Dear Friends and Family,
It’s hard to believe we are already in mid-July! The first half of this year has been full and fruitful and seems to have flown by. Since our last update we have been to Amsterdam for a gathering of GEM missionaries and their families, and we’re recently returned from a week “camping” (more glamping) in Brittany - our last trip as a family of 6! We hope you are well and enjoying the summertime. We have much to update you on before we take some time out to have our baby! This update we will focus on what God has been doing through different aspects of our arts and music ministry here in Europe.
Music
We’ve had the opportunity to play music at four very different venues: An old catholic church mostly filled with unchurched people, the middle of the city during a heatwave, the back yard of our church by a jacuzzi, and a tobacco themed bar near Amsterdam full of missionaries.
Old Catholic Church – Wedding Service
We were invited to sing some songs at a wedding service for a couple connected with our church. Though the service was held in a traditional catholic church, the wedding guests were surprised and delighted by a different sort of ceremony. Singing the blessing over the newly married couple was poignant and the service itself was a gospel declaration.
Middle of the City Heatwave - Fête de la Musique
For the second year in a row, we played a show for the Fête de la Musique in Caen supported by our church plant, Bon Berger. It was hot! It was great to have folks from Bon Berger running activities for kids, sharing the gospel and offering prayer for people who came to listen. The Fête de la Musique is a nation-wide event which simply celebrates live music. It has been growing in popularity in the past 5 years and there are now huge crowds that fill up city centers; it feels like a musical festival. Sadly, there have also been increasing instances of assault during the Fête and there is a dark element that seems to be taking hold. This year felt more like a spiritual battle for us. We loved singing songs that speak about freedom and songs that proclaim the gospel of Jesus – His light shines in the darkness. As seems to be the case every time we play a show, there were many people who came to listen but there were several with whom we felt a deeper connection. People who settled in and wanted to talk with us, people who danced and caught the joy of the moment. We’re thankful to be able to proclaim the gospel and connect with not-yet believing neighbors. Doing this through music is culturally relevant during the fête de la musique but also stands against what we see as strongholds of the enemy in France.
Backyard of Our Church by a Jacuzzi - Baptism Service
What a joy to witness two people from our church plant proclaim their faith in Jesus and give testimony to His work in their lives. We love baptisms and enjoyed playing and singing songs of praise as our friends came out of the water.
Tobacco Themed Bar - Renew Conference
Our mission’s agency gathering was at a hotel near Amsterdam. We were invited as Hometwon Tennessee to play a show at the hotel bar to share our way of proclaiming the gospel in story and song with fellow missionaries and to have some fun together. I went in early to set up our sound gear and noticed a couple who had already claimed a table up front facing the stage. In talking with them I learned that they were Johnny Cash fans, motorcyclists and planning to go to Las Vegas this year to get married! I’ve learned that something about a live music event opens up easy conversation. I was able to speak about Jesus with these folks, and we dedicate a Johnny Cash cover to them during the show. They later connected with a German speaking missionary friend who could go deeper with them. What a bar to wander into! The whole night was great fun and we took the opportunity to celebrate and honor our friends the Irwin’s who have moved back the US and with whom we’ve run on rather parallel tracks (We met at a GEM interview weekend ten years ago, arrived in France about a week apart, lived a block from each other during our language school year).
Art Encounters
When we arrived in the Netherlands, we were welcomed by some old friends for dinner after a 10 hour road trip. We walked into their home and we were able to see two of Joanna’s paintings from last year, framed and hung as the main feature in their living room. It was overwhelming to see the impact that Jo’s art work is having through this family who hosts often in their home and has made these paintings a central focus to inspire spiritual conversations with their friends and neighbors.
Visio Divina
During the summer, GEM runs a summer long ministry opportunity for university students to do ministry in Europe in a program that is called Ten2, from Luke 10:2 where there is a calling for more workers for the harvest. (We housed a group of five young women from Ten2 three years ago!) At the beginning of this time, the team holds a gathering with all the students before they spread out to various ministry locations in Europe with GEM missionaries. The team reached out to Joanna and asked to use a couple of paintings for a Visio Divina for the students at this gathering. They used “the Incarnation” and “the Bride” (shown below) and reported back that the students were impacted by what God was speaking through the artwork.
Local Art Expo
At the end of June, Joanna had the opportunity to participate in her local artist groups’ expo in Bénouville. It was as always a great opportunity for Joanna to speak with people in the community about the artwork, but also deepen relationships with the artists she works with all year. Joanna had a good conversation with one woman about faith and God’s love and acceptance verses her experience of rejection by her local Catholic Church. God is moving in these encounters!
Upcoming Expo in February
Joanna received a grant from GEM to lead an outreach art exposition in Caen. The theme of the exposition is “transformation” and she has invited three local artists to participate in this event which will take place at a beautiful gallery space in central Caen at the beginning of February. We are still in the early planning and creation stages and would love your prayers as this comes together.
Hosting
We love to host in our home, but with Joanna being quite far along in her pregnancy we have focused on smaller gatherings, usually one family at a time instead of our MO of 20+ folks. We have small gatherings peppered in our schedule throughout the summer which are enabling us to go deeper in relationship with our friends and neighbors. Please pray for these times.
As you can see, we’ve had a few things going on! We’re so grateful for the opportunities God gives us and for your prayer and partnership in this work. We’ll be sending out another email update soon with more about how we are doing in our family life (it was too much for one email). Thank you for reading and for praying with us.
