twins while another lost triplets. Other families are pregnant as I write this post. Problems in pregnancy are on the minds of many in our congregation.

Our daughter, Constance (who is now one-and-a-half: (photo at right taken at 6 months)), was diagnosed with a brain abnormality in utero that can be conducive to downs syndrome.  The Quebecker doctor presented the option of abortion to us... which we categorically refused. Imagine if we would have taken the advice and aborted her? Absolutely convinced that every life is a gift from God and precious, we never would have done that, but millions of people without this conviction are often presented with the same scenario we were.

The result in our case? Constance was born perfectly healthy. Although we would have welcomed Constance as an equally sublime gift from God even if she had not been born completely healthy.

Here is the quote that jumped out at me as I read nearly tragic article which follows:

"I feel incredibly guilty thinking that I could have killed him – and then I find myself wondering how many other babies are killed who would have turned out to be completely healthy."

We as a western society are choosing our children like we choose our cars. We want to choose the time, place, and model. If don't like what we see on the test drive, then back it goes... we want another one... one that will suit my tastes better. One that will be more convenient for me. This is a tragedy.

But the tragedy is doubled when doctors use dubious information at best, to try to influence mothers, who would never consider an abortion on their own, to terminate their own offspring.  

Here is the article:

In Perfect health, the baby doctors said would be born deaf and blind... and live only a few hours. 

By JO MACFARLANE - More by this author » Last updated at 08:45am on 25th February, 2008

A couple who were advised to abort their baby when doctors said he had a rare brain disorder have spoken of their joy after their "miracle son" was born in perfect health.

Little Brandon Kramer was diagnosed with rhombo -encephalo -synapsis – a condition so rare it affects fewer than one in a million people worldwide – while he was still in the womb.

Doctors warned his mother and father that Brandon would be born deaf and blind and would probably survive only for a couple of hours.

It is believed to be the first time in Britain that the condition has been diagnosed during pregnancy – and Becky Weatherall and her partner Kriss Kramer were offered a termination up to just weeks before the birth.

But the couple defied doctors' advice and their son was born healthy on October 1 last year.

Now Brandon is teething and attempting to talk, and Kriss, 24, from Pembroke Dock, South Wales, said: "The fact that he is here now, alive and kicking, truly is a miracle.

"The doctors say that he has defied all the odds but it's really more than that because he wasn't given any odds at all.

"He was written off completely and we believed he was 100 per cent certain to be handicapped."

Becky, 23, whose father Paul Weatherall is Mayor of Pembroke Dock, said: "I feel incredibly guilty thinking that I could have killed him – and then I find myself wondering how many other babies are killed who would have turned out to be completely healthy.

To read more, click here 

The story of one girl: 

[a few months ago at "Le Lounge"]

"I'm an atheist", she said during her first visit to "Le Lounge". She had a couple of friends there and liked the atmosphere. The God part? Well, she was curious at least to see what all the hubbub was all about.

[5 weeks ago at "Le Lounge"]

"Are you a christian?" someone in the group asked her.

"I'm not sure", came the less-than-convincing reply.

 [2 weeks ago]

"The difficult thing to accept about God's grace is this: I heard a story about a girl who murdered and chopped up her roommate. Also, I have a friend who was a pretty good person her entire life, then died of a disease at a young age. The difficult thing to accept about God's grace is that each of these two people have equal access to His grace."

"Another thing that blows me away about God's grace is this: I've done a lot of good things in my life, but they have absolutely nothing to do with God's grace in that God does not give me grace based on whether or not I do good things! The idea of merit is completely foreign to God's grace."

You have probably heard or seen the news about the cyclone that devastated Myanmar/Burma. The news is shocking and it is even harder to deal with since it is difficult to get relief aid in to those who need it most. In a situation like this, the cyclone is only the beginning. There are new concerns about food (getting it to the people), water (clean water), sanitation and the threat of diarrhea and cholera. Each of these continues to take their toll. The area where the cyclone hit is a major rice-producing region for the country. If the rice crop was destroyed, there could be a food shortage in the future. On top of that, houses are gone as are possessions. Estimates in excess of 100,000 deaths have been listed and we are concerned that many more will die for lack of proper food and care. It is a very difficult situation. WorldVenture has multiple ministry contacts in the region and we will be using secure approaches to provide support and relief to help these ministry partners. We believe God is the one who brings order and hope out of chaos. This is a significant opportunity to show the love of Christ and help the local Christians there convey the good news of the Gospel in a time of crisis. Please note below how you can give to this needy and difficult situation.

Early on we were concerned for the safety of our national partners in the country. We didn't hear from them for days. That wasn't surprising. Only recently have we received first hand reports from the devastated region. The following are some unedited excerpts we have received from the Yangon region.

"Most of the trees and houses of the tops iron sheet were completely gone. Big trees were fallen on the high-ways. Yangon city remains only like bones without meat. Prices have gone high. Gas is about $15 for one Gallon.   ...houses were completely gone. Also two of our missionaries' houses were also completely removed. They have no home right now and not enough food to eat. We help them whatever we could. And also our church members in M were hit by cyclone that their houses were gone and they no food to eat. Also the church members in S Vill. And T were completely gone. They ran away for their lives. I assume that they would have no sufficient food and place to stay. One of our missionary's house of W also gone. Our S Church building was also hit by the cyclone. This cyclone hit mostly to Ayeyarwaddy Division like Lapuhtta Town- 15 Villages have gone, Haikyi Kyun- Many people died, Bukalay town-many died there also. We are very sad to let you know that over forty thousand dead bodies were found already without Christ. God must have some plan beside this problem. They assumed that more than hundred thousand lives would be lost. Among this tragic situation, the Lord keeps us alive and we are happy that we are in God's hand. Our lives are nothing without Jesus Christ. We rejoiced at His great salvation."

There is more including pictures. Please go to our web site, http://worldventure.com. The missionaries mentioned are all local people. We are working to help these local believers with funds for relief and for repair of the work there. Please be in prayer for both the believers and not-yet-believers there.

-Dave Wedin (Senior Vice President - Ministry Operations) 

To give to the relief effort spearheaded by WorldVenture workers already on the ground, click here 

• ROB: (born in 1977 and raised in the Pacific Northwest of the USA) studied theology at Davis college, met Martine in Paris on a mission trip, married Martine, moved to Quebec, learned French, had two children, and is now planting a new church in St-Jérôme
  
• MARTINE: (born in 1975 and raised in the Montreal region) studied fashion, met Rob on a mission trip to Paris, married Rob, had two children, lives now to reach her people for Jesus Christ through church planting.
  
• CALEB: born December 30, 2003.
  
• CONSTANCE: born May 23 2006.

WHAT ARE WE DOING? 

We'll answer this question in 4 parts: locally, regionally, provincially, and globally

LOCALLY (above): We are starting a brand-new French-speaking church in the St-Jérôme region (130,000+ people). This church is a daughter church of Terrebonne Mascouche... the first in a (Lord-willing) long succession. We began a core group the fall of 2006, grew this core group through 2007, and began Sunday morning services January of 2008 in an art gallery (the large room where we hold services is where they hold art workshops).  In St-Jérôme we are involved in evangelism, compassion, college-ministries (Le Lounge), small groups, and intensive prayer, as well as much else.

One other couple, Jacob and Marie-Paul, works with us in ministry full-time. They were both born and raised in Quebec.

REGIONALLY (above):  We are part of "La Vision Conquérante" of the regional vision of Terrebonne-Masouche church. Louis (the pastor of Terrebonne Mascouche) desires to plant 10 daughter churches and train 20 new pastors before he retires (he's in his mid-fifties). St-Jérôme is the first in this succession. Rob is part of the action group (of 5 leaders) which is spearheading and overseeing this undertaking, as well as surfacing and training of new church planters. Currently we are planning the next church plant in St-Eustache.

PROVINCIALLY (above): Quebec has a French-speaking population of 6 million. Rob is a member of an action group spearheading and overseeing the 30-100-100-10 vision (30 new churches, 100 new workers, 100 total churches... in 10 years). We are on pace to achieve each aspect of this vision by 2012!

Quebec churches really have a passion to reach their brother and sister Quebeckers through church planting. Nearly 50% of all healthy baptist churches in Quebec are involved in planting a new daughter church.

GLOBALLY: Our passion is that this movement would spill over to the rest of "La Francophonie" (the French-speaking world)... that church planting movements we be founded and helped all around the world.

We work in primary partnership with a host of churches and individuals throughout the USA and Canada. We have been appointed with World Venture (a Baptistic missions organization), as well as have strategic partnerships with FEB International, The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists, Missions Door, the Fellowship French Mission, as well as others.

Thank you for being a part of this amazing work that our great God is doing.

In Christ, 

...Rob, Martine, Caleb, and Constance 

From Justin's blog:

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today? That is a much bigger question.

Along with our entire regional church planting team in Quebec, we recently spent two days in Manhattan for the Dwell conference for urban church planters.  We stayed with or good friends the Larsons in Fishkill, NY, and took the  commuter train in each morning. It was a fabulous and energizing experience. Here are a few photos from that trip:

PHOTO BELOW: Timmy & Erica Larson with Caleb and Constance 

 

PHOTO BELOW: Manhattan

 

 

If you weren't yet aware, here is a video recounting the immense carnage in the country formerly known as Burma. 

The following text is taken from the Desiring God blog (by John Piper): 

As the carnage from Cyclone Nargis moves toward 50,000 dead and beyond, there is a way to pray and act:

1. Be softened to the pain nearby.

The Good Samaritan knew nothing of the calamities in first century Burma, but was commended by the Lord for mercies at hand (Luke 10:25-37).

2. Pray for the followers of Christ in Myanmar:

• That they would be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46:10; 100:3).
• That they would be awakened from the illusion that this life is long or sure or the main point of eternal existence (James 4:14).
• That they would be given a new vision of the supreme value of Christ who promises his followers that famine, nakedness, and death will not separate them from his love (Romans 8:35).
• That God would meet their needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, so that they might have to give to those in need (Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 4:28).

3. Pray for the millions of unbelievers near the calamity and far from it:

• That they would see the helplessness of man before the Power that rules the world and fly to Christ who alone delivers from the final cyclone of God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
• That they would not respond like the people in Revelation (9:20; 16:9, 11) who did not repent at the devastation but cursed God.
• That they would hear the best news in all the world—not the news of health, wealth, and prosperity in this world, but the news that Christ became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) so that in him we can be more than conquerors in every calamity of life (Romans 8:37).

4. Pray for those of us who live in the seeming security and prosperity of America:

• That we would see what is about to break over us in due time—either collectively as God removes the hand of his providential restraint, or individually as one by one we are whisked to the hospital, then wheeled to the nursing home, and then carried to the funeral home (Hebrews 9:27).
• That millions would be made to see this and repent from the adultery of treasuring anything more than Christ (James 4:4).

5. Give money to replenish the coffers of compassion “since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).

6. Muster a team from your church, and when the doors are open, be ready to go.

This kind of going always has the promise of a special, “I will be with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

"Prayer is much, much, much, much more important than you realize. And your prayer life is much, much, much, much weaker than you are willing to admit."

-The last words of the Dwell Conference for urban church planting; spoken by Tim Keller.