How a simple idea had a huge impact no one expected.

Posted May 2021 by Florence Morenas, Dominique Ponton, Christophe Walti - France

It all started two years ago in April, during a banner workshop in Valence with David Stanfield…

God connected three of us, Christophe, Florence and Dominique, in such an improbable way. The story would be too long to tell it all.

During the COVID-19 health crisis, in-person meetings were prohibited in France. In order to stay connected and encourage each other, we proposed to the participants of the banner workshop to have a Zoom meeting. When we informed David that we were organizing this, to our surprise and delight, he joined us (even though it was in the middle of the night for him).

At our first meeting there were about 10 of us. Each shared their testimonies and helped encourage one another to start using or continue to use their banners. The fruits of that meeting inspired the need to be taught, despite the restrictions set by COVID-19. It gave birth to an idea. What we had just done with 10 could be offered to many more.

Fueled by our enthusiasm, this idea grew very quickly and the three of us saw complementary objectives:

• Gather French-speaking people around the banners in order to equip and encourage each other to be effective in the Kingdom of God.
• Use the banners as God invites us to, leaving room for His freedom and creativity.
• Discover different ways to use banners.
• Hold monthly meetings (of two hours) from January to June, which would include time for teaching, testimonies and sharing.

David readily agreed to be there for the first meeting!

Even though our goal was to keep it simple, we still experienced some major challenges like:

• Finding someone who could lend us a paid Zoom connection, along with someone who could provide technological support.
• Creating an address book to send the invitations.

As challenging as this seemed, we found an opportunity available through Julia who encouraged, advised and enlisted the help of Martin for the technical support.

In a few weeks Julia, Martin, and David managed to get us out of our comfort zone – to being leaders of this project. We had only been using banners for 18 months!

We do not believe this is only a ‘physical’ project, but that we are in a spiritual time when the banners must now be raised by as many people as possible in the French-speaking world and across the globe. Our rational thinking falls away, as God calls, raises, leads, inspires and teaches all those He has prepared in advance.

Banner workshop participants in Zoom meeting

On January 23, 2021 we hosted our first Zoom call. We were so excited to see about close to faces from five nations. Amazed, we realized how a simple idea truly met the needs of so many – all in God’s timing.

Now after four monthly meetings, we have grown to 110 participants who span the globe to include France, Reunion Island, Martinique, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Ivory Coast and Australia.

The topics covered vary each time and allows us room to grow. So far we have discussed:

• What are the obstacles to hearing the voice of God when we use the banners?
• How to be freer and more creative using banners.
• What are the fears that prevent me from using the banners freely?
• How to collaborate with the voice of God.

This is how a small idea fell like a fine rain on a land worked by God. We believe that there will be many more ‘fruits’ to come, and that God will do new things with the banners in the French speaking world.

The French Team

Posted May 2021 by Florence Morenas, Dominique Ponton, Christophe Walti - France