The Psalmist
exclaims in Psalm 126
“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy…
those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping
carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with
him”.
The sweet and
sour of Christian service has been our experience throughout another year
working with EAB in north-eastern Brazil. EAB never hides the tears just to
tell the good stories of joy – and this year has been a roller-coaster ride in
the Mission – but as I come to report back to you tonight I am happy to say
that God is faithful and the final result of the mountains and valleys is
expressed in the words of the Psalmist: “The
Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy… those who sow in
tears will reap with songs of joy”.
The sour side
of 2014 started back in January with my ill health which really was a headache
and saw me having more tests and medical exams over a period of months than you
would want to imagine! I became very ill with eyesight difficulties, hearing
impaired, speech difficulties, concentration problems and even my ability to
walk was affected – and the problem was that the annual Carnival Camp was fast
approaching in the first week of March at Green Pastures and I just couldn’t
lead it as usual.
The sweet
side to this was that God raised up our son Philip to take on this
responsibility and he did a great job. God really used him, gave him the calm
authority needed to lead 400 mainly young people throughout the four to five
day event and the Lord also gave Philip the spiritual wisdom and anointing to
lead all the services. The result was a resounding verdict by those present
that it was “the best camp ever” over the past 35 years since we started when
Philip was just a year old! All glory be to God! “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy…
those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy”.
Prior to this
camp EAB had held its annual 10-day Outreach at Itaporanga with a 60-strong
team from a variety of our churches. This brought a new lease of life to the
local church and a number of new converts. At Itaporanga they are now in the
process of increasing the size of the building to cope with the people.
However it
was immediately after the Carnival Camp that something we had all been
praying for finally happened. For the heavens opened, bringing two and a half
years of drought to an end, and just in the month of March we had 16.5 inches
of rain! This eventually added up to double that, at 32 inches of rain, by the
middle of this year. “The Lord has done
great things for us, and we are filled with joy… those who sow in tears will
reap with songs of joy”. Thanks very much to everyone who took it on their
hearts to pray for rain!
Well, of
course time waits for no man – especially in the work of EAB – and the annual
May Field Conference was fast approaching, held in João Pessoa this year - but
I was still really unwell. There were other decisions to take too regarding ‘to
go or not to go to the UK’ and ‘to start or not to start on the Patos
headquarters building project’?
Well we
prayed and we thought and we discussed, and came to the decisions that we would
postpone the UK trip to 2015 (DV) and we thank everyone for their understanding
and encouraging messages when we broke the news. We’d already booked all the
churches we were to speak at – but I just did not have the health and strength
for it.
We also had
to decide on whether to start EAB’s headquarters church new roof and
refurbishment project as we either had to start in May or not have time to
complete the work prior to the 2015 rainy season hopefully soon to start in
January. Liz was decisive here, and said she felt we ought to go for it by
faith, and said she would run the project despite me being ill. I agreed and we
started! And Liz has been absolutely fantastic coordinating brick layers,
labourers, electricians, architect, sound engineer, carpenters, painters – the
lot – and has them all eating out of her hand! The end of this story is that
the work is nearly complete – the church has a new roof, new ceiling, is fully
rewired with new illumination and is now being painted. It’s the talk of the
town for the glory of God and we just feel it’s going to attract many to hear
the Gospel when we re-open in about a month’s time. Bert Mundy & Frank Dyer
coordinated the original building 51 years ago and now Liz has done what 2 men
managed then. We thank everyone who has prayed and contributed to this project
and believe we now will have a headquarters church fit for another 51 years
should Jesus tarry! “The Lord has done
great things for us, and we are filled with joy… those who sow in tears will
reap with songs of joy”.
Right – so
having started the building project in May we set out for the EAB Field
Conference held in João Pessoa this year, and somehow I dragged myself round
doctors’ surgeries on the days prior to and following the EAB Field Conference
there and managed to lead the event with great difficulty. However the reports
were so encouraging that it certainly made me feel it was worth the effort. For
as the reports were delivered by all the EAB churches we realized that we had
12% more Christians in our churches than one year before and that during the
year we had managed to evangelize no less than 144,419 people and that our
projects of social action had benefitted 132,849. To help cope with this
situation of blessed growth we commissioned 3 new pastors at the Conference for
the glory of God!
As part of
this growth we could see how God had opened a new door into another ex-slave
community where more descendents of African slaves from Angola have stuck
together 150 years in extreme poverty, discrimination and need and waited till
2014 to hear the Gospel through the ministry of EAB – and already a number of
the inhabitants of this community have come to the Lord! “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy”.
Some think to
themselves: what is EAB doing in Brazil when there is so much church growth
there? Well, I’ll tell you what EAB is doing. It is evangelizing communities of
African descendents who had no Gospel witness in their community till this
year. I’ll tell you what EAB is doing. It is pioneering with the Gospel in
three such desperately needy communities of ex-slaves at Fonseca, Barra de
Oitis and now Arara – it’s evangelizing African descendents in Brazil! But of
course it’s not just African descendents who are being reached with God’s love
and truth but many native Brazilian communities like that in Rio Grande do
Norte State at Ipueira where we are rejoicing because two people have come to
Christ in a village where there are virtually no Christians at all.
Well – our
Field Conference was over and we were into the month of June and with all this
work going on I was still really ill. So it was that the Patos church said
enough’s enough! We are going to fast and pray for our pastor’s health – and
they did – joining with all your prayers in the UK and around the world. And
the next week I went back to the doctor’s once again and she said, “I have a
new plan. As all the medicine you are taking is getting us nowhere let’s
experiment and stop taking it all and monitor your progress”. And to cut a long
story short I was back in her surgery a couple of weeks later feeling much
better and I have not had to return to any of the medication again and even my
diabetes is now unmedicated and just controlled by my diet! God answers prayer!
“The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy”! And that day a non-evangelical Christian doctor raised her
hands to heaven as she saw my improvement and said “thank you God”!
Brothers and
sisters – committee members – supporters – prayer warriors. Thank you each one
for your prayers and support! “Those who
sow in tears will reap with songs of joy”! The Lord is using the multiple
ministries of EAB 76 years into the Mission’s history and we are humbled before
the Lord at His goodness, and grateful to God for the privilege of being able
to serve Him and our fellow man! We are workers together in Christ Jesus!
Let no one
doubt that the Devil has raised his ugly head in this past year, but the one
who is mighty is within us and amongst us and the victory is ours in the Name
of Jesus!
The Bible
Colleges press forward training new workers for the vineyard and I have taken
on a more advisory role in this sphere after 18 years at the front.
The EAB
Action Schools also are in a period of transition as we adapt to a second
generation of schools and kids with many of the original sponsored children now
married. The schools carry on doing an excellent work, and we thank all those
in the UK who sponsor them and coordinate the sponsorship programme, but we ask
for your prayers as the national leadership here in Brazil is in the process of
a reorganization of the project in accordance with changing circumstances and
laws here in Brazil. Between now and the next EAB annual Celebration we should
have a new plan of action to present to you all pointing to the way ahead for
this wonderful project in its second phase to a second generation of pupils.
Please pray with us as we take the decisions here that we need to take in the
final months of this year.
Thankfully
last month I was back in good health for our annual Leadership Conference when
all the workers and their families gather at Green Pastures for a few days of
fellowship, prayer and planning together. It was a real time of blessing and
coincided with the National Government’s environmental organization recognizing
Green Pastures as a nature reserve and turning up at the Conference, amidst all
our workers and their kids, to return to the wild over 200 native birds they
had recovered from poachers and saved from hunters. It was a joyful afternoon
with all our leaders’ families helping set free the birds. It was an afternoon
when we declared that “the earth is the
Lord’s and all that is in it” and that EAB believes that this too is part
of the church’s mission. It was as if that afternoon the setting free of those
birds, into the trees we have planted over the past 35 years, was like a symbol
of our freedom in Christ. Freedom to serve Him! Freedom to live for Him!
Freedom to proclaim his Gospel! I think that the three Government
environmentalists with us that day were quite taken aback by our joy and
commitment. Their leader at the end said, “Boy! This was wonderful! We never
expected this”!
So brothers
and sisters – it has been a year of trials and triumphs! EAB’s 76th
year was the year in which our veteran pastor at Princesa Isabel – Manoel Jorge
– received his home call to Glory! It was also a year when our annual Youth
Conference was held outside the State of Paraíba for the first time – in the State
of Ceará, further west, where the Emmens ministered back in the 50’s! This is
clearly a symbol of EAB’s expansion in spreading the good news of Jesus far and
wide. For our vision is to spread out into all 9 northeastern States and we are
now in 5 of them!
“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy…
those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping
carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with
him”.
Amen.
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