Saturday, March 31, 2018

Bits March

One week from today, Saturday the 7th of April, we will have the inauguration for our church and training center. The mother church in Recife has around 75 people coming and we are inviting a lot of people here in Arcoverde as well. The Brazil administrator for ABWE, Cal and Carol Clark will be here as well. We are excited and trying to get the building ready for the big day. 

March has been the first full month for Servant Leaders in the church. We have several that are faithful in coming and we have had a great start. I had hoped we would have more students from outside of our church but that has not happened. Hopefully this start and posting some of the teaching online will get more people interested in what is happening, but for now I am thrilled in the members we have that are being faithful in attending classes. One pair of students are Chico and Bia, who are our main leaders in the Bible Study in Tupanatinga. 

This last week we needed to renew our passports in Recife and had hoped to spend a couple days at the beach. One of our friends here hooked us up with a resort apartment at one of the nicer beaches in the area. So we took a couple days to relax around one of the longest pools I have ever seen. While we were there Evie ran up to a little girl who showed up to the beach and invited her to play. We ended up hanging out for a day with them. They opened up some about their spiritual life and we were able to encourage them. We agreed that God had certainly orchestrated our meeting. I am grateful that God uses us even when we least expect Him to. 

During March our sermon series was about the church’s doctrine and values. We handed out membership packets and are seeing who is interested in joining the church. We are planning for membership interviews soon as well. March was birthday month at the church and we had a bunch of times of fellowship. We have a good time hanging out together. Yesterday most people did not have to work and so we had an informal lunch at the church. We have a good bit of contacts in Arcoverde and have had a decent amount of people interested in the church. Please pray that our unsaved neighbors and friends would be more and more open to the gospel in their lives. 

This coming week is a big week! We go to Tupanatinga and then receive the big group for the inauguration. Please pray that it all goes smoothly! Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying and partnering with us in the ministry! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and my competitive eight year old and my soon to be five year old (Anna Claire’s birthday is Friday the 6th of April). 

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Bits February

Servant Leaders has begun! Not that we have not been doing seminars in the past for Servant Leaders, but last week we started from the beginning of the program and are working towards bringing our people through the entire program. We first started looking into Servant Leaders in 2013 and so it has been a long time researching and developing and I am thrilled to have already started. We have started with low numbers, but that does not matter a ton to me. I know that it will catch on. Yesterday we had our main couple in Tupanatinga present for Old Testament Survey which was really special for us. Just being able to train them is worth it! 

The women are taking charge! This month one of our ladies decided we needed a women’s prayer group. They organized and had a meeting and it was fabulous. From that a couple ladies that live close to the church decided to come. Since then they have been in services and wanting to be more involved despite their catholic background. They have really enjoyed the Bible study that our church offers. Our neighborhood is developing even more and there has been interest in the church by some of them, including showing up or taking English. Pray for us as we develop ways in which they can enter the church.

Esio was talking to me a couple days ago and asked which church I was in and what I did in the church. He did not know that it was the certain building. He is a non-practicing catholic and said, “I should try it out; it could be that I actually like church.” We would love to reach the many people in our neighborhood who are like Esio. Several have already come to services. You all would be pleasantly amazed at the questions some have asked like when one neighbor walked in and said: “I have never really been in a church, what do I do?” I replied to come in, sit down, sing and listen. Pray for more like these two that will come in and hear God’s Word and that we would be a light in this neighborhood!

Our official inauguration of the church will be April 7! We are excited as we will be receiving a bus from the mother church in Recife as well as our bosses and several others! As we prepare for this event we are also preparing for membership as we take our people through our core values and doctrine. This month the preaching will be focused on those very topics and we will be giving them membership packets to look through. 

Please pray for the activities we are involved in that aim to make disciples at all different stages: English, football, cheerleading, events at the church, short term mission trips (we have 4 this year coming-three from the US and one from Word of Life Brazil), small groups starting up, the group in Tupanatinga, and the daily interactions we have that our great opportunities to lift up the gospel. We have been very blessed in our area of influence in the community. Pray that we know how to leverage this for God’s glory! We ask for prayer because we know of the many faithful prayer warriors out there who partner so well with us to make disciples here in Brazil. 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, our responsible firstborn, and our little chatter box that now likes to go into the office with her daddy during the day.