Final Update before the Trip

As I said in my email:

After talking with the AirTran folks today, I have two minor additional pieces of information:

a) They want us there two hours in advance (because we are a group). I pushed back suggesting that would put us at 4:40am. She checked when they opened and then suggested that 5am is fine (I think they open at 5am). I will try to be there very close to 5am and will go through the line. Please make sure I know that you're there before you head through security - I'll try to keep track to make sure we've all arrived.

b) We do not need to check in all together. Instead, you should just need your name. The other flight information is: AirTran
May 02, 2007, Flight 65 Departing Washington, DC - Dulles (IAD) at 6:40 AM. Our reservation code is K38YWI if you happen to need anything more. Call me immediately if you have any problems. They should give you a paper boarding pass that will get you through security. Don't forget your valid photo ID!

I have contact everybody by phone that needs a ride and I was on the hook to arrange one for you (if you need a ride and haven't heard from me - check your voicemail - then call me).

Notes on Last Meeting

We met at Superior this afternoon at 2pm to discuss the final details.

We went over this handout (I've updated a little bit).

I've also promised to email out the mobile phone list - unfortunately I can't do that tonight - my computer is not working correctly - it will go out tomorrow morning.

I promised to post Andrew's presentation about why he wanted to go to Mississippi. Here it is.

Anybody who needs a ride and hasn't signed up yet, please let me know right away! We have more willing drivers than we have passengers right now.

Meeting on Sunday

In case you didn't get my email I sent this morning, here it is:

During the Sunday morning services, we will be having a "send off" for our team. Please make a special effort to be there.

This Sunday at 2pm we will be getting together for our final organizational meeting prior to our trip down to Mississippi. Please let me know if you will not be able to make it - we should chat beforehand if you won't be there. I'd really like to get us all together before the trip, if possible.

We will meet at Superior Paving in Gainesville (see link)

Please call or shoot me an email if you have any questions before then. Thanks!

An Update from the Deakynes

Below is a nicely detailed letter about what the Deakynes are up to in France. Please read through and pray with me about their work.

Dear friends and family,

Should any of you desire to receive our newsletters by e-mail, please drop us a line (chad.deakyne@worldteam.org) and we will make sure that this happens.

Bien fraternellement,

Chad & Kimberly Deakyne

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The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge (abri); my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. ~ Psalm 18.2 ~
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What does a successful life look like?

In February, ten of our friends gathered together to watch the film Fauteuils d’Orchestre at a local café. This was one of the questions we discussed during the discussion afterward. In many ways, the film itself asks this question and its characters search desperately for answers. The main characters, all of whom are celebrities in the arts, are looking for their place in the world. Imagine a concert hall filling up with people just minutes before the curtain opens. Where is the best seat in the house? It is certainly not off in the back, far removed from the action…but it is not necessarily up front either, among the orchestra seats where you have to strain just to see the action.

Kimberly and I continue to plan events like this ciné-débat in order to meet the people of our town and develop friendships. We continue to participate in the various cultural events organized by the Forum and help out with an English discussion group each month.

Association Protestante Evangélique de Saint Quentin Centre – “l’Abri”

Voilà the name of our church plant in Saint Quentin Centre! In late December, our sub-team held our Assemblée Générale Constitutive and officially created the association. The word “l’Abri” means “refuge” or “shelter” and is taken from the theme verse for the church: Psalms 18.2. It is our desire that the church be a place of refuge, a shelter where we may go and be reminded that in the Lord we find security and salvation.

Kimberly and I feel as though we have been running since early January…but the race is good! We have had some excellent opportunities to teach both in Magny and in Saint Quentin. In mid February, I team-taught a workshop on worship with our teammate Baptiste Margaillan. There are a few couples in the church plant in Magny who have recently started leading worship on a rotating basis and they needed to be trained. Baptiste, who is an excellent musician, and I recognized the need and worked together to offer them a vision for worship, an introduction to the elements of the liturgy, and some practical hints and tools. As I was preparing for the workshop, I thought to myself, “In the States, each of our supporting churches has a worship leader. If I were in the States, I would probably never teach a workshop on worship!” The workshop was a success and the participants were grateful for the training.

Family Section
Kimberly is four months pregnant! That’s right...welcome to the first installment of the family section of our newsletter! Mother and child are both healthy and are both growing as the months progress. The doctor that Kimberly has been seeing is great. Kimberly is comfortable with him, his office is within walking distance from our flat, and he is patiently walking us through the details of the French health system. I am sure we will be flooding you with pictures after August 25, 2007!

France Challenge Project
France V.I.E. (World Team France) continues to partner with various missions and unions of churches to work toward the creation of 1 local church for every 10,000 inhabitants of France. We continue to pursue three main avenues in order to achieve this goal.

1. 2. 3. Key Areas of Activity
1. To establish new churches through multi-cultural teams
A. There are six people on our church planting subteam: Jerry & Carolyn Moyer, Baptiste & Emilie Margaillan, Chad & Kimberly Deakyne. We are currently working on two separate church plants in two separate locations: the church in Magny-les-Hameaux which is well under way and the church plant in Saint Quentin Centre (l’Abri) which is just beginning.
B. We are ready at any moment to bring in three or four new team members to open a third church plant in the area. These team members could be missionaries from overseas, they could be French church planters, or they could be lay persons ready to help out with the project.
2. To encourage churches to plant daughter churches (networking)
A. With only 11 evangelical churches for the 500,000 people in our area, we are desperate for new partners.
B. Through the network of local evangelical churches, we are hoping to organize a conference on church multiplication. The goal of this conference would be to formulate a common vision for the southern portion of our county (Yvelines). Pray that God would work through the different denominations and unions of churches that are present so that the existing churches of the area would multiply.
3. To train French nationals in pioneer church planting
A. Baptiste will be joining France V.I.E. as a full time church planter in September. This will be the completion (and in some ways the beginning) of his training. We are now looking for a young pastoral intern for the church in Magny. We need to begin to train someone who can meet the pastoral needs of the community.
B. As a result of our recruitment efforts here in France, we have recently made contact with three students who are interested in the vision of France V.I.E.

To the praise of His glory,
Chad & Kimberly Deakyne

21, boulevard Vauban
l’Ascot
78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux
France

World Team
1431 Stuckert Road
Warrington, PA 18976
800.967.7109
www.worldteam.org

Summary of Organizational Meeting

Just a quick post for everybody that wasn't able to make it to the organizational meeting that we had over at Superior this afternoon.

We first went through this presentation. Its been posted in Adobe Acrobat format which should work for almost everybody. Note that it is an 11 MB file and the hosting service I'm using is free - and not fast. Give it some time before you give up trying to downloading.

It passed out this handout. Very similar to last years', for those of you that came last year.

Here is some promised information about the flights:
AirTran
May 02, 2007, Flight 65 Departing Washington, DC - Dulles (IAD) at 6:40 AM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 8:31 AM
May 02, 2007, Flight 1590 Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 12:15 PM
Arriving Gulfport/Biloxi, MS (GPT) at 12:34 PM

And on the way home:
May 06, 2007, Flight 1591 Departing Gulfport/Biloxi, MS (GPT) at 1:05 PM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 3:22 PM
May 06, 2007, Flight 68 Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 6:11 PM
Arriving Washington, DC - Dulles (IAD) at 7:59 PM

Our arrival on the return trip is later than I'd like, but it is the best schedule that I could work out. In addition, upon a closer view, it looks like I was optimistic on the lay-over timing. We will be spending some quality time in the Atlanta airport. As I remember, there were no later flights we could take and still get to our destination, though.

Finally, check out the Rebuild Lakeshore website. [Note I was wrong about the URL at the meeting - sorry]

Update from the Williams

Here is a note from the Tony & Heather Williams. Please keep Heather in your prayers.

Dear Friends,

For some time now, Heather has experienced serious health issues that have as yet been unidentified by medical tests. After counseling with our Paster, Missions Director, and other colleagues, we have returned to the States to allow Heather to be further evaluated and seek treatment. We are renting a small apartment in Maryville, Tennessee owned by Victory Baptist Church. It is close to Heather's physicians and we are able to participate in their worship services. We are grateful to Pastor Rob Hoffman and the people of Victory Baptist Church.
Heather is my priority; however, I will need to visit some churches while in the US. . . . . I am so grateful we are a part of your Missionary family. Your prayers and support are essential to our family at this time. Our ministry in Nicaragua is in good hands and we are excited about returning to the field as soon as the Lord allows.

Before leaving Nicaragua, God allowed us to take part in a very special event.
Our neighbors' daughter, Francina, was married in the Cathedral. With nearly 200 spectators inside and 500+ outside, it turned into a major event. And who was that gringita (literally, little foreign girl - I know, sounds harsh, but it is quite endearing) walking down the aisle in front of the bride? Moriah! She was invited to be a part of something so very special. Francina has visited our worship service a couple of times and Ladies' Bible Study with Heather. Pray for Francina and Cesar in their new life together.
As a little "goodbye" before we left Nicaragua, Francina's parents took us out to dinner. Martha told us that while she is Catholic, she is concerned that her kids will not continue to be so. She shared that being Catholic is part of her identity. Martha continued, "I give you Francina and Cesar. They need to make God the center of their lives and they should be involved with your ministry." Please pray for Martha for she is very sick with cancer. Pray for her salvation as well.

Organizational Meeting

I would like to get together next Sunday afternoon (4/15) for a quick informational/organizational meeting. I would love for everybody to be there, if at all possible. The meeting will start at 2pm and will last about an hour. It will be held at Superior Paving in Gainesville. Directions can be found here.

From an informational perspective, I want to give everybody a sense of what to expect for the trip (though many of you know from last year). Also, though, I'd like to make sure everybody knows everybody else! We will have many of the same, but also many different people as last year and I want us to get to know each other.

From an organizational perspective, I need to get a list of skills that each person has. From there, I will pass that along to the people at Lakeshore and they will try to line us up against jobs that we are well suited for. Seemingly mundane, but important stuff.

Also, its been noted before, but feel free to raise support directly for your expenses. To do this, you may want to send a letter to potential supporters. A sample letter can be found here.