COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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Bilingual Coming Soon
Right Here
Unfortunately a collapsed roof and subsequent rain destroyed some of my most precious pictures. This very first mission to England was completely lost, as were all the pictures from the mission I planted in Texas (Burning Hope Baptist Church, 1995) and my first mission as a crusade coordinator -- Curitiba, 1997.
Hoje, nosso trabalho missionário tem dois nomes.
Em inglês é: In The Harvest Missions .
Em português é: Missões Para Colher .
>>>> Mas <<<<
Apaixonar-se por falar às pessoas sobre Jesus, na verdade, começou há muito, muito tempo para mim. Tudo começou em Londres, Inglaterra, em minha primeira viagem missionária quando eu tinha apenas 28 anos.
Era 1981. Isso foi há 39 anos.
This is one of the very few surviving images I have of the church where I was a team member in 1981. My very first mission. Grange Park Baptist Church -- Hayes, Middlesex, England. It was such an inspiring experience for me. I was humbled that God used my testimony to lead over 20 young people to Christ. It was the beginning of a road I am still walking today.
COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
Nas missões de colheita
COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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The pictures are coming in a minute, but you don't want to miss this....trust me.....
1983 was quite a year. It was my first year in the seminary, poor as a church mouse. Just how poor? Well, my "going to the store" budget -- for anything -- was $25 per week! I had no funds at all to be able to afford to go to the next state, much less the other side of the equator. It was also my first time to go to Brazil. It was also my first exposure to how giant miracles are child's play for our God. How God put me in this mission is the story of that miracle. I'd like to share it with you.
This miracle story began as just another Sunday service at church -- Southwayside Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas. We had a visiting speaker, a "crusade coordinator" from International Crusades. He challenged our church to send a team to a mission in Campinas, Brazil. At the end of his challenge, it was as if the Holy Spirit grabbed me by the shirt collar and pulled me to the altar -- knowing full well that there was no way I could get the kind of money needed to pay for the cost of the trip, even though the date of the mission was a long time off.
Sure enough, the time for the mission arrived, and even trying my best to raise the money, when it was time to go to the airport I was still $2,600 short of what was needed. I prepared and trained the whole time as if I already had my ticket, and told the crusade organization that I believed with all my heart that God had called me to go on this mission, and -- if I had to -- I would go to the airport and fully expect God to somehow put me on the airplane. Little did I know when I spoke those words, that is exactly what I would have to do.
Sitting on my suitcase at the DFW airport, I watched as all the rest of the teams, and ours, boarded the airplane. As I was sitting there praying, still telling God I believed He called me to go on this mission, my pastor, Dr. Tom Robuck, came running around the corner with his eyes full of tears. I thought that perhaps someone on our team had had an accident and asked, "What's wrong?" He said, "Nothing's wrong. Your way to Brazil has been paid. Get your bags and get on the plane!!!"
Loot at what happened that I could not see. Here is our King of Kings and Lord of Lords in action, and it is beautiful. When he heard of my problem, our mission coordinator approached the pastor, Dr. Bill Elliff, of another large team from Oklahoma, that was also going on the mission. He told the pastor the following, "There is someone from the other church who isn't going to be able to make the trip because he wasn't able to raise the money. I would like to ask you and your team to pray with me for them before you get on the plane." Bro. Elliff asked, "How much do they need?" The coordinator replied with a grin, "$2,600." Bro. Elliff said to him, "Tell them to get on the airplane.", and patting his hip pocket, said, "I have the money right here." And he did. Are you ready for a miracle?
The very night before (Wednesday), his team was also way short of all the funds they needed. He made a very short and blunt appeal for financial help during their prayer service. People started coming up after the service and putting cash in his hand, not waiting for or wanting a receipt. One lady donated a large sum from her husband's insurance policy and it put them actually over what they needed. The hour was late, there was no one to leave the extra with, nor was a bank deposit possible. Bro. Elliff said that the only thing he could think of was to bring it on the mission in case it was needed. Can you guess how much the extra was? $2,600. To the penny, exactly what we needed. Bro. Elliff said afterwards that a person would have had to be blind not to see God's plan the whole time for that money.
See what God can do if we will just be obedient to what He calls us to do? We have a 100% amazing God!
Unfortunately, the damaged roof and rain I mentioned that led to the destruction of some of my most cherish pictures, ruined most of these as well -- but a few survived. Keep in mind they are very old....and WAY before the digital age. That is why the quality is so poor.
Sometimes when we start feeling sorry for ourselves, we need to remind ourselves that compared to a great majority of the world, all of us have a pretty good life. This was a house on one of the streets where we had evangelistic visits waiting for us. Campinas is a very modern city, but large areas like this known as "favelas" still exist.
This is the storefront mission where our team worked. Here we are getting ready for an outdoor, personal testimony event. People accepted Christ during every event and every service that our team did during this week.
One day we arrived at the mission and there was this obviously sad and lonely man passed out on the ground. He wouldn't wake up, so I slipped into his pocket, my printed testimony with steps of how to ask Jesus into his heart. God promises that His word will never return to Him void, so who knows what this man may have done when he read the material.
Here is the congregation of that "little" mission. Every night was like this -- all the chairs taken, and people sitting on wooden boxes as far back into the night as you could see. And every night, there were people asking Jesus into their hearts.
Uma das alegrias supremas de qualquer missão, acredite ou não, não são os serviços e celebrações enormes e enérgicos. É um encontro cara a cara como esse bem aqui. À esquerda estão dois dos mais trabalhadores de toda a igreja. Uma vez jantamos na casa do irmão da direita, e ele queria me levar para fora de sua casa para me mostrar seu jardim. Foi ao longo da cerca de seu quintal. Uma única fileira de cerca de 8 plantas, mas a julgar pela expressão em seu rosto, poderia ter sido 500 acres de trigo pronto para colher. A foto à direita é eu brincando com algumas crianças durante uma de minhas visitas. Todos na casa pediram a Jesus em seus corações. E sim - isso é um sapo de pelúcia na minha cabeça.
Uma das mais belas experiências de testemunho da minha vida veio dessa missão em 1983 - e foi a primeira pessoa para quem testemunhei. Seu nome era Cecilia e ela era uma prostituta. Eu compartilhei meu testemunho com ela em sua casa e ela pediu a Jesus em seu coração. O que foi tão bonito para mim foi isto: mesmo não conseguindo entender uma palavra do que minha intérprete dizia, eu soube o instante em que Cecília deixou Jesus entrar em seu coração porque VI isso mudar todo o seu rosto. Eu chorei, ela chorou, a intérprete chorou, todos nós choramos porque era tão lindo.
Cecilia me perguntou se eu voltaria no dia seguinte para dar meu testemunho à amiga dela, que também era prostituta. Eu fiz - e sua amiga tornou-se cristã também. Quando ela terminou sua oração pedindo a Jesus em seu coração, eu olhei para cima e vi Cecilia chegando com sua filhinha de 8 anos ao seu lado. Meu coração saltou de alegria quando pensei que também teria a oportunidade de levar a filha de Cecília a Cristo. Mas não era para ser. Porque - como uma cristã de um dia, Cecilia já havia ganhado sua própria filha para o Senhor.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much!!
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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The team from our church was few in number this time (just 4 of us), but God still used us to lead about 150 people to Christ during this mission, which saw over 3,000 people pray to receive Christ into their hearts. I am especially pleased that this photo survived the water damage because it proves to all my Brazilian friends today, that I have been telling the truth all this time about Fausto Vasconcelos being my friend back in my seminary days. Today he is President of the Brazilian Baptist Convention. Even way back at the time of this picture, he could make the devil tremble with his preaching. I can only imagine how powerful his sermons are now. Both of us had a lot darker hair, and were a LOT thinner all those years ago.
The church where we worked --
Rochdale Baptist Church
The sanctuary
The sanctuary completely full for Louise's Sunday School lesson
Our team -- Acsa and Jerry and Louise getting our morning visits organized.
(More on Acsa and Jerry later. You will love it, trust me. Two really funny stories.
This is the pastor of the church, and I was able to have a very unique and blessed experience through him. He was also the chaplain of one of the main penitentiaries in the entire state of São Paulo. Because of his position there, I was able to preach in it one day. There were two enormous blocks of cells, several stories each. The prisoners listened from their cells as I stood in the courtyard. I was the first American to ever preach there.
The precious children of the church singing a special song they had prepared for the arrival of our team.
You're probably wondering why on earth there is a picture of a parrot here. Well -- it isn't just any parrot. This is the parrot of a man I visited on this mission. AND -- while the man and I were talking, I heard whistling. Really good whistling. It was the entire melody of "Colonel Bogie" -- the theme music to the movie, Bridge Over the River Kwai. When I asked the man where it was coming from, he told me that he had taught it to his parrot. I didn't believe him, so he took me to his back porch and showed me. This was the parrot. I saw it with my own eyes.
Housing in metropolitan areas in Brazil is a very interesting situation, and it is almost the same no matter what big city you go to. We shared Jesus with this lady on the right, who had a very nice house. A couple of streets over we were in a "favela" in front of this house in the picture above. Then in a matter of two or three minutes we were witnessing in those very modern apartments in the background.
This picture below is in very poor condition, but if you look carefully, you can see that a "favela" is on its way to completely covering this hill outside my hotel window.
The picture of this crowd of people would be unimportant and uninteresting if you didn't know the story behind it. Which I am about to tell you. Remember me promising you a couple of funny stories? Here's one of them. In the middle of all these people gathered for the opening rally of the mission is Acsa, the young lady who would become our Brazilian interpreter for this mission. You can't see her, but she is there. What I am about to tell you, she only told me the next year, at my next mission -- when we would work together for the second time. At this mission, we had never met before.
I was up at the front (from where I took this picture) and I was really animated, fist pumping in the air, lots of shouting "AMEN!!!" over and over because the rally was really powerful and emotional...at least it was for me. Well -- Acsa was back there, hidden in the middle of this crowd, trying to strike a bargain with God. She was looking at me and saying silently to God, "Lord you know I came here because I love you and I want to serve you, and I will work with anyone -- BUT -- PLEASE don't put me working with that guy!!! And that is exactly what God did. And Acsa became one of the most precious friends I have ever had in my entire life. She is still precious to me to this day.
Acsa
Sometimes we share our witness in homes by appointment, sometimes in classrooms like the picture with the little children, and sometimes on the street -- like in this picture. Wherever the Lord opens the door. You can see the two ladies reading my testimony "foleto" here, and God used it to touch both their hearts to ask Jesus to be their Savior.
One of my greatest joys in mission work is when I am able to speak to whole classrooms of little children -- like here. Jesus used them as His example of the best kind of faith that we should have even as adults. I always feel like it is such a privilege. Sometimes though certain images can fix themselves in your heart and never leave -- like the expression on the faces of the little girl and her brother in the center of this photo.
My oh my, how the Lord blessed our time in this church. I took this picture just before I began to preach one evening. The church was full like this every single night of the mission.
Second funny story time. I am beginning the story with this picture of our team, because it involves three of the people in it. (Louise is there, too, but she is behind the camera. (This was WAY before cell phones and selfies.) From left to right: Brian Harrison, Acsa, me (in the back) and Jerry Bowling. The funny story involves Acsa, Jerry and me. Well... it also involves the pastor of the church, his wife, and a supper with a table full of delicious and beautiful food that looked like a banquet for a king. It must have taken the pastor's wife all day to prepare everything.
A few days before the end of the mission, the pastor invited us to his house for supper. I had asked Acsa beforehand how to say something like "I am really stuffed." She taught me this: "Estou muito cheio." Then she cautioned me to be careful because "cheio" sounds a lot like "feio," (which means "ugly") and she said, "You would NEVER want to tell someone that their supper table is ugly."
We ate, and ate, and ate, and it was all delicious. Jerry was sitting beside me. I leaned over and very quietly said to him, "Would you like to know how to say, 'I am really stuffed.' in Portuguese, and tell it to the pastor and his wife? I was going to do it, but I can teach it to you, and you can do it." He smiled and enthusiastically said "yes," knowing that I had worked really hard to try to learn a little Portuguese. I said, "Here it is -- 'este é muito feio.' " (Which means, "this is very ugly.") Then I suggested that he practice it a couple of times under his breath, and then just come out with it like it was all his idea. I could see his lips moving as he practiced. Then, beaming with confidence, Jerry spread his hands out at the table and said loudly, "Este é MUITO FEIO!!" The pastor's wife looked at him, completely stunned, then the pastor did the same thing, then the pastor and his wife looked at each other with the same stunned look, then they both looked at Jerry with those stunned expressions. Acsa and I actually doubled over on the table laughing. When the pastor and his wife saw that it was a joke, they started laughing, too. The only one not laughing was my trusting friend, Jerry. With a face now deeply crimson with embarrassment, he looked at me and said, "I will NEVER trust another word you tell me for as long as I live."
I can only hope that after all these years, he has found it in his kind and loving heart to forgive me.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much....
Now for something really special, as we near the end of this mission --
The story I am going to tell you that involves this man whose name is Eli is going to bless your heart -- intensely -- trust me. He accompanied us on every single visit we made. He brought his boom box with him and sang every time before we began our testimonies. And Lord have mercy, how this man could sing! I spent many years as a professional musician before I became a Christian... and this man had one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard in my life.
The mission was one day away from coming to a close and we were at the house of one of the members of the church. As Eli began to talk to them, I saw his face change. All week it had been as you see it here; kind and in love with the Lord. Now as he spoke, his face became fraught with deep anxiety. I asked Acsa what he was saying and what was wrong. She explained that he was asking for prayer because his daughter had developed very serious complications in her pregnancy and he was having to take her the very next day for emergency surgery, and for the baby to be delivered very, very early. It was an extremely serious complication and a very dangerous operation.
Today, 37 years later (as I write this in 2021) I still struggle to find the right words for what happened to me next. "Undeniable compulsion" to speak what the Lord wanted me to speak is still the best description I can come up with. I knew exactly what the Holy Spirit was prompting me to say.... the problem is, I didn't want to say it. I told the Lord, "You are asking me to really crawl out on a limb, here, Lord." It didn't matter to the Lord. He still wanted me to say it. So I did. I asked Acsa to say this to Eli: "Brother, I believe with all my heart that the hand of the Lord is going to precede the hand of the surgeon on your daughter."
His worry melted away instantly. I knew it would because back then when a pastor said almost anything, for a believer in Brazil it was almost like it was coming from the mouth of the Lord Himself. That's why I was so hesitant in wanting to say it. I was just a visitor in their church. Anyway.... for Eli it was as good as done because it had come from a person on mission for the Lord.
The next night, at the last service of the mission I didn't see Eli. I didn't expect to see him, because he had already told us the night before that he would be taking his daughter to the hospital. But he was there -- I just didn't see him. THEN.... at our final team meeting later than night at the hotel, Acsa poked me on the shoulder almost like it was an afterthought and said, "Oh! By the way -- I talked with Eli tonight. He took his daughter to the doctor for the surgery, and....
.....nothing was wrong with her!!"
I never met Eli's daughter, but God wanted to heal that young lady, and He did -- overnight.
I thought this was a beautiful picture with which to close this mission. I know the quality is terrible, but the story is beautiful. This young lady was the last person of the entire mission to become a Christian. She came up to me just before the last service was to start, worried and sad, all the hope missing from her face... and asked if she could talk to me. I said, "Of course." and we went into the pastor's office. I shared my testimony, told her how she could have Jesus as her Savior and she invited Him into her heart. Look what a different face now. Her face lit up with such joy that I have remembered her name to this day: Marlene. For my American friends, I want to show you how beautiful the Brazilian pronunciation is -- "mah-ha-LAY-ne."
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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Here is the man God used to introduce me to missions in Brazil, Dr. Tom Robuck, and his wife, Libby. He was my pastor at Southwayside Baptist Church during my first year at the seminary, and he was our coordinator for this mission. Passionate, passionate heart for missions.
This was him and Libby 36 years ago.
Libby
This was the church we worked in for the week of this mission. My team was out front on this morning, where we were getting ready to go out on our evangelistic visits for the first half of the day. Something a little bit funny -- the young boy wasn't a team member, he was just running so he could be in the picture.
As you can see, Acsa no longer hates the thought of working with me, praise the Lord. This was our second mission together and there would be more to come.
Two very special young ladies right here. On the left is Tuca, Acsa's sister who would become a lifelong, precious friend just like Acsa. On the right is a young lady on our team who was from Argentina. She had one of the most beautiful and infectious smiles I have ever seen.
Louise and I are in the front yard of a sweet 85-year-old lady here who had just asked Jesus into her heart. We are in her front yard, and yes, those are fresh bananas growing there behind Louise. I wish some of the pictures I took inside her house had survived the years. In her tiny kitchen which barely had room for her small appliances and a small, round table -- were also six dogs. And a chicken...a live one. What might have gotten your attention even more about the chicken was that it was sitting on top of the faucet of her kitchen sink -- which was also full of dishes.
And speaking of people asking Jesus into their hearts, this entire family did exactly that, just before I took this picture. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have seen this happen over the years -- entire families accepting Jesus, but it never gets old. Watching the Holy Spirit at work is beautiful every time.
I dearly, dearly love children, and as you can see here and from the first mission to Brazil, I love playing with them, too. In the other picture I had a stuffed frog on my head. Here I was "playing dolls." Sometimes I think I may still be just a big kid at heart.
Here is an example of something interesting that we saw time and time again. We would arrive at a home for a planned visit and the person who made the appointment would meet us, but not inside the house. We would share our testimony and how to become a Christian, like you see my friend from Argentina doing here. There would be other people in the house, but they would not come and be a part of the reading of our testimonies. Then, after we would finish the visit with the original person...in this case, the young lady in the white shorts who was just saved... the other person, or persons would come out, and many times invite us to come inside, like in the picture on the right -- which I took just after the mother of the young lady also asked Jesus into her heart. She is still holding my testimony in her hand.
Here the same thing is happening again. In the picture on the left, the older lady has asked Jesus into her heart as has the young girl, both still holding my testimony tract. The young man pretending not to be interested became a Christian, too -- all without them ever opening that gate. Exact same thing in the picture on the right. Every one of the people (even the young boy) in that picture asked Jesus into their heart. If you look really closely, you can even see them marking the places on the testimony that indicate they want to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and be their Savior.
The wonderful young people of the church.
This is what the church looked like every night just before I began to preach. Completely full and running over with people wanting to hear the hope we have in Jesus.
I took these next two pictures to show what smog from the cars of a city of 17 million people looks like. This is the view out the window of my room of part of the skyline of São Paulo at 6:30 a.m.
Same skyline, different angle....1 hour later.
Stop and count your blessings, my friend, as you look at this picture. Yes, this is a real house with real people living in it.
As we approach the end of this beautiful mission in São Paulo, I can't resist just one more witnessing story. I was really thirsty and needed some water. The closest place to buy some was the bar in this picture. As I was paying for the water the bar owner asked what we were doing, so I told him and began sharing my testimony. A customer came up with a bottle of whiskey and started listening. Both the bar owner and the customer prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts. The customer left the bottle of whiskey on the counter, and you can see the bar owner still looking at my testimony.
What a beautiful church in which to have the closing victory rally of the mission. Just look at all those people -- and just look at that gorgeous live waterfall where the baptistry is.
For years, when people have asked me what the joy of missions is like. I have simply showed them this picture and said, "This is what it is like."
My oh my, what words can I use to adequately pay respect and admiration for this fine lady right here. Her name is Eudice. She was the one responsible for the visitation schedule of our team for the whole week. She kept the entire agenda in her head -- house after house, day after day without a single note, and never made a mistake. At 80 years of age. And she walked with us all day, every day, to every house. One house had 17 people waiting for us. Every single one of them asked Jesus into their hearts.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much....
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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This was such a special, special mission for me because of any number of reasons:
1. This was not part of a big, multi-church, multi-team evangelistic crusade. This was a private invitation for me to come, evangelize an area, and help plant a mission.
2. The invitation was from a wonderful family that was living and pastoring in Brazil at the time, and who were personal friends of the two sisters you have already met -- Acsa and Tuca, who became such precious friends of mine.
3. I got to work with both of them again this time, too.
4. I got to meet and work with three very special kids named Michael, Lori and Tara. Michael and Tara are in this picture of the mission. Make a mental note of what it looks like, because you will see it again, 17 years later. You won't believe it.
5. A life-long friendship was begun with this precious family.
Meet Gary and Beverly Evans, two of the finest people God ever put on this earth. They loved Brazil so much that they moved there on their own together with their children, and with no support from any missionary sending organization. They raised all their own support. I felt so privileged that they invited me to come and be a part of planting this mission. They are also the parents of those three special kids I just mentioned.
Just in case you might not have picked up on it from the picture of the mission, where we planted it was not exactly in the middle of downtown. Here are three pictures taken from right there at the mission.
Here are some of the kids from these very houses who showed up every single day, offering to help in whatever way they could.
(That's Tuca in the orange t-shirt.)
And if you ever need anyone to come and paint something, do Tuca and me a favor please -- call someone else!
God blessed us with such beautiful and talented young people all throughout planting the mission. Here is Selma playing music....
And here is Selma's twin sister Silvia doing puppet work. She was so funny, I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. That cute little blonde girl is Lori, oldest daughter of Gary and Beverly. This year (2021) she is 47 -- and still cute.
God Blessed...
Every day...
...and the mission was full, just like this...
every single day
I know that this picture is water-damaged, but I just couldn't leave it out. Just look at the faces of all these precious children. All of them in both these pictures trusted Jesus as their Savior.
And then there are some images that just get into your heart and never leave -- like this picture I took of this precious little girl. Oh how I would love to know what became of her and all these beautiful little children.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much...
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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I don't know if you could classify my time in England as "officially" a mission or not, because I was actually a pastor of two different established churches, both of which used the English language -- but -- it sure felt like at least a personal mission to me. Different country, different culture, and an accent with the language so different that I had to struggle to understand conversations for a while. Living there was also a lot different that just being there for a week of missions, like when I was there 6 years before in 1981 for my very first mission ever. Different for both me and the church.
I also had to get used to everyone driving on the wrong side of the road. My first week there, I came within about 3 inches of getting squashed by one of those red double-decker buses because I stepped out onto the street looking the wrong way for traffic.
Church #1 was also pastorate #1 for me, and man alive did I have a lot to learn -- fresh out of seminary, fully expecting to conquer the world, convinced I would be the next Billy Graham, new country, new culture, English so strange I could barely understand it. It was also a leap of faith for me because I went for no salary at all since the church had almost no money. Well, if it was a leap of faith for me, it was for sure a leap of patience as well for the people of the church. Looking back on all the mistakes I made, I don't know how they put up with me for the three years I was there. But, we must have done something right together because we accomplished some really wonderful things during the time I was there.
CHURCH #1 -- GRANGE PARK BAPTIST CHURCH ('87-'89) -- Hayes, England
GREAT THINGS AT GRANGE PARK
1. Membership/Attendance grew faster during our time together than at any other 3-year period in the life of the church.
2. More baptisms during our time together than at any other 3-year period in the life of the church.
3. Organized a praise team that you would have to have heard to believe. They were that good.
4. Organized a level of drama production (The Living Lord's Supper) they had never done before. It used over half the men in the church and the night of the performance, the church was standing room only.
5. Established their first ever adult Sunday School classes. Up to that time, Sunday School was only for children.
6. Completed the first major remodeling project in the life of the church. It was to accommodate the two adult Sunday School classes. Miraculously, a couple of pictures of it survived. We added a classroom on each side of the doors, and a balcony across the top. I think it turned out beautifully.
Of all my wonderful pictures from my time at Grange Park, sadly only a very few survived. Of the remaining four images I have to share with you here, three are about the church. The other is about a father's love for his daughter. Here they are:
This is actually a clipping from the local newspaper. Grange Park had never done anything like this before, and apparently neither had any other church. So, yours truly made the news! Some of the wonderful ladies in the church painted this nativity scene. I wired speakers to a cassette player inside the church (this was WAY before the days of bluetooth...lol), and anyone who walked or drove by could hear Christmas music all day long. Everyone who saw it and heard it thought it was beautiful -- and it was. In this picture I am sitting on top of the roof, just above those double doors that you can see in the exterior picture of the church.
This is the baptism of a young man named Paul, who the Lord saved out of a life of dependency on alcohol. He would soon make a beautiful contribution to the ministry of Grange Park.
This is that praise team I told you about. We are rehearsing for their first concert that completely filled the church. Even in all my years as a professional musician, I never worked with any group that had such perfect harmony. And the young man in that baptism picture? Here he is playing bass. One of the best I ever heard. Every single person in this group was just super talented.
This is the "father's love" picture -- this father's love right here for his daughter. I was with my very-young-at-the-time daughter at St. Paul's cathedral. She wanted to make the popular climb to the top of the cathedral using the stairs. 528 steps to the top, where I took this picture, and then 528 steps back down. Very tight and circular steps. Not all that difficult -- unless your left knee is the size of a football because you twisted it the week before and you are wearing a very restrictive brace. But we did it!
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much!
INSPIRING TESTIMONY TIME
This involves a couple, Roy and Jean Clark, who were not saved when I met them, but who were very faithful in bringing their young daughter to church, and attending all the events she was involved in. Over time, they became regular attenders at the Sunday services. Jean was wanting to ask Jesus into her heart for quite some time, but wanted to wait for Roy so they could make their public decision together. Roy was still at the stage of asking me about 20 theological questions after each sermon, which I loved because his honest curiosity was a big joy to me.
One Sunday night during the invitation, Jean couldn't wait any longer. If fact, she didn't even take the time to step sideways into the aisle. She literally pushed the chairs in front of her out of the way and came to the front, making public her decision to follow Jesus. We scheduled her baptism for the following Sunday. After her baptism, while I was still in the water I told the congregation, "You know, this water is still warm, and if anyone else wants to ask Jesus into their heart, we can just keep right on baptizing people." Roy needed no further encouragement. He came forward and I baptized him right then and there. While we were in the water, before I baptized him, he told the congregation this: "I walked outside tonight to come to church, looked up into the sky and said, "satan, you have lost the battle for my soul!""
Truer words were never spoken. Roy's thirst to know more of God and study His word was beautiful to watch. He became one of the fastest maturing Christians I have ever seen in all my years of ministry.
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CHURCH #2 -- BRACKLEY BAPTIST CHURCH ('89-'91) -- Brackley, England
With the exception of a few pictures from my trip to Estonia in 1990, sadly almost none of the pictures from my church work here survived the rain from my ruptured roof. I did manage to capture this image from Google Earth so you could at least see what the church looks like.
"Un-pictured," however, for sure doesn't mean uninteresting. My time at Brackley Baptist Church was an amazing experience for me. First of all, it was my second experience with a "different culture." This church, even though it was in England, was not established by people from England. It was planted by Americans. So, how was that a different culture for me? Well, it was planted by American Air Force personnel, who wanted a theology and a deeper church experience that was more like what they were used to "back home." Trust me, a military culture is a culture all its own, that's why it was different. All that is involved in military life affects the life of the church members, and the life of the church. Strain on families can be almost unbearable at times and the need for wise, pastoral care can be intense. The Iraq War happened while I was there, for example, and lots of the men in our church got deployed and were gone for a long time.
I have undying respect for our military, and being their pastor here for even a short while was an enormous honor for me. And they, like my congregation in Hayes, were incredibly kind and patient with a very young pastor. In my church were fighter jet pilots, and their RIOs, helicopter pilots, jet mechanics, tech support people, radar people, people who worked for the CIA, people whose security clearance was through the roof -- like the man who, before being transferred to England, was one of the people responsible for writing the launch codes for the underground missles at NORAD. One of our greatest and most noble goals together was beginning the transition of our church to becoming a British church, because everyone knew that the air force bases there would close one day, plus the last thing we wanted was for the community to think of us as a "closed American congregation." Several of these men and their wives became life-long friends. I managed to save two of their pictures....
This is Mike Willmouth. I stay in touch with Mike and his wife, Debbie several times a month through social media. They have remained dear friends all these years. He was a deacon and our resident "sound engineer." Mike was one of the air force support personnel who was also a computer and tech genius. I never asked him any question about a computer that he didn't know the answer to. I always felt honored that he answered God's call to ministry during our time together at Brackley Baptist Church, and he has pastored for many years now back in the states.
This is Chaz (Charles) Zellner, who was, as you might guess from his flight gear, a fighter pilot (F-111). He wore his gear to our house one day to surprise our kids. Susan, his wife, had seen it all before, but our sons -- as you can see -- were, to use a very British expression, thoroughly "gobsmacked." I was very proud to see Chaz become a leader in our church and a deacon during my time at Brackley. After the Air Force he became a commercial airline pilot and just recently retired. Both he and Mike have been voices of calm reason, counsel, compassion, and Christian encouragement to me over all these years.
The precious and enduring friendships with folks like Mike and Debbie, and Chaz and Susan is yet one more reason why I love this work so much.
1990 -- and now, a trip to Estonia while I was the pastor at Brackley. It was a trip that left an indelible mark on my heart.
kalju baptist church, tallinn, estonia
Kalju Baptist Church is the oldest Baptist church in Tallinn and it is the only church still existing in its district, Kalamaja. It was an enormous honor for me to preach there. How that came to be, and everything else that I experienced and learned during my visit to Estonia is a truly inspirational story.
It happened through this unbelievable Christian lady right here. Her name is Ülle Käärik and she is one of the most dedicated, faithful servants of the Lord that I have ever met in my life. You are about to find out some of the reasons why.
I met Ülle when I attended the annual meeting of the European Baptist Convention, of which our church was a member. The convention that year was in Wiesbaden, Germany, and only God could have written the way we met. I was a Texas boy a long way from home, pastoring in England, and who had never been to Europe for any reason whatsoever. It was my first time there. Ülle was a lady from the Baltic state of Estonia, whose church had never even had the opportunity to attend the convention because until just a few months before the convention, Estonia had been under the iron fist control of the Soviet Union. This was the first time they had ever been able to attend.
Since Estonia had never had the opportunity to take part in the convention, Ülle had been invited to speak. She spoke of her work in their Sunday School program. As I listened, it seemed to me that somewhere in the back of Ülle's mind she was thinking, "Most of these people probably don't even know where Estonia is." It seemed a little sad to me, so I made sure to find her at the first "rest stop" in the convention. We had a wonderful conversation and I hope I was able to encourage her by telling her I knew about the Baltic States, and I knew exactly where Estonia was. I knew because of an older man named Carlos Gruber who was in the same mission I was, back in 1985 in Brazil. One day during the mission, I walked past his room in the hotel and heard a beautiful violin melody coming from the room. It was Carlos playing....with tears streaming down his face. I asked him the name of the beautiful song, and he responded, "It is the National Hymn of my homeland, Latvia, where we haven't been allowed to play it for over 40 years." And Carlos gave me an education in what it was like to live without freedom, dominated by the Soviet Union. I would learn a lot more during my time in Estonia -- and so will you if you read on.
That meeting between the Texas boy and the lady from Estonia resulted in two invitations: for me to come and visit Estonia, and for her to come and visit England -- both of which would happen. I will share with you now, the few surviving pictures I have, but I want first for you to know just how dedicated a Christian lady Ülle Käärik is. In addition to all the other work she has done for the Lord year and after year, she singlehandedly built the first collection of books in the library of Kalju Baptist Church. Pay attention to the wording. She didn't simply collect the books -- she built them. She did it slowly and with great determination. Whenever certain ships would come in to their harbor, Ülle would go on board and see if there were any Christian books available to check out and read. When there was, she would take the book back to her house, and on an old manual typewriter, through 7 layers of carbon paper, word by word, she would re-type the entire book. And book by book, she built their library.
As one looks at the engaging charm of this picture of "Old Town" Tallinn, it needs to be remembered that this part of Tallinn has existed since Medieval times. We're talking 13th century here. That tower (and the others like it in the distance) and that wall you can see at the bottom of it -- they have been there for 800 years.
That imposing white tower you can see in the background is the famous Oleviste Baptist Church. It is where Billy Graham held his crusade in Tallinn in 1984, and it is where I had the unbelievable honor of preaching one Sunday during my time in Estonia. I witnessed the most beautiful observance of the Lord's Supper I have ever seen in my life the day I preached there.
I wish more of my pictures of the inside of this beautiful church had survived. I have only this one, but hopefully it will give you at least an idea of how beautiful this sanctuary really is.
The charming appearance of the Old Town can be very deceptive, however. Don't let it hypnotize you. Hopefully things are completely different and much better today without the stranglehold of communism choking the life out of its people and its way of life. But -- 30 years ago in 1989-90, the horrible poverty caused by communism was still very visible.
I have never been able to get the image in this picture out of my mind. I had to turn away so Ülle would not see the tears in my eyes. These are people lined up to buy food. There were many of these lines. Sometimes people would just line up not even knowing what was being sold. They just knew there would be food available -- if it wasn't gone before it was their turn.
I was able to see once, what was at the end of one of the lines: tomatoes so rotten that you and I would have thrown them out. Then there was one single store that was full of all sorts of delicious things, candy, fresh fruit and more -- but -- Estonians couldn't go in and buy any of it, because it only accepted American dollars and Estonians were allowed to have only the Russian Ruble. And there were big glass windows where the Estonian people could see it all -- but couldn't have any of it. It was heartbreaking. It was hard for me to believe, even though I was seeing it with my own eyes. It filled me with enormous joy to be able to go in there and buy some things for Ülle, her husband, Harri, and their precious children.
Another sobering and grim reminder of Russian occupation was these massive stones, moved into place to block Soviet tanks from being able to advance into the center of the city and the government offices.
But joy had finally arrived for Estonia!!
Pay close attention to the inset in this picture. After not being able to fly the flag of their own country for 44 years, the flag of Estonia is flying once again atop the tower beside their Parliament building. For the first time in 44 years, Estonia was free from Russian domination. When I was there, there were still Russian troops, but their days were numbered. Freedom was beginning to blossom once again.
I still proudly fly my Estonian flag, too, that I bought while I was on this trip.
I would like to use this family to show you something I learned in Estonia about real faith, real courage, and real trust in the Lord in the darkest of times. This is the family I stayed with in Estonia because there was not room in Harry and Ülle's house. This man's brother (the uncle of the young lady sitting on the couch) was the editor of a newspaper in Tallinn. Simply because of his position he was taken to a Russian gulag in Siberia and never heard from again. During Stalin's time, over 14 million people were sent to these camps to work until they died in the bitter cold.
On top of that, when they were young this man and his wife were attending the university and almost ready to receive their degrees to become lawyers. When it was discovered that they were Christians they did not deny it, and were removed from the school and never allowed to go back. They were never allowed to get their degree. And yet -- when you talk to them, you don't hear bitterness, you hear love for the Lord.
The children of Kalju Baptist Church. My hope is always renewed every time I see groups of precious children like this in church.
...and people ask me why I love doing missions so much...
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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"...ready always to give a defense to everyone asking you, a reason for the hope that is in you..."
1 Peter 3:15
This is the scripture on which I based the name of this very special church.
I will go to my grave with Burning Hope Baptist Church being one of the brightest, warmest places in my heart. The sad part is, unless someone that started the church with me can send me some pictures, I have not a single one that survived the water damage from that ruptured roof. Even still, even without pictures, how this work began will deliciously warm the heart of any Christian who loves church the way Jesus intended for it to be. It was another step in trusting the Lord, because for the second time now, I would pastor a church for no salary. In fact, I don't know what we would have done if those first few members had not regularly had "too much food for their freezers" so they shared some with us. If a beautiful and inspiring story of how God blesses when you really love Him, and really try your best to love people, is something that interests you....by all means, read on.
Let's start at the beginning so you can have an accurate picture, ok? In and around the city of Trinity 31 years ago, there were three groups of people who lived in real poverty. There was a large community of Hispanics in need, there was a large community of blacks in need, and there was a large community of whites in need. To give you an idea of just how much need, I want to describe for you some of the houses just on the other side of the property of the church where I pastored before we planted Burning Hope -- grey wood slats, no paint, and grass so tall it almost hid the windows. I guess I should say window spaces, because in some of the houses there was only the hole -- no glass.
Now, there is a place in Trinity called the Good Samaritan House that tries to at least partially meet the needs of these folks who are truly in need. However, it wasn't big enough to handle all the need, and besides that, according to Jesus it is the work of the church to care for the needy -- and none of the churches in the area (zero) had a proactive, ongoing ministry that reached out, trying to meet the very real and pressing physical needs of these groups of very needy people.
The heartache of seeing so much need going unattended weighed on the hearts and conscience of several of us until we just couldn't stand by any longer and do nothing. So, two couples and their children, two elderly ladies, along with me and my family decided to do something about it -- and Burning Hope Baptist Church was born. One of these couples is still there, Jim and Anita Parrish, and Jim has been the pastor almost since the very beginning. The funny thing is, Jim (who is absolutely the hardest working man I have ever seen in any church) told me this at the beginning, "Pastor, I love the Lord and I love the church, and I will do absolutely anything you ask me to do -- except pastor." So God, having a perfect sense of humor, put Jim in that exact position. Other than the first year or so when I was the pastor, it has been Jim at the helm the entire time -- 25 years and counting. He was definitely God's chosen man for the job, and still is. And his wife, Anita, works just as hard as he does.
The first thing we did was define the strategy, philosophy and heart of Burning Hope Baptist Church. We did it in just two words -- love people. We promised the Lord that it would not matter what the color of a person's skin was, it would not matter what a person was dressed like, it would not matter what they smelled like, or if they had alcohol or tobacco on their breath. Burning Hope Baptist Church was going to love people -- no matter what. We held our first services in an old house that a very kind lawyer named Travis let us rent for almost nothing. The wood floor was not level and was touching the ground underneath. The smell of mildew was very noticeable, but the warmth of the Spirit of the Lord took all of that away.
After just a few weeks, the Lord blessed and we were able to move to a strip center, where we could begin keeping our commitment to love people. We started by doing what we could to feed hungry people. We started with a couple of crock pots and the first free meal open to all was beans and cornbread. We also started a small makeshift clothes closet for people who needed clothes. Now -- let me show you how God blesses when you truly try your best:
1. When people in town found out that we were trying to feed hungry people, we would arrive before the service on some Sundays and find bags of canned goods. One woman who was remodeling her kitchen gave us everything that was in her kitchen -- everything, literally, including the kitchen sink.
2. When people in town found out we were trying to provide clothes for those in need, sometimes we would arrive at the church and there would be bags of clothes, clean and neatly folded beside the front door. We soon had so many items of clothing that we had to rent the space beside the church in the strip mall just to hold the clothes.
3. A little over a year after I had left, I came back for a visit and was talking to Jim inside the church and he said, "I want to show you something." He went over to the piano and picked up a small acrylic piece and brought it over to me. At the annual State Baptist Convention of Texas, little Burning Hope Baptist Church was given the award...given to only one church a year... for "demonstrating the most innovative approach to ministry by a new work" in the entire state of Texas. I told Jim, "Who would have ever thought that loving people would be considered an innovative approach to ministry....."
But wait!! God was only just getting started blessing Burning Hope.
4. About four years later, when a small, personal kitchen could no longer serve the growing needs of feeding hungry people, God moved little Burning Hope Baptist Church from the strip mall into what used to be the largest restaurant in town -- complete with a commercial-size kitchen.
5. In another four years, Burning Hope would be able to build and move into the facility where it is today -- with an even larger kitchen, and has become one of the largest churches in town. It now has partnerships with the Houston Food Bank, local law enforcement, the local supermarket, vegetables grown locally are donated somehow just at the right time, the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering helps with some funding, and the YMCA camp and Trinity Pines Conference center donate surplus meals. God has blessed beautifully all these years because Burning Hope has never strayed from its focus of loving people, no matter what. At the same time it is winning people to Christ who are spiritually hungry, it still feeds hungry people who need a hand up, twice a week now, done with all volunteer labor-- and it is still absolutely free.
God bless you Jim and Anita, God bless you Burning Hope Baptist Church, and God bless everyone involved in your ministry for the Lord every day.
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
This is, thankfully, the last mission where all my pictures were destroyed by water damage. It is exceptionally sad for me because this was the first of two missions (crusades as they used to be called) where I was the coordinator of a large evangelistic effort. In this mission to Curitiba, I was responsible for enlisting, organizing, training and bringing home safely, a group that would be spread out over 51 churches in Curitiba and the surrounding area. As a mission coordinator, I didn't get many opportunities to do what I really love -- personal, one-on-one evangelism in homes sharing my testimony -- but, it was beautifully replaced by a different kind of joy that was also deep and very satisfying: the Lord using me to bring others to the mission field, and watching their hearts catch on fire and be changed forever as they win more people to Jesus in one week than most of them have won in their entire lives. And for many, it was the very first time ever that they had led another person to Christ.
I am hoping that I can at least partially make up for the lack of pictures here, with three really heartwarming, and hopefully inspirational testimonies from this mission. The first testimony is about a young lady on our team whose name was Stacy......
Stacy was a young married lady in our church. If memory serves, she was in her very early 20s. She was always full of energy, love for the Lord, and always involved in various activities in our church. Everyone loved Stacy, and early on in the team enlistment process, I felt like the Lord would really use her in a wonderful way in Curitiba if I could just convince her to pray about going. It wasn't easy because she had never traveled, never participated in an evangelistic outreach mission, and had never shared her testimony... anywhere, much less over 5,000 miles from home. And of course, there was the little issue of the money for the air travel, hotel and other expenses during the mission. She didn't have any.
She tried one excuse after another, fought against what she knew was the Lord calling her to go on the mission, kept telling me "no" time after time, and would, of course, always bring up the money issue. Well, our church helped remove that last excuse with a fund-raiser that gave her all the money she needed. Finally, Stacy said "yes," and it was wonderful to see the way her heart lit up when she finally swallowed her fear and followed the Lord's call. Stacy did have one problem, however -- she was exceptionally beautiful, and 100% of the time her clothes were always perfect, her make-up was always perfect, her fingernails were always perfect, and her hair was always perfect. Nothing was ever out of place no matter where she was, or what she was doing. Why I mentioned this will become important in the next paragraph...
During any mission, I always liked to wait in the hotel lobby until all my "children" returned at the end of the day and were in for the night. I would wait up until after midnight if I had to. I wanted to hear from everyone about their witnessing experiences of the day, and I was never disappointed because it was always a huge blessing. That is, until the first night of the mission when Stacy got back from her first day of working in the church I had assigned her to. I was in the lobby, as usual, waiting on everyone to arrive. Several cars had arrived at the same time at the end of the first day, and Stacy was in one of the cars. It was raining and windy, and when she got out of the car I could see she was a mess. Her hair looked like it had been caught in a fan and she was soaking wet. She walked right past me in the lobby...actually "stomped" would be a better word, and didn't say so much as "hi." She simply glared at me with obvious anger and got in the elevator, and I thought ----......oooooooh boy!!!!
Next night -- more of the same. More rain, more wind, the car with Stacy in it arrived, she got out with that completely wet, hair-caught-in-a-fan look again. There I was in the lobby, cringing, waiting to see what would happen. She stomped by me again, same irritated expression....but, at least this time she did speak. She said, "I don't know about this mission stuff!" She didn't slow down to give me a chance to respond, but at least she spoke, so I considered that at least a small improvement.
Third night -- and I was in the lobby already on the lookout for Stacy. By this time I knew the car that she would be in and I saw it arrive. Rain and wind again -- and the same wet, blown to pieces look. She got out and I could see her looking, trying to see where I was in the lobby. I was expecting the worst. When she came through the lobby doors, she started running toward me, the tears literally streaming down her face were easy to see. When she reached me, she grabbed me and hugged me with both arms wrapped tight around me and said, "Thank you so much!! I am so glad you didn't give up on me until you got me here." Here is what happened to Stacy: Someone in her church had taken her to the hospital for a visit. It was a little 9-year-old girl who was dying with cancer. Stacy told me that she had never been in a situation like that before, face to face with someone who was close to death -- especially a child. She told me that she did her best, but felt like what she had done and said was so inadequate. But then, the little girl asked Jesus into her heart and said to Stacy, "I believe God brought you here to Brazil just for me." That captured Stacy's heart -- and two days later the little girl went to be with Jesus. -- And Stacy got to have the experience of really knowing what it was like for the Lord to use her -- specifically -- to change eternity for someone. For Stacy, it was a little 9-year-old girl.
Second testimony. I will admit up front that this second testimony is most likely more emotional and joyful for me than anyone else reading this. Why? Because it involves my very own mother.
In all my years of doing mission work up to this point, no one in my family had ever participated in a mission I had organized. This mission to Curitiba and the next one to Paraguay have been the lone exceptions. All my missions have been huge joys for me, each one unique in its own, special way...but this one was especially so because my mother was a member of one of our teams. It was also a very special team because it was made up of people who were some of my best friends, and who I had known for many years from my "home away from home" church, FBC Hamshire. Besides being able to be a part of my mother winning people to Christ, and giving her the mission experience of a life time, to be able to show my mother -- on the mission field -- what it was that God had called me to do was very, very special.
Third testimony --
One of the most powerful lessons God has ever taught me in my entire life.
It was about humility.... and the power of the Holy Spirit.
One of the things you get used to as a missions coordinator when you are actually in the middle of a mission, is an almost daily, unexpected, last minute changing of your plans. I can't even remember all the times, for example, that I have been on my way....meaning in the car, actually on the way... to visit a church and a team to see how things were progressing during the week -- and then in the car, the person taking me to the church says, "So pastor... what are you preaching on tonight?" No, I'm not kidding. With no notice at all, or time to prepare, I needed to be able to preach almost instantly.
Well, imagine my surprise when I was asked to preach in this mission, the mission-closing service of a participating church -- and I was actually asked days in advance. I would have time, for once, to prepare. I was especially happy for this time because I was asked to preach in the largest church in the mission, which happened to also be the church where my mother and the team from FBC Hamshire had been working all week. I was so happy I could barely think straight. I would have time to prepare, and I would be preaching in front of my "hometown friends" as well!! I set aside the entire afternoon to study and prepare.
My mental activity during the preparation went something like this: "I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna say that." The mistake that I ignored was, I was using WAY too much "I" and way too little "What do you want me to say, Lord?" When I arrived at the church in the evening, there was even another almost unheard of blessing waiting for me -- time to go over the sermon with the interpreter. I was able to ask about specific words and phrases, if anything would present a problem for interpretation. The answer every time was, "Nope, that won't be a problem at all." When it was time to preach, we walked up to the pulpit, I looked out at a completely full church (people even sitting in the aisles), I began my sermon -- and -- EVERYthing was a problem. I have confessed to people for years that this was by far the worst sermon I ever preached in my life -- and it was in an enormous and packed church, at the close of a mission, in front of my lifelong friends -- and my mother. It was my own sermon and even I didn't think it was ever going to end. It felt, spiritually, like I was swimming through wet concrete. Finally, mercifully, it was over, and the pastor of the church began the invitation.
I was so humiliated and ashamed that I couldn't even lift my head. God had given me an opportunity too beautiful for words and I knew that I had wasted it. My mistake -- and I knew it -- was trying to preach in my own power and my own preparation, which is a poor substitute for the Holy Spirit's power and His inspiration. I didn't even go back and sit in my chair behind the pulpit with the other church leaders. I knelt behind the pulpit and cried, literally, and begged God to forgive me for wasting such a wonderful opportunity to preach his love and win lost people to Jesus. I don't know how long I was on my knees, but when I finally stood up and opened my eyes, what I saw was almost unbelievable. All 5 rows of steps leading up to the stage (about 30 yards wide) were full of people on their knees, praying to ask Jesus into their hearts. More people were backed up in all the aisles doing the same thing. My sermon was so bad, I knew that this response had nothing to do with the way I had preached. Then as He embraced me with His beautiful love, my Heavenly Father gently tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me just who it is who has all the power. This overwhelming response of so many people was all the work of the Holy Spirit because it obviously had absolutely nothing to do with me, or the way I had just preached. And -- with God as my witness -- I have never again tried to preach in my own power.
Why do I love doing missions so much? Watching how God works through testimonies like these is another good example.
That, and seeing over 5,000 people from 51 different church fields ask the Lord Jesus into their lives as Savior.
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
Asunción was the second of two very large evangelistic mission campaigns that I coordinated.
It was actually a nationwide effort that involved my United States teams, teams from South America --
and 125 churches throughout Paraguay.
It was also a place where God let me witness yet again His mighty hand, learn about a different culture, and see the beauty of His blessings even in the midst of very deep poverty. (You will see some of it in the pictures.)
1. Learn about a different culture.
PART ONE.
This is actually a bit humorous. During one of the early days of the mission, there was something I needed to buy, so I left our hotel in the center of Asunción about midday to go buy it. When I turned the corner where all the downtown shops and businesses were located, everything... and I mean everything... was closed and the streets were virtually abandoned. I started feeling like maybe I had missed the rapture or something until someone explained to me what happened after I retraced my steps to the hotel. Siesta time. It is real, and believe me, they take it seriously in Asunción. The capital city of the nation closes up ...completely... for two hours every day at noon.
PART TWO
The coordinator of all the teams from South America and I were talking one day about the police, and he mentioned how corrupt they were in Paraguay. That made me curious so I asked him (Daniel) what percentage of the police he believed were corrupt. He said, "100." I thought he misunderstood me and was telling me his estimate of the total number of corrupt policemen, so I asked again, and he said, "No, I understood. Because of very, very low salaries 100% of the police take bribes. It is the only way they can support their families." -- and he was serious.
2. God's blessings in the midst of deep poverty.
What I saw in Paraguay made James 2:5 come alive for me -- "...did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" I saw such heartfelt faith and kindness from so many people who, materially, had so little. One man in one of the churches gave me an "offering bowl" that he had made with his own hands -- and he did it with ice cream sticks.
3. God's mighty hand.
One more time in my life, God let me be a part of witnessing His mighty healing hand. One of our team members from the states was a lady of very special faith. Let me explain. She felt God's call to be a part of the mission. She did all her preparation, had her ticket, passsport, etc. and then was told by her doctor that she had liver cancer, and told her that they needed to start treatment immediately. She responded, "Well, I have this mission scheduled first." The doctor responded, "Maybe you don't understand how seriously ill you are. It is imperative that we start treatment immediately." to which she replied, "No... you don't understand. It is God's will for me to go on this mission, and I am going. We can start treatment when we get back."
She got very sick at the end of the mission, and even passed out. All of us gathered in her hotel room, stood in a circle around her with her seated, and we prayed and claimed the healing hand of God in her life. It was either one or two days later that we flew back to the states. She went to her doctor, where they did another examination to see how far the cancer had advanced. And -- it...had...completely...disappeared. Tell me -- how many people have you ever heard of being terminally ill with liver cancer and it just disappeared? That was God honoring that woman's steadfast faith in His will. There is no other explanation.
And finally -- I have pictures to show again
I suddenly noticed that it has been quite a long time since I have appeared in any pictures, so I thought I might should include a couple just so that no one will start thinking that I don't actually work in these missions. I preached in all different sizes and styles of churches on this mission -- all were wonderful blessings for me, rich or poor. This is one of the nicest churches I visited. It is also where the man gave me his handmade "offering bowl." The young lady beside me is Sandra -- a very, very good interpreter.
Even with all the work, there was still time to clown around a bit......
Ok -- please forgive me for that little pun. I just couldn't resist. This was at a children's ministry workshop... a really good one. The lady on the left was extremely gifted as a clown, and I wore proudly the bright, red kiss she gave me there on my cheek. The other lady was a very helpful lady from one of the churches -- even though she was a bit on the jealous side -- like not wanting me to take a picture with the clown lady unless she was in it, too. She even had to have a kiss on the cheek just like mine.
Remember what I said about being in all kinds of different churches? Here is a church not nearly so pretty on the outside as that first one -- but the heart of its people made it just as beautiful. This is Iglesia Bautista Vida y Verdad: Life and Truth Baptist Church.
One more very, very special church that I dare not leave out. This church was the best prepared church of the entire mission. It should therefore come as no surprise that it also registered more decisions for Christ than any of the other 125 churches -- even those much bigger. One of the things it did was build a "prayer chain." A real one. Each 30 minutes of prayer for the mission gave a person the right to add one link. Look closely in this picture and you will see it wrapping around the entire inside of the church. Twice.
Two other disciplines of preparation where this church really shined, and that the Lord blessed with many decisions for Christ:
1. Dedicated home discipleship for after the mission.
2. Full agenda of evangelistic visit appointments in homes.
This is what it is all about right here -- people asking Jesus into their hearts, just like this young couple did outside their home.
I will close our time together in Paraguay with 5 pictures that tell a wonderfully unique and special story involving this little church right here. That is Sandra again, there in the overalls, and when we arrived at the church there was absolutely nothing going on, and nothing planned. That's because it was not even close to Sunday. It was just an ordinary day of the week. Well, when that other lady there found out that the "big, important crusade coordinator" was there, they suddenly decided to have a church service. I couldn't believe it. In the middle of a favela, no plans to have a service, no way and no time to announce anything, nobody anywhere around -- so I asked, "How can you do that? There is no way to even get the word out." They responded, "Don't worry." ....and I am there thinking, "There is no way this is going to work."
To show you I wasn't kidding about nobody being anywhere around, here is a picture looking across the street in the opposite direction of the church -- into the favela. Not a soul in sight.
A guy shows up out of nowhere with a pickup as if by magic with a huge loudspeaker in the back and they start driving around making a very loud announcement about the "culto." ...and while they were doing that, here was the scene at the church as they prepared.
With God as my witness, I promise you...in less than 20 minutes, this was the scene outside the church.
One more time I was going to have the exciting experience of preaching with no notice and no time to prepare.
I know this picture has terrible quality. Before I worked on it a bit, you couldn't even see any of the faces. But I can't resist because I just love the little children, and here I am smack in the middle of them. By the way, that pickup in the background is the one that showed up out of nowhere with that giant speaker in the back.
.....and people ask me why I love doing missions so much. "All the above" is why...
COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
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This mission is an extra special event. Especially for me. Two reasons. First reason: this was, officially, the first mission ever for In The Harvest Missions. Second: remember when I wrote about the mission God let me have a part in helping plant in Cubatão way back in 1986? I told you way back at the beginning you would see it again 17 years later, remember? Well, here it is!
That dilapidated shack surrounded by banana trees in the middle of nowhere -- look at it now. Sadly, none of my pictures of the outside survived that water damage, but this was the sanctuary 17 years later in 2003 -- on the second floor of a two-story church, surrounded by the city and houses. I would like to go back again and see what it looks like now in 2021, after another 19 years .
They didn't forget their roots, however. Beneath the first floor of the church, here are the original school desks and benches we used for chairs -- still sitting on the original foundation.
Here was our "mother church" for the mission, Igreja Batista em Jardim Casqueiro. This is actually two pictures placed side by side....and WAY before the days of automatic panorama shots. The sidewalk is actually perfectly straight. I was trying to show the church, plus the enormous expansion that was going on beside it.
... but the people on the inside made it beautiful!
The mission church of my friend, Gary Corker -- Vila Esperança. It might appear a bit plain on the outside....
Gary interpreting, me preaching.
Another of my great blessings during this mission was being able to preach in the historic First Baptist Church of Santos.
Now a big change of scenery and a big change in quality of life. Just across the freeway from Cubatão is a favela called "Vila dos Pescadores (Village of the Fishermen). It lies on a small strip of land between the freeway and the coastline. As you can see, they ran out of space to build on dry ground, so they extended the favela (slum) over the water. And again, as you can see, it is very dirty water. Trash and sewage are dumped uncontrolled into it. Those unprotected walkways are the only areas where people can walk and children can play. I even saw toddlers on it -- with no adult in sight. In the past, favelas were a wonderful place to share the gospel openly because there were always people everywhere. Today, however (and sadly), it is much more difficult. They have become very dangerous places run by drug lords. The only reason I was allowed inside was because of a member of our witness team whose name was "Israel." He earned the respect of the drug lords by putting together a soccer team for the boys of the favela, and he was able to get permission for me to go inside. To illustrate how dangerous this place is -- that picture on the far right with the alleyway of mud -- the night before a teenager was found murdered right in the middle of it. But, in spite of the challenging way of life there, we were still able to lead a large number of people to Christ during our time in Vila dos Pescadores.
Here are just a few of those new Christians
A mother of one of the young boys on that church soccer team started by Israel. You think that little boy is happy?
A mother with her two children. The little boy is very proudly showing off the gospel power band I give to everyone who asks Jesus into their hearts.
A whole family, all new Christians -- father, mother and daughter.
Another entire family, all new Christians -- father, mother and daughter. But... this victory for Jesus right here comes with a really special story. I had gone to this house to witness to just the mother and daughter. The father was nowhere to be seen, and the mother and daughter told me that he was an abusive drunk. At the end of our time sharing Christ, the mother and daughter prayed and asked Christ into their hearts. As we walked back through the kitchen to leave, there was the father, with tears streaming down his face. He had listened to the entire visit from the kitchen and had silently asked Christ into his own heart during our prayer. This time his red eyes are not from alcohol. They are tears of joy.
Preaching with Regiane, one of the best interpreters I have ever been blessed to work with.
Once a drummer, always a drummer I guess. After 40 years of being away from it, however, there was a LOT of rust.
Our wonderful team member from FBC Hamshire, Janet Woods, giving her testimony with Vera, another excellent interpreter who became a lifelong friend.
Janet, Vera and me at an Assembly of God church. There is actually a funny story here. It was a VERY traditional Assembly of God church (as in the kind that believed the preacher always had to be in a coat and tie, even if it was 110 degrees in the shade. The pastor had been trying his best to lead them out of the Dark Ages on this subject, without much success. I told him, "Leave it to me. Sometimes a visiting speaker can get away with some things that the pastor can't." I got up to preach, pulled a chair up beside the pulpit, took off my coat and draped it ceremoniously over the back of the chair, held my Bible up from the pulpit and said -- "Now -- tonight we are going to discover something. We are going to discover if the power in the preaching tonight comes from the Word of God -- or this coat." No one walked out, so I guess I got away with it.
After just these few days into the mission, our "team" of just two people had already recorded 339 decisions for Christ.
Here is something I never get tired of, and absolutely love to do with all my heart -- witness for Christ in the public schools.
I always do it with a twinge of sadness because it reminds me that in the United States of America, where "freedom" is a protected right, we have no freedom to share the love of Jesus in our public schools. It is prohibited -- by law. What a shame. Just look at the excitement these children are showing.
What a fantastic group this is right here -- our witnessing team that hit the streets with us every day. From left to right:
Israel, Dario, Jemima, Pr. Luiz and Junior. Not counting all the many decisions in the schools (and there were over 50 in 17 classes we visited in one high school), together we shared the love of Jesus and saw over 400 people saved in just one week.
And now for what is always my favorite part -- the children. I absolutely love 'em.
The children of the São Jose mission.
The children of the favela, Vila dos Pescadores
The children of Gary's church, Esperança.
And... I just can't help myself -- playing with Vera's daughter, Vitória.
I suppose the very best way to close this first mission of "In The Harvest Missions" would be a couple of pictures from the closing victory service. The picture on the left is Israel with his soccer team called "Resgate" (which in English means "Rescue."). 25 of these young men accepted Christ into their hearts the day we were able to witness to them. The picture on the right is the church full of people, including people from the different schools, the soccer team, the parents of the soccer team, and people all over Cubatão and the favela, Vila dos Pescadores -- all who asked Christ into their hearts during the mission.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much...
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
This mission to Santos in 2004 was such a beautiful mission for several reasons. It was beautiful because of the many people who were saved. It was beautiful because of the some very special and precious people who were a part of the team (who you are about to meet), and it was beautiful physically because of some of the events and places we went. So.... lets get started!!!
Please indulge me here. I know this picture may not mean a lot to most folks, but it is very, very precious to me. I have waited and waited to introduce this couple to you. I couldn't do it earlier because all the pictures of them in earlier missions were destroyed. This is Mac and Lynda Sticker with my dear friend of many years, Jemima, between them interpreting their testimonies. You may remember Jemima from a picture in the last mission.
Mac and Lynda, put simply, were two of the finest people and finest Christians God ever gave me the privilege of knowing. During the hardest time of my life, when it seemed that my whole world was crashing down around me, and so many "friends" turned their backs, Mac and Lynda never left my corner. For years they encouraged me, they prayed for me, we did mission work together for years as we stood together, toe to toe staring the devil in the face as we beat the tar out of him time after time, winning people to Jesus. When the subject was following God's will in their lives, the word "can't" was not in their vocabulary.
Lynda went on a mission with me first. It was the 1997 mission to Curitiba. She did a splendid job as a member of a large team of my friends (including my mother, remember?) from FBC Hamshire, Texas. A funny memory of Lynda on this mission was how she got turned around in a shopping mall at the end of the mission, and missed the bus back to the hotel. It almost caused her to miss the bus to the airport because we were getting ready to leave. Later I hugged her and smiled and said to her, "Lynda, it will always be a blessing to have you on any mission I lead....but, from now on, you have to wear a cowbell."
The next year, Mac said there was no way he was going to let Lynda have that much fun again without him, so, for my 1998 mission to Paraguay, they went together. At the first team training meeting for the mission, Lynda was there and so was Mac -- with a cowbell in his hand. The whole place fell apart laughing.
But -- what was so beautiful about Mac was the kind of servant of the Lord he was. For me, he was the absolute living definition of a Christian servant. An example: He served over 30 years as a deacon at FBC Hamshire. He never spoke even a single time, publicly, during a church meeting. He simply served. Year after year after year. Now -- pay attention. Even though he had never spoken in church (not a song, not a lesson from the pulpit...nothing), I felt the Lord leading me to place Mac as the preacher of one of the teams for Paraguay. Mac never even flinched. He didn't say "I can't." He didn't say, "I've never done anything like that before." He didn't say, "I'm more comfortable just serving, not speaking." What he DID say was this:
"If you believe that is what the Lord wants me to do, I'll do it."
Mac and Lynda were married for over 70 years and went to be with the Lord within two weeks of each other. But, not before the Lord gave me the beautiful privilege of working together with them for years in some fantastic missions, just like this one. You will see them again, I promise.
These two pictures illustrate a very sobering truth that is still very much alive and well in Brazil -- even in a major metropolitan area like Santos, which is situated on a popular and enormous, historic beach. To the untrained western eye, this just looks like where some trashy person made a mess on the street. A Brazilian, however, would recognize this immediately as a worship ritual of Macumba. It is what we might refer to as black magic, or witchcraft. This particular ceremony right here was a burnt offering to the spirits, and it was done on the sidewalk right beside a city street.
Two more precious friends for life because of missions -- Paulo and Vera Resende. I had the blessing of working with them for several missions. You may remember Vera from the mission before this one. Paulo was actually there, too, but none of the good pictures of him survived. Vera's gift to missions is her skill in English. Paulo's gift to missions is his skill in sound technology. He was so good at it that he was in charge of setting up all the sound systems for any public event held by the city of Santos. He is also the reason I got to enjoy a private rehearsal of the Santos symphony. I was the only person in the entire auditorium. Their little daughter, Vitoria, is just precious beyond words. They lived on the second floor of those apartments with the yellow balconies, right across from where I took those pictures of the Macumba ritual.
Another friend for life who is just too precious to describe in any language. Most people know her as "Ana," but for her really special friends, she will always be "Carla." She was so helpful with interpretation and taking me on evangelistic visits. We stay in touch to this day. The pretty lady and young man seated behind her are her mother and brother. Carla was so shy. When she saw me trying to take this picture, she tried to get her camera up quickly to hide her face. She became such a wonderful friend. And, just in case anyone thinks I make all this up about life-long friends, here is a picture of Carla today (17 years later).....
Yet one more great friend is in this picture during a worship service of our host church. It is Dr. Robert Rollo (Bobby). He is in the orange shirt. My mother has known him since he was just a kid. Shortly before we were to leave for this mission, I came down with a horrible pain in my back that was actually causing tears to roll out of my eyes. Bobby met us up at the hospital in the middle of the night where he gave me a shot right in my back. It probably didn't save my life, but it sure felt like it did. He won a lot of people to the Lord during this mission.
One of the shortcomings of simple photographs is their inability to convey temperature conditions inside places that are sweltering hot. Like this place right here, a precious mission church. That green shirt I am wearing is soaking wet, and sweat is dripping off my elbows. However, what you are about to see in the next pictures more than makes up for it.
What a beautiful sight to see people hungry to hear the hope we have in Jesus. All the chairs in the little mission were taken and people were even having to stand outside. The picture on the right are people who asked Jesus into their hearts in their homes earlier in the day and came to make their decision public at the end of the service.
Most of the people who attended the service of the mission church, lived in this neighborhood right here. There was a lot of climbing every day to get to the daily appointments to share the gospel in people's homes, but it was worth it a thousand times over because many, many people asked Jesus into their hearts.
....and right there in that same neighborhood was this!! - an event especially for children, organized and operated by the talented young people of our host church. This also demonstrates one thing that I really enjoy about Brazil. To do this event, they didn't have to make a request to the city, they didn't have to get any sort of "special permit," or have an inspection by some "event inspector." They just decided to have it right there on a public slab of concrete and they did it.
And it was beautiful. So beautiful that I am going to finish writing about this mission with pictures of it.
Look for where the children are, and that's where you will find me just about 100% of the time. For me, there is no opportunity more beautiful or precious than sharing with children about the love of Jesus. I wish I could get adults back home to listen like this.
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much...
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
Well -- I hope you are ready for an extra-special mission this time. I know I say that every time, but it is really true for this mission to Itapeva. There are several reasons. Stay with me all the way through it, and you will see why. I promise.
I put together this VERY unprofessional "pan shot" of Itapeva to show that not all missions happen in enormous, metropolitan areas. Itapeva is not small (in the Texas sense of a small place), but as you can see, neither is it a big city. I love it exactly because of that reason, and, because some of my most precious friends live there.
Extra-special reason #1 -- The first and only time I have ever done a mission with an all-female team, and they were terrific. The lady in the jacket (Patricia) is Brazilian, but the other three were my team. From left to right: Martha, Kathryn, and Julia.
Extra-special reason #1 (part b) -- My all-female team extended to the Brazilian side as well. Meet another person who became a life-long friend, Cibelli Locatelli, who organized literally everything about this mission on the Brazilian side. What she did was a huge job that normally requires several committees.
Still in the extra-special section of my all-female team -- two more very special ladies (2nd and 3rd from the left) who were so important helping with interpreting. This picture is a great example of why. I had just been able to share Christ at this school, and the young girl in the green t-shirt had just asked Jesus into her heart. The lady holding the yellow folder would help me witness to a room full of recovering addicts in just a few more days.
Another person who became a friend for life, and whose interpreting skills were so important to this mission. Meet Dani Guimaraes.
But -- the big, enormous, gigantic reason this mission was so personally super-special was this reason right here!!
My youngest daughter, Emma, went with me on this mission. She's all grown up and married today, but in 2005 she was just a little girl and she made me so very proud on this mission. Being only 7 years old, I thought she was very brave. You will see a few more pictures of her in a little bit, but -- out of all of them, don't miss the one at the very end of the story of this mission. Trust me.
See what I mean about Itapeva being a long way from big metropolitan areas? We didn't have to get very far out of town on our way to a mission to be right in the authentic middle of country life. It sure made me miss where I grew up in the country as a boy.
This was our destination. A farm. Actually an enormous farm that raised soybean and corn. Everyone who worked on the farm lived right there in the middle of it. The man dressed in blue is the owner and cares so much about his workers knowing Christ, that he even built a mission church right in the middle of the farm. We were there all day sharing Christ with these special people, many of them still holding my testimony tract in this picture.
A little bit of a funny moment here. Emma was definitely not impressed with the outdoor toilet facilities. In fact, it was the first time in her life she had ever seen one.
A very important stop during this day was this place for recovering addicts. I had the privilege of sharing God's word, sharing my testimony, and seeing many of these men accept Christ as their Savior.
And as Emma discovered... sometimes mission work can be really exhausting.
Exhausting for grown-ups, too!
And as always, I never lose sight of the blessed privilege and joy of winning young people to Christ in the public schools. How utterly heartbreaking that it is outlawed in the United States of America.
Even with all the many different opportunities God grants us to share the gospel, the one-on-one visits in homes remain my greatest joy. Every adult and young person in this picture prayed and asked Jesus into their heart. See all the gospel bracelets on the people in the front?
Cibelli not only organized the entire Brazilian portion of the mission by herself, she also interpreted sermons for me. She is a super-talented lady, as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and today with the help of her husband, Gustavo, has her own language school.
During this sermon, I asked the people of our host church to show our congregations back home what Brazilians do with their hands when they praise the Lord. This was their response.
And now, here is what I have been waiting the whole time to show you...
How many dads do you know who get to have the unbelievable experience of baptizing their own daughter in a river in Brazil?
And people ask me why I love doing missions so much....
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COMPARTILHANDO ESPERANÇA, ENCORAJAMENTO E AMOR
As I have said of other missions, sometimes what makes them really special is the very special people you meet and new friends that you make. Other times, a mission can be very special because of being able to work with friends you have made before and are about to work with again. Sometimes a mission is special because you get to combine both.
Like right here -- the 2007 mission to São Vicente.
Meet the drop-dead special team God let me bring from Texas (and one Brazilian): On both ends, and returning to bless me deeply once again as team members -- Mac and Lynda Sticker, who you met two missions ago. Mac needed a cane by this mission, but that didn't slow him down one bit. In the middle is Emma, and you KNOW why she is so special. Not only is she coming back to Brazil for her second mission, she is my daughter. The young lady in the back in the blue sweater is Jemima, who you also met before. It was such a blessing to work with her again. The lady in the white blouse and the man in the green shirt were both from the Baptist Church in Milano, Texas and were participating in a mission trip for the very first time. Her name is Gail, and his name is Edwin (but all his friends call him "Ab"). Here in a bit, I will tell you a REALLY funny story about something that happened to Ab during supper one night at a Brazilian home.
Another reason this mission was so special is because it was the very first one where we had team t-shirts. The scripture beside the cross is John 12:32 -- "and I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me."
Another reason this mission was so special was the group of absolutely first class interpreters I was blessed to work with. Two -- Jemima and Dario became lifelong friends.
Dario
Jemima
Jaqueline
Raquel
Juliana
Pictures and more coming soon on this mission, and the missions following. We're just getting started!
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