Some of you may have heard the report of one of the largest cargo ships in the world in danger of sinking off the coast of Brazil. In reality, this is an unfolding story, and it is happening just a few short kilometers from where we live, in the Baía de São Marcos (St. Mark’s…
This post is part of an ongoing series which seeks to introduce the readership of this blog to the many fascinating aspects of one of Brazil’s best-kept secrets–the city of São Luís. A book fair within walking distance of the beach. Heaven must be something like this. Soon after we arrived I in São Luís…
I have mentioned before our intention to start small group Bible studies here in São Luís using the Lamplighters International material and methodology. By God’s grace, our first small group, which meets every Monday morning at 9:30, has made it through the very first book–an in-depth look at Romans 1-6. After we finished the final…
Historic, because in the history of our association of churches here in Maranhão (roughly 30 years), there has never been an event like it. All of our churches got together and organized an event that was for…all the churches. And it encouraged us greatly that the event was a missionary conference. For the conference we…
In my last post I mentioned a “brush with death” on our way back from the MAB missionary conference last week. Several people have asked about it, so here–without further ado–is how it went down. Thirty-nine years is somewhat of a milestone–if for no other reason than that it is the last birthday before forty….
Yesterday Pastor Francisco and I returned, safe and sound, from a whirlwind tour of the states of Piaui, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Ceará. The occasion was the annual conference of MAB, the Baptist Auxiliary Mission here in NE Brazil. Pastor Francisco is a MAB missionary, and I am on the advisory board. This year’s conference was…
It has been a couple weeks since the debut of The Astonishing Adventures of Missionary Max (part one of three parts), and we have been gratified by the number of people who have purchased it. Some have even left comments in various places, and these have been very encouraging as well. Here are a couple…
I came home the other night to find Mikey and his neighborhood friends gathered around the table, busily putting together some Lego creations. I was impressed with the detail and creativeness they demonstrated. Here are some of the finished products: Not sure what’s it’s called, but it’s got Jar Jar Binks, and that’s all that…
Behind our Kerigma congregation stretches a sizable neighborhood called “Coroadinho”. It is known as a hotbed of crime and violence. Within this neighborhood–and within sight of our church–is a hill named after a colorful figure from Coroadinho’s past known as “Ze Bom Bom”. If Coroadinho is a hurricane of crime, Ze Bom Bom hill is…
When we decided to dedicate our efforts to graduating the Kerigma church plant, one of the areas we observed where we could make the biggest impact was in the youth group. When we arrived, the congregation had various children’s ministries, but no real youth program. As a result, over the last five years many children…