Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making,”

October 2, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Judy and I are thankful that God has placed us in Southern France as his witnesses. We are also grateful for your unfailing support.

A few weeks ago, a young man, who has attended on Sundays in Tournefeuille from time to time, called me to ask if he could start studying the Bible with me. The Lord had convicted him that he was wasting his life. He started coming twice a week after work and we study the Bible for a couple of hours each session. He gives evidence of having trusted the Lord and tomorrow we are studying what the Bible has to say about baptism.

The ladies are planning a Vacation Bible School which is to take place the first week of November. This may seem like a strange time to have Vacation Bible School, but we have found that this is the best time to have it. The children have a week of Fall break vacation. Since families do not generally leave town at this time, the attendance is usually better than in the summer.

Teachable Moments

Teaching God’s Word to children is at the heart of our ministry. Consider your own situation. Were you saved early in life? Equally, reaching adults is essential. Most people who are serving Christ had natural or spiritual parents as examples and nurturers. Consider the case of Timothy. God used his natural mother and grandmother to lead him to Christ and nurture him spiritually, but also used Paul as an adoptive father to continue this process. Perhaps, now would be a good time for each of us to stop and give thanks to God for those that He used or is using to nurture our spiritual life. So, in the service of Christ, we seek to be used by God to reach people of all ages: children, teenagers, young adults, mature adults, aging adults. No one is beyond God’s reach and He reaches through you and me. The questions we must ask ourselves continuously is, “What kind of witness am I?” and “How am I contributing to the training of disciples?”.

We are encouraged that recently two more ladies from our congregation in Tournefeuille have started to help with the children’s classes. God gives to each person gifts and abilities. It is our job to encourage the use of these abilities for Christ and by example and word. Believers grow up in Christ when each part of the body of Christ performs as God planned in their function. Each Sunday afternoon the leaders of our congregation meet to review what God is doing, agree on what God wants us to do, and pray together.

The other Bible studies are going well and we see encouraging signs that God is at work. At the last Bible study in Mazere there were two new participants.

May God richly bless you,
John and Judy

John and Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com

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