Hope Church, Cardiff

Hazel and I got back a few days ago from Rendezvous 2009 – the Bible week for the French-speaking Newfrontiers churches which was held at a camp site at Gagnieres in the Cevennes in the South of France. Gagnieres is in an area of mountains and valleys where there was once a lot of coal mining – so we felt very much at home!  We had a fantastic time at what is being spoken of as the best Rendezvous ever.

It was great to be able to catch up with Pete and Kim Carter, who are fresh back from three months in Bethel church in Redding, California; and to receive significant ministry and encouragement from them even before the Bible week started. Julian Adams was also a key part of the team, bringing a significant dimension of healing and impartation ministry. In addition, members of the the French team also brought very helpful teaching on the theme: Le Surnaturel au Quotidien (Being Supernatural in Daily Life).

There was a tremendous sense of God’s presence right from the start, and each evening meeting felt like a finale, so exuberant and joyful was the praise and worship, with everyone pressing in to God. It was a great atmosphere in which to see Kingdom stuff happening – and there was plenty of that.

There were numerous healings, but those that stand out included: a woman recently saved who had been blind in one eye from birth who received her sight. Her son was also healed of a heart condition, got saved, and was baptised in the local river along with his mother before the end of the week. There was also a girl who spilled boiling water on her foot on the camp site who was healed and her skin was completely renewed. The same thing happened to a scald on the hand of Jean-Philippe, our friend who leads the church in Ales. Another young girl who was not able to walk properly was healed when the achilles tendons in both her heels grew. There were many healed of back and knee problems. Since the week finished several of the churches represented continue to report healings which is fantastic.

A number also were saved – probably the greatest healing of all; and many were baptised in the Spirit.

For us the best times were in the leaders prayer meetings at 7am each morning, when the Holy Spirit was strongly present and there was a significant outpouring of the prophetic, from which we benefitted. In particular, Julian Adams brought a prophecy about Paris and Cardiff both being Bethlehem cities – places where bread is baked to feed the people of a nation. Both Hazel and I were able to contribute prophetically in this context, as well as in the other meetings.

We also had a great time catching up with friends of long standing who we hadn’t seen for a while, and we were able to have meals with David & Carol Webster from Kent,  Jemuel and Katya Bonnet from Quimper in Brittany; Gordon and Kerry Neal who lead the Paris church, Ken and Marian Lovatt also from Paris, and Luc and Catherine Ferraro from the Beziers church plant from the Languedoc in the south, as well as the entire Paris church! It was good also to catch up with our friends William and Deborah Selle from Marseille, and to meet Lindsey Pettit from South Africa again after many years. And there were lots of others too numerous to mention who it was great to meet up with again. We hope it won’t be long before we are able to see some of these again.

We are continually amazed at how the French leaders – most of whom also have full time jobs and run churches also manage superbly to organise this annual Bible week, together with a host of dedicated volunteers from the churches. It is a huge commitment which also has huge impact on the lives of individuals and churches in French-speaking Europe. We are looking forward to all God has in store for these nations, and particularly France.

http://rdv2009.com/