Journey (to) Chattanooga

Road trip!

With “On the Road Again” blissfully playing in my head, the queen and I are off to Chattanooga for a fun (and frantic) weekend.

Sunday we’ll be at Journey Chattanooga, a church planted my Mark Love (who is a remarkable fellow) and where one of my two most favorite son-in-laws Charlie heads up the worship and creative team. We’ll have the privilege of sharing what Gospel for Brazil and Seed of Hope are doing.

Tonight we’re going to see The Glorious Unseen and Charlie Hall. Tomorrow we’re going to spoil the grandkids rotten. We may even find some time for the daughter and son-in-law.

Silencing American Christian complainers

I love what I do in Brazil.

Except when I get emails like this:

Thank you so much for the financial assistance from everyone in the U.S.; it arrived at a good time. The Catholic radio station managed to pull strings to shut down our little station. Sadly, I was trading advertisement time for food and now that is over. The situation for Fátima and myself is delicate; every attempt is being made by Satan to destroy us. I don’t even want to talk about the group of evangelical brethren who want to silence me and are defaming our work. I can honestly say that I’m coming to understand what Paul said: “in all these things, we are more than conquerors.”

The Sanctuary

We’re beginning to get pretty uptown in our presentations about the work in Brazil!

This past weekend we were in Savannah at The Sanctuary, sharing about the work in northeastern Brazil and telling the story of the children in the Seed of Hope program. We were received very warmly and were blessed by the church with a very nice offering. Additionally, twelve more of our children were sponsored — that means that they’ll be eating every day thanks to the generosity of the folks at The Sanctuary.

Nothing makes me happier!

Want a presentation at your church? Respond to me here and I will be in touch with you.

Savannah

We’re in Savannah, GA this weekend to share the vision of Gospel for Brazil with The Sanctuary. This is the church where two of our most ardent supporters –Patrick and Christy Loyd– are members.

It’s always fun to be able to talk about what is happening in Brazil. It is even more fun when somebody gives me a microphone and an audience! I’ll have that joy twice tomorrow.

If we’re fortunate, I’ll stop before midnight!

P.S. Oh, yes! We do have a traveling road show and would love to come to your church, mission committee, deacon board, management team, et. al. to show you the incredible opportunity that you could become a part of.

Tianguá attack update

God is good!

Here is the latest from pastor Danilo in Tianguá:

The police told me that the motive of the entry was to obtain crack cocaine. Anything of value will be stolen to fuel the addiction. Crack is the drug of choice of the teens and children here in Tianguá. The police think that two adults were responsible for destroying the metal grates and door and that a small child was then inserted into the opening they made. The child was instructed to take anything electronic and the only thing actually stolen was a DVD player that is used to show evangelistic films in our children’s ministry. In Tianguá 80% of all murders, rapes and robberies are committed by  minors.

As is so often the case, the damage from the entry was far more expensive than that which was stolen. Additionally, the cost to repair the doors, door frames and wall is going to cost much less than expected due to the donation of time and labor by locals.

It is thought that since the church is doing so much work in the drug/prostitution community that they have become a convenient target; people know where they are. Isn’t that cool?

We are going to raise and send $500 to the church. Some of you have already given contributions and others would like to help. You may send checks, payable to Gospel for Brazil and memo-ed “Tiangua,” to Gospel for Brazil, 803 S College Rd, Ste D, Wilmington, NC 28403. Of course cash works well also!

If you would like to use a credit or debit card, please click on this link. It will take you to our PayPal account and you may designate the amount you would like to donate.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Anything we receive in excess of the $500 will be forward to the church for the purchase of another DVD and for use with their evangelistic outreach.

Thank you for all of your concern and prayers!

Church attacked in Tianguá, Brazil

I just received an urgent email from pastor Danilo in Tianguá stating that the church building had been broken into by a gang and totally trashed.

Anything of any value, primarily a small sound mixing board, microphones and speakers, appear to have been stolen. The front door was literally ripped off it’s hinges, destroying the frame, door and part of the wall. Danilo is struggling to find some way to at least secure the building for tonight.

I’m waiting to hear back from him as to what is necessary to redo the entrance. The bottom line is that he has nothing at all in terms of finances and is trying to pull off what would be called a Brazilian “miracle” (dá um jeito) to secure it for night. If left open, there would likely be further damage inflicted on the interior.

Pastor Danilo and his wife Fátima have been persecuted by three groups in Tianguá who all want to see him gone: the Catholic Church, Evangelical churches and drug dealers. Seems he is bringing way too much light into the darkness. The fact that numerous evangelical churches want him gone so that they can have his facilities and because he is putting too much –and successful– emphasis on helping the poor, the addicts and the prostitutes in the town, making them look bad. He has been receiving death threats regularly.

As soon as I know what it will take to at least put the main entrance back up I’ll disseminate the information here. Any and all financial donations would be greatly appreciated. I am anticipating a minimum of $2000-3000 being required.

As an aside, this is the church that I’d posted the letter earlier today.

An interesting letter

The Farmhouse

Of notoriety on par with that of Jesse James, “the farmhouse” in Ubaúna is the base of operations for mission trips into this region. Often made out to be worse than it really is, the farmhouse is primarily used for sleeping, or at least what passes for that.

Wildlife abounds; frogs in an amazing variety of sizes, tarantulas, snakes, rats, goats, lambs, cows, hawks, buzzards, lizards and so on. Some are so friendly that they want to sleep with you or accompany you to the bathroom. Others just like being where you are.

Accommodations are not quite of the five-star classification, the air conditioning isn’t quite up to par and the traffic can be a wee bit noisy at times.

I hear more screams, both male and femail, in the course of a week than I hear over an entire year while residing in the farmhouse. Typically because something as silly as a frog has jumped on someone or a little spider was found in someone’s hammock, but sometimes for “other” reasons.

Affectionately christened as “the clubhouse” on this last visit, the place actually becomes an object of affection. Folks who’ve stayed there look at it with longing and recognize it for the purpose it serves; they know that they’ve encountered what might be called a portal between the natural and the supernatural while they’ve been there.

Most do not leave it without being transformed.

The farmhouse is definitely an interesting place…

Júnior

“What’s your name?”

“Júnior”

“So, how do you say it in English?”

“Junior”

And with that began our relationship with our artist-painter-teacher who would go to Ubaúna with us to help the children express themselves artistically.

Júnior, who had no idea who we were before this encounter, had volunteered to go somewhere he’d never gone before, with people he’d never met and to do something that he didn’t even understand. He’d be sleeping in a hammock, in the heat, braving the elements and having to hang around foreigners who didn’t speak his language.

But he was game… because of the children.

What he didn’t realize was that he was going to the Brazilian desert to meet Jesus.

The two of them had an encounter and he became a follower. Just like that. When we got back to Fortaleza, we had the privilege of baptizing him into the Kingdom.

The weather was perfect, the ocean like a lake and we even had the token drunk who came up and asked what was going on.

When he came up on the beach, he simply asked, “What’s next?”

My response: “Interesting that you should bring that up…”

As far as the eye can see

I love this passage:

I promise you… ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you… No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you… I will not fail you or abandon you. —Joshua 1

This photo overlooks the valley that Gospel for Brazil has invaded. In the far distance where the rounded mountain turns down and plateaus off and about where the shadow of clouds turns the landscape dark is where Ubaúna is located. In a 150 square mile radius there are almost 2,000,000 inhabitants and 85-90% of them do not know who the real Jesus is. This region is called “the 10/40 Window of the southern hemisphere.”

Wherever you set foot…