Car Seats and Transitions

Since the New Vision team left and the Portes Ouvertes event ended on Tuesday, it's been trying to catch up on other projects and needs that have fallen by the wayside. One of these projects is our upcoming 2 1/2 month U.S. Home Ministry Assignment this summer.

One practical need was for car seats for our 3 children. While we could have brought 2 of them over on the plane with us, it would be much easier to borrow car seats already from people in Michigan, where we plan to start and end our trip. Most states now require that chilren be in car seats until at least age 10. I remember traveling to a conference in Canada as a child and sleeping in the backseat or on the floor of the backseat. But this is now illegal.

I sent an e-mail around 3:00 p.m. Paris time, which is around 9:00 a.m. in Michigan. Within 5 minutes, I had a reponse from Michele for a car seat for our 4 1/w year old. Then before I left for our son's swim time at 4:00 p.m., Jessica e-mailed saying that they had a baby seat and probably one for our nearly 3 year old as well. So, within an hour, all 3 seats were provided.

Swim time was fun. Our son kept asking me to go underwater. I didn't understand why at first, but kept going. Then I realized that he also was intentionally putting his head in the water and holding his breath under the water. All I have done is model swimming underwater for him.

Yesterday Charlotte came over to pray with me and my wife over some family issues and situations. I first met her in 1991 when I was looking at coming back to Paris. She interviewed me, as I was looking at YWAM as one of the organizational possibilities. Since then, she married Werner, who is the assistant pastor of our church. They now lead the ministry Torrents of Hope/Torrents of Life, both in Paris and on a national level.

Charlotte is a wise woman and she helped give us some perspective and insight on some of the current situations. We then prayed over them.

In Rory Noland's book "The Heart of the Artist," he says somewhere in it that the majority of the mistakes that have taken place in his ministry have come from being passive. This is probably also true in marriage and raising children. Being passive with our son at the beginning of his life did not serve him well, especially since he has a strong character.

I'm grateful for Charlotte's time with us. At the end of it, we learned that she and Werner will be announcing their departure this fall from the church. This seems like a good move, as the Torrents of Hope/Life ministries have worlds of potential to touch much more of the Francophone world, particularly if they can focus on them exclusively. This is probably more strategic than just staying at our church.

But it's another ministry transition for the church to navigate. Marie, one of the secretaries (and also talented worship leader, jazz singer, photographer, and emergent church thinker) will also be leaving to do a ministry internship in Missouri. Like Francis and Jim, she was another one whom I usually saw eye to eye with on most issues. Hopefully she'll meet the right guy sometime whose not intimidated by all her gifts (as Charlotte did in Paris with Werner in the early 1990s).

I'm not sure how the church will handle all these transitions. I wonder how the structure will maintain itself with many key pillars being removed. Certainly change is part of life and ministry and no one is irreplacable. But Werner's departure will signal the complete turnover of the pastoral staff since 2002. Charlie, Francis, Sena, Andy, Jim,and Clive are already gone. Serge is now here as senior pastor and Pierre is part of the pastoral team. But there seem to be lots of holes. Perhaps there will be people who bubble up to fill them. Or perhaps these ministry holes will signal that certain ministries will cease or at least become more irregular.