Returning to his Acadian roots in Canada always has been a dream of Louis
Charrier.
Returning to his Acadian roots in Canada always has been a dream of Louis
Charrier.
Because of Charriers love for his heritage, the pastor of three Louisiana
Baptist mission churches travels the state to give presentations on Cajun history.
Thus, when an opportunity arose last winter to attend the World Acadian Congress
in Nova Scotia earlier this fall, Charrier jumped at the chance.
Charrier and 16 other Louisiana Baptists joined an estimated 225,000 people
from throughout the world who gathered for two weeks of family reunions and
seminars that dealt with their Acadian heritage.
Their ancestors began moving from Nova Scotia in 1755, when Great Britain acquired
control of the area. When the Acadians did not become cooperative British subjects,
the British began removing them from the Canadian province.
Known as the Great Derangement, the Acadians settled in various other countries,
including the United States. By the 19th century, nearly 4,000 Acadians had
moved to south Louisiana.
And while the Louisiana Baptists who traveled back to Nova Scotia soaked in
the festivities at the Acadian World Congress, their main purpose in visiting
the Canadian province was to plant seeds for future evangelism efforts there.
The short-term missionaries served gumbo and distributed evangelism tracts.
Half of the team ministered during the first part of the trip, while the others
spent the last half of the trip there.
“The most unusual part about this trip was that it didnt involve
construction or evangelism crusades,” says Bert Langley, director of missions
for Evangeline Baptist Association. “This was strictly seed planting. We
went up there to scatter tracts all over Nova Scotia.”
After brainstorming sessions, the team decided to print 50,000 tracts in French
and English. The tracts were designed by former Louisiana Baptist Womans
Missionary Union Executive Director Nelda Seal. One side of the tract contained
a recipe for gumbo, while the actual gospel message was printed on the other
side.
“We thought that if the tract had a gumbo recipe, people may not throw
it away,” Langley explains.
“What we hope is that if they dont look at the tract right away,
theyll read it when they use the gumbo recipe later,” Seal adds.
Seal estimates nearly 50 gallons of gumbo was cooked during the four times
the team served the Louisiana treat.
The team began their work at Church Point, distributing tracts where opening
ceremonies of the congress were held.
The team then traveled to Grand Pre, where they served the gumbo under a tent.
Mardi Gras beads and Tony Chacheres mix accompanied the gumbo samples
and tracts.
Another town the team visited was the English-speaking community of Aylesford.
It was there that Norris Landry met some Baptists who wanted to start a French
radio hour on the churchs radio station.
Landry was able to help. He serves as pastor at Hessmer Baptist Church in Hessmer
and hosts a French Baptist Hour that has an audience of about 200,000 French-speaking
individuals over six stations in Louisiana. In Aylesford, he gave the local
Baptists a copy of the Louisiana program as a resource for their first broadcast,
which was set for this fall.
“I had brought the CDs along, thinking Id give them away to people
but never dreamed Id have a chance to give them to a radio station wanting
to broadcast the gospel in French,” Landry relates. “God just seemed
to open that door in a mighty, miraculous way.
“Theyre broadcasting from a small station,” Landry notes. “We
hope everyone prays that God will give them more power to expand their coverage.”
Overall, Landry says people in Nova Scotia were friendly and hospitable.
A local restaurant owner allowed the team to use her restaurant to boil water
for cooking the gumbo until her business opened. Another neighbor allowed the
team to use her kitchen.
Both instances allowed a witnessing opportunity, Seal explains.
However, the group did face opposition.
During the first day of their gumbo distribution, a woman complained to the
agricultural fisheries commissioner that the team was there. Two days later,
the team was granted a permit to serve food, which made the woman angry.
She continued to cause trouble, as she placed ads in the local newspaper criticizing
their ministry efforts.
However, the other townspeople rebutted her actions, saying they did not believe
the same way as the woman.
“I went in knowing this wasnt going to be the easiest place to do
missions work,” Seal explains. “When we face that kind of opposition,
its because God is not present in their lives, and they dont know
what its like to have Christ in their heart.”
“You wonder sometimes what God can do with a handful of people,”
Langley adds. “Its interesting to see how God can use folks to get
the Word out. It makes you feel youre on the right trail when Satan does
everything to stop you.”
When the teams stay in the area was over, tears were shed, Langley says.
“I hope if the door opens in the future, well have a chance to harvest,”
he notes. “Those people that accepted Christ as a result of the seeds we
planted will be like that song Thank You by Ray Boltz. Itll
be an experience like that.”
Langley says he came back to Louisiana with a new determination to get more
involved in peoples lives instead of just presenting the gospel.
“We sometimes forget the power of God,” he explains. “We think
winning people to Jesus is dependent on our skill. Were so eager to lead
people to Jesus that we dont get involved in their lives.”