CS France Key Leaders Gather
by Powell Harrison
Now three years into our nationwide networking efforts to find those surfing Christians that must surely be out there in the French lineups, we’ve noticed momentum for CS France picking up significantly. The newly released Bible des Surfeurs is starting to bear fruit, not only in making the gospel known on the beaches, but also in bringing greater visibility to Christian Surfers both in evangelical and in Catholic circles in France. In addition, we continue to receive new contacts through the website and social media, and now we’re seeing surfers who were new contacts two or three years ago committing themselves to the Every Surfer mission.
Thus, with the aim of coalescing key members and leaders around the vision and turning the conversation towards strategy, national director Audrey Harrison convened the greater part of her nascent team for a weekend retreat in May at Plouharnel in Bretagne (Brittany). The gathering also afforded the Harrisons the opportunity to organize this year’s annual networking road trip with stops along the way towards Bretagne.
One of the highlights of our week on the road was meeting a young man who had received the Bible des Surfeurs from a friend and promptly gave us a call. Passionate in his desire to share his faith with fellow surfers, he is now equipped with more copies and has already placed one in the lounge of his surf club with the club president’s blessing. Other encouraging outcomes include two new partner churches in Bretagne, two different pastors expressing a desire to plant surfer-friendly churches, and a group of teens getting excited about belonging to CS France. The icing on the cake was a sunset session at Sainte Barbe to wrap up the weekend gathering!