I don’t exactly write books; I tell other people to write books.
The story behind that cryptic comment is this: when Rudy and Rose French left New Orleans nearly a year ago, after an incredible two years in our post-Katrina city with so many ups and downs, I suggested Rudy write his experiences down. My initial thought was it would be therapy for him, help to “get it out of him.”
The British have a saying that one handles tragedy by “tea and talk.” Putting his experiences in writing became a form of talk for Rudy. The tea, well, Rose has to take care of that.
To my pleasant surprise, Rudy not only wrote his experiences and testimony down, he published it in a book. “You Can Learn A Lot From A Hurricane: My two years in New Orleans following Katrina” is Rudy and Rose French’s story.
Now, Rudy and Rose are missionaries. They are missionaries everywhere they go, not just at some site where the denomination might send them. Recently, he went to Korea as a short-term missionary. Right now, they’re living in Springville, Tennessee, and are missionaries there. For two years, they were missionaries to New Orleans.
Regular readers of this blog have heard some of my stories about Rudy. Some you didn’t know it was Rudy I was writing about, because I didn’t want to embarrass someone he was bumping up against in his service for the Lord. Rudy is the guy who left Canada, selling his gun collection to pay expenses, and drove to New Orleans to help us following the hurricane of August 29, 2005. When we didn’t put him to work, he volunteered at one of our churches that was feeding state troopers from across America–and the ladies in the kitchen put him in charge of the garbage detail. Now, Rudy began to have a little attitude problem.
“Lord, is this why I put my life on hold, so I could empty garbage pails? Why aren’t you using the skills you gave me to help these people?” One day when his self-pity was at its lowest (or highest, depending on how we count), he was pushing a hefty-bag stuffed with kitchen garbage into a dumpster when it broke and poured leftovers–gumbo, vegetables, soups–all over him. He was thoroughly baptized. For a good while, he stood there crying like a baby. That, he tells in his testimony, is when the Lord broke him. That weekend, he preached in Williams Boulevard Baptist Church—and from then on, he was greatly in demand.
Rudy is the one who trained teams of church visitors how to fill plastic laundry baskets with household supplies and cookies, then go from FEMA trailer to trailer, meeting people, talking with them, praying over their needs, and as the opportunity presented itself, to introduce them to the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of Rudy and Rose French’s journey to New Orleans, many people will live in Heaven forever.
For a while, they pastored one of our small churches down here, turning it into a mission center. Even though God used that church as a base to help a lot of people, Rudy and the congregational leadership did not see eye to eye on many things, and he ended up resigning. He tells some of that story.
I want you to buy their book. Details follow.
Rudy asked me to draw the cover, and Lynn Gehrmann in our office snapped the photo which adorns the back cover. Then, Rudy asked me to write the foreword, which I was glad to do.
Now, my final task with this book is to help him sell it. I drew him a quick little cartoon one day reminding him not to give the book away, not even to family, but to sell it. (He printed the ‘toon inside the back of the book!) Anyone who has ever published his own book knows you pay thousands of dollars up front, then have to recoup it from sales. If the book doesn’t sell, you’re in big trouble. And, if you give a copy to every good friend–the Frenches have hundreds–they’d go broke. And, may I add, for a couple who strictly live by faith–in ways that would amaze the rest of us–going broke would be a short journey for Rudy and Rose.
The books are 12 dollars each. The postage and handling is $3.75 (pay that only once, even for multiple copies). Rudy likes to encourage people to buy two, one for yourself and one for an unsaved friend. His testimony of the cruel upbringing he had as a child and the challenges he had to overcome will resonate with a lot of people who do not know the Lord. Ordering two copies, then, would cost you $27.75.
Send a check or money order to Rudy French, 6033 E. Antioch Road, Springville, Tennessee 38256.
Tell ’em Joe sent you!
By the way, tax deductible contributions can be made to their ministry to the North American Mission Board, P. O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368. Write “FRENCH 8585” with your contribution so they’ll be sure to get it. Rudy and Rose are designated as “Mission Service Corps” missionaries in our denomination, which means they have to pay their own way or raise their own support.