The Impact of a Godly Life
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”
April 4, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Little did I realize when I wrote you last month that in 4 days my mother would be in the presence of the Lord with all of His children who have left this life. On March 8th I received a call from my brother to let us know that Mom had been promoted to heaven about thirty minutes earlier. I had the opportunity to speak to Mom about 12 hours before that call. Just hours after I spoke to her, and she to me, she was absent from the body and present with the Lord. Many of you have also experienced the loss of your parents and we thank all of you for your kind thoughts and prayers.
The Hatcher Family at Alta Hatcher’s Memorial Service (March 15, 2018)
Suddenly, the plans for the month changed. As soon as possible, Judy and I were on our way to Clermont, FL. We were there for a little over a week. During this time, members of our family began arriving from many distant places. It was a great blessing to fellowship with children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, de facto family members, brothers and sisters in Christ, and many friends. The memorial service was to God’s glory and underscores how He can use each of us to touch the lives of many. Beginning life in a farmhouse near Corbin, KY, Mom trusted Christ at age 7 and felt called to missions at age 10. Her life has touched thousands in many parts of the world. She was the one I went to when I was in despair because I knew I was lost and she pointed me to Jesus. She was my Bible teacher who taught through the Bible in my Sunday School classes as I was growing up in Brazil. She got me on the track of being a daily Bible reader and reading through the Bible annually. The wonderful fellowship that I have with my Heavenly Father was greatly cultivated by Mom.
I could write a book on the ways she touched my life. Her last words before she fell asleep were “I love You, Jesus”. She is now eternally in the presence of the One she loved so much and enjoying fellowship with others that went on before her. You may feel that you are just a “plain old Christian”, but I want to remind you that there is no such thing. You are a child of the King of kings, an ambassador for Christ, a seed planted in the soil of this world. My mother would say to you children, teenagers, mothers, fathers, singles, blue collar or white collar workers, “Do all things as unto the Lord…ask God for wisdom in everything…whatever your hands find to do, do with all your might.” I probably heard those scriptures hundreds of times.
May each of us live today for God’s glory.
Thanks for your prayers, encouragement and support. We pray that God will bless you and enable you to be “the light of the world” where you are today as Jesus lives in and through you.
In France for Jesus,
John and Judy Hatcher
John Mark & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.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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Pursuing a New Plan for Church Planting
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 3, 2018
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and there is much to update you on. We thank the Lord for each one of you, who either prays for us, sends us encouraging correspondence, or gives sacrificially to the work of the Lord here in Kenya. You are each a great blessing to us.
Our daughters (McKenna and Camille) are now on break from school in Kitale. God was so good to provide a good school for them to go to, where they can get much needed socialization, as well as try to develop some independence and make some decisions on their own. Now, they are on break and my wife has the opportunity to home school them on the side. Please pray for this time, as this is the time my wife wants to invest in and teach our daughters. They will be getting much needed teachings and we know the Lord will bless their time together.
The hospital ministry is continuing along well. We thank the Lord that He has kept the door of ministry open for my wife to reach the mothers and children with Biblical materials as well as much needed clothing supplies. Many of the mothers and children are very needy and we do our best to reach them and encourage them. We feel that these children are very near to the heart of God. Many of them come from very challenging situations and need to be shown care and love. Psalm 82:3 says “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” This is a very challenging verse and please pray for my wife as she continues in this ministry.
After much prayer and seeking the Lord’s will in regards to church planting here, I (Nathan) have decided on a way of pursuing this ministry. I am seeking to train qualified national men (preferably younger) in their homes, trusting God to raise these men up in His plan and timing, then teaching these men to go to their immediate village they live in and reach their neighbors with the Word and the Gospel message. The goal is for the men that are trained to start groups in their homes that would develop into churches over time.
I desire to go outside of town into remote village areas, teaching the men in the Swahili language. This is a big challenge for me, as Swahili is difficult, however, I feel as much as possible it is beneficial to get the teachings into the language of the people. I am in active pursuit of this at this time and would pray that you would pray for me, that God would raise up the right men who truly want to serve the Lord. There are many challenges here, as I have mentioned before, so it is not easy. I will probably go through several men before finding the right man to train. I also would ask you to pray that God would open and close the doors that He wants me to pursue. Matthew 10:14 says “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.” Please pray for me as I seek to be led by the Lord in these endeavors and trust Him each step of the way. Church planting is difficult here and there are many challenges, but God is able and I trust Him. I would greatly appreciate your prayers at this time for wisdom for who to work with, and where to pursue opportunities.
We appreciate each of you so much and thank the Lord for you. Please keep us in prayer as we remember you as well.
Blessings,
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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God is Moving in Açutuba
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 31, 2018
Dear friends and supporters,
What a month of seeing God work in many ways! He is our strength in time of sorrow and our strength in time of much work. Thanks for your prayers for my wife and her family in the passing of her mother Alta.
So much going on and God at work in the ministry.
The building in the community of Ubim is coming along. The children are so excited about the building. The other day Kathy and I went to see the construction and while we were there, the kids were singing, “Our church is almost ready!” Very exciting!
The Açutuba Community
The Ubim Building
We have services in another community called Açutuba. We have been going there for about a year now. When we started, several people from the church were going. As time went on, most every one stopped. Last week, the lady where we have the service called and asked if we could go to a lady’s house that was having trouble with rearing things. So we went. There were 10 visitors at the house where we went. I showed them that our spiritual house could not be empty, how to receive Christ as Savior. The service was great but the result has been wonderful. The lady called and asked if this week she could bring 20 visitors, because all her children and their kids want to come. Well, we had 40 people there! What a service. Pray for them, they are all catholics. As we were there, the lady said, “Oh, my son has a piece of land he separated to give to some church.” Well who knows that might be for our ministry.
When Kathy and I started our ministry right after we were married we worked with the deaf and planned on building a camp to work with them. We started and then God sent us to other places. Well now we are back to where we started in Manaus, and 3 weeks ago, the camp that we left with Tabernacle Church was turned over to us to care for and direct. We are excited! We are praying that God will direct us each day in how to use the place more and more for the ministry. Thanks for your prayers and support.
In Christ,
Odali & 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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News & Reports – April 2018 [Online Edition]
[Click here to read BFM News & Reports – April 2018]
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A Memorial Tribute to Harold Bratcher
27 March 2018
Calvary Baptist Church, Richmond KY
HAROLD BRATCHER – MEMORIAL TRIBUTE
by Bro. Dave Parks
Harold Bratcher [along with his faithful wife, Marie] served Jesus Christ in full-time, committed, vocational ministry for over 70 of his 91 years of earthly life. And, it was our privilege to have shared the greater portion of those years with them in the missionary fellowship of Baptist Faith Missions.
Harold graduated from Georgetown College in 1953. He would go on from there to earn his Master of Theology degree from Southern Seminary.
In the meantime, Harold and Marie were married in 1954.
He immediately began serving Christ in His churches here: he pastored Valley View Baptist Church; then Friendship Baptist Church; then also Newby Baptist Church, just a short distance across the way from here; as well as serving as a full-time itinerant evangelist for several years.
After serving in these churches and ministries, they sensed the call of God to serve Him in Brazil. And so, in 1959, they forsook all things here, and moved to the Amazon Valley, Brazil.
They began their ministry in Manaus, state of Amazonas – and for the next several years, they travelled by boat up and down the Amazon and Buzzard Rivers, preaching the Gospel of Christ in the towns and villages along those rivers. It was during one of these river preaching trips that they paid one of the ultimate sacrifices of following the call of Jesus Christ to wherever He might lead you. In July of 1971, as they were returning from a two-weeks preaching trip up the Buzzard River, their son, Joel, fell overboard and drowned in the Amazon. Joel was 6 ½ years old.
I have heard Brother Bratcher recall that awful experience and memory in the words of Job in chapter 3.25:
“For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”
But, they could also have said – even at that very time – with Paul in Acts 20.24:
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.”
Because…that’s what they did. They continued on their course until they finished it.
They began their church-planting ministry in Manaus, and in the surrounding regions in the state of Amazonas. Among the many churches he established – and many of which he pastored for some time – are: Zion Baptist Church; 17th of August Baptist Church; First Baptist Church of the Buzzard River; then the 14th of December Baptist Church [which he pastored for 20 years]; the New Jerusalem Baptist Church on the Amazon River at Parana da Eva [which he pastored for 10 years]; then the last church he established and pastored was 24th of March Baptist Church [named after his birthday] – he pastored 24th of March for the last 20 years of his ministry there until he transitioned back here to the States.
But they also contributed and assisted in the establishing of other churches in at least three other States: Maranhao, Ceara, and Mato Grosso.
By the time they came back to the States to live, they left at least 41 churches, not only serving Christ themselves – but also continuing to reach out to establish other churches in other areas.
The Lord Jesus called and welcomed Marie into the Father’s Home in February of 2011. She had the joy of not only seeing Jesus face to face and being “absent from the body and present with the Lord” – but she also had the joy of being reunited with Joel after the 40 years of bereavement here. Only someone who has shared that grief of separation can come close to understanding the joy of that reunion.
But – not just with Jesus and Joel – but also with the hundreds & thousands of those who are already in Heaven because Harold and Marie answered the call of Jesus Christ to go to Brazil to tell them the Good News of knowing God, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe the promise that Jesus made in Luke 16.9, when He said:
“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail [die], they may receive you into an everlasting home”
We believe that when Jesus said this, He was meaning that when you give your life or your material means to make forever, eternal friends by sharing the Gospel of Christ with them – when you are the witness who tells others about Jesus Christ…or when you enable the witness to take that message of salvation – that when you die and go Home to Heaven, that Jesus will have attached them to your earthly witness and ministry and they will know that you were instrumental in their salvation.
So, that being so – when Marie went Home to Heaven in 2011, they were there to meet her and welcome her Home – knowing that they were there in Heaven because Harold and Marie Bratcher had come to Brazil “to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.”
And then, when Harold joined them this past Friday, they celebrated that thanksgiving welcome together all over again!
That is worth giving your life for!
Harold and Marie gave 53 years of their lives to Christ in Brazil – and we thank God for giving us the privilege of knowing them and partnering with them.
And so, Harold also has finally gone Home. And as sad as we all are for his not being here with us – we can’t imagine how glad and ecstatically happy he is to be there!
Jesus Himself has already met him with His Holy Face beaming with joy and pleasure!
“Well done – you good and faithful servant….Enter into the joy of your Lord!”
And so – he has!
—
Other Related Links:
Click here to read a brief history of their ministry.
https://www.bfmnow.org/hp_wordpress/index.php/2018/03/26/harold-bratcher-53-year-missionary-to-brazil-is-in-heaven/
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Harold Bratcher, 53-year Missionary to Brazil is in Heaven
“…’Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’” -Matthew 25:23
Harold Foley Bratcher, one of our beloved missionaries to Brazil, was promoted to Heaven on Friday afternoon, March 23, 2018.
Bro. Bratcher arrived in the Amazon Valley on July 15, 1959, to begin a 53-year love ministry with the people of Brazil. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 24, 1927. His dear wife of 53 years, Hattie Marie Moore Bratcher, was born in Richmond, Kentucky; they met while Harold was pastoring Newby Baptist Church, and were married on December 27, 1954. After 52 years of faithful service to Brazil, Marie peacefully entered into the joy of her Master on February 4, 2011.
The Lord blessed their union with three sons: Dr. Asa Mark Bratcher of Manaus, Brazil, missionary to Brazil for 35 years; Pastor Stephen M. Bratcher of Ocala, Florida; and Joel Bratcher, now residing in “Glory,” who at the age of 6, drowned in the Amazon River on August 17, 1971. His body is buried in the St. John the Baptist Cemetery, Manaus, Brazil, only a few feet from the grave of Missionary E.A. Nelson, “The Apostle of the Amazon,” where both “await the sounding of the trump” on Resurrection Morning.
During his 53 years in Brazil, Harold, with the help of his son Asa, organized over 20 Baptist churches and many other missions in the Amazon Valley. Together they have baptized thousands of Brazilian people.
A memorial service for Bro. Harold Bratcher will be held at Calvary Baptist Church (343 Big Hill Avenue, Richmond KY) on Tuesday, March 27, 2018, at 11:00 AM. The Bratchers invite all friends and family and all that have been blessed by this great man of God.
Click here to read a brief history of their ministry.
“Disse-lhe o seu senhor: Muito bem, servo bom e fiel; sobre o pouco foste fiel, sobre muito te colocarei; entra no gozo do teu senhor.” –Mateus 25:23
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Autobiography of Alta Hatcher
Click here to read the Autobiography of Alta Hatcher:
“The Story of My Life as a Missionary”
Muito Obrigado, Dona Alta Hatcher, for faithfully giving 60 years of your life to Brazil for the sake of the Gospel.
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Open Door at Katukina Reservation; Hearts Hungry for the Word
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 13, 2018
Dear Brethren,
More great news. A door has opened for us to share the gospel at the Katukina reservation. There are 8 Katukina villages along the Transamazon. The tribal leader of the very last of these was saved a few months ago. His name is Raimundão. He invited us to start teaching and preaching to them. The adults speak and understand Portuguese pretty well. The children only speak Katukina. There are only 54 people in this village. We have made 3 visits so far and each time we had just under 50 people present. We meet with them in a spacious, open thatch covered area. The floor is just bare dirt. As is often the case, this area is also their community kitchen. These “services” are far from conventional. During my lesson on the second trip a rooster stood on the clay stove and crowed the whole time. This didn’t seem to bother the locals a bit. Our team could not run it off and it was really distracting to us. On the last trip one little kid (about 3 years old) took off running, fell and smacked his face real hard on the hard clay. He stayed sprawled on the ground and wailed for about 5 minutes. None of the adults even looked! We still have no idea who that little boy’s mom is. If one of our kids scrapes a knee, the mom rushes in and another 10 moms and dads, too. So far I have been taking my small group members on these trips. They have been enjoying it, but I have to keep them under control. They see all those dirty little kids and want to take candy and food to give away. We will be taking food to eat with them in the near future, but must be cautious about the handouts. These tribes are so used to all kinds of government handouts that it is easy for them to expect outsiders to take care of their every need. I did take 6 New Testaments and a dozen Gospels of John to give to those who know how to read. Pray that we will have the patience and wisdom needed to continue serving them.
A couple of weeks ago I visited our work at Cruzeirinho. They were showing off the 30 new pews that they just built. Their new building, which seats 200+, was almost full. Bev went with me for this visit.
We have continued to make progress at First Baptist Church. There have been several requests for baptism and a few more saved. Others have been added by letter. One whole family of 7 came by letter, in fact.
Last night we had our first general meeting of this year with our small group leaders. Many are traveling, but we still had 75 present. Each group is supposed to have 10 people or less, but most have many more than that. All of our groups now take care of around 900 to a thousand of our church members. We have made great progress in getting as many members into groups as possible over the past year.
Our Sunday School lasts for 2 and half hours, including the opening worship. Two Sundays ago I taught the adults and youth for the two one hour periods. That lesson was about the security of the believer from Hebrews 6. This lesson was expository. A health problem has been keeping me from standing that long. About half of the lesson was taught standing and the rest sitting in a chair on the edge of the stage. For the conclusion I was sitting on the edge of my chair leaning toward the congregation. As soon as I stopped they broke into loud, extended applause. That was really different, to say the least! I am so glad that these folks really enjoy the Word and its doctrines.
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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