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Grace Prayer Bulletin #39
January 16, 1999
I hope you forgive a personal note. My Sister Died this morning (Saturday) and I would like to request prayer for the witness at her funeral. Her husband, Mark is now professing Christ and took a stand hours before she died to a Christless eternity. It had been apparently some weeks ago when a youth minister at a very liberal Methodist Church, who from wife's telephone conversation at the Hospital with him seems to indicate a real faith in Christ. God is great and proving in the midst of great grief to be a God of comfort and it is great to see His faithfulness.
Thanks,
Rob

From Ken Wimer we received this:
THE GOSPEL WORK IN AFRICA AND HAITI
A number of people have asked about the ongoing of the work in Africa and Haiti since the death of our dear brother and missionary Bill Clark. Jean Claude Souillot, a dear friend and brother who lives in France, oversees the translation and distribution of solid Gospel literature in French. He was recently in West Africa and wrote these words of encouragement.
"My trip to Benin, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso was very uplifting and I believe profitable. Because of Bill's death my presence there had an extra dimension. The men were obviously very grieved at the news, but reacted as very mature men of God. This was a great encouragement to me. It was obvious that they realized that an extra part of responsibility had fallen on their shoulders and they gladly though apprehensively were ready to take on the burden. I was able to spend much time talking with them and that was a good way to get to know each other. I was also able to preach quite a number of times in all three countries. The Lord gave me a good measure of liberty and authority, for which I thank Him...
Things in Ivory Coast are looking fine...The Gagnoa office is doing well and we are encouraged by the spread of the books. We had a preachers' meeting when about 20 came, and it was a time when we were able to rejoice around the Word of God...To be with Paul for three weeks was a great treat in many ways. First to appreciate this fine man. He is increasingly coming to the stature of a leader and being considered by the men as such...Secondly, he was a great help in getting me to know more of Africans and the way they
tick. I thought very much of you, especially in the Ivory Coast where your heart and life have been so much...It is good to see the infant situation coming of age.
I hope that your contacts with Haiti are encouraging. We receive a lot of letters here and quite a number of courses...I think that there is an enormous potential in that situation and that we need to keep this very much at the forefront of our minds. I hope you will soon be able to go again for a conference as these men seem very hungry for the Word..." Let's continue to pray for our brethren and give as the Lord enables to support the Gospel wherever it is faithfully preached!

(News for prayer from the Vaughn family in Chalon-sur-Saone, France, January 9, 1999)
CHALON NEWS UPDATE
Dear friends,
Thank you for your prayers for the young people's camp that took place at the end of December. It was indeed a spiritual highlight of our time in France. There were 22 young people present, mainly from the central area of France near Lyon, Grenoble and Chambery, but some others from the Lot region north of Toulouse and from the university town of Pau in the extreme southwest corner of France. We were very encouraged by this turnout for the camp, which was more than we expected. The camp was entirely planned and organized by the students and publicized by personal invitation alone. God's blessing and power accompanied His word at some points in a very evident way. One young man came to the camp in an antagonistic frame of mind toward the things that he knew would be among those taught at the camp. A number of friends from his church had told him not to come to the camp, and his own father, a seasoned missionary in France who opposes Reformed teaching, warned him as he left " not to get himself converted" to this teaching. The first night I had an animated discussion with him about God's sovereignty after he approached me with some questions and objections. This discussion led nowhere. He was unwilling and unable to accept any of the biblical evidence that was presented. I went to sleep that night asking forgiveness for trying to do by the force of my arguments only what God could do by His Spirit and His Word, and which I knew must happen in a very different way than what I had done.
The next evening at the end of a message on total depravity, he came to two of the other young men present who have embraced the biblical truth of God's sovereignty. He said to them, " I'm trembling all over. How this changes my whole vision of everything. " During the rest of the camp we watched each day as a completely changed young man rejoiced like a new convert and prayed with tears over the greatness of his guilt and impotence as well as that of God's free and glorious grace. He told us that the whole Bible seemed different to him now, and that even the verse on the wall in the chalet's telephone-room took on a whole new meaning to him when he read it one night. I found out after the camp that immediately after God had touched him, he had called his father from the chalet to ask forgiveness for the unloving way in which he had left him to come to the camp. He also told us near the end of the camp that he had made the resolution to no longer work on his studies on the Lord's Day, a real step of faith for him in his particular section of university studies where all the students literally work 7 days a week to keep up with the heavy course load. He also spoke of a great peace that had settled in his heart. It is a joy to see how the vision of the greatness of God, mercifully and powerfully given by God Himself, can so quickly reach into a person's life and change his whole disposition and understanding, putting him at the same time on the path of the most practical obedience.
To God be the glory. Please pray for this young man, Andrew. He may face difficulties in the days ahead with those who have no love for the biblical truths that have gripped his heart.
Other young people also witnessed to the fact that God had met them in some way through the truth of His Word during these days together. Sandrine Vieuble (who was from Chalon and is now working near Lyon) who is normally very reserved and unexpressive about spiritual things, wrote me a few days after the camp to tell me that the Lord had spoken to her in a significant way at the camp. She has still not made a profession of faith and we pray that we may see that day come soon by God's faithful working in her life.
Though most of the young people were unfamiliar with " Reformed " teaching, there is a handful of them, mostly young men from 18 to 22 years old, who have been really gripped by God and His truth in the last year through the influence of the Butin family in Grenoble. On the last evening of the camp we had a time to share what each one had learned during the camp and to pray together. One of these young men of clear and strong Reformed conviction said, " What I liked about the camp was that in the messages God was exalted and man was abased. " A cry of surprise and laughter went up from everyone. I have no doubt that this was the first time that most of them had heard such a sentiment in their lives. Though it may have shocked some, it was a joy to the hearts of others, and I trust to that of our Lord. We covet your prayers for these young people, that God would indeed light a fire in their hearts that nothing could dampen, and that they might be raised up, with others, to be a spiritual army to boldly say to this land, as one of Luther's biographers described the heart of his message : "Let God be God ! " A number of the young people present asked that we might make this an annual camp. Please pray that God would open a door for wide and effectual service through this means if it be His will.
As far as our future is concerned, we believe that God has intervened to open a door for us in a most unexpected and glorious way. I cannot say any more as this has all just happened and we need several days before it can all be confirmed and finalized. But we are filled with thankfulness to God tonight for His inscrutable wisdom and steadfast, O so steadfast, faithfulness. Please pray for us as we finalize things. We will communicate more to you as soon as we can.
Yours in Christ,
David Vaughn

Grace Prayer Bulletin # 39

A ministry of The King's Chapel