Theology, opinion, fiction, and the occasional limerick.
There is no denying that the Western Civilization we currently inhabit is fundamentally different from the one inhabited by our parents and grandparents. A good part of this massive shift has to do with what is called today the “marriage equality movement”. In his book We Cannot be Silent (2015, Nelson Books), scholar, author, college…
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…
This was not the post I had planned on writing today, and even now, as my fingers move, I can scarcely believe what I am seeing appear on the screen. As I was getting ready to teach an English class last night, the phone rang. It was a lady from our church, imploring me to…
If you have read Missionary Max and the Jungle Princess, you will remember that our hero has a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for him as soon as he arrives at the airport. Faithful followers of this blog will perhaps not be surprised to learn that this episode has, as it’s inspiration, a real life event…
On Wednesday the Rio de Janeiro teams Flamengo and Vasco faced off in a hard-fought game. The final score was 2 to 1 Vasco, to the sadness of Mikey and the great joy of his mother. What made this game memorable, however, was not the score, or even the spectacular goals. No, what everybody remembers…
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….
We were recently saddened by the sudden (to us) closing of a sister mission agency. The agency in question has been used of God to enhance the work of missionaries all over the globe. We have many personal friends who worked with this group. This agency was one of the ones Itacyara and I considered…
Editor’s note: I wrote this article back in 2011. Since then the website referenced appears to have been scrubbed, as have the graphics I originally shared. The only online presence for the Houston church appears to be a Facebook page, whose last post is from 2015. With that in mind I’ve heavily modified the first…
A couple days ago I posted a tribute to veteran missionary Harold Reiner, who had just entered the presence of his Savior. The following video was recently posted on Facebook by Harold Reiner’s daughter-in-law. With her gracious permission I post it here. The video was made in 2008, so some things are a little out…
Today I received word that pioneer missionary Harold Reiner had passed away. Ever since I met him in 1989, Harold has been one of my heroes. His son Tim had graciously invited me–then a seventeen-year-old kid who had never been outside of the country (Canada doesn’t count)–to spend two months with them in Brazil. Throughout…