Ever wondered what it's like to plant a church in Paris, France? Listen in as our guest, Pastor John Hugh Tate, shares his experiences and the unique challenges of ministry in a secular society. Packed with deep insights, this episode offers an insider's look at faith, evangelism, and the importance of fostering meaningful relationships.
Join us as we delve into the significance of effective communication, especially when addressing non-Christians. With John Hugh Tate's guidance, we'll explore how the Holy Spirit leads people to Christ, and the role of intentional relationships in communities as different as Mississippi and Paris. Expect a thought-provoking discussion on the challenges and blessings of practicing faith in different communities, and the essence of active listening and engagement with those whose views differ from ours.
Finally, we journey through the path of faith, reflecting on the role of patience, and the shared experiences that have fostered our mutual support. Hear about the events organized to support our cause and plans for future collaboration. This is an episode filled with gratitude and appreciation, shedding light on why Paris is considered a gateway to the nations. Don't miss out on this heartfelt exchange between two friends who've walked together in their faith journey.
Ever wondered what it's like to plant a church in Paris, France? Listen in as our guest, Pastor John Hugh Tate, shares his experiences and the unique challenges of ministry in a secular society. Packed with deep insights, this episode offers an insider's look at faith, evangelism, and the importance of fostering meaningful relationships.
Join us as we delve into the significance of effective communication, especially when addressing non-Christians. With John Hugh Tate's guidance, we'll explore how the Holy Spirit leads people to Christ, and the role of intentional relationships in communities as different as Mississippi and Paris. Expect a thought-provoking discussion on the challenges and blessings of practicing faith in different communities, and the essence of active listening and engagement with those whose views differ from ours.
Finally, we journey through the path of faith, reflecting on the role of patience, and the shared experiences that have fostered our mutual support. Hear about the events organized to support our cause and plans for future collaboration. This is an episode filled with gratitude and appreciation, shedding light on why Paris is considered a gateway to the nations. Don't miss out on this heartfelt exchange between two friends who've walked together in their faith journey.
Get it going All right. So this week I've got a really good friend of mine, john Hugh Tate. John Hugh is during our tough time. John Hugh was our pastor I can still consider him my pastor and he is now in Paris, france. Him and Linda are having ministry there and I'm not gonna get into that. I'm gonna let him kind of tell you what he's doing and but, looking forward to this, talk, john, you there.
Speaker 2:I am man, yes, all the way from Paris, france, and it's great to be with you. As always, carter, any time with you just will spent, brother. So glad you're doing this, as I've encouraged you, and glad I could be part of it.
Speaker 1:Awesome man, I'm excited. So tell me what's going on this week with you all in Paris, France.
Speaker 2:Man, that's funny. You should mention that just this week. What is our life like this week? Y'all start there, then I'll give some background to you this week well, opposite to Christmas season, and we also don't have Thanksgiving over here, so you know we had to do Thanksgiving on our own with some other Americans, but we're fully in Christmas services at our church, our family of churches. I've planted one church that is part of a network of two other churches and already got some, got a Christmas party Saturday night. I think we're gonna have some people over at our apartment.
Speaker 2:Our life has changed a lot to go from a, you know, a larger home in Mississippi where we lived for 17 years, to an apartment here right outside of Paris, france. And this week the kids are in school. My youngest son just had a French tutor come over and today I picked up another son who is our special needs son at an autism academy in Paris. I had a couple meetings, worked on the sermon today, but yeah, we're in the full throws of Christmas leading up to Christmas Eve where we'll have a service and then maybe a little little downtime to catch our breath after that. But that's a week in December for the Tate family right now. But, yeah, like I said too and Carter, I mean you shared that, was honored and blessed to get to know you, your family, megan Lila, and we lived in Jackson 17 years and one of the ways I think Carter and I connected was a real servant heart, whether that's local or international, and for us, we always had a big global heart with the needs of the world and really felt called to look for something more full-time, and God opened the door here in Paris back. Well, really, it was the year before COVID, it was 2019 that we accepted and then we were planning to go in 20, and the world changed as it does as that although those years aren't regular, but the world can change for you and so it pushed us back almost a year. But we landed in Paris August of 21, and we served as a resident pastor at our mother church, a manual international church, and then we planted last fall, started a small group so that would be fall of 2022, and then we had our first service at a cafe. We needed a local cafe, or what in French is called a braserie, which basically is a cafe that serves food, kind of like a Broad Street cafe or that we met so many times and, yeah, we meet there on Sunday afternoons and fellowship and usually have dinner afterwards there. So it's a good deal. It's been a win-win for both of us the cafe and the church and now we've got a good community, a good solid core group.
Speaker 2:Honestly, it's a really young crowd. It kinda you know Linda, my wife, linda I mean we might be the oldest well, not exactly, but we're some of the oldest people in our church now, so we're spending a lot of time ministering to students, young adults, people in their 20s. It's a very, very international, what we might say cosmopolitan community, because the nations really come here to Paris. I think if you can reach and connect with Paris and serve here, you can reach the world. So, for example, in our church, I mean we have I don't know how many countries, but I can think off the top of my head China, brazil, philippines, south Africa, iran, france, the UK, america, liberia, the Congo, nigeria, singapore, malaysia, indonesia, so it's Holland or the Netherlands. So it's just a very diverse community that we feel blessed to be a part of.
Speaker 1:Man, I tell you that's serious. I mean, and earlier when we talked I can't remember for September or when, but you were telling me that one France, you can't have religious meetings, right, you can't have like a, you can't like just have like a church like we do here, right?
Speaker 2:Well, you can have. I mean, there are churches, but it's a very secular society, meaning like they want to have a strong separation of church and state. It's very difficult to establish churches, which is why we came into an existing church and planted out of that, and they have this French phrase called lais-e-tay, which is tied to the word laise, which means to basically leave it alone, and so it's saying church and state leave it alone and leave each other's religions alone. So they're very, very particular about hey, are you evangelizing or are you publicly, you know, what someone might call proselytizing others? And that's why we take a very sensitive, a culturally sensitive approach to not do that and just be part of the community. Even in the cafe we have a good relationship with the owners and their clothes, so they just let us reserve the space for a couple of hours on Sunday, so that makes us able to do what we're doing as a church. But they're very strict, very secular.
Speaker 2:My wife read somewhere the three most when I say secular too, just very non-religious countries that the top three were China, france and the Czech Republic. Wow, which is interesting. So I tell people too, even though we're a church, we're not just a drop in the bucket. We're like a drop of a drop in the bucket and there's just very few churches. Many of the old Catholic churches are monuments or museums. And then there are very few Protestant churches, even fewer, but we would think of as evangelical churches, where there's a more robust teaching of the Bible, preaching of the Gospel, and so we feel very called to be in a place that is in need. I mean, there's a very strong, distinct need for the Gospel here, and that's, you know, we're planting our life here, not just planting a church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. So you have that many countries coming together in that cafe. Obviously you probably don't have everyone with the same religious beliefs, right, I mean you have a different way of looking at. I remember you telling me back last time we talked that and if I butcher this, just that people don't really care what you know until they care, until they know you care about them. So how does that I?
Speaker 2:think yeah, yeah, I know where you're going. What I? I think what I told you, one of the big things I learned is that no one really cares what you know until they know you really care. And it's kind of a tricky phrase, you have to think about it to say it. But needing like even and I think that applies to Mississippi, I mean thinking back to our time there and relationships. You know I the best teachers and coaches I ever had. I knew they cared about me as a person, I mean as a human being, and that builds trust.
Speaker 2:And if you don't have trust in any relationship, you can't do anything. You may have a false sense of trust or trust maybe forced on you, you know where, like maybe you have a job and you've got to do what your employer says to keep your job, and so you're going to give trust. But if you have genuine trust, that is like this person cares about me. Even if he has something difficult or a hard truth to say, I know he's doing his best in my best interest not to harm me, not to get a dig in, but instead to just be like you know, this is this will better your future than yeah, I want to know what he thinks, so by having that approach, you're basically allowing all these people to come in and have an open mind of your beliefs and you also have an open mind of their beliefs to get to know them right.
Speaker 1:Kind of, in a way.
Speaker 2:Yes. So what I would say is we do a lot of just building relationships. I mean, like all those people don't just show up at the cafe because they want a coffee or a sandwich. You know, we've spent time now, you know, two years with some of them building relationships, earning their trust, and some of them, yes, have not been from a Christian background at all. I friend from Iran you know I would not name him because that would be threatening to him but yeah, I mean, he became a Christian, he converted to Christianity.
Speaker 2:There are atheists and agnostics who come to our church and we openly welcome them and we openly welcome that. They say, hey, I'm an atheist and agnostic because we are really trying to plant and grow a church that is unapologetically for the non-Christian. And so when you do that, that impacts everything you do. So I'm trying to communicate that to our people who are Christians to say, think about what does the church look like? That we, you know what we do is everything for non-Christians. I mean trying to you know it's a cliche but it's true. You know expand the territory of the gospel of the kingdom. And so we're culturally sensitive, we really value relationships, so that's both one-to-one and small groups, but we do a service. I mean there's a sermon, there's worship, you know. I mean we have a three or four song set. You know you can find us on and we put videos of our service at EIC that's a manual international church Reeve Gush, which is French for left bank EIC Reeve, goes on Facebook and Instagram and we'll have videos of our services. But, yeah, we do about an hour service and but the sermons too are, or the messages of the teaching is focused on, you know, focus for people who you know would not consider themselves Christians.
Speaker 2:And one thing I've learned too that can apply to Mississippi or Paris-France or just wherever you are in the world all human beings have the same questions. We all start and go through life with the same questions when do I get my hope? Where do I find my purpose? Why is life worth living to me? And we'll put different things in there. Maybe it's a job or a career, or a spouse or a child, and they're good things.
Speaker 2:But you know, one of the big lessons of faith is that even those good things will never fully fulfill us or complete us. Only Christ will, I mean, or only the Lord will, god will in Christ, and you know some people don't believe that, but you that doesn't stop us from living that, communicating that. But it may take a while for me to say that because you know, I think if you just say that immediately people don't connect to that. But if you say immediately, you know, I really think all human beings have the same questions, people connect with that.
Speaker 2:I mean you've been connected with that when you and so you're like you know you're right and so then that's a base to say like what are our questions and where do you find your hope? And I think you know sometimes we wanna start with the right answer and when people have different answers that brings division. But maybe if your starting point is we have the same questions, you know that can that's a unifying place. And then talk about you know how we have found or how we get to the answers that we have, that answer those questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's go into that. I think that's a really big deal because a lot of people don't know really truly how to communicate. A Christian communicate with an atheist, and these things like how is that? What does that actually sound like? If I come to you in your cafe and after your service and I get to know you and it's like, yeah, I don't believe that there is a God, what would you say to me, well, how would we have that conversation? What would you say, I mean to me when I hear that I'm like, okay, cool, okay cool, like I wanna hear what you believe and I want to like truly listen to you and love you for where you're at and the beliefs.
Speaker 1:I've got to have friends that are not believers, that are not ever gonna. You know they have, you know they just don't, they don't want that. But I believe that if I can create a relationship that I might not be the one, that I might just be the seed setter, but I still I think for being a believer, when you hear those people like that, I love it Because it's like it's who they. They're not hiding who they are, this is who they are and I wanna meet them right there and learn. You know I'm not saying that I don't need anyone to convince me about my faith. You know it's not gonna. It doesn't put me in a bad place Like, hey, you're an atheist, I'm a Christian. How do we have that conversation?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's a great question. I think more people and especially more Christians. We need to be thoughtful about how we communicate with those who are not, because, you know, at the end of the day, I mean we do want to see people come to Christ and there are people who are not Christian and I really believe I mean we're, once we become a Christian, we have a purpose to this life, and it is to be different aspects of that seed throwing and scattering and nurturing. So I may be the first, you know I may scatter the seed, but you may come and nurture it, and then someone else may, you know, bring it to fruit. I don't have to be, you know, both the starting point and the cultivator. And then you know helping them, being there when they receive Christ. You know, as Lord and Savior, that can be different people, or you can have, you can play all those roles with different people.
Speaker 2:So I do think it's important, though, to scatter the seeds, and to do that you have to do what you said very well there you have to listen to the person. You know it takes a different vision. So first you have to see the person not as a project but again as a human being with the same questions that you have. They just, you know, come from a different perspective and they don't have to come from a different tribe. Or you know, the Bible says try different tribes, tongues, languages, cultures, and they can be, you know you're, if you're in Florida, I mean they can live in Canton or Jackson or Madison and just come from a different place or mindset or belief system. But you need to look at them as a human being. You need to ask questions, you need to be curious about them.
Speaker 2:I do think you need to be soft, as in you know, not only are they not a project, but you're not trying to press your, your belief system on them. You're instead just trying to listen, to receive and and then see where they're at, hear where they are, where they're coming from, what they do believe. That can lead you to you know further questions. I mean, you're a very curious person so you know one answer can lead to three other questions and just be intentional, to, frankly, to be kind. I mean I think we need you know more people who are simply just kind, and you know that's a tact. That's a tact where I know some people, some Christians, would be like well, you know, you've really got to be, you know, even more intentional, or to present. We don't see it like that. I mean I trust the Holy Spirit that he will open the door. I'd rather be curious, and I think that's the Lord, I mean, I think that's the Holy Spirit working on them and their heart to prepare them to receive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you kind of broke up a little bit there, but I understood what you were saying To me. I think that the power that we have is we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Lord. He is going to, if we can use Him. We don't have to focus on the fruit. We don't have to focus on okay, this guy is not a believer, I got to go get him and I got to go and to me, sometimes I think we focus so much on the fruit that we miss the actual seeds and the pulling the weeds and the and the nurturing of that soul. But at the end of the day, the Lord is the one that's going to take that fruit.
Speaker 1:You know, and how do you think is different To me? It sounds to me like you have people that genuinely want to be there. Sometimes I look at and wonder do I really? Sometimes, from a Mississippi perspective, everyone goes to church, everyone kind of gets their Sunday's message. How do you see it different from serving and being a pastor in Mississippi compared to a pastor there? Do you see a lot more genuine search for what they're looking for compared to here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think it's.
Speaker 2:I think both are great places, both have great benefits. I mean, you know, one of the things in Mississippi that even I took for granted is there's so much community. I mean I know there are people who go to church in Mississippi that are not Christians, but often they'll go for the community and look, that's a good thing, they're going to churches. They're not, they're looking for relationships in a church. For the most part they're probably hearing the gospel and also we believe the Holy Spirit's at work, as you said. So we do in Mississippi and I know this from live there we take it, we take for granted that we have so many Christian communities that are churches. So there are many, I think, per capita, more legitimate, real Christians in Mississippi than I know, and that doesn't mean just if everybody goes to church, that doesn't mean they're Christian. But I mean I know a lot of people who are genuinely trying to grow in the Lord here and you get a place like here, you're like, wow, I really took for granted all the churches.
Speaker 2:I mean here loneliness and isolation is a real deal and it's a big deal especially for a lot of the people that we minister to One. You're very isolated excuse me, you don't think that you're lonely or isolated in a city of 11 million or a metro area of 11 million? And to give some context, so Paris is 11 million, the whole state of Mississippi is 3 million. So that just gives some context. But being a big city like that, it takes a long time to get anywhere so easily. I take our middle son to school every day and it's like driving from Jackson to Wynonna every day. They're back because it's an hour and 15 minutes on the train and that's normal, that's typical. So you're isolated because it's hard to get to places. And then when you have friends and they live in different areas of the city, it's hard to connect with them. So it's just harder to connect and build relationships. You have to be intentional. So church is a very good thing here because you've got a meeting place and then when that place is a cafe and you can hang out afterwards and eat and get coffee or drinks or whatnot I mean people we've seen the blessing of that, the benefit of that.
Speaker 2:So I think one thing is we take for granted in Mississippi the communities that we have and here I think there is. People won't take it for granted and they also don't take their faith for granted. So, for example, they really need Jesus because they are lonely and they really want to grow in Jesus. So some of the trappings that make life, I would say, even easier in Mississippi. I would say my life was easier in Mississippi. It's just harder here and even people say, well, paris, everything must be great. It's a real hard city. It's a greedy city, it's very urban and you have to live on less. So people are more in need and when you're more in need you tend to get on your knees more and look to Jesus. You know that personally. So I think it's been a really good move, a good challenge for us, and it's certainly grown our faith, and probably all missionaries would say that wherever they are.
Speaker 2:But looking back to Mississippi, I think there hopefully people can know you or know other missionaries, or listen to this and realize, hey, there's some real blessings here, but there's also. Have I gotten to let me say the word. I'm going to try to say it's the right way if I've gotten too soft. Have I gotten too complacent in my faith that I'm not seeing the needs here because it's so comfortable? I am a Christian, I've got a good church, a good community, but is this all there is? And it's not. You can go deeper and you can expand further outward, and you have to. Sometimes we need to get shaken up. Hopefully it's like listen to a podcast and not having something traumatic happen in our life, like occurred to you, and I've told you this to quarter and I think you agree that the trauma in your life I mean God uses it as a blessing to wake you up and really see totally different from others, and I do think that's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, to me. I think that what's awesome for me and for my trauma and all the suffering, all the craziness in the last 10 years, is when you're desperate and when you need the Lord, you get to a point really, over time, like the longer you suffer, the more likely you are to stay when you find Him and you truly find Him, and for me it's. I remember having those conversations with Meg and that, hey, I promise I will keep it going, I promise I will, you know, do whatever the Lord's calling me to do. You know, for me now, it's crazy that you know my prayers in the last year have been Lord, use me, lord, allow me to be, to do what you want me to do and be able to like where I'm at today is.
Speaker 1:I work four days a week. I do not work on Fridays. Fridays I serve downtown and that ministry has completely opened my eyes to what we talked about a few months back that loving people where they're at, even if they're on drugs, even if they're homeless, even if they don't believe what we believe. I think my job is to love them, love God, love people, you know, and now, being able to have a few months in, I'm able to learn. That it's allowed me to be more disciplined in how I go about sharing the gospel, how I go about loving old people, because when I started at that ministry I was so like it was like a kid in a candy store. I see, all these things that I can do and I just I had to. You know, those people that I work with, I work under, they taught me how to be, how to slow down, take the need and slowly, if you truly love them, you're going to slowly help them get that need. You're not going to immediately jump into you need. You desire, let's do this, let's have a baptism, let's do this. Instead, it's like, hey, let's just, let's slow things down a little bit, let me just love on you a little bit, and then you're going to direct this conversation and you're going to.
Speaker 1:You know, if there's something that you're asking and that, even if it's an agnostic or atheist, it's like, hey, I don't believe that there's a God, well, good, let's talk about that. You know, tell me what you believe. And I've been in some conversations the last few months where someone might not believe truly in what I believe, and sometimes those conversations can get heated, and one particular conversation was you know this person's not saying that they believe in Christ. You know there's certain things that they don't believe in. Does this not bother you? And I'm like, no, this is the. This is. These are the conversations where we prepare to be at peace and being able to have a normal conversation in that do you shoot does or do you shoot, but you know, it's like, and going on another, I just threw deer hunting in there, but it's like allowing people to have different views and meeting them right there and saying tell me more, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also I love, I mean I love deer hunting and I really miss it, as you know. But I also like the example. You know you're trying to create common ground and I think that's. I think our world is so divided now and you know we don't, you know we don't, we don't focus on our shared humanity enough, as in, like we're, we still have the same questions, and I say that as a Christian, that you know there's a, there's a basic tenet of our Christian faith, which is called a mago de, which is that all human beings, regardless of their Christian or not, are made in the image of God, and you know, and they're worthy of our, they're worthy of dignity and respect, and you know that whole principle is really what our, what the Declaration of Independence was, the starting words for you know, were based on.
Speaker 2:And you know, again, you have to get to what's your starting point? Is your starting point a goal? Is it a relationship? Is it curiosity? Is it? And I think, I think our goal should be wanting to spread the love of Christ. How do we do that? And I think, finding that common ground, you know being salt and light, but don't forget the salt too and what does it mean by that?
Speaker 1:what does it mean by the salt?
Speaker 2:Well, the light, you know shining the light of Christ. But salt, you know salt cultivates meat and salt was, was definitely, you know, used a lot for for meat and Jesus time. So you know you're adding salt to the creation to better it. So I mean God's creation, so you know you're both, and then the light is is the light of Christ showing them the light, but your salt too, where you know the salt holds the meat, keeps it well, makes it better, and so it's just this, this example of you know you're taking God's creation and cultivating it and making it better by your life.
Speaker 1:You know, going back to the beginning of this conversation, you said you try to find the common ground. The common ground is not Jesus died on the cross. The common ground is something else. That right, I mean that.
Speaker 2:Well, you know that's. I think that that I think you know Jesus down on the cross is, is, is part of the gospel and part of what saves us. And you can look, god can do anything at any time. I do think that you've got to own trust, you've got to build that relationship. You've got to have people see this person cares about me. You know he's not. He's not trying to give what they would see as his religious message or political message.
Speaker 2:There's not an agenda here. I mean there's so much distrust out there that we've got to be beacons of trust and to do that you know we've got to. We've got to show trust, our own trust, and you know that can take some time as well. So we have to be patient. And so if you have a, an agenda of, or set a set goal, you know we've also learned to be a lot patient here, much more patient to just, you know, let the Lord work. I mean, everything happens slower here, even relationships, starting churches, and you've got to just trust, trust the Lord and be patient and you know he'll.
Speaker 1:He'll do it in his own tiny you know, one of the things that I enjoy more now than I think that in the past is I just love having relationships with people that have different religious beliefs, because we, because I, am actually interested in what they believe, I'm actually interested to hear. You know, I'm one client of mine. I've been able to get to know them and find that some of their religious beliefs are our culture. Beliefs has helped me in my wildlife management.
Speaker 1:There's like for instance one thing that we we do now on our properties is give at the end of the year, at the really at the end of the season, I want February 1st, through three months, to leave those farms and give them rest, to give that one of those wildlife rest and and not put any, any kind of, a lot of any kind of machinery out there, because and it's I wouldn't have had that alone has done so much for opening my eyes to wildlife and what they, what they need, and I wouldn't have had that and had that if I wouldn't have sat down with them and say tell me more, you know, yeah yeah, being curious and listening can take you a long way.
Speaker 2:Really can't, really can't so. But yeah, you know a lot of us are. You know, we got a plan, we got a goal, got an agenda. We're gonna make it happen. And I think there's wisdom often, and just taking a step back, listening, being thoughtful, trusting the Lord, and I think it it also it also makes you less stressful, right? So you think that you?
Speaker 1:know, do you think that Mississippi, like either the US, is less patient than other countries?
Speaker 2:I do, compared to France, but I mean patients. I mean they say it's a fruit of the spirit, you know. So I'm trying to grow in it. So it's. You know, it's not like I know no patients because it's in me, but I definitely have had to be, have forced to have been patient here. And yeah, I think the US, I mean we're we're. You know it's kind of a hard driving, you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you know let's go, you know. So patience has to be cultivated. That's awesome and often, unfortunately, I mean it's cultivated when trauma or tragedy strikes. And you know a lot of us and we know people who you know, I mean they don't say it, but I mean they really think and live like you know they can do anything. And then when you realize you can't and you hit bankruptcy or you know there's a divorce that you never saw coming, and when a spouse says, you know I'm out, or you get a bad diagnosis like your family had, and you just realize you're not in control and yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think that when you're not in control, it forces patience on you and you have to hit. You're at a bottom, that you now are not in control of anything and the only thing. That's where my faith. You know our conversation. I don't know if you remember this, but that time that I had on the river going, coming back and telling you about it and telling you this experience, and you telling me go back, go back to where you experienced him. And that journey was impatient. It was I need this.
Speaker 1:Now I'm fixing to do some incredible work for the Lord and he's going to heal my wife and we're going to get back to a normal family. We're going to and we're going to share the gospel. It's going to be amazing. And then, falling on my face, thinking that I was doing something for the Lord, and reality, lord was just, I think, was just allowing me to see some things that he had planned for me down the road, four years. You know, I think that a lot of times, when the Lord puts something on you, it's not the Lord doesn't work in short term, he works in long term, and for me it seems to be three or four years down the road and now I'm able to say, okay, I'm hearing the Lord. I think now I'm going to sit down and wait, and if it's the Lord it's going to, you can literally sit down and wait, he's going to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. No, the Lord wants something to happen. I mean it's going to happen and it's. You know that that on earth is going to stop that, but it's in his timing. And ultimately, like the proverb says, you know he directs our steps. So you know we have to, you know he doesn't serve us. I mean, it's Christmas season, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2:On Mary, in Luke one this this Sunday, and you know, at the end she said you know, behold, on the Lord's servant. I mean, often we look at our faith and we want God to be our servant and it's really, it has to be a role reversal. So you know, like Mary, like you know, behold, you know I'm your servant. You know I serve you. You know, wherever, whatever, and you know what's interesting about that. And again, this is at Christmas.
Speaker 2:But at that point she didn't know. Joseph had a dream too. She didn't, when she said that she didn't know. All she knew is like I'm pregnant now and I have not had relations, and this may disgrace me and cast me out, and I don't know what's going to happen and Joseph will probably, you know, break it off and but I'm the Lord's servant. That's good. She didn't. You know, we think of it all you know working out. But when you know, when they first told her, you mentioned nothing. It just said you know you're going to be, you're going to have the child you're going to, you know name of Jesus. And she said you know I'm going to be the Lord's servant. So I do think that.
Speaker 2:And oh, and then in the same chapter, it's only when she goes to Elizabeth that she experiences joy. If you read Luke one, again the angel comes, tells her she's like you know I will follow, and then she goes to Elizabeth and then she has joy. And I think that's very insightful about our own even conversion. Like initially we're like, well, how is this going to happen? You know who's this God and we were thinking about it. And then you know we receive, we say, okay, I'm, I'm in, I'm going to serve the Lord. And then we have to have people around us, like Elizabeth, saying you know it's so great, you know Christ in you and what he's going to do, and then you experience the joy. So it does take a community, it takes people around you, but it also takes that commitment to realize God's not here to serve me, I'm here to serve him.
Speaker 2:And so All right.
Speaker 1:So we've got about five minutes left and what I usually do with people, with guests, is just ask to what if you could give any advice on where? Any advice? But but really to me is like, what have you learned through your ministry, from day one when you were called to be a pastor to today? And then also, how can we, how can people that are listening to this support you? Because the reality is is that we have to support you financially in order to keep this ministry going, and it takes money to run ministry. So how can we, how can we support you? And so give me, give me a little bit of advice and then how can we serve you?
Speaker 2:Okay, what I've learned is or some of the things I've learned is God really is bigger than we think. We really need God more than we realize, and God loves us more than we'll ever know, as it says. That's simply put, but I break it down quickly. God really is bigger than we, than we ever imagined, like he's in every situation. He really is. I mean he's, you know, if you believe, as we do, christian doctrine, you know he's omniscient on knowing, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere and he's omnipotent, all powerful, and so, like I said, he's going to do whatever he wants to do. Nothing on earth can stop what God wants, and there's great trust and faith that I have in that. The other thing is is you know we're, we're worse off than we ever think? I mean there's a need, you know we, the reason of Christmas and Easter and any other Christian holiday days is the gospel, and we need the Lord. I mean we're, we're sinners. I mean, and you know we have to have that humble, that humble need and to confess and repent and then, but God really loves us and he loves every human being, and we should too. And if that's the case, then we, we do need to love others, as in like Thinking about hey, they have the same questions that they. They want to have a hope, they want to have a purpose and we can Build some, some bridges instead of walls, and our world needs more of that, amen. So that's that's generally.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of Things that I've learned, whether from France to Mississippi. Yes, we, you know, we're mission here, thankful for yours and other support people can get. We have a personal blog, which is the tapes in Paris, and and that also shares how you can support us with prayer, with financial resources. And then we have a church newsletter at EIC. That's a manual international church EIC Paris org. We clear sometimes every other week. You know updates, emotions, you know what's going on at the church, but that that lets you know who we are, where we are in Paris, and then we keep our personal blog too, but that's more living as missionaries in in France. So, yeah, and then, oh yeah, eic, eic, read Goche, instagram and Facebook, and then also the tapes in Paris, instagram and Facebook. So there are lots of ways to connect and stay connected with us. And and then we would love for you to join Carter and come and visit us and and see what all is going on here with your own, with your own eyes.
Speaker 1:I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. All right, so if we wanted to hear you preach, do you can? We will hear you preach live, or how does that work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, not live, but it's record, every sermon is on our website. So, yeah, again, eic Paris org. And then you would go to Reeve Goche and all my sermons are. All my sermons since Easter, which we started, are there downloaded and you can hear me, but not live, not watch. Maybe we'll get there one day, but there's a time difference and you know say, but they're the podcast, I guess you call those, but this is a podcast to, but all those are the sermons on there. You may hear some traffic noise in the background, since we're in the cafe, but it's, yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Awesome man. Well, thank you for doing this. I tell you, you've been a man. You were, you had, you were there for me and Megan To help us find the Lord, to help us get through those days, and not only get through them but but flourish in our faith and get to know the Lord and meet us right there, and all those organized events that you did for us for, to help us raise money to, to support us, is he. I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2:I will never forget that well, hopefully we'll have a lot more time to, you know to to serve together. But you know God used you all in a great way and that was a special time and you know it's honored to be a part of it, a small part of it, and we'll always be here for your family and and Lila too, even though you know she grows and you know will. Maybe she'll come to Paris for you will.
Speaker 1:She's gonna come with me. Yeah, we're gonna do it. So, man, I thank you, brother, brother, I love you and and thank you for for you and Linda, and Just support y'all and everybody that's wants to know more. If you want to find out how to invest in John, hugh and Linda, please reach out and I'll get you and get you in touch with them and we can further the kingdom and in Europe.
Speaker 2:Yeah and around and I say this last if you reach Paris, you, you reach the nations, because the nations do come here. So you want thank you quarter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you, bro. So hold on, just say all right, I.