A Missions Story: Michael Barton

By Mike Barton, North American Missionary to Canada

The Lord is good! We are privileged to serve him, and we will continue to do so by the grace of God until his return. There are ups and downs, but it’s all a part of the pilgrim’s journey, and we grow and learn through it all.

Pastor Mike Poirier and I have been working together for many years, and we have been in Levis, Quebec for about six years now. It has its challenges, but we see fruits and rewards. Praise God.

The population in Levis is growing, and we are grateful that the Lord has placed us to work here. It has not been easy to work with the folks of Quebec all these years, but we see God working in the lives of the people that he places on our path, whether it is through a family or an individual…it is encouraging. Our part is always to obey what he asks of us, then he will do the rest.

We are encouraged by the new families God is bringing to our church! One young man who comes to our church regularly for years just understood the plan of salvation and gave his life to the Lord and was baptized. It is encouraging how God transformed this man; his great desire to walk and obey the Word of God is truly encouraging to us! We praise God for him!

Our church is a multicultural church. We have folks coming from different countries and nationalities! Last week, a man from France arrived in our church. We were praying for his arrival for many months now.

He’s originally from Africa and has married a lady that comes to our church regularly. Another wonder of what God can do in the lives of people. This lady started coming to church when the work started in Levis. She came once in a while and told us that she’s been away from the Lord for a very long time. She wanted to get her life right with God, so she started coming more until she decided that she wanted to follow a course in discipleship. She finished it!

We got to know her more through this discipleship course. She went to France and got married, and we have been praying for her husband to be with us. He was in church with her last Wednesday. What an encouraging night to be in the house of the Lord!

These are just two examples of folks who went through discipleship course one-by-one with one of our ladies and leaders of the church. It is a great way to know people and walk them through the Christian life; build better relationships with people and get to know them better in a personal way. This works great for us here in Quebec! We are very privileged to serve God!

The past two years were a combination of both sadness and blessings. We had tragedies, sickness, losses (death), but just to close the year we had a wedding! Two young people we have been praying for got married and now they are expecting their first baby!

I think sometimes we don’t stay enough to meditate on God’s blessings and how God is good to us! Many times, we are easily distracted by the negative circumstances around us, and yet when I sit down and write the goodness of God, I have more pages to go! GOD IS GOOD!

It is also amazing to see how we have more young people in the church now! A new family came to us and joined our church and they are a blessing!

With God’s blessings comes responsibilities…please pray for wisdom and discernment for us- to be good stewards of what God gives us. These young people are dear to us and we want nothing more than to see them follow the Lord in their lives. Help us pray for their future and for their wisdom.

We also ask for your prayers concerning the work that we support in Haiti. Pray for Pastor Michel and Ruth Poirier. Please also pray for wisdom for the local pastors and leaders that God is using to build the work.

This year as we do our Maximum Impact 2018 in Levis, we have two groups that will be coming. Last year, we had the privilege to have Pastor Bryan and his church, and they helped us reach out to many folks through the invitations.

This year we are excited for another Maximum Impact! The first group will be coming in June, and the other group in August. We need your prayers once again, and we will appreciate them very much. Pray for us that God may use us to reach out to the folks of Levis once more. Pray for perseverance and courage and wisdom as we continue to work where the Lord has placed us.

Lastly, I would like to ask for your prayers for my health. There’s no need for me to name them one-by-one, but I ask you to pray for my headaches. I wake up and sleep with a headache everyday and it has limited me to do more. I will truly appreciate it.

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”