Quebec Alive moments

In February of 2007 there was a home Bible study meeting in a city about forty minutes north of Montreal called St-Jerome.  It had been meeting for a few months and there were between 12-20 people attending the study in the home of Rob and Martine Karch (left).  Rob was leading the study and Jacob Mathhieu (right with wife), one of SEMBEQ’s initial cohort members, was helping with the leadership also, along with his wife Marie-Paul.  The Evangelical Baptist Church of Terrebonne-Mascouche had sent Rob and Jacob to start the home Bible study as a beginning for a church-plant in St-Jerome.  In the  Spring ‘07 Issue of Quebec Alive we highlighted this beginning and one of our prayers was for the minds and hearts of the 130,000 people in the St-Jerome region to be opened to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The summer 2008 issue of Quebec Alive highlighted God’s answer to this prayer.  As the following blessings show, God continues to bless the leadership and faithfulness of Rob and Jacob.  We stand in awe of God’s power!  In January 2008 the home Bible study began weekly Sunday services with about 40 people.  The group grew as they proclaimed the Gospel, loved their neighbors and served the community. In February 2008 they were able to raise several thousands of dollars to buy food for those in need.  They celebrated their first baptism on Easter Sunday.  By summer they had a regular attendance of about 80 and passed out thousands of invitations.  In October there were three more baptisms.  There were around 110 who attended the Christmas program.  On January 25, 2009, they celebrated their first anniversary with 140 in attendance.  They currently have five going through their baptism course.  God is so good!  Pray for this church as it continues to grow and for Jacob, and Marie-Paul, as he takes on the responsibility of pastoring the church while Rob and Martine spend several months visiting churches in the States.

SEMBEQ offers intensive courses throughout the year which helps students take some of their courses without having to travel long distances over a period of several months.  Instead, they can commit to compressing 3-4 months into 3-4 days. This also makes it more suitable for visiting instructors. There are many intensive courses being given this year.  From January 12-15, Pierre Constant (picture), Professor of New Testament at the Toronto Baptist Seminary, gave 24 classes over a four-day period on the Theology of the New Testament.  In a like manner, Daniel Mattiolo, from southern France and a professor at the Geneva Bible Institute, taught at SEMBEQ this past week on Kings and Chronicles.  He presents the same material in Gatineau (two hours west of Montreal) this week.  Bob Lehman, a professor from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, will be teaching on the Techniques of Counseling February 23-25.  Professor Lehman has come regularly in February for many years.  Woody Lewis, another professor from the Geneva Bible Institute, will be teaching on the Methods of Bible Study in Vaudreuil (45 min west of Montreal) March 6-8 and repeating the teaching in Riviere-du-Loup (5 hours east of Montreal) the following week. Professor Don Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, will make his regular visit to SEMBEQ to teach on The Central Ministry of the Gospel June 1-4.  Professor Michael Haykin of Southern Seminary will teach on the history of the early church December 4-7.  Sometimes these courses may have more than 50 participants, others time just a few more than ten.  However, regardless of the number you can see how the Lord blesses the ministry of SEMBEQ with these guest teachers who come to minister in His name and for His glory.

We have been writing about some of the men who were early pioneers in bringing the Gospel to Quebec. However, these men were supported by godly and faithful wives. Our last Quebec Alive Moment introduced us to Bill Phillips, so let’s introduce his wife, Blanche. Blanche came from a strong Christian home and accepted Jesus as her Savior at the age of twelve. She loved teaching and at the age of seventeen began her public school teaching career. During her third year of teaching she enrolled at Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto and there learned of the need for missionaries in Quebec. After seminary in 1951, she traveled to a northwestern Quebec village and taught all eight grades in a French-language school which had been an outreach of early Baptist work in that area. The following year she and Bill were married and moved to Montreal. Shortly after that they moved to Maniwaki, about 100 miles north of Ottawa, to plant their first church. This was just the beginning of God’s use of them for His glory in Quebec. Many other churches were planted by Bill and Blanche. Bill went to be with the Lord during the summer of 2007, but not until the ministry they had together reached many places and people in Quebec. During their over fifty years of marriage, Blanche was a model and an inspiration to many (as many other wives were to their husband evangelists) as she faithfully lived as a godly and faithful helpmate to Bill, mother of four, grandmother of nine, teacher and sister in Christ. Blanche continues to be faithful to the opportunities the Lord provides for her to serve Him.

Before returning for the Fall semester of seminary, towards the end of the summer of 1950, Bill Phillips was arrested for preaching the Gospel in Quebec. So, at the age of twenty he found himself in a cell room with many other Baptist men.One night one of the guards came in and woke up one of the men and asked about their faith. That night the guard asked Christ to take charge of his life. God was at work in another way too. Bill remembered spending one of those nights on his knees in prayer. There was a battle raging within him. Being imprisoned with unbelievers awakened him to not only their spiritual blindness, but also their thirst for truth. He had been thinking of foreign missions, but now his thought was, maybe Quebec. Bill prayed, “Lord, is it Africa or Quebec? Here I am, ready, whenever, wherever, whatever.” Later that night a tremendous peace overcame him and he knew God was calling him to Quebec. From that day forward he lived for the day his seminary studies would be finished and he could plant churches in Quebec.