Our current church-plant in São Luís. Stay up to date on what God is doing in this ministry.
This past Sunday marked our first ever service at the Ebenezer Regular Baptist Congregation. The name “Ebenezer” was chosen due to it’s meaning (hitherto hath the Lord helped us). The fact that it is the Brazilian title of my all-time-favorite hymn (Come Thou Fount) may have also entered into the considerations. Whatever the case, the…
The following are excerpts from our most recent prayer letter. You can read the whole thing here. The past month and a half has been for us–without a doubt–the most difficult of our ministry since we arrived in Brazil. Our walk through the valley began on April 2nd, when our beloved co-worker Francisco Bezerra was…
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…
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…
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…
What follows are some pictures of the VBS last week at the Kerigma congregation. The lovely and multi-talented Itacyara (aka The Brazilian Bombshell) was in charge of the event. She had been planning it–together with several ladies from our church–almost since our arrival two-and-a-half months previous. On the last day there were over 60 kids…
English class, that is. (She has plenty of the other kind too, of course.) Last week she took on the ministry of offering free English classes to the community on Sunday mornings. As the little congregation we work at has no morning Sunday School class, she holds them in the church building. This Sunday was…
Brazilian’s celebrate their equivalent of Valentines Day on June 12th. As that fell on a Sunday this year, the Kerigma congregation held a Dia dos Namorados event on the 11th. Despite the date, romance was in the air! ____________________ Did you enjoy this post? Consider making a donation to our ministry in Brazil. As an…
It has been about a month and a half since our arrival for our second term in Brazil. Here is a quick summary of major events during that time. Renting a house. This was our first major hurdle. After several days of searching we finally found a three-bedroom home in a decent neighborhood. Our son…