‘MOTHERS IN ISRAEL’ SPECIAL EDITION!
During this Month – read, honor, and pray for our Missionary-Wives…
“MOTHERS IN ISRAEL” Judges 5.7
Deborah, the judge, called herself “a mother in Israel”. She was not referring to her biological children because we don’t have written record, at least, that she and Lapidoth had any biological children. But, she was ‘a mother in Israel’ because of the spiritual leadership and nurturing she demonstrated during this time of spiritual declension. She provided the leadership of conviction, moral courage, and inspiration to trust and obey God – and she influenced and strengthened many.
So have our missionary-wives who have as faithfully and valiantly served with their husbands to be mothers, not only to their own children and families, but to countless others also. So, in keeping with the Mother’s Day tradition we observe here in the States, we have asked our beloved missionary-wives to write this month’s letters from their own distinctive perspectives. This is our way of recognizing them, honoring them, and rising up with their husbands and children to bless them! Proverbs 31.10-31
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Teaching in the Annex Prison, Praying for Rain
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
April 2, 2019
Dear praying friends,
It is now the month of April, and we have many things to update you on. Thanks again so much for your prayers, encouragement, and sacrificial giving. We appreciate each of you so much.
April is a big month for birthdays in our family, as my wife (Carrie) has hers in the middle of the month, and our daughter McKenna has hers towards the end of the month. What a blessing they both are to our family and I thank the Lord for them.
This month is a break from school. Last week was the final week of school until the end of April. The students put on a very nice end of term program. Both of our daughters are enrolled in the school and doing very well. It was amazing to watch our daughter McKenna speaking French for five minutes with her friend. Both our daughters are learning basic greetings, etc. and doing very well. Their teacher is fluent in French, so we hope they can continue to develop, grow, and learn in the language. They are also studying Swahili, the language of Kenya, so two languages at once is challenging. My wife has stayed very busy with teaching 3 days a week at the school and helping with administrative duties. We are so thankful for this new Christian school and ask that you would pray for the directors, teachers, and students alike.
I (Nathan) am continuing to teach Emmanuel through our discipleship course. He is doing very well as a student and is taking it seriously and growing spiritually. He has a good attitude and wants to take these teachings to go teach others. We recently studied “God is our Heavenly Father.” In this lesson, we saw that God loves us with an everlasting love, (Jeremiah 31:3), He protects us, and we are not to worry, but to trust Him to provide and care for us. We are to seek His kingdom first, and trust Him to lead and guide us through life. One of the key verses in the lesson is Matthew 6:33, which says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” What a great verse to claim throughout our lives. Please continue to pray for Emmanuel, his spiritual growth, and those that he plans to teach in the future.
I (Nathan) thank the Lord that the Annex prison ministry is continuing along well. I have been doing ministry in this prison for the past several years, and am thankful that the opportunity is still there to teach the men who desire the teachings. I recently taught them on “God Alone.” This lesson had many teachings, with the idea that God is eternal, needs nothing, knows everything, is everywhere all the time, and greater than all. One of my favorite verses from the lesson is Psalm 147:5, which says “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” Please pray for me and the students, as we continue along in our study of the Word of God.
One final prayer request we currently have is for rain. It has been so hot and dry lately, and many of the crops, etc. are suffering. We are usually in rainy season at this time, but this year has been unusually hot and dry and the rain would be a much needed welcome. We hope and pray that the rains will start soon, and we know God is in control.
May God bless each of you. We will keep you updated.
In Kitale,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Encouraging Responses to Outreach, Committed Members
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
April 1, 2019
Dear Friends,
We continue to experience God’s grace pouring down on us and our ministries. All of our Bible study classes and groups grew considerably since our last report. We are getting ready to have a baptismal service for a few candidates who want to follow the Lord in Scriptural baptism.
Besides the steady numerical growth, we have also seen a higher degree of commitment from our members. Several of them volunteer quite a few hours of work during the week to help reach our community with the gospel. Some do this during the week by teaching school subjects, others through music and art. We also have some who help with building projects and cleaning the church facilities. We are grateful to God for all of them and their willingness to give of their time and resources to work in the Lord’s kingdom.
This month we had a successful couples’ outreach event. Our leaders put together an Oriental-themed dinner and fellowship time. We had several couples come who do not profess to know Christ and my message during the event was very clearly a gospel presentation. Two of the couples came to talk to me afterward and told me that they felt like God had used the message to speak to them. They also said that they wanted to start attending our Sunday worship services. We pray that they will come and that they will truly surrender to Christ as their Lord and Savior.
In just a couple of weeks we will be having a special Easter presentation and we are expecting a huge crowd. At our Christmas presentation at the end of last year we got the word out by inviting folks to bring their family, friends and neighbors and the turnout was large. We are expecting even more to this service because we have grown and we have more people doing the inviting. We pray that God will see fit to bless our preaching and sharing of the gospel and that many of our visitors will be saved.
Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support of our ministries.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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BFM Spring Conference 2019
2019 Spring Missions Conference
April 12-13
Theme: The Prevailing Gospel — Matthew 16:18
Friday at 6:30 – Saturday at 4:30 dinner
Grace Baptist Church — Fairborn, Ohio
www.gbcfairborn.com
Street Address: 2920 Beaver Valley Rd. Fairborn, OH 45324
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 947 Fairborn, OH 45324
Pastor Mark Pyles | 304-545-0603 (cell) | pastormark@gbcfairborn.com
www.facebook.com/GBCfairborn | www.gbcfairborn.com
There are many hotels within 5 miles of church; in both Fairborn and Beavercreek.
Friday
6:30-6:45: Worship
6:45-7:30- The clarification of the Gospel – Pastor David Pitman
7:30-7:45: Worship
7:45-8:30: The resistance to the Gospel world-wide – Pastor Kenny Hurst
Saturday
8:00-8:45: Prayer meeting for missionaries and BFM as a whole.
9:00-9:15: Worship
9:15-9:45: Skype visit with Missionaries Mike and Bev Creiglow
9:45-10:00: BFM news & updates – “Fresh Happenings!”
10:00-10:05: Worship
10:05-10:50: The biggest challenges faced by Gospel messengers – Pastor Bruce Winner
10:50-11:00 – BREAK
11:00-11:15: Worship
11:15-11:45: Skype visit with Nathan and Carrie Radford
12:00- LITE LUNCH
2:00-2:15: Worship
2:15-2:45: Skype visit with Odali and Kathy Barros
2:45-3:30: The prevailing power of the Gospel – Pastor Steve Wainright
3:30-3:45: Worship
3:45-4:30: The danger of sitting on the Gospel – Laird Baldwin
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News & Reports – April 2019 Issue [Online Edition]
The Online Edition of April 2019 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.
Click here to read the BFM News & Reports – April 2019 edition!
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Teaching through the Book of Colossians
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
March 28, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I mentioned in my previous newsletter that I wanted Julie to write the next report. Since writing that I have heard that Baptist Faith Missions wants to hear from the missionary wives for the May issue of the newsletters. Thus, I will be writing this one and Julie will be writing the next one.
Julie’s newsletter will probably be more exciting to read than mine because the best I could say right now is “things are going on”. That isn’t very exciting but it describes the ministry I am doing right now. I’m preparing for messages, practicing new songs, telling people about the Chapel, teaching, teaching, teaching and lots of stuff, stuff, stuff. I think most pastors would probably relate to me saying “I just keep on grinding”. I’m not just “going through the motions” and I’m not burned out or anything. I’m just in a weekly grind. But I do try and break out of this grind as much as possible. And Kenya allows this to happen too. Take today, for example. My car was at the mechanic and my motorcycle developed a flat tire. I pumped air into the tire and limped the motorcycle to town to get the tire fixed. While the mechanic was fixing it I saw three old guys sitting on a bench doing nothing. I walked over and sat next to them. The conversation went something like this. Me: Is this your guys’ job sitting here doing nothing but watch people walk by? Them: Yes, but at least it is interesting. Me: Have you been doing it long? Them: Pretty much. Them: What do you do here? Me: I’m trying to start a church here in town just over there in that building on the third floor. Them: Are you like the other pastors in town, do you teach what they teach? Me: I can’t say what they teach but as for me I teach what’s in the Bible. Them: Really? That’s not what the other pastors here teach. But you don’t teach the whole Bible do you? Me: If it’s in the Bible I teach it and if it isn’t in the Bible I don’t teach it. I want people to know what God has said so that they can follow Jesus. Them: Do you teach from the Old Testament too? Me: I try to show that the Old Testament points to Jesus, prepared God’s people for the coming of Jesus and in every way brings us to Jesus. Them: And now Jesus has come. Me: Exactly, Jesus has come just as the Old Testament teaches, and he has died on the cross for us so that we can live in his kingdom and have eternal life. Followers of Jesus live under a new covenant that Jesus started. That’s why I focus on the New Testament because it teaches us more about Jesus. Them: This is very interesting. How many people come to hear you teach this? Me: Not many, about 15 per week. Them: That’s not very many. Me: Not yet. Maybe you would like to come and hear the teaching. We meet right over there in that building on the third floor at 10am every Sunday. Them: Hem, Haw, Hem, Haw, well, we’ll see. But when you need your motorcycle fixed again, you know where to find us. Me: But you just sit here doing nothing but watch people walk by. Them: Yes, but at least it is interesting.
At this point in the conversation my tire was fixed so I paid the mechanic and left to finish my business in town. Pray for these three old guys. None of them made any commitment to come so I don’t expect to see them on Sunday (not that commitments to come to church make any difference in whether people come or not, do they?). If they come they will hear me as I preach and teach through the book of Colossians. As I preach through the book of Colossians I love this epistle more and more. In it we see the grandness and awesomeness of Jesus, we see the mystery of Christ is in us, we see that Jesus is sufficient for everything and that we are complete in him, and we see that Christ is all in all. Those 15 or so that come each week are also enjoying the teachings of Colossians. I’m pretty sure none of them have ever been taught through a book of the Bible in this way before. May God bless these 15 who come every week and if God wants to bless us with more who want to hear Biblical teaching, we will be ever more thankful for that too.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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The Lord at Work in Tipisca, Peru
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
March 21, 2019
Dear Brethren,
A few days ago Zico (our missions director) and Lúcio Maia went with me up river to the border and beyond. The first leg of the trip took us all the way to the border village of Foz do Breu. It took us over 11 hours to do those almost 300 miles. We had some engine trouble, but still made it before dark.
People are moving back to the village and we had really good crowds for the services, over 70 people. Before heading into Peru we held a morning baptism service. I baptized 12. One couple had been waiting for some time to first get legally married then baptized. Ercílio had been one of the town drunks and enemy of the gospel. Now he is a go-getter missionary. He has made 22 mission trips in the last 12 months. He used to detest the native tribes up the Breu River. Now he has become friends and has made 5 mission trips to visit our brothers from the Kaxinauá tribe.
We continued to Tipisca, Peru. On arrival, our missionary José Maia (Lúcio’s dad) took our baggage to his house on his 4 wheeler. I stayed behind to get the boat and motor bedded down. Just as I finished, a huge tropical rain storm came in. There is no pavement in Tipisca and this time of year the mud is knee deep in many places. When I saw the rain was not going to stop I decided to go ahead and make my way up the slippery bank and into town through the driving rain and mud. I had to go barefoot and on the way I slit my foot open on who knows what. For the rest of that week my feet were wet and muddy most of the time and could not bandage the foot. A week later it had pretty much healed up though, so no harm no foul.
We dedicated the new building on the weekend. José Maia did an admirable job and built the building to match the design we use all over in our congregations. It seats over 100 people, is on a corner lot, right on the main street of Tipisca. This newly purchased lot and what we already had, gives us over an acre. We had over 200 people in at least 2 services and well over a hundred in the other 2. The army brought most of their soldiers out for 1 service and the local police department came on Sunday morning. This is a first. In fact we had never had crowds like this in the several years since we opened the work there (over 10 years). Up to now we had made inroads among the children, but no progress with the adults. They now have a big group of kids and a number of adults that attend regularly.
Let me tell you about one of the ladies who trusted Christ while we were there. Dona Mila and her husband are in their 70’s and were what you might call founders of Tipisca. She was born over on the coast of Brazil and moved to Cruzeiro do Sul as a little girl. Her husband is Peruvian and was working in our town as a young man. They met and married. When the Peruvian government put in an outpost a few miles up the Juruá River from the border the young couple moved there. This became the town of Porto Breu, which the locals call Tipisca. Dona Mila and her husband were drinking buddies. It was not uncommon to see the couple sleeping off their liquor in the grass along the paths of town. They were both at church with us. Both have stopped drinking and Dona Mila has trusted Christ!
We came all the way back to Cruzeiro do Sul in one long day, but not without more engine trouble. I had to stop in the middle of nowhere and repair the motor at high noon, lots of bugs and mud, too. This motor is now over 10 years old and broken down on me on my last 3 trips. It is about time to replace it. I will be looking to you to help me with this in the near future. For now, just pray.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Blessings in the Middle of Nowhere
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
March 20, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We rejoice in the wonderful things that God has been doing in our lives and ministry. We hope that all is well with each of you and that you are rejoicing in the blessings of our Lord.
Our church has had an experience they have never had before. It has been interesting to see how the members have reacted. We have a senior of 81 years old, Mr. Levi, who had a stroke. He was always a happy person and had fun talking to everyone, young or old. His illness has moved the church. He spent 3 weeks in the hospital. We encouraged our members to get involved and they did. Several went and stayed with him at the hospital. Last week the doctors sent him home. So, we had Sunday service at their home. When we started singing, Mr. Levi lifted his hand and started leading the singing. Just about everyone started crying. When we finish the song, he started signing with his hand then we understood he was asking for a specific song. He was trying to give the number. Well, his wife understood, and we sang the song. Talk about excited! Then he really wanted to lead the song and tried to move his lips! Praise the Lord.
Pastor Wilson Ibernon
Church at Grande Januáca
Church at Grande Januáca
Church parking lot (I mean…boat lot!)
Last week a group of 6 couples went on a short trip up the river to visit a church that Baptist Faith Missions has a part in. Bro. John Hatcher worked in this church many years and later he put Pastor Miguel Ibernon in charge of this work. The pastor that is there now is Miguel’s son, Wilson Ibernon. I met Wilson when I worked with Bro. Paul Hatcher when at Tabernacle Baptist Church. This church is in the middle of the river. They built the church as you can see in the picture. What a job! Everything is taken by boats up the river. The parking lot is a boat lot. It was great to see so many boats parking at the edge to come to church. It was impossible to take a picture that got all the boats, because there were over 100 boats. One of the things that everyone there mentioned was that the pastor that was there many years ago always said, “If we serve God, this place will be blessed.” The people would say, “How will we be blessed if this place is in middle of nowhere?” Well, they served God and this place is truly blessed. There is probably no other place in the world where 98% of the community are Christians. One of the pastors told me that here in one of the communities called Sumauma, there are 800 people and there are 3 Baptist churches plus 4 other evangelical churches. These churches are not split off from other churches. They have several just because it makes it easier for the people to get to church. The church we went to that night that we were there had 800 that attended the service. That church is in the community called Januáca Grande. These communities have their own business making “farinha” made from manioc root. Also several big business people in the area are from this community. It was great to see what God does when we serve Him! For those of you who have supported BFM for many years, your support is still producing many fruits. God continue to bless all those involved.
We have another blessing from the ministry from the past here in Manaus. The other day we got a call from a pastor that was from Bro. John’s ministry. He is blind. Sabastian Oliveira. He will be with us for an evangelistic conference the first week in April. God has used him tremendously.
We want to thank each of you for your constant prayers and support. God bless you!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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