Concluding Report for OL 1 -

Olympic Games Gospel Trips (Part II)

Rouen
We met a man who had recently moved to France from a country where Christians are persecuted. He told us he had never read the Bible because it was illegal to own one where he was from. He was so open to talk with us and hear about the Bible. At the end of the conversation, he said he couldn’t believe he met us because he had been praying on his train ride to get closer to God. We exchanged contact information, and he is eager to meet with us again.

 

Over the last few days in Rouen, we have met many dear, soft believers. from various French-speaking countries in Africa. Many have approached the table and expressed a desire to know the Lord more and to find fellow believers to fellowship in France. We have been able to share with these ones, something concerning the kingdom and the believers’ need to grow in life today. These ones are so open! We continue to pray for them name by name.

Today we approached a young woman who told us that she did not speak French. We found out that she was visiting from the United States.  She was searching for someone who could help her have a direct relationship with God. She agreed to have dinner with us and asked us many questions about who the Lord Jesus is and what it means to be a genuine believer. After two hours of fellowship, she told us, this is it, this is what I’ve been looking for! We were so impressed how the detouring Savior brought this dear one all the way to Rouen to meet us and be saved. We exchanged numbers and made plans to meet again once we all return to the U.S.

 

A group of local saints from Dieppe came down to join the harvest meeting in Rouen. It was a glorious time of blending, singing, and sharing about the divine romance. On our way to the harvest meeting, a young man approached one of the sisters from Dieppe and said, “I know you.” He recounted how the sister had given him some money for food two years ago when he had nothing to eat, and he always remembered her kindness. The young man joined us for the harvest meeting, met many saints, and really enjoyed the fellowship. 

Three new ones who joined this time shared their contact information and expressed interest in further fellowship and meals with us in the coming weeks.

Statistics

We passed out a total of 32 Bibles, 4 prayed to receive the Lord, and we exchanged contact information with 20. There were 3 appointments and 4 came to gatherings.  

 

Prayer Burden
Lord, release Your seekers in this city. We pray to bind the enemy. Lord, raise up the church in Rouen!

Dieppe
Thirty-six Bibles were given out today. We found that although it has been a fight, there was more openness amongst the people we met. Three prayed to receive the Lord. There was one young man who we saw walk out of his workplace and after about 3 minutes he came to our table somewhat timidly, but once we initiated a conversation, he was very happy to spend time with us. He eventually prayed to receive the Lord and said he is open to further contact. 
Another young person was sitting on a bench behind our table speaking to someone on the phone. After she hung up, we sat with her and shared with her verses from the Bible and the gospel. It seems she has had very little exposure to anything related to the Lord. She had never heard that she has a human spirit, and that God wants to live inside her spirit! She prayed to receive the Lord, and we exchanged contact information. Our feeling is that there was no resistance in her being and the Lord had prepared this one to receive Him.

There was a family that took four Bibles: one for the father and one for each of his three children. They were pleased to come across our table and find study Bibles to read about baptism. May the Lord open their eyes to the real significance of baptism! 

A young man on a scooter received a Bible and left without saying much. Later that evening two members of our gospel team were out for a walk in a different part of the city and saw this young man with a group of young people opening the Bible he received and reading it! 
We observed that when we go out, it is very slow at first and there is much resistance, but as soon as the local saints join us, we feel there is a release and no resistance.  We believe the Lord is blessing the blending with us and the saints in Dieppe!

 

Today was a day to rest, so we spent most of our time with the local saints in Dieppe. There was so much mutual encouragement and shepherding, and we really feel we were being blent in the Body! We shared testimonies, went for a tour of Dieppe with the saints, and we opened up prayer burdens to each other. 

Some of the brothers had a follow up appointment with a young man they gave a Bible to the day before. At one point, this young man said, “I believe we are becoming God.” This opened the way for the brothers to share the high gospel with him! He was very touched and impressed. They will be having a second appointment with him on Monday which will include a local brother!

 

We went to the large market in Dieppe to distribute Bibles today. We had several meaningful conversations, and one person prayed to receive the Lord! One man came to the table and was so impressed by the two lives in John 10:10 and 11. He exchanged contact information with a local brother and hopes to meet with the saints for prayer on Zoom (he lives near Paris). Another young woman came to the table with her little boy. She said she’s a believer and really loves the Lord. We asked if she had a favorite verse, and she said John 10:10! So, we showed her the footnotes to John 10:10 and she was very impressed and had never known there were different words for life in Greek! She took a Bible for herself and her husband. 

There was another woman who said her daughter has been “dreaming of reading the Bible” She has read other religious books and has not found what she was looking for. A local sister told her the divine revelation is in the Bible, and we believe she will find what she is searching for. It was her birthday today and her mother said this was the perfect gift!

 

The team from Rouen came to Dieppe for the Lord’s Table meeting. Blending with the local saints was such a joy! A new one we met previously at our Bible distribution joined us, and he seemed extremely touched by the meeting. Afterwards, we went for a picnic with the local saints and this new one joined us. It was a dear time of building, blending and mutual encouragement. 

 

We had a local brother join us for a second appointment with a new one and he wanted contact information for the local brother for future appointments.  We were joined by a local sister for an appointment with a young woman we met. It was very encouraging to see the local saint’s heart for these new ones. 

Today, we went to Rouen to join the harvest meeting. It was sweet to blend with the gospel teams, with saints from Dieppe, a sister who lives in Rouen, and two new ones. 

 

We passed out a total of 131 Bibles, 6 prayed to receive the Lord, and we exchanged contact information with 8. There were 3 appointments and 1 came to a gathering. 

 

Prayer Burden
Pray for the wonderful blending of His Body and the Lord's adding ones to the church during these trips.

At the start of the Olympic Games, we gave out all our French Bibles that we brought, along with many English Bibles!

 

A woman and her daughter approached a sister and said that she believed in God and was trying to find Him but didn’t find Him in Islam. The sister led her to pray to receive the Lord and to have Him living inside of her! She will be coming to our seminar in a few days.

Two sisters had an appointment with a young person who received a Bible previously from us. She was excited to read the Bible. She prayed to receive the Lord today and wants to be baptized!

 

At the end of the day, we had already packed up and were walking away when, an Olympic worker who had walked past us a few times, approached a brother and asked him to put a Bible in his bag because he couldn’t be seen publicly receiving a Bible. We gave him the very last French Bible we had with us that day!

 

This was a slower Bible distribution day with people seemingly more in a hurry and less willing to stop at the table. We still gave out 98 Bibles, exchanged personal contact with eight people, and led two to pray to receive the Lord!

 

We had a very enjoyable Lord’s Day meeting with glorious singing and wonderful sharing. A person whom the saints met during one of the pre-Olympic gospel trips joined us, and he really enjoyed the time!

 

We had ten new ones attend our seminar. Three of the brothers from the OL1 team shared a detailed version of MHL in French. It was a glorious time, with singing, prayer, the sharing of the brothers, and then going into small groups to discuss and highlight things we enjoyed!

 

We passed out a total of 973 Bibles, 37 prayed to receive the Lord, we exchanged contact information with 137. There were 13 appointments, 5 appointments with ones from a previous gospel trip, and 10 came to a gathering. 

 

Prayer Burden
Pray for the shepherding of so many young people that we have met. Lord, raise up the church in Lille!

 

27 July - I saw one young man who was with two of his friends and offered him a Bible. He said he is a believer. He took the Bible very enthusiastically; however, his two friends were not really interested. I invited the seeking young man to the follow-up session that night and he brought his two friends! It turns out they are soldiers in the French army. The three were all raised in Christian families and are at different places in their faith. But all three enjoyed the time of fellowship and want to meet again with brothers tomorrow! 

The follow up session today was very encouraging. Nine new ones came, and we were encouraged to meet French people who show so much interest in faith and fellowship! These new ones were so happy after our session on “The Mystery of Human Life”.   A couple who came went around shaking the hands of all the saints before leaving.

 

We passed out a total of 567 Bibles, 5 prayed to receive the Lord, we exchanged contact information with 72. There were 12 appointments, and 13 came to gatherings

 

Pray that some would see a vision of Christ and the church in a dynamic way and be a strong testimony to their friends, and to bear fruit ten or even one hundred-fold!

Geneva (Switzerland)
Several groups of students received Bibles. We read the MHL with them. They all read the prayer in the MHL track and were joyous! 

A brother shared God’s economy with a student (majoring in economics).  He prayed to receive the Lord. His countenance changed after he prayed: He was so happy. 
A local Swiss was riding his bike pass our table. He stopped by and received a Bible. He showed interest in coming to the Lord’s Day meeting. 

A man from Estonia had many questions about God. Eventually, he received a Bible, and he prayed to receive the Lord! 

A family of four with two teenagers were very open. We asked them if they wanted a Bible, and they said yes! Then, they prayed to receive the Lord! 

A young woman said she’s a believer. She prayed to receive the Lord with us. Afterwards she looked very happy, and she accepted a French Bible. 

A man who wanted a Bible came up to two sisters. They presented the MHL, he read the prayer at the end, and received the Lord! He had many troubles in his life and the sisters were able to help him realize he was a sinner and that the Lord forgives and forgets.

We are learning how to best reach out to people and found that a friendly smile and greeting with a raised hand helps. Some just took the Bible with only a few words, but others lingered to learn more and some even returned to get more! 

A very open and soft young man came up and seemed in a hurry, but he received a Bible. A little while later he returned to the table to get another Bible for his girlfriend, and a brother took the opportunity to share more with him. The young man took the QR code for more information. 

A young couple came up to us. The saints read John 10:10 and they really enjoyed it! We invited them to the meeting on Sunday and the couple took two Bibles and they gave us their contact information.

Brothers were standing in front of a shop and the salesman inside the shop waved them down. He took two Bibles, one for himself and one for his girlfriend. 

A German-speaking man came up to a sister and they had an hour-long conversation. He works right by the meeting hall in Zürich. He read the prayer in the MHL and received a Bible.
A mother and her three children took a Bible, and they may come to the meeting on Sunday.
A family from the Netherlands with seven children came to ask for a Bible. The sisters read the MHL with them and the oldest son who is 20 prayed to receive the Lord!

 

We passed out a total of 430 Bibles, 48 prayed to receive the Lord, and we exchanged contact information with 62. There were 8 appointments and 10 came to gatherings. 

 

Pray that all of the OL teams would be richly supplied and go further to establish the Lord’s testimony and raise up a lampstand in Geneva!

A sister had a burden to share about the Lord with at least one person. During the distribution time, she shared John 10:10-11 and the corresponding footnotes with a mother and daughter. The mother said that she had been praying for the Lord to speak to her daughter and felt that this was confirmation from the Lord.

 

While we were packing up at the end of the day, a man approached us and spoke to us in French. He asked if we were leaving already, and one of the sisters began to speak with him and he received a Bible. We exchanged contact information.

 

The Lord sent a heavenly rain today. We handed out all the English, French, and Portuguese Bibles that we had. There were many young people hungry for the Bible, crowding around us as we distributed them. Some even received a Bible and then came back with their friends so that they could also get one. People who received the Lord, were interested in attending the upcoming seminar, and requested further contact. It was truly glorious!

 

Today we had a seminar and received positive responses. The attendees had their eyes opened to the Bible. One person said, "I never saw Christ becoming the last Adam." A woman was in tears after the sharing. She said she had lived her entire life without hearing that just like a glove is made in the image of a hand, so is man created in the image of God. She was thankful to have met us!

 

We invited some of the people we connected with during the week to have dinner with the team. During dinner, a brother asked one of the guests, "What is the meaning of human life?" The man and his wife took a while to answer. He responded, "If there is God's judgment after death, I want to stand on the right side." The brother could tell that this one was genuinely seeking. The brother began to share about God's plan, His eternal purpose, and how He needs us. Then the man said, "If that's the case, we need someone who knows the Bible to help us!" So, I said, "Well, we have a really good Bible to help you." He was given the Recovery Version Bible and he was quite impressed with the footnotes. He was shown the diagram of the Kingdom of God in Matthew, which illustrated the Kingdom of God from eternity past to now. I told him that this is what God wants to do. When the wire diagram was shown to him, he responded, "Wow, what is this?" The brother answered, "You have a part in this." Our time with him concluded on a very positive note. We are praying that the entire family will come into the church life.

 

What a wonderful conclusion to OL1! Some of us went out to distribute Bibles and sing at a new location and others had appointments with the ones we have already met. At the table one young man shared, "I am so happy to receive a Bible. My brother and I share one Bible, and I want to have my own." Another person was impressed with the footnotes in John 10:10-11 that explains the difference between the psuche life and the Zoe life. They were happy to know that the Zoe life is in them because they have received the Lord.
 

We passed out a total of 184 Bibles,14 prayed to receive the Lord, we exchanged contact information with 37. There were 6 appointments and 29 came to gatherings (relatives, friends & ones we met at distributions).

 

Pray for the ones who attended our gatherings during OL1, that they would have continued contact with us and that the brooding Spirit would continue to brood over them!

Prayer Burden for the Lord's Work in France

Pray that all those who have applied to serve full-time in France would get their visas approved in a timely manner. By mid-October these ones will join with the Lord for His shepherding care for all the ones saved and baptized since the beginning of the Torch Relay Gospel Trips which began in May and continuing with the Olympic gospel trips which are currently going on.  

Giving

Saints who are burdened to give for the Bible distribution and other expenses can give through LME by following instructions at lordsmove.org/offerings.html. Designate offerings for “Paris Olympics.”

Archived Reports

Read all the past gospel reports here.