Bits March

Raphael preached last week
on the family

I found a passion. Family difficulties are a problem here in Brasil as well as in the US. We hear of and counsel couples from our church in regards to their marital relationship as well as raising children. We started out the year structuring our messages and small groups around the Servant Leader’s certificate structure and after an Old Testament module we moved into talking about the Christian Family. We have great material, but I felt like it was missing something. Then God gave us the missing part right before the first message by way of song. 

I am now convinced that the gospel can radically change every Christian home. Of course it can, you say. But I am not convinced that we as Christians think about its implications too often. 

The Tupanatinga church meeting on their own

Meeting in Pesqueira

A peaceful place, without screaming, where smiles are abundant and conflicts resolved without feelings of anger; compassion, forgiveness, patience, mercy, grace, love. Is that a description of your home? It isn’t a description of mine necessarily, but it is closer to this now than it was 10 years ago. When we let the gospel settle in to our lives we realize that it changes us. As the gospel is effective it molds us into the image of Christ and this changes everything. As sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters we received inheritances. The legacy of our parents and grandparents passed on to us. Their tendencies became our tendencies, but their choices don’t have to be our choices. Yes of course, take the good stuff; and I am grateful for a lot of great character traits from my family and from Sarah’s family as well. But we can live that legacy or we can let the gospel transform that legacy even more into a Christlike character that will honor God.

Pastors united to pray for the city

These thoughts have been prevalent this month in which a new quarantine was put in place that hindered the great rhythm we have built up. The month of April already has a different quarantine in which we can meet on Sundays but not at our normal time. We feel this is an attack on what God is doing in our families. Pray that God will continue to do this work despite the difficulties! 

We made our first purchase (water boxes) for the construction in Tupanatinga. Now we need to hook up the energy and get the water running. We are also still waiting on a document which is inhibiting some other needed actions to take place. Pray for our CNPJ to come through!  

Grateful for your love and prayers! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and my bi-lingual firstborn who is learning sign language, and my birthday girl (next week on the 6th) who will be 8! 

Bits February

Hopping. For about 7 weeks in a row we have had a consistent attendance in the Arcoverde church. Before the pandemic that never happened; we would have high attendances but the next week would be low. Since the new year we have had visitors that have stayed and other visitors most weeks. One family is coming that were involved in 2014 in our first studies and have come once in a while, but have never been consistent. The husband is a soccer buddy, one of my first ones when coming to Arcoverde; he told me this week that he is very interested in coming frequently and he has shown that lately. He also brings his brother besides his family of four. It was neat this month having my mom here as well to be involved and see all that God is doing (but mostly to play with her grandkids).

In Tupanatinga on Friday we ran out of chairs and didn’t have much room left either even if we did have other chairs. It is a good thing we are already on that! We have bought land and will soon start construction. Both the Arcoverde church and Tupanatinga church are excited about building in Tupanatinga. 

This month we received a new colleague! We met Sarah Rogers when we went to the Servant Leaders’ Missions Academy in Germany. She came and visited us in Brazil for three weeks in June of 2019 and then raised support to come work with us for two years. Sarah and I have been helping her get settled this month and she starts language school on Monday. She then will work with English classes and in varying roles in the church plants. 

Sarah is doing a great job with counseling and will start her small groups back up this month. Our small groups are going to start out with Servant Leaders material on the Christian Family. Pray that our families will be strengthened! 

Speaking of Servant Leaders, the first class for the one year Bible fundamentals certificate is Old Testament and we did the module Saturday and Sunday. We had around twenty students, mostly from our own church and we learned, laughed and ate good food. 

The church in Tupanatinga is rallying to build the church. If you would like to help out, feel free to send in a gift with ABWE and mark it for church planting. We already have some funds in the account to get started, but not to finish. I asked our civil engineer in Tupanatinga to get me a total amount for the first phase, which will be the temple. My guess is that it will be around twenty thousand dollars. 

I don’t think that I can explain how blessed we have felt lately. In the middle of the pandemic, of difficulties on and off the field, we see God move in people’s lives, disciples being made, the lost being reached. We can’t believe how wonderful of a life we have. We appreciate your prayers and support that has sustained us and abundantly blessed us over the years. 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and my star Old Testament student who knew practically all the answers, and my little tag queen who is tough to catch! 

Bits January

 

We’ve got land! Last month I said that we hoped in 2021 that we could find a more permanent location for the church in Tupanatinga. We started searching for land and what it would look like and God already supplied a donor that took care of a land purchase! A relative of our colleagues Roger and Marcy Smith asked about projects and Roger graciously told him about Tupanatinga. His donated amount takes care of pretty much all of the land cost and the Arcoverde church has enough saved to cover the rest and some of the purchasing costs and then start building some. We also have some ministry funds saved up to start working on it. We really wanted a good location and God provided it; it even has a wall, well and small office building. Rodrygo is a civil engineer and started working on a project as soon as he negotiated the price. The next afternoon he had this programed out. We are working through how we would really want it, but this was better than we could all picture.

 

If you are interested in being involved in this church construction project, please let me know! We could start as early as this month. We are all pretty excited. The Arcoverde church already has some fund raising ideas as well. 

My mom came to visit us. She arrived on Monday and we are enjoying our time with her. The girls especially enjoyed Nana’s arrival. We also are about to receive a new coworker! Sarah Rogers visited us a year and a half ago and has decided to come back as a short term missionary for two years. Pray for her this month as she arrives on the third, looks to get settled and get going in ministry. 

I included a picture of some from our church praise team just to say that they have been a blessing to the church. There used to be more conflict and the group has grown to really do well in having a peaceful environment so that when the praise service time arrives we can have more meaningful worship. I am really grateful for the serviceful hearts and talent God has sent our way! We structured this year’s preaching around the Servant Leader’s curriculum we are going through; hoping to go deeper in Old Testament, New Testament, Bible study methods, Christian Family, Processing Life biblically and Good Soil (Evangelism and Discipleship). Sarah’s counseling classes have helped with some dynamic book requirements for the classes. 

She did her first module of the year this week. It was also the last module in which our colleagues and her professor, Al and Kim Yoder will be active on the field as they are retiring. Well, they love ministry and counseling and will continue to be active with the classes, but technically they are retiring. I met Al and Kim as a 10 year old in the Amazon. We then did an internship with them in the Amazon in 2010. Kim counseled Sarah during our first term and had a great impact on Sarah’s spiritual growth. When they moved to Fortaleza they started offering a master’s class for Biblical counseling and convinced Sarah to take the course. They have been very instrumental in Sarah’s studies and honing her abilities in the area and we are very grateful for them! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, and my little fish that love having Nana here

 Tomorrow we will be staying up late to make sure 2020 leaves us for good. Recent unofficial polls would have 80-90 percent agreement to the rough year. This past week though I received an audio saying that 2020 was one couple from our church’s best year. They had decided to read the Bible through together in 2020 and finished it up early. They had grown so much as a couple this year that they together agreed it had been their best year. Another friend, Padim talked about how his life radically changed for the good this year and it has been the best thing that has happened to him. He was baptized this last month and is seeking reconciliation in his marriage. Pray for that reconciliation!

Jeremiah and Cindy Cook and their kids Hudson and Nora visited us this month for two weeks and we had a great time! Cindy is a women’s ministry leader in her home church and she is Sarah’s go to for women’s ministry questions. She and Sarah put together a Christmas tea for the women in Tupanatinga. They all loved it and there has already been visitors to our services from the visitors at the tea. 

Tupanatinga has picked up some steam the last few weeks. We had a baptismal service with four of our adult main attenders being baptized. There were some tears shed as we thought about life change, growth and our friendship. We do not have a huge group in Tupanatinga, but we are really close as they are very faithful. One of our main goals for 2021 is getting into more of a permanent building situation. The Arcoverde church has been putting away some money for this and we have had some donations from family come in to the point where we will be seriously looking at purchasing either a building or land to start building. Please pray God shows us the right place! 

Jeremiah is a police officer and SWAT team member in Chattanooga and so that always draws interest here. We did another informational event at our church building and then we did two training events at local police stations. One station was for BEPI which is basically a specialized force that can survive the elements, has the guns, and is enacted versus the worst of criminals. It was humbling to see their courage, seriousness and interest in what Jeremiah had to teach. Jeremiah started with a talk showing the respect he had for them and then prayed for them. After that moment they were all ears and very involved. It was neat to exchange tactical information and we had a great day. The commander has promised to come to church as well and a couple of the guys were interested in Servant Leaders. 

Please pray for the Servant Leader certificate development for this year! It is a lot to organize but it has been encouraging to see excitement from several different people. I am recording classes and preparing material to be used as well as advertising. 

May you have a blessed New Year! Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and my roller skating girls Evelyn and Anna Claire

Bits November

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! Sarah started putting up lights the begining of November and our tree is already up. After so many years in Brazil it is still weird to be working and sweating outside and come in and hear Christmas music playing. We are excited to see friends and family for the next few months. Jeremiah and Cindy Cook will make their third trip to visit us as they arrive with their kids Hudson and Nora on Sunday. Jeremiah is a police officer and will speak and train some local officers. Cindy does women’s ministry and will do a couple events with women. 

November started big for the church. We had a church organizational meeting in order to be a legally organized non-profit in Brazil. The next day we had a baptismal service in which we baptized five adults and two children. We also had a good meal and fellowship time. 

In Pesqueira we are a few months into our Bible study we do every other week. Ricardo and Wilker are very faithful and even do extra reading. We are studying the Story of Hope and just finished some lessons on Moses. They had some very good observations. 

Sarah had her last module of the year and we went to Fortaleza as a family again. This time another couple from our church went and we were able to go to a water park again. It was nice to have a couple days to have fun in the sun. While we were gone we left a member of the church to preach (our colleagues Roger and Marcy Smith left for a 9 month furlough). The day before his father passed away (pray for William during this difficult time); this meant that the church in Tupanatinga wouldn’t have a preacher or the church in Arcoverde. The church of Tupanatinga ended up having a time where they shared Bible verses and prayed together. I was glad they were still active in our absence. In Arcoverde I called José who has been nervous about preaching and hadn’t made the leap yet. He agreed to help out and did a great job. It seems God in His providence had a way to help our friend make a great stride in his life. 

We are already planning for next year and covet your prayers! We are offering a Servant Leader’s Bible certificate and we are structuring the preaching around it as well. Pray it is a year of spiritual growth in the lives of our members, but also with other churches. Pray that they will take up the challenge to equip leaders in their own churches. Despite officially being a couple hundred dollars short per month, on average more than we need is coming in each month. Thanks to “Anonymous” and others who have gone above and beyond, we are extremely blessed and we thank all of you, especially those who faithfully send in a gift each month. We are so grateful for you!

God bless, 

David, Sarah and my growing like a weed firstborn who could overtake her daddy soon, and the second one who is turning into a super organizer, pulling weeds outside and sorting our clothes in the closet, all by her own initiative. 

Evie also made a Thanksgiving video...in portuguese.

 

Bits October

 It was the sweetest little prayer I could hardly believe. Due to a Covid situation we have a mother and daughter staying at the church and we have had lunch together the last couple of days. The daughter asked to pray yesterday and thanked God for our family that was teaching her about God; of course the way she said it was super sweet and encouraging to hear. 

Prep time. In the last couple of weeks I have been working on strategic planning for life and ministry as well as preparing for our official organizational meeting followed by a baptismal service next weekend. We are also preparing for the furlough of our colleagues Roger and Marcy Smith who will be gone for 8 months and leave a huge hole here! We are working on training leaders that will step up and help out with the load. 

Sarah has kept busy with counseling, discipleship and classes. She has started some new extensive discipleship material with a couple of women and they are doing well with it. She has also counseled a couple of ladies regarding baptism and we are having a baptismal service on the 8th. We have around 7-8 people to baptize. We will also have a church organization meeting the day before to officially start the church legally. We are working on getting all the legal aspects in order and so this will be a big step. Then the baptism service will be the next day and serve as a celebration time as well. We rent a place with a pool, grill and space to spend the day and are looking forward to a great time. 

Every other week I do the Story of Hope Bible study in the city of Pesqueira with my friends Wilker and Ricardo. They have really enjoyed the study and seem to be learning a good bit. Ricardo is reading the Bible through as we do the study. Wilker is very studious and so he has done some extra study as well. 

This month we are taking the 10 hour drive to Fortaleza and going to a big water park with some friends. It was originally scheduled for Sarah’s August module, but pushed back to November cause of Covid. And actually the module will be on zoom, but since we had already scheduled everything we are still going. We are feeling the need for some rest and so we hope that we also get another couple of days off this month or early next month. 

Next year looks to be the year in which we offer a certificate through a US Bible college for Servant Leader’s curriculum. I am working on organizing a team, material and logistics to pull this off. If the system is good, it could take off in Brazil and we could have a good impact on leadership training. My main prayer is that we have a few people in our church that go through with the program and will feel more confident in leadership roles. We have some great people around us and see how God could really raise up leadership and use our church and leadership team to impact the region for Christ. This week some famous pastors in Brazil went viral for teaching false doctrine. Although apparently Brazil is growing in evangelicals, the doctrine is all over the place. Not that God can’t use people with different doctrine than we have, but the doctrine in Brazil needs some solid biblical influence. We pray that we can be a part of that positive influence here that will help grow healthy churches within Brazil. 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, and my little fish who are ready for Beach Park

Bits September

 When hammered with tasks early in the pandemic we felt somewhat overloaded in our Pastors and wive’s group. We then proceeded to divvy up tasks by expanding our leadership structure. We welcomed new leaders over all kinds of areas in the church and worked on training them individually. This month we did a training for all those who serve in ministries. Although our average main service attendance had been under 30 at the time, we had 31 take the course! It was a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning event and we decided to do it up big for our people. They came, participated, learned and enjoyed. We hope this will give us a good excitement as we push past 2020 and try to leave it in the dust! Haha

One ministry that sprouted up this year was a social ministry. The church seeks to meet social needs to open a door for spiritual needs as well. One young lady in our church is a single mom and Sarah has been working hard counseling her as well as trying to set her up in a business that will provide for her needs. However, with this there are lots of different issues to work through. Please pray for wisdom in this situation!

Our discipleship groups are still going well. One of our men’s groups that had been slow to start back up is now getting some momentum. Sarah’s Sunday morning group has been starting to meet personally instead of online. Then our new study in Pesqueira had one week online and then another week together (it is an every other week study). The next time in Pesqueira our study group will start the book The Story of Hope. 

Raphael started coming to our church a couple years ago. We had a membership interview with he and his wife. His wife said she would be involved with music and kids and was excited about her involvement. I looked at Raphael and asked him about his gifting and about any ministry he could be involved in. I kind of received a blank stare for an answer. We decided that we would see and something would come up. In the last year or so, I do not remember exactly when, Raphael came to me and said, “I am ready.” 

“Ready for what?” 

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, but whatever God wants me to do I will do.” Raphael has been in our pilot group for the systematic theology class as well as our homiletics class we started this year. This past month he helped teach our Theology and Practice of Servant Leaders module and then preached that very same Sunday night. Our worry now is that we are overloading him with tasks. His wife Viviane is the same way; she was one of two to leave Sarah’s discipleship group in order to start a new one. They are a huge blessing to us. 

Their growth the last couple of years has been a testament of the power of the gospel transforming lives and it is these types of stories that make us think we have the best job in the world. We appreciate how God has touched your life to participate with us in His work!

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and our now 11 year old Evelyn that is in those not totally a kid, not yet a teen years, but she is doing great as she navigates this tricky road, and Anna Claire who is enjoying being able to play a lot more with her friends than the last few months.