From the streets of Paris

So I was minding my business at a cafe preparing for a teaching next week on Shabbat (Feb. 13th at 7:30pm at the American Church of Paris) and all of a sudden about 20 vans of riot police showed up and cordoned off the little traffic circle near where I was sitting. These guys look like a black and blue version of the all white Darth Vader troops, with full riot armor on. A few students tried to get by the wall of men with clear shields and they were simply pushed aside. Since we live at the Sorbonne we will need to get used to these types of police responses to scheduled demonstrations and protests that are always happening in our area. They even post signs in the buses and metro when service will be disrupted due to "manifestations," the French word for public, pre-planned disturbances. No one could say who were the demonstrators or what the massive police buildup was about. Most commented, "It's the students again." A still small voice said inside of me, "You were born for this." Love and Shalom. David Schneier

We are recovering from jet lag and getting back into the flow of life in Paris. Monday, we met with a local guy who has a lot of experience with organizing events in France. He told us something that gives a picture of life here: The French develop relationships before they organize anything and maintaining a real relationship is key to walking together. They can support events that Americans organize but that will not bring lasting fruit if we have our event and then just leave and not be heard from again. This was so important to know if we want to bring new flows of the Spirit into France that won't be just a flash in the pan. As one writer put it, the God of Israel is not the God of the show. This is especially important as we begin to lay the groundwork for Chuck Pierce of Glory of Zion to share here in the fall of 2009. We were told that many in France are skeptical or distrust the restoration of apostles and prophets to the body of Messiah yet without these gifted leaders the body is not complete and its destiny is hindered. We were also told of apostolic leaders weeping because of the rejection of their annointing and no avenue to fulfill their calling. Please pray for this important time for Chuck to speak into the body in France, this key country in Europe and the world. Shalom. David Schneier

Sat, January 31, 2009

We had a chance to view French life from the inside Saturday night by attending a building party near the Louvre. The residents of a six story building invited friends to come and spend an evening together. Each apartment opened its doors and people milled around the building enjoying seeing old and making new friends. You can't get into the building unless your name is on the list and you have ID. Each apartment provided food and drinks for the moving celebration and the conversations reverberated through the halls and stairwells. We have been invited to a small followup meeting of some people who were interested in what we are doing in France. This is what we shared about in the US in January, that living our destiny involves small daily steps to discover the great plan God has for us. Our faithfulness in responding to God's still small voice to "Lech Lecha," to get up and go, keeps us on our path to our daily destiny. It's a wild ride and worth every step we take.

Friday, January 30, 2009

It's 6:15 am our time in Paris and jet lag has confused our sleep. We were treated as gold and platinum at JFK even though we're just common frequent flyers and we got here with all of our bags! The work on our apartment was basically finished so no holdups there except for the cable news channels having been turned off some how while we were gone. Everything goes into high gear starting today and we need your prayers for:
1. Meeting with a Paris event organizer on Monday, Feb 2nd, to begin forming a team to plan for Chuck Pierce to share prophetically in Paris in the fall of 2009.
2. Planning a European Messianic Jewish gathering in 2010 by meeting with IAMCS and European congregational/fellowship leaders in May of 2009.
3. Renewing our times of sharing with young Jewish believers in Paris.
4. Opening contacts with the Inter Varsity chapter in Paris at the Sorbonne.
5. Planning a national teaching conference with former muslims in the fall of 2009
6. Beginning teaching about the Feasts of the Lord at the American Church of Paris on Feb. 13th.
7. Followup on Jewish people the Lord has brought into our path.
8. Planning for and setting the dates of a Messianic leadership conference led by David and Barry Boucher in Nikolaiv, Ukraine in May of 2009.
9. Setting our itinerary for this summer in the US.
10. Finding time for reading and writing.
That's it for today. Shalom, David

January 29: So here's what were going back to. Paris is paralyzed but hopefully the workers will return tomorrow when we land. The workers say they had nothing to do with the world crisis so why should they suffer. The idea of everyone shouldering the load in such unusual circumstances is not acceptable to the unions. France has a history of deciding policy in the streets so it should be interesting when we return. C'est la vie!

Well, we are about to leave for France, embroiled in a national strike on the 29th of January and maybe on the 30th when we land in Paris. There have been many demonstrations against Israel in Europe during the Gaza war. The words genocide and holocaust are being thrown around by those who have launched 10,000 rockets into Israel in the last 10 years. Not one normal country would put up with that level of war crimes (indiscriminately shooting rockets into civilian areas). But everyone wants Israel to use more restraint. Have they asked what level of restraint they are using or do they even care to find out. The other side is committing countless war crimes by placing military installations amongst their civilians and launching rockets from those areas. Looks like the age of reason is gone in Europe!