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Have I explained our new ministry? We are in a new church plant. It is called Faith Baptist Church (Igreja Batista da Fé) and is on the north side of the city of Sorocaba. Our other churches (New Life, Calvary and Hope) are sending teams each Sunday to help with Junior church, song leading, special music and the like. This last Sunday at church Aline from Hope said to me that her husband Cristiano didn't know that we were working in the new church plant! I was a bit shocked with her statement but it made me wonder... "have I officially told anyone?" I thought that I had but if you are not aware, let me explain. This work is a bit different than our first two works. In those we were in a team of Americans planting a church in Brazil. This time we are still planting a church in Brazil but we are a part of a Brazilian team. Our coworker Alexandre is the team leader and also less than half my age. He came to Christ in 1999 at our Calvary work and then felt God's call to m...

Working on a missions team has its wonderful benefits and God has allowed my family to do just that for a little over eleven years now. Needless to say we have learned a lot. In fact when God helped me to realize that He was calling me to the mission field it was because a visiting missionary, during his slide presentation, mentioned that he was going to work in Brazil as part of a team with his brother. I talked with him after his presentation that morning and now, eleven years later, am still a part of that team with Shawn and Donna Alexander and Ben and Dani Jacobs! Granted, the team has changed over those years but the goal has remained the same. We want to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ who reflect Him in every aspect of their lives with the goal of becoming disciple makers themselves (cp. 2 Timothy 2.2). One of the many advantages of team work is that we often find ourselves serving in different corners of the world simultaneously. Take today for example. Shawn is head...

We had a busy week with the 18 man BJ soccer ministry team here from Thursday until Sunday afternoon. There were several exciting opportunities to share the Gospel and literally hundreds heard the message. Many were talked to one on one and several made decisions for Christ! (That is Gil with the kids from next door at right.) Wow! That was refreshing to write. Things around these parts are definitely getting exciting. Which makes it even harder to think about leaving for a year! Our Sunday school class had 10 kids for the second week in a row! And that with 4 visitors. Jose Carlos, a little boy I met while talking with the kids next door, and who basically lives on the street, brought his parents to church last night and both raised their hands for salvation! Carol, Ana Luiza's friend was back too and she also raised her hand at the invitation. Man do we have work to do. I am so thankful for all of your prayers and look forward to sharing what the Lord will be doing in the near fu...

“Dear friends and family, We want to thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry....” How many times have you read those words in a missionary letter? They seem so... general, so impersonal, so emotionless. But here is the missionary's (my) dilema, I want to communicate with each person on my support team. I want that communication to be personal. I want that communication to seem vital and important. I want it to be written personally to you. I want you to know that you are a part of our team; that what we do, we do for Christ, and because of you. I want you personally to know that without you we wouldn't be able to keep doing what we are doing. I would love to put your name at the head of every email, Dear Jack, Wilma, Kent, Sandra, Juan, Steve, Bob, Sylvia, Vicki, Jim, Martha, Rick, Sherry, Ron, Del, Glynn, Greg, Mike, Guy, Tim, Adam, Jeff, Andy, Dan, .... But I can't. I was recently verbally spanked for not communicating more. “What about the people who don...

When one is off the net one tends to grab time when one can. As I type now, I am sitting in Ben and Dani's echoing house. I just finished painting the babie's room. Don't panic, there is no baby yet, though I wouldn`t be surprised if one doesn`t come soon (just a guess). Anyway, while contempating life disconnected from the internet I am realizing that one can live a good and productive life with out it. I believe that my spiritual life has improved. My communication with my wife and daughter has improved. And it is refreshing. I am the type of person that can get on the internet and go from one thing (whether, artical, software site, or blog) to the next without much planning or forethought. What was a tool becomes a stumbling block. In fact not long ago I said to Dawn, "Why on earth do I need to know what is going on on the other side of the world?" Not that "keeping up with the news" is necessairly bad, but it can be addicting and a become a time wa...

What is a "normal" missionary letter? When you read a missionary prayer letter what are you expecting to see and hear? Someone commented to me the other day that my letters are not your "normal" missionary letters. As I thought about that I wondered, "What makes up a 'normal' missionary letter?" and "Do I want to write a 'normal' letter?" First of all I realize that we are living in a world where reading is becoming a thing of the past. Ask most young people if they like to read and you will have very few that say they do. Throw into the pot the words "Missionary Prayer letter" and the percentages will drop drastically. Missionary prayer letters are interesting to those involved in the ministry. Not just pastors, but people like you who read letters (or in this case Blogs) like mine. Though you trudge through names like Zelha, Alenildes, Itapetininga, or Barueri, as you might when reading the book of 1 Chronicles you are...

The Carnaval Retreat this year was completely Brazilian run. The teens and families that participated had a great time. We had nine teen there. The theme was Be Different! and the daily devotions and nightly challenges were geared to help teens see the importance of being a Christian in a pagan world. In the pictures at (left from top to bottom) Rodolfo, Abby, Felipe, Ariel, and Paulinho share a chat time. David and Felipe dressed for costume night. Monise dressed as Fiona, David and I with our red noses (thanks photoshop elements)and like father like son hair cuts, and Joice eating a raw egg as part of a game.

In the olden days when we BMM missionaries said that we were going to camp it meant, mud, mosquitoes, mold, and mato (weeds). The camp was run down and made for a real missionary experience. Now-a-days (like my grammar?) it means a very nice hotel with a lot of neat things to do. We spent this past week at a hotel near the city of Avaré, about three hours interior from Sorocaba. Our speaker for the week was pastor Ron Wigand from Caro, Michigan. He brought timely messages from Jesus' parables. It was a great time to renew friendships with other BMM missionaries and get to know others. We were also able to take Annie and Jackson with us. They helped with the junior church during the evening sessions and with the youth during the day. It was a fun week!