Dauner News Update, November 2009
Please excuse my update being a few days late. I have been laid up for the past week or so with a bad flu.
FACING THE GIANTS
November is traditionally the time for our yearly church retreat weekend. This year’s theme, Facing the Giants, was particularly appropriate because our small church will soon be confronted with an oversized challenge.
The church year has actually gone better than I expected. In spite of losing half of our staff, we have not eliminated or even downsized any of our major outreach ministries. Sunday morning attendance is steady, with a good number of new and enthusiastic visitors. Two converts from last year whom we thought had left for good were convinced to rejoin the community. A new evangelistic class using the Purpose of God presentations is off to a good start. The two-apartment house the church rented (giving us the use of the whole property where the chapel is located) is now occupied by two of our CEM students and a family from the church.
Then a new Goliath appeared on the horizon. The real estate agency that manages the property we occupy warned us that in February our rent would “shoot up.” (Yes, it would be to our advantage to own the property, but the present owner has consistently refused to sell). Financially, the church and the Marseilles team are already stretched to the limit; we are presently not capable of paying a significant increase in rent.
Of course, we would be loath to leave this location; it has taken us over twelve years to build up trust and be accepted in the neighborhood. But we trust God implicitly to carry out his will in this matter, and we will adapt our work to his decision. Please join us in putting this threat before the Father’s throne and in asking that we have the clarity of vision and the faith to act in the best interests of his kingdom.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE PURPOSE OF GOD SERIES IN THE WORKS
An invitation to hold a retreat for the Dundee, Scotland church in January has motivated me to create English-language versions of the last three lessons of the Purpose of God series. Once these are completed, I plan to go back and translate the first five lessons.
I am not sure what would be the best format in which to distribute the series in English. The present French version exists only as a Keynote presentation (a PowerPoint-like application for Mac OSX), with no audio track. That format is perfect for small group studies, but requires an Apple computer. If you have any thoughts or ideas on this, please let me know.
May God bless you all and grant you peace as this year comes to a close. I shudder to think where we would all be had He not come down to our planet.
Max and Prisca