In this space we’ll feature some of the articles which have appeared in French, in Victoire magazine.
Nothing hinted that a powerful work of God was about to start in the town of Montbeliard, France, this night of 1972.
Three young people were goofing around near a fountain in a plaza at about 11pm. The boys tried to throw the young woman in the fountain. Everything changed when a woman about 55 years old, led by the Holy Spirit, arrived at the plaza. She spoke to them about Jesus Christ. The young people, intrigued, agreed to her invitation to come to her house to hear more of God’s Word. Jean-Marie, brother of the young lady, was especially moved at the beginning, then his sister Danielle (now Danielle Vergnol) was touched by Holy Spirit.
Soon there was a whole group of young people at André and Georgette Richard’s house. Sitting on the floor, they sang and praised God. Confused lives were changed radically. Many from this group now serve the Lord full-time, nearly thirty years later.
But did this happen only by chance? The Sixties and the beginning of the Seventies were a turbulent time in Western countries. The streets of Paris resembled a war zone in May l968. Riots and demonstrations shook large cities in America. And everywhere, young people were questioning the established order. Often these questions expressed themselves in an odd clothing, long hair, a counter-culture life style–drugs, rebellious music, and rejection of authority. But many searched for reality. Mr. and Mrs. Richard had prayed for years for these disillusioned young people.
One of the them remembers years afterwards:” There were knee-prints in the carpet next to Mrs. Richard’s armchair.“ After years of prayer, the Holy Spirit propelled her into the streets, sometimes even at night! She seemed the the least qualified person in the world to speak to these long-haired young people, called “hippies.” As the director of a nursery school, she was well known in Montbeliard, a town of 30,000 inhabitants. Compassion drove her, and with no fear for her reputation she talked and talked and even invited these funny-looking (to traditional eyes) young people to her home.
Some were violent, but with the courage of the Lord Jesus, she spoke to them. Her husband witnessed also. One day she approached a young man, his black hair tumbling to his shoulders, his dirty blue jeans sported psychedelic scribbles. “Young man, Jesus-Christ loves you.” “There’s no God and no devil, ” snorted Guy Bergamini in response. But she wouldn’t back up and a few days later Guy found himself at her house to eat and listen to the gospel with others.
His history had been alcohol, drugs and violence since early adolescence. One night when he was 17, he tried to kill his abusive father when once again he began beating his mother. His mom pulled him off but he slammed out of the house horribly angry, vowing never to return. He traveled all over in Europe, always hanging with the hippies.
That day when Madame Richard challenged him he was 21 years old and nothing was going right. Thoughts of suicide and depression ravaged his life. When he heard that God loved him and wanted to deliver him, he cried to the Lord with all his strength, “God, if you exist, break these chains that bind me!” And miracle of miracles, that God, who most certainly exists, did it. He came up from his knees a new man.
His girlfriend Elisabeth (who later became his wife) received the same miracle a few weeks later. God healed her also. Doctors had said she would never have a baby. God’s people prayed and she eventually had five.
Gerard Vergnol liked his music. He played in a small group and did a few drugs. God turned his life upside down. Later he married Danielle (remember the girl at the fountain at the beginning?). Claude Huot hated his father, but after Jesus Christ moved into his life, he forgave his dad and God reestablished the relationship. His father even came to the Lord.
Michel Balverde was from Lyon but when he visited Montbeliard, the Holy Spirit grabbed him and he also was saved. Returning to Lyon, he won a young woman to the Lord who later became the wife of Serge Santander. She won Serge. All these and others are in the service of the Lord full-time today thirty years later.
It was an unforgettable time for these young people. Gerard remembers a prayer meeting. They were all sitting on the floor, when he had a vision of a fish swimming in a stream of crystal water. The “fish” was Gerard; he was baptized in the Holy Spirit a short time afterwards. “They immediately put us on the street to testify,” remembers Danielle.
Gerard opened his small apartment for people passing through who did not have a place to sleep, in order to talk to them about Jesus. This sometimes led to some funny situations. Like the night when he returned to his place rather late to find a little Chinese fellow meditating in the darkness. That will get your heart rate back up!
But from these times of revival, young people rose up who wanted to serve the Lord and who still remain faithful after all these years. When we see the condition of our old continent, a cry rises from our heart, “Lord, make us warriors in prayer like the Richards. Make us evangelists without fear, evangelists who have a burning desire to share Jesus Christ with a thirsty world. Make us wise leaders like the church pastor Gichtenaere, who dared to risk something for the glory of God.
Do it again Lord, and do it in me!
