Latest Newsletter: “Exceedingly Abundantly”

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Dear friends,

On July 15th of this year, Itacyara and I celebrated twenty-five years of marriage. And on October 28th we passed the milestone of twenty years of full-time ministry in Brazil. As 2025 winds down we can only look back and marvel at what God has done in what has become one of the most momentous years of our lives.

This letter would have gone out sooner, but we have been holding off in order to be able to make a big announcement…and now we are ready to make it:

The Ebenezer Baptist Church has purchased new property!

This has been a long, and at times frustrating, process. You can read details here, but suffice it to say that, after many false starts and disappointments, we have finally been able to purchase an ample piece of property in a strategic, residential location, with plenty of room to build a sizeable church facility. We have already moved our kids club to the new location, and are planning on beginning our construction process by the beginning of the year.

Other Ebenezer News

This year we have seen significant growth in the participation and outreach of our church…two areas that they struggled with when we returned back in the beginning of 2024. In March we did some training in evangelism, followed by an evangelistic outreach in our community. In October the church mobilized to make repairs to the public park in front of our new property – which made a significant impact on the community.

Two young people who regularly attend our kids clubs have made decisions for Christ. Please pray that the adults in their lives will support this decision…or at least that they will not impede the discipleship process.

Two Sundays ago a man for whom we have been praying for years – the son of a couple in our church – made a public, and very emotional, profession of faith in Christ. Pray for Everaldo as we begin to accompany him.

One Big Ebenezer Prayer Request

When we returned to Ebenezer back in 2024 we set three goals for our time there? 1) purchase of a new property, 2) construction of a new temple, and 3)  calling of a full-time pastor.

The first two are in progress. The third is our major prayer request as we go into 2026. I would like to be able to bring on a man who would work with me for a couple years, and to whom I could then turn over the church ministry in a smooth transition. We did this back in 2021 with Pastor Francivaldo, and it worked wonderfully. I would ask that you be in prayer for a young couple with whom we have been talking for a couple months. If they accept our proposal, they would come on board in 2026, stay with the church during 2027, and then he would transition to the lead-pastor role in 2028-2029. Our upcoming furlough makes this prayer request even more urgent.

Camp Updates

This year has been an eventful one at the Mount Zion Camp. We started off the year with a Carnaval Retreat, with Pastor Jamey Miller from Tuscarora Baptist Church as our speaker.

During the next months we worked on several infrastructure projects, such as increasing the size of our swimming area and building a new garage/tool shed. For the swimming area project we are especially grateful to the kids attending the Fresno Bible Church VBS and the campers at Lamoka Baptist Camp for their generous contributions.

Camping activities started up again in August with the retreat of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Then in October we hosted the third annual retreat for our regional ladies association. We had over 70 ladies in attendance, maxing out our dorm capacity.

In the midst of this activity, we are reminded of why we do it in the first place. This year one of our area pastors baptized two young men who made decisions for Christ as a result of their participation in the teen retreat.

There was another special event at camp this year that bears mentioning. Many will remember that, back in 2011, we bought the camp property and planned on developing it together with Pastor Francisco Bezerra, our ministry partner at the time. You may also remember that, the following year, Pastor Francisco was tragically killed in front of his home in São Luís. Besides being instrumental in starting a camp, Pastor Franciso was one of the pioneers of the Regular Baptist ministry here in São Luís. Those of us ministering here today are, in many ways, building on the foundation that he left. In light of this we decided to rename our activity center in his memory. At our Carnaval Camp we had a very special dedication ceremony, complete with fireworks.

Bible Institute

The highlight of the year for the Bible Institute was the presence, in September, of Pastor Nate Edwards and two other brothers from West Windsor Baptist Church to give a modular course on Church Leadership, an extremely relevant topic for our churches. Our teaching area was packed out with people from each of our Regular Baptist congregations, as well as people from other denominations.

This semester at the Bible Institute Itacyara is once again teaching Education Methods.

Where in the World…

This was the year for traveling. In March we attended the annual conference of our Baptist Mid Missions missionaries here in Brazil. These events are always encouraging and challenging, and being able to work along side this dedicated group of servants is an immense privilege for us. Later on in the year our field administrators organized an event for MKs which was a tremendous blessing for Nathanael.

In May Itacyara and I made a trip out-of-country to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. In August I was able to spend some time with my parents in Florida. While there I gave a ministry report at our sending church, Fellowship Baptist Church in Lakeland, FL, which you can see here.

In October Itacyara and I were invited to participate in the missions conference of the Independent Baptist Church of Blairsville, near Pittsburgh, PA. And as I write this we have just returned from speaking at a conference in the city of Curitiba, in the southern region of Brazil.

In addition to all of this we were privileged to host our oldest son, Michael, and his girlfriend, Hannah, for a couple weeks in July.

Looking Forward…

Many exciting activities and opportunities loom on the horizon. Next month we have our annual Teen Retreat, the sixth since we officially inaugurated the camp ministry back in 2020. We are also planning an English Retreat for the middle of 2026.

At Ebenezer we are making preparations to begin building on our new property, as well as planning a major evangelistic push in our new neighborhood.

Next year I will be teaching Church History and Old Testament Survey at the Bible Institute.

2026 will also be a year of preparation as we plan for our furlough in 2027.

Support Update

As we mentioned in our last prayer letter, due to a combination of inflation in both the US and Brazil and an increase in some of our expenses, we have experienced a shortfall in our support level. We were grateful to hear of a church that will be taking us on for support in January. There is still a shortfall. however, and if you would like the details, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

On the Web

The Life of David: The Least Romantic Engagement Gift Ever
Best of Brazil: Vila Velha, Paraná
The latest snapshots of missionary life.

As always, we are constantly mindful that nothing that happens here would be possible without your support, both in prayer and in finances. May God richly bless each an every one of you.

In Christ,

Andrew, Itacyara, Michael, and Nathanael

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And be sure to read the action-packed adventures of Missionary Max: Missionary Max and the Jungle Princess and Missionary Max and the Lost City.