Jacqui*, a young mother in her 30s, was alone in her apartment one night, crying and praying to God. “Please help me,” she begged. “I need you; I need to know you.”

Jacqui was going through a difficult time, suffering from all the hurt she had experienced in her past as memories from her childhood resurfaced. When she was only four years old, she had been raped by several different male relatives, who continued the abuse throughout her childhood and into her teenage years.

 “My sexual life was totally destroyed,” Jacqui shared. “I was continually looking for new boyfriends [to deal with the pain]. My life was so dark.”

In the midst of her pain, Jacqui had discovered that other young girls had been enduring the same thing abuse at the hands of the same men, and decided that something must be done. She had gone to court, reliving the painful and brutal experiences. The night she cried out to God, she felt hopeless—he was her last resource. She opened the Bible but closed it after a few minutes, unable to understand the words.

Later that same night, Jacqui found an advertisement in the paper for a leather jacket sale in one of the reception rooms at La Villa des Moulins. The sale was from Thursday to Sunday that week. She didn’t need a new jacket, but was somewhat interested in the sale. However, Saturday night came and she hadn’t taken the time to go, and she normally slept in on Sunday mornings. Early Sunday morning, however, Jacqui’s phone rang. It was her mother, calling her to invite her out for breakfast. Since she was up, anyway, Jacqui decided to check out the sale with her boyfriend.

L’Intersection, a young church plant, was meeting in the reception room next to the leather jacket sale. During the pastor’s sermon, he noticed a man standing at the doorway, listening. After the service, the man began to leave, so the pastor quickly approached him to invite him to stay for coffee.

“No, thanks,” he said. “My girlfriend is in the other room and I need to go.”

“Come back with her, if you want,” I offered.

A few minutes later, the man returned with a woman who introduced herself as Jacqui. Her eyes were wide open with questions.

“What is this?” she asked.

“This is a church,” I replied.

“A church? This doesn’t look like a church—there are so many young people!”

Jacqui wanted to know if she and her boyfriend could come and if they needed to register somewhere or pay something. I told them they were more than welcome to join us whenever they wanted and that it was free.

“I tried to read the Bible this week, but I didn’t understand anything,” Jacqui told me, explaining she had attempted Revelation.

 “Wow!” I said. “You didn’t pick the easiest one, but next week, we are beginning a series on Revelation. Why don’t you join us?”