Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers. It has been a month to be remembered, with many blessings and challenges.
Last Sunday’s General Assembly meeting was one of our prayers for the month. This is also a crucial meeting in one way or another, but this year is different. We were learning about new laws to adhere to all year, and as I sat down to fill out some government forms yesterday, I felt we were far from over. That being said, our assembly was small, with just a few people, including some new members but people who are invested in the church’s life. Unfortunately, our treasurers did not meet the deadline to get the books up to the correct level the government requires. This means we must find help and have another meeting later in the year. Even though this was a low point, a high moment eclipsed it all. When it came time to discuss all that had transpired with the other building and the money we raised that had been locked up in the businessman’s account, we hoped to partner with. There was a spontaneous move to seek the Lord together. This is not a church service but a government-required open-book meeting. Hearing from the Lord and praying are more Afterglow activities, but they happened. It was a moment of turning that led to further discussion where we felt the Lord’s hand on us. From that, we’ve decided to focus on more important things like building the church rather than putting pressure on someone who may never pay us back. I believe God is maturing us as a ministry team.
Another precious moment this month was meeting with Pierre Petrignani about a few subjects in Calvary Chapel France, after the general assembly of our larger evangelical association. It was good to reconnect and discuss some of the ways forward for our movement.
We are planning our ministry schedule for next year and hope that the next government will favor our plans. Please pray with us that we will be led by the Spirit as we etch these things out. The midweek Zoom service is doing really well; I’ve been surprised at how many people have made themselves available on Wednesdays at lunchtime to study Daniel!
We experienced one unexpected, completely off-the-radar blessing this month. Esteban Venezuela asked Mike if he would like to attend a meeting he hosted with Ted Leavenworth and Reliance Church in San Diego. I replied, “Interested, of course, but getting to Madrid on short notice is not in our budget.” Three days later, Mike found himself on a flight to Spain. He came back truly recharged. As if that weren’t enough, we were blessed to have Clay Worrell come and preach for us that Sunday and take the family out to dinner. Who would’ve thought that might happen?
As we look into July, we are entering the summer season. This one will be special because of the Olympics, unexpected Legislative change for the government, and an outreach team. It will be a crazy month, but it begins with a few blessings. See the bullet points below. The Lord is good!
We hope you have a wonderful summer and 4th of July celebration!
In Jesus,
Mike and Becky Dente
Blessing 1:
Emma, our daughter, and her boyfriend will visit Paris for about a week. As you can imagine, we are over the moon.
Blessing 2:
We received a gift that will help us get to the Austria conference in Austria and catch up on a few things.
Blessing 3:
Sophie had her prom and graduated on July 8th! Becky is praying about taking her to the When She Leads Conference in London next month. It would be good for them both.
Blessing 4:
We were able to get Dave two internships! Thank you for your prayers. One was with the French Weather service, and the other was with our church.
Blessing and prayer request:
Becky is in her last year of a master’s program; she graduates this April; if anyone would like to help with this, it would be greatly appreciated! We have already seen how beneficial it has been to the ministry, as Mike’s studies have been. Being on the mission field, without the constant communion of like-minded believers, schooling helps minister to us in a way that we could not get otherwise. It keeps us sharp like a good practitioner should be.
