New Wells

The weekend was very full but very blessed. All the ministry went off well. Thanks for praying.

I have been so busy since then preparing for more ministry between today (Thursday) and Sunday. As all preachers know it's not just the time you spend speaking in the pulpit but the time preparing which is far greater. John Stott told us here in Brazil in the 80s that he spent 2 hours preparing for every 5 minutes preaching. 

So today we will be inaugurating a well at Miguel Community in Curral Velho County and I will be giving my normal 30 minute message to encourage the community to care for creation and then will be taking part in the thanksgiving service around the well.

Tomorrow (Friday) we go to Domingos Ferreira Community in Tavares County for another well inauguration with the same programme as above. We will travel on at night from there to sleep at Caroá.

On Saturday I will be preaching at the Caroá church's 35th anniversary service and travelling back to Patos on Sunday morning in time to preach in the communion service on Sunday night. Your prayers are valued for all this as is your financial support.

Full Weekend

Yesterday I had a good 4.2 km walk at Green Pastures which is good for the body and good for the soul. 

I have worked a lot this week preparing for ministry this weekend as well as coordinating various church and project initiatives. In fact for us church and projects always go together.

This afternoon I will be speaking at a seminar which is part of the worldwide "Renew Our World" inter-church Christian environmental initiative. I have been asked to speak on enviromental justice in the semi-arid northeast of Brazil. I hope your church is linked to the https://renewourworld.net/ and realizes that God's first words to mankind involved our responsabilities in this field. Many Christians sadly consider this to be an optional extra but God put it first! Many Christians consider these things to be almost hindrances to the preaching of the Gospel but God put them first. If you think I'm wrong then perhaps you would like to read Genesis 1:27-28 where God created humanity and then gave them His very first instructions!

After the seminar I will travel to Soledade (one and a half hours east of Patos) and hold a meeting with local church leaders discussing the issues related to church growth in the region and leadership issues which arise. 

Then I will go into the third meeting of the day preaching the Gospel at the Soledade 25th anniversary service on Acts 13/14.

Then tomorrow, Sunday, I will be preaching in Patos on Psalm 23. God has spoken to me a lot from this Psalm recently so I am going to preach from this beautiful 'full of the Lord' poem as something fresh and alive for me.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We cannot over emphasize how important both are. The attacks and threats of the evil one are a constant and we can't always give details here. Please pray for us!

Annual Leadership Conference was excellent!

EAB/ACEV's annual leadership conference at Green Pastures was superb from the 16th to 18th. Normally this is held in September when it's a bit cooler but this year it had to be in November as we were in Europe for over two months. Everything went off very smoothly, blessed and in unity. PTL! Liz did brilliantly with all the logistics and I led the spiritual programme.

Philip spoke very well on how the Christian leader should and should not use social media and what areas of danger we should all be aware of and coping with. We also had open discussions about how to prepare better for services and sermons and issues in this field. We also discussed the need for ethics and transparency in church finances and in the personal finances of the Christian leader. We again discussed the need to keep party politics out of the pulpit and other church communications as well as the need to avoid unnecessary theological controversies. 

We also had some administrative sessions and the senior leadership team had a long meeting whilst everyone else had a time of leisure, swimming, walking and chatting. We praise God for the fine body of leaders He is raising up in EAB/ACEV. 

In Touch 90

EAB's magazine 'In Touch' edition 90 is now on our website as is the Christmas Card Gift List form. All are available for download at: http://eabrazil.org/

Forty-nine Years

Liz and I are celebrating our 49th wedding anniversary today praising God for all His goodness to us.

This week is very hectic preparing for the EAB/ACEV Leadership Conference which starts tomorrow and runs till Sunday at Green Pastures.

I have also been busy preparing my lecture for a seminar on 'Environmental Justice in Brazil's semiarid northeast' organized by us, Tearfund and the worldwide Christian campaign called 'Renew our World' a week on Saturday. 

I have also been involved in some very serious sessions of counselling with different people which I can't elaborate on here but just ask for prayer and wisdom.

Wow! Quite a Saturday night!

Saturday night was a great night at Juazeirinho (half way between Patos and Campina Grande) when I preached the Word at the inauguration of the new EAB/ACEV church there plus its rural branch church at Antonio Ferreira Community bringing our total of churches up to 86. Please pray for this new area of work and for local pastor Angelo. It was a jubilant night of praise and preaching the Gospel! PTL!

It was a typical street service for NE Brazil with a street blocked off and a great crowd gathered to hear the Gospel with loud sound equipment enough to blast you to glory! There were one or two cats mingling with the crowd and a few beggars asking for money at the end. All was in a lovely relaxed and joyful atmosphere with just enough of an evening breeze to cool things nicely.

First Week Back

We are gradually re-adapting to the heat and everything else here in north-east Brazil after over 2 months away.

On Sunday (4th) I preached at the main service in Patos and it was a lovely service. The 'welcome back' section of the service was done very well by the church with the 3rd worship song amounting to an explosion of praise in song and dance involving children, adolescents and youth. It was fantastic!

On the Tuesday evening we received at our home a surprise welcome back visit from the youth which really was lovely too. 

Then on Thursday we ministered at the ex-landless settlement in São Mamede County where there were just 13 present plus a cat! It was a lovely service anyway.

On Friday Liz and I did a lot of work at Green Pastures getting ready for the Leadership Conference there which starts next Friday (16th).

Today, Saturday, we are travelling to Juazeirinho to inaugurate another EAB/ACEV church taking us up to 85. Juazeirinho is exactly half way between Patos and Campina Grande. 

How good it is to have a haircut!

We're re-adapting to the heat in NE Brazil with temperatures from 23ºC to 38ºC every day. Getting ready to preach in Patos church this Sunday.

Small details strike you after 2 months away like it's nice to be back to Brazilian liquid deodrant but it hits you how the shampoo here looks the same but is in fact much less concentrated than that in the UK. I had a haircut yesterday as you can see. That feels better!

Back in Brazil

We are very tired so I won't be long here today. Our 36 hour trip back to NE Brazil was very tiring but it's good to be back. Frustrating was a 3 hour delay sat in the plane about to bring us from Lisbon to Recife meaning we were later than expected arriving to sleep the night in Recife. They said the delay was owing to bad weather which was hard to believe. Anyway we finally made it and have been happily meeting up with all the family later this Thursday afternoon after over two months away. Thanks for all your prayers.