Among Evangelical churches here in Brazil, May has been designated “Family Month”. Sermons, activities, and conferences are organized around the theme of “The Family”. This, of course, is in response to the massive disintegration of family life here (something our US brethren know all about, as well). This year I was invited to speak at…
While in the US last year, we were introduced to this beautiful song. At first we could not find it in Portuguese. Finally we found a version, and last night Itacyara sang it with the music team at the Boas Novas Baptist Church.
“What are you thinking, coach?” What sports fan has never found himself hollering those words at the TV as they helplessly watch the coach of their favorite team remove the star player from the game? What soccer mom has never screamed those words at the youth-league coach as the best kid (usually her kid) is…
Some quick observations: 1. The stated reason for the protest was a reduction in Social Security benefits. Many Brazilians are upset that the retirement age has been increased. The Brazilian government is trying to deal with a system that has no more money – something the American government is going to have to deal with…
Last night Pastor Francivaldo and I met with the leadership of the Ebenezer youth group at a local pizza parlor. There, around three magnificent pies, we listened to the ideas and dreams of the young people for their group, and set forth our philosophy of church/youth ministry. Look for great things to come from this group of…
Missions is not just carried out in formal preaching/teaching sessions. Indeed, for the most part it is dealing with people you meet in everyday life. Like the workers who are building our house. In conversations with them, I discovered that four of them had no Bibles. So we took care of that problem. Since then I’ve…
Last week our association of churches held it’s third missionary conference. The speaker, Pastor Misael (who, incidentally, pastors the church where the Brazilian Bombshell and I were married almost 17 years ago) challenged us from the Word. Besides the biblical edification, conferences like these bring our churches together around a common cause, with the side…
When we returned from our furlough in January we found several issues that needed to be cared for in the church construction project. By far the biggest and most urgent of these was the roof. Fixing this involved building up one side of the structure in order to put in clay tiles (as opposed to…
These are pictures of the construction of our camp bathroom…the first building to be built on the camp property. I will keep adding pictures until the project is completed, so keep checking back for updates!
Many have been following the progress of the construction of our house via Facebook. I have decided to include a photoset here on the site, featuring the process from A to Z. I’ll keep adding pictures as time goes by.