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  Many times we say, I'm going to church on Sunday. What some fail to understand is that "church" isn't a building. I remember our pastor saying, "the church is an organism, not an organization." He was teaching us the Bible truth about the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and the church is his body on earth. Another pastor once said, "God's hands have human fingers." This is a difficult concept for some to grasp, pun intended. However, it is important to understand that God accomplishes his work through human beings. He uses us, the church, to do his will and work. It's not that if we don't do his will that he is stymied. But he does use willing servants. To be in the church, one must be a part of the family. You cannot be in the church if you don't have the Savior. The church is not for the lost; it is for the edification of the saved. The lost can come and hear the message of salvation. But the church is made up of t...

By now you might know that Brazil will have a new president on January 1, 2011. She is Dilma Rousseff . The 26% of the population who voted in the run-off selected her by a 55% 45% margin.  Though she's had socialist roots for some time her goals seem to be to carry on what president Lula has been doing for the past eight years. Though just yesterday I heard him say, "She will have to forge her own platform." Time will tell if and how that platform might affect what we are doing here.  Until change comes we'll continue to do what we've been doing.  One of those things is making preparations for our coming Christmas Cantata. This year will be a bit different than last year. We will be presenting at the same rest home, orphanage and markets. But we've also added a play that Alexandre has written.  Our Cantata and play will tell the story of Creation and Salvation. We've also been granted permission to make a presentation at  WalMart . WalMart down h...

Tais Give me just one job....  It was my job to fill the baptistery at Calvary. We used that church because we don't have our own yet. I was told that it, "takes ALL day long to fill up." I turned on the water at 11:00 AM and let it run. Later that evening I returned to turn it off. As I entered the darkened building something didn't look right. It almost looked as if the tank was empty. But I heard water running. I stuck my arm into the "empty" tank only to find it to the BRIM and overflowing onto the platform! Praise the Lord for wet-vacs. The carpet was still damp on Saturday but that didn't stop the girls from being baptized. The Word was preached and both sets of parents heard the Gospel.  We saw the Lord work in a special way earlier in the week too. Wednesday was Children's Day. It is a BIG deal hear in Brazil and we had an activity for the little ones. There were several kids who made decisions to receive Christ. The Lord gave us perfec...

Graziele / Cris Grazilele (hard to pronounce if you are not a Brazilian) and Cris are getting baptized on Saturday night. Baptism is a big step of faith and these young ladies are ready. Grazi accepted the Lord several years ago when Company C was in it's infancy. She was invited to club by a friend, who has since left, and not long afterwards she opened her heart to the Savior. She is a determined twelve going on twenty year old. When Grazi sets her mind on a task she usually gets it done. Dawn has been teaching her Bible lessons and sewing skills recently and she's noted Grazi's abilities. Grazi plays the recorder in o ur orchestra. Cris is Alexandre's youngest sister. She accepted Christ when her older sister Dani shared her own personal decision a few years back. Cris always has a smile on her face and is a ready helper too. She is quiet but gifted. She is learning to play the violin and is also a part of our growing orchestra. Both of these gi...

Our Bible club has been exciting recently after nearly dying. We were down to around 25 kids when Alexandre came up with the idea of changing our theme. We went from “normal” club to Sector Alpha! Just like that. As I mentioned in a previous post we have a weekly Mission that we have to work on as a team. Last week’s task was to bring five kids with the same name to earn our 5000 points and complete the mission. Even though we fell one kid short we still had TWO Grazieles and TWO Jonatas. Three of the four were nearly yanked from their homes by our own Graziele (left). She is our little missionary and always ready to seek out that unknown kid. GREEN came close to winning our first Gold Star but the blue team took the day again. We had over 60 kids at club. The mission has already been given for this week and it included a bombshell for Sunday. All of the kids that came to club on Saturday had to return Sunday morning for Sunday School. EVERY ONE OF THEM or NO points were giv...

  We had a great weekend of activities at Faith Baptist of Sorocaba. Saturday night we took six teens to a youth rally at Hope. There were over a hundred teens there to hear a great challenge from the Word. Earlier on Saturday afternoon we had over fifty kids at Bible Club. Many had participated in club in the past but had left for one reason or another. The club's new theme has a "Mission Impossible" type emphasis. Each week the three teams get a "Mission" that they have to work out during the week. On Saturday they come with either a successful or a failed mission. Success brings boo-cu points and failure brings latrine duty! The Green team (mine) did really well Saturday but we were edged out by the blue team 1300 to 150. The Red team got latrine. During club a little boy showed up that I wasn't exactly excited about having. He is a little "demon" or at least that is what I've heard. His name is Alex. He lives next-door to our newest ...

We had a wonderful week! It's great to be able to spend this special time of the year with good friends.  Wednesday we visited João’s mother Marcia. João was baptized last week and his mother was touched by the message. During the visit our coworker Joelma shared her testimony and Marcia made a profession of faith! That was a VERY great start to the Easter weekend. Friday we showed the film Thief in the Night . Do you remember that movie? It was hard for me to get over the goofy clothing and old cars. Did we really look like that back in the 60s? Our group, however,  thought that it was a very interesting film and they had questions about Christ’s return. It was a rainy night but we still had ten that watched and ate popcorn. Saturday at Club we had about 38 kids and teens on another rainy day. Bible  Club is in a bit of a transition. We now have three teams in what is called the Alpha Sector ! The teams will compete for rewards, special outings and a promotion t...

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...

Saturday at Bible Club we had eleven boys and girls and Eliana came with her kids again. Mara and Carlinhos lead singing and finished telling the missionary story. I brought some games and decided to play one with the kids. BIG mistake. The game I chose was a running game and I was actually trying to get little five year old Sabrina involved. She didn't want to play so I grabbed her hand and started to run. Just as I did I felt an awful shooting pain in my hamstring and began to tumble out of control to the ground. I almost landed on top of Sabrina while actually throwing her down. She scrubbed her knee and as I tried to console her I was thinking... WHAT ON EARTH HAVE I DONE NOW! I got up haltingly and staggered to the wall. I sat there embarrassed and hurting like a dog. But after recovering my composure a bit I was able to share some more Gospel with Eliana. The story that Carlinhos gave was exactly what I needed to ask her THE question, “So, when are you going to accept Chris...

Have you ever been in such a sitution? This will date me but I remember my teacher walking into class to announce the president Kennedy had just been shot (I was very very young). I can still feel the tingle when I heard president George Bush (the first) draw his imaginary line in the desert sands. I remember hearing the news and then seeing the destruction on 9/11. In each of those I knew that I had witnessed something really important in our history. On Saturday, I think that I was a part of something really important in the history of Hope Baptist Church. Carlinhos had abruptly announced in Sunday school the week before that we were going to start a kid's club on Saturday (news to me)! The kids had responded postively. But kids have short memories (unless you've promised them a raise in their allowance or to pay for their college education). Anyway, the week went on and Saturday loomed. I wondered if we would have anyone come. I had mentioned it to several kids during the we...

The old joke goes something like this, "Is there a 4th of July in Brazil?" The answer? Of course! Do they celebrate it like the Americans do? No. Their Independence day is on September 7th. So, there are no fireworks, no flags waving, no parades, no "Star Spangled Banners". But, there were some fireworks at the Mormon church last night. What does the Mormon church have to do with the 4th of July? Let me explain. Dawn and I went to make a visit Tuesday night. Guilherme had missed the last two week of my Sunday school class and a visit was long over due. However, as we arrived at his house we couldn't get anyone to answer the door. We clapped and clapped and clapped (no we were not giving a standing ovation because no one was home, in Brazil one has to clap to get peoples attention; iron gates are difficult to knock on). Anyway after clapping several times with no response, even though the house lights were on, it was suggested that we go to the Mormon church to s...

Seminary and excitement are two words that don't seem to go together. Unless, that is, you are really excited about serving the Lord. Ronaldo has really been realizing God's call on his life lately. His salvation story is really incredible and I'll have to have him share it with you in a future update. God brought this man from the brink of destruction to Salvation as only He can and Ronaldo is seeking God's perfect direction and will for he and his family. He lacks two years of seminary training and would like to complete that at our seminary in Curitiba as soon as God opens that door. Currently the family is living on a shoestring ($384 per month!) so God's provision will definitely be needed. The other day he called me and said, "Pastor, I had the day off today and said to myself, 'I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing today. I'm going to hand out tracts in my neighborhood!'" So for the next few hours he did just that and had t...

The weekend was a special one for two reasons. On Saturday we stood up for Juliana as she married Mario at Calvary. The wedding was lovely and we praise God for the miracle that only He could have orchestrated in putting this young couple together. Mother’s Day was very special at Hope. We had good attendance both morning and evening. Abby has been working on a cookbook for the last few weeks as a school project and she gave it out to each mother present last night. Along with the book full of their own favorite recipes they received a photo that I had taken of their family yesterday morning. The mothers and daughters sang as a choir and there were special numbers by Kristen, Emily, and Hana Alexander (trio), the bell choir, and Adailza and Jan on the piano. It was Adailza’s first “solo”. Abby and I took Mom out to Chinese for dinner (three Americans, eating Chinese, in Brazil, talk about a cosmopolitan meal!). We each got a “Fortune cookie”. Two of the three were right on: “All of you...

This week has been distinguished by many blessings. The Easter week is of course our privilege as we remember the Power of the Gospel demonstrated in the death, burial, and resurrection, of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I will be preaching on that blessed event tomorrow from 1 Corinthians 15. Pray with us for souls saved. This week too has been bringing healing to my surgered arm. Is surgered a word? Anyway I am even now with my keyboard propped up on one side of my chair so as to get a “non-hurting” angle for my left arm. I’m progressing! I didn’t want to imagine two months of the hunt and peck method of communication. On Tuesday Ed and I made a visit on a young lady and her mother. Naomi had visited several weeks earlier and works so much that it was difficult to get a visit in. Both she and her mother had some good questions though she left us with the understand that she is searching for a certain feeling before she will be able to “fit into” the church. Ed explained that faith...