The 10-day Evangelistic Outreach ended up well. I preached as always at the last main street service in front of the church and it was lovely. 8 raised their hands indicating desire to follow Jesus at the end, one man gave me a note asking to be contacted afterwards and another came to me asking for prayer. There were a total of 25 people who made decisions for Christ, and now ensues the follow-up work to see how many really are converted and committed to the Lord. Please pray.
We had a good EAB UK Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday in which I participated via video link on Messenger. One of the things I told them about was the excellent Action Child leadership meeting held in my office the previous day. We are always pressing on towards excellence and seeking to improve all we do for God, and it was wonderful to see the total dedication and commitment of the team. We will have a further meeting with all the Action Child/Schools teachers, local pastors and coordination team on February 15th.
Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre prepares for our Carnival Camp starting on February 22nd. There is always much to do preparing for these big events. But Green Pastures always functions as a get-away place for our leaders and their families. 2 families have been there recently to relax and have a break in quietness in the middle of nature.
We value your prayers as we face different difficulties and challenges from day to day, that the Lord will give us wisdom and peace in all situations. How blessed Liz and I are by our wonderful relationship as we can support each other always. Difficulties have arisen in the work on a variety of fronts, at the same time as support income for the Mission has fallen low. Please pray for all this. One of our pastors has gone into depression for the second time now so I had to organize emergency cover for him at his church and help with his treatment. Other battles arise, but the Lord is with us. Sometimes disappointments arise, but God never disappoints us.
Last night's service in Patos was really blessed. I preached on "Changing Clothes" (Ephesians 4:17-24) and was encouraged by a lot of appreciation expressed after the service.
Monday, 27 January 2020
Thursday, 16 January 2020
Outreach blessing increases
We have now seen the number of people who have made commitments to Jesus Christ, as a result of the annual 10-day Evangelistic outreach at Ibiara, rise to 20. This is really encouraging. Of course only time will tell, in the follow-up, as to how many people will stand firm and truly be converted, but the signs are promising. Please pray. We carefully monitor all decisions between now and May when we have our annual General Conference. People are of course visited etc. as appropriate.
I have just finished reading "The Kingdom of Jesus" written by Forster. It's alright, but not a book I would recommend. Other books I've read by him have been much better, but they were written in partnership with others. This reads like a copy of his preaching, without a partner, and you sort of have to stick at it to get through it. He has some good insights into the whole concept of the Kingdom of God/Heaven and the Son of Man.
I have just finished reading "The Kingdom of Jesus" written by Forster. It's alright, but not a book I would recommend. Other books I've read by him have been much better, but they were written in partnership with others. This reads like a copy of his preaching, without a partner, and you sort of have to stick at it to get through it. He has some good insights into the whole concept of the Kingdom of God/Heaven and the Son of Man.
Wednesday, 15 January 2020
6 Decisions for Christ at Outreach
Our annual 10-day evangelistic outreach, this year with a team of 80, is now on day 6 at Ibiara (155 km west of Patos) and there have been 6 decisions of commitment to Christ thus far. We praise God for the good spirit and progress.
It is not easy for the teams at these events as all take their own thin roll-up mattresses and sleep on the floor of a loaned school because January is holiday time for the schools here. The toilet and shower facilities are very poor too at these government schools. Quite disgraceful to be honest! So please pray for them!
Most mornings the routine is prayer and Bible meditation, with the exception of Monday as it was market day so the team hit the market with the Gospel early. In the afternoons door-to-door personal evangelism is done 2 by 2 so that the entire town will be reached during the outreach.
In the evenings street services are held with praise, drama and preaching of the Gospel. My night to preach is always on the final Saturday. The street services are dynamic so as to attract and keep a crowd.
It is not easy for the teams at these events as all take their own thin roll-up mattresses and sleep on the floor of a loaned school because January is holiday time for the schools here. The toilet and shower facilities are very poor too at these government schools. Quite disgraceful to be honest! So please pray for them!
Most mornings the routine is prayer and Bible meditation, with the exception of Monday as it was market day so the team hit the market with the Gospel early. In the afternoons door-to-door personal evangelism is done 2 by 2 so that the entire town will be reached during the outreach.
In the evenings street services are held with praise, drama and preaching of the Gospel. My night to preach is always on the final Saturday. The street services are dynamic so as to attract and keep a crowd.
Monday, 13 January 2020
Marching on in 2020!
Liz and I praise God for the 48 years we have had, to date, serving the Lord in the interior of northeast Brazil, and for the health and strength, both physical and spiritual, that we have to continue this work with great joy and pleasure for His glory.
We are the longest serving missionaries EAB has had and it is a privilege to be at the hub of Mission activities, in churches and projects, to this day. Whilst we have health and strength our pleasure is to serve the Lord as we are doing. As we compare ourselves with three of the Democratic candidates vying to be the president of the USA this year, which is a pretty demanding job, we feel youngsters!
Thus we ask you to especially pray for us and support us in this exciting period of ministry that we are involved in for God. We are leaders and coordinators of 88 churches, (small, medium and large) & multiple community projects to express God's love including rural community projects building underground dams, drilling wells, setting up market gardens, bee keeping for honey and goat rearing. All such projects always aim to help the poor help themselves and not be simply paternalistic hand-out people. We teach, behind all this, how such community development must be done in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, backed up by our Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre which is a living example of what we preach. (Carnival Camp there from February 22-26 would welcome help to get poor families there @ £30 per person for the 5 days)
In other fields of the work we run many small Action schools for those in extreme poverty, empower women to defend their rights, combat domestic violence and generate income by training them to make handicraft (Desert Flower Project), run a Christian Care Centre where a dentist treats the poor (principally children), the deaf are blessed and our seniors too. Our food bank is run here as well, for those in emergency need.
We manage to do so much because we are "team people". That is, we enjoy working in and with teams. Our work needs to be understood as a series of multiple interlinked circles (teams) which all work together for God and our neighbour. We are leaders of a central team, and each church has a pastor and team of leaders, and all projects are church based and have teams of leaders. Liz and I have the joy of being involved with all these teams and are ultimately leaders of this, working together with this army of Christian workers built up over the years, and above all else, working together with God, and with His people who pray for us and support us, which is you.
So as we have plunged into 2020 we ask you to reinforce your prayers and support for us. The support of us your missionaries is key to these widening circles of Christian outreach and ministry. The core general fund of our Mission contributes to the entire work in terms of churches, leadership training and social action projects. We are not just leading a secular charity! We are leading a branch of God's church in a dry, barren and very needy part of Brazil which has in recent years seen much confusion, added to the religious mix, with abhorrent prosperity theology teaching.
We march on in 2020 on our knees! We march on proclaiming the fantastic good news of Jesus! We march on speaking out for the voiceless and loving the unloved because that's just how Jesus loved us!
We count on your prayers! We count on your support! All is for the glory of God!
We are the longest serving missionaries EAB has had and it is a privilege to be at the hub of Mission activities, in churches and projects, to this day. Whilst we have health and strength our pleasure is to serve the Lord as we are doing. As we compare ourselves with three of the Democratic candidates vying to be the president of the USA this year, which is a pretty demanding job, we feel youngsters!
Thus we ask you to especially pray for us and support us in this exciting period of ministry that we are involved in for God. We are leaders and coordinators of 88 churches, (small, medium and large) & multiple community projects to express God's love including rural community projects building underground dams, drilling wells, setting up market gardens, bee keeping for honey and goat rearing. All such projects always aim to help the poor help themselves and not be simply paternalistic hand-out people. We teach, behind all this, how such community development must be done in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, backed up by our Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre which is a living example of what we preach. (Carnival Camp there from February 22-26 would welcome help to get poor families there @ £30 per person for the 5 days)
In other fields of the work we run many small Action schools for those in extreme poverty, empower women to defend their rights, combat domestic violence and generate income by training them to make handicraft (Desert Flower Project), run a Christian Care Centre where a dentist treats the poor (principally children), the deaf are blessed and our seniors too. Our food bank is run here as well, for those in emergency need.
We manage to do so much because we are "team people". That is, we enjoy working in and with teams. Our work needs to be understood as a series of multiple interlinked circles (teams) which all work together for God and our neighbour. We are leaders of a central team, and each church has a pastor and team of leaders, and all projects are church based and have teams of leaders. Liz and I have the joy of being involved with all these teams and are ultimately leaders of this, working together with this army of Christian workers built up over the years, and above all else, working together with God, and with His people who pray for us and support us, which is you.
So as we have plunged into 2020 we ask you to reinforce your prayers and support for us. The support of us your missionaries is key to these widening circles of Christian outreach and ministry. The core general fund of our Mission contributes to the entire work in terms of churches, leadership training and social action projects. We are not just leading a secular charity! We are leading a branch of God's church in a dry, barren and very needy part of Brazil which has in recent years seen much confusion, added to the religious mix, with abhorrent prosperity theology teaching.
We march on in 2020 on our knees! We march on proclaiming the fantastic good news of Jesus! We march on speaking out for the voiceless and loving the unloved because that's just how Jesus loved us!
We count on your prayers! We count on your support! All is for the glory of God!
10-day Outreach - day 3
10-day Evangelistic Outreach - Day 3 (Sunday) started with morning prayer & Bible meditations, as we do every day.
The afternoon involved door-to-door personal evangelism in pairs as we do every afternoon. Every house in the town of Ibiara will be evangelized by our 80 strong team this week. Please pray!
Sunday, 12 January 2020
Blessed are the Meek
I will be off to the Patos church is an hour's time to preach my third sermon in my series on the Beatitudes. This time it is verse 5: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". Many are away as January is holiday month (like August is in the UK) but we pray God will bless. Sacha will be leading the praise as Philip is one of those away!
Day 2 of Outreach
Day 2 of the 10-day Evangelistic Outreach at Ibiara was dedicated to the training in evangelism of the team, by young Pastor Rafael who is an excellent evangelist, prior to the opening street service at night. Please pray
Gleydice Belchior preached the Gospel in the opening street service in the Ibiara town square this Saturday night, on Day 2 of our annual evangelistic outreach. Please pray 🙏
Saturday, 11 January 2020
10-day Outreach - day 1
Friday (10th) was day 1 of our annual 10-day evangelistic outreach, this year at Ibiara. Team members travelled to Ibiara during the day and had their inaugural start-up meeting under the stars in the school where the team is based, and where they all sleep on the floor, eat, and have pretty basic toilet/shower facilities. Please pray! 🙏
Thursday, 9 January 2020
Rain glorious rain!
We had over two and a half inches of rain at Green Pastures in the night which was our first rain of the year. This makes everyone more cheerful! Our target, as always, is to reach about 40 inches in the first 5 months of the year.
Tomorrow our annual 10-day evangelistic outreach will start at Ibiara with a team of 80. Please pray!
Sunday, 5 January 2020
Great baptismal service
Just got home from our first Sunday in 2020 when we baptized 3 men: Leudo (deaf) and Murilo & Orlando (hearers). Murilo came to Christ through a teenager run Bible study group at his school run by youngsters from our church. Leudo came to the Lord through our Deaf Fellowship and Orlando is fruit of the job creation project having been helped to set up a thriving business as a gardener. His son was converted first and now Dad!
Tonight was a beautiful service. The worship was lovely and I preached on Baptism being a sign of commitment to Christ. Please continue to pray for us and the work here in 2020. Funding is very tight indeed these days.
Wednesday, 1 January 2020
New Years Day family lunch
We have just had a simple lunch together for all the family on this first day of 2020. It was just lovely all to be together and chat.
I made the most of grandson Arthur’s presence as he is an absolute genius with smartphones! He now has fixed mine so that I can write my blog on my mobile and not depend on my lap top. I suspect more blog is going to get written from now on! The times they are a changing!
Happy New Year!
We praise God for a really blessed Watch Night service last night which started at 10 pm and finished at 12.30 am. Numbers were down (owing to blessed rain! Two inches in Patos! and many away) but blessing was up! The watch night services can be too bubbly and euphoric but last night's was really spiritual.
The service had the old church band back together from 25/30 years ago which was excellent. As I said last night - if the Rolling Stones can still perform why can't we! I preached and sang, and granddaughter Alice danced ballet to worship God, together with Milena and Rayla, to the music of What a Beautiful Name / Agnus Dei (Travis & Lily Cottrell). It was a tear jerker and greatly blessed! We ended up the service with communion just after midnight. In fact the communion service was especially nice because we held it, not by candlelight, but by mobile phone light after a power cut. ( utterly refuse to use the americanism 'power outage'!
For the rest of the week we will hopefully rest up a bit - just will need to prepare to preach next Sunday of course when there will be a baptism too.
The service had the old church band back together from 25/30 years ago which was excellent. As I said last night - if the Rolling Stones can still perform why can't we! I preached and sang, and granddaughter Alice danced ballet to worship God, together with Milena and Rayla, to the music of What a Beautiful Name / Agnus Dei (Travis & Lily Cottrell). It was a tear jerker and greatly blessed! We ended up the service with communion just after midnight. In fact the communion service was especially nice because we held it, not by candlelight, but by mobile phone light after a power cut. ( utterly refuse to use the americanism 'power outage'!
For the rest of the week we will hopefully rest up a bit - just will need to prepare to preach next Sunday of course when there will be a baptism too.
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