Fellowship with Teens from Ubim
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.
January 18, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope and pray that all had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed beginning of a new year. We had a great beginning of this new year.
This past week we had a group of teens from the community of Ubim. There were 17 that came. We just had a great time of fellowship and fun doing several activities with them. If we had let them choose, they would stay another week. Well, if any of you have a freezer or a fridge full of food you want to get rid of, just bring in a group of teens and they will take care of that for you.
We have planned for this month a baptism service. We get all the people that have been saved from the different missions and have a day together of fellowship. This is always fun and a great time of fellowship since everyone lives a good distance from each other.
We have some plans to work on the camp facilities making some changes and adding some new things. We need to repair some roofs and need some new utensils for the kitchen. Please pray that God will provide the means for us to do these things. We thank God for the two churches that gave offerings for the new freezer. What a blessing. We really want to use it more and more as a form of reaching out to the people in these distant communities. In the world we live in today, all the bad influences on our teens move faster than what is good and from God. The drugs are a very big deal in all these areas. Pray with us that God will raise up more people that are interested in reaching out to these teens and the families in all these places.
We are still in the process of taking over the church that was offered to us to take care of in the little town of Cacau. We are making plans with a group of 3 young couples to help us there. Pray with us that God directs us each step of the way. There are many drug dealers in this tiny town.
The work in Iranduba is coming along. So many of the kids that come, their parents use drugs. Pray for these kids that are coming that they can learn about God and accept Him and Savior while they are young.
We thank God for each one of you that support us through your prayers and financial support. May God bless each one as we work together in His work for His kingdom!
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
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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Encouraged by God at Work in the Lives of Believers
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”
January 13, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We just arrived back in Evansville a few hours ago from a very enjoyable weekend with Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bellbrook, OH and Grace Baptist Church in Fairborn, OH. It was encouraging to see the hand of the Lord at work in these two congregations of disciples of Jesus. We met young believers, servants of the Lord and God’s children preparing to serve Him in other fields.
Meanwhile, God has given Judy and me opportunities to be His witness to folks we have met here in Evansville who need Christ and to encourage believers who are seeking to serve Him. In the month of December, we were able to meet with believers from several churches for encouragement, fellowship and service. We met some believers that we did not previously know and were greatly encouraged by the testimony of God at work in their lives. We were also able to spend a good amount of time in fellowship with believers that we had the privilege of serving when we lived in Evansville.
Not only has a new calendar year started for all of us this recently, a new year in my life also began. It is hard to believe how fast the years have passed. It is even more difficult to count the many blessings God had given us. They are innumerable. You are part of these blessings.
We request your prayers for the believers in France, those who need Christ in France and for God’s continuous direction in our lives.
In a couple of weeks, I am going to Florida for a few days to help prepare accommodations for Dad’s (John A. Hatcher) return to Florida. For the past six months Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been active in the Lord’s ministry in Manaus, Brazil. God has blessed tremendously this time in the city where they served for forty years and hundreds of believers have come together with them for the Glory of God in the city. I will be with them for a few days in the beginning of February. We request your prayers for the transition of Paul and Wanda along with Dad back to Florida. Dad is approaching the completion of his 95th year on earth.
May God richly bless each of you as He guides us this year.
With you in His service,
John and Judy
John Mark & Judy Hatcher
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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A Solid Foundation for Disciples in Wiyeta
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.
January 4, 2020
Dear praying friends,
We hope this year 2020 finds you all doing well in service to our Lord. Hard to believe that we are entering a new decade so soon. Time truly passes so fast and may we be busy in service to Him. I am reminded of Ephesians 5:16, which says “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Also, Colossians 4:5, which says “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” The idea here is to make the best use of the time and the opportunities that God gives us. To make sure that we are focused on that which is eternal, which will not pass away, and can never be taken from us. May this be our prayer and thoughts in the upcoming year ahead.
I (Nathan) have been continuing in the discipleship course in the village of Wiyeta. Wiyeta is a big area, and I am really seeing its size and need for churches the more that I go there. God has provided some men to train and disciple at this time, for which I am grateful. The men have given me good feedback on the discipleship program, and one man has commented on the great need for the foundation to be given first. This is my goal, to give the men Biblical training straight from the Word, so they can see for themselves what the Word says.
I have just started a training on the Trinity, and we recently looked at “God is our Heavenly Father.” In this lesson we saw many things from the Word, namely how God loves us with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 says “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” We also looked at His protection (2 Thessalonians 3:3,) and His provision. One of the main verses under the provision section was 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.” I tried to challenge the men to put His kingdom first, then leave the rest to God and His leading for their lives. Please pray for each of the men that have been faithfully coming, that they would continue to get the foundational teachings, then go out to reach others in their respective areas, with the main goal being the establishment of churches over time. I leave this all in God’s timing and plan and trust Him with the results.
I also am continuing to teach at the Annex prison. I am pleased with the prisoners that have been faithfully coming to be taught the Word. I am almost at the end of the Old Testament teachings and hope to start the New Testament teachings soon, Lord willing. The Annex prison has been welcoming so far, for which I am thankful. I am trusting God to lead in the upcoming year and that He will provide the students He would have for me. Please continue to pray for this ministry.
In family news, please pray for our daughters, as they go back to school January 13th. There are some new students they are adding for the high school level, so please pray for the teachers and their new duties. It is a year of adjustments for everyone, including the teachers, so we would greatly appreciate your prayers.
God bless each of you and we will keep you updated.
Serving in Kenya,
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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Two Profess Christ at Christmas Presentation
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
January 3, 2020
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! We were blessed by the Lord so much last year, but we are already excited about the new opportunities and blessings in store in 2020. We know that there is always the possibility that trials and loss may be awaiting us, but we also know that God will be with us in any struggle and that He has already promised that He is working all things together for our good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Our Christmas presentation at our church was very well attended and at least two individuals professed Christ as Lord of their lives at the invitation given at the end of the message. At least 30 of our church members were involved in the presentation in one capacity or another and they were very faithful for 3 months going to practices and putting together the stage and sound and lighting system. We are thankful that the Lord has blessed us with such dedicated servants.
Our traveling evangelistic team is taking a short break because Brazilian schools are on their summer break. Around the second week of January we will start our first missionary training seminar of the year. We will teach Missions strategy and theology for the first two weeks and follow that up with practical evangelism, both to crowds and one-on-one. We are expecting about 20 new students from four different states. At least two of these students will stay on to work with our teams for six months after the seminar and, possibly, for a year or more if God so leads them to do so.
Charlene and I have also given a break to our English students until the end of January since there are no regular school classes going on and most families travel on vacation anyway. We will start back up again in February and we are looking forward to how the Lord will use this ministry this year.
Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to carry the gospel to as many people as the Lord places before us.
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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News & Reports – January 2020 Issue [Online Edition]
The Online Edition of January 2020 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.
Note: You can click on any headline to view the story on our blog.
Click here to read the January 2020 BFM News & Reports!
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A Joyous Reunion!
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.
December 28, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are coming to the end of one more year that God has given us to serve Him. With God’s leading in our lives, in the year of 2020 we can reach out to more people and tell them about God’s love and salvation.
The year has been a great year and God has done wonderful things. One of these wonderful things was the end of the court case against us because of the children’s home. So many times in the last nine years there were hard moments in the hearings. We had to trust the Lord that He would take care of us. Last June the case was closed and we were found not GUILTY! Praise the Lord. Several of those who lived at the home were so happy when the case was closed that they wanted to celebrate. So, they chose to have a day to celebrate at Christmas.
So, we bought our tickets and went to Garça to have the thanksgiving for what God had done. Several of those who were raised there came and helped put everything together. What a wonderful time we had and to see the adults doing well. Others that could not come to the Christmas dinner came by to see us. What a blessing and encouragement it was to see them grown and married and with their families. One of the kids, whose name is Marcia, invited us to go eat supper at her home. She and her husband work hard and have their home and their car—doing so great. They have two children and she and her family go to church. The kids these couples have had call Kathy and I “Grandpa” and “Grandma”. We had fun with them at the home and also taking them fishing. That is one of the things their parents remember: Kathy and I taking them fishing! The parents wanted to go fishing like they did when they lived with us. So we went with them also. What wonderful memories!
We also went to the church I pastored there. It was great to see the people there. Thanks to the Lord for allowing us to go there and just have a wonderful time of fellowship and healing.
Our prayer for 2020 is that God give us wisdom and strength to reach out to more people in the many communities around us. That souls may be saved!
A special thanks to all of you who pray and give faithfully to our ministry. God bless each one of you.
Love in Christ’s Name,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
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
Read more
Working for and Enlarging the Kingdom of Jesus
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
December 24, 2019
Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,
The first thing I need to do this month is to apologize for not writing an update for last month. I would offer you a great excuse but I don’t have one. I simply forgot last month to write an update and by the time I remembered it was too late. It must be because since my last update I celebrated my 50th birthday and my brain cells are diminishing.
Twenty years ago this month I was still working as a software engineer in Ohio and we were frantically preparing for the Y2K bug that was going to shut down the world. Do you all remember that time? All the computers in the world were supposed to shut down and we were about to be catapulted back into the dark ages. Everyone was a bit nervous about what was going to happen and some were even predicting the end of the world or the return of Jesus. Here we are twenty years later. The computers didn’t shut down (in fact, they didn’t have any problems whatsoever). The world didn’t end. And Jesus didn’t return. I am hoping, though, that we haven’t remained static in these last twenty years. Our world is so unpredictable and unstable. Yes, Jesus might return this year (that isn’t a prediction) and we need to be working for and enlarging His Kingdom.
Working for and enlarging the Kingdom of Jesus is exactly what we are trying to do here in our own small way in Kenya. Back in October of this year we celebrated our 1-year anniversary for the starting of Upper Room Baptist Chapel. We were in the midst of a lot of changes at the Chapel at that time because we were being forced out of our gathering place and having to move to a new location. Julie and I and the family were also in a lot of flux because at the same time we were having to move out of the house we had been living in for the past nine years. But things have stabilized since that time and the work is ongoing. We have a good group of people attending the Chapel and I believe their desire is truly to live for Jesus. I enjoy teaching them from the Bible but I also enjoy what they have to teach me about following the Lord and learning to love Him more. I never come away from talking with them but that I am blessed or challenged in multiple ways. Case in point, I was talking with one of our Chapel members over chai (tea) last week and he blessed my heart and challenged me at the same time. He is the most generous (concerning financial giving) person I think I have ever met. He will pick up a street boy who is sick and take him to the hospital and pay for his treatment. He contributes to funerals when he doesn’t have any money. He takes care of his friends and neighbors when they have needs. He gave all his spare money to a widow of a friend of his last week. All of this is a common practice for him. And what makes this all so amazing is that he is dirt poor. He, his wife, his two daughters and all of his possessions live in a 10×10 foot mud house. I try to convince him that he needs to keep some for himself but he refuses to listen to me in this matter. He tells me that those other people need his help and that God will bless him and take care of all his needs. He even insists on paying for the chai and chapati we eat (but this I cannot allow and I get the blessing of paying for chai and chapati). Do you see why I walk away blessed and challenged?
As we enter into the new year of 2020, I want to lead the people of the Chapel to begin thinking more outside our four walls. I want to see them sharing their faith more with other people. I want to see them thinking about how they will live out their faith by ministering to others in the community. I want to see them showing the love of Jesus to the community by ministering to the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans, the outcasts. I pray that in 2020 they will themselves become missionaries to their communities and even to the world.
In closing, the picture I have provided is of an illustration I used in my sermon last week at the Chapel. It was entitled “How to Ensure Your Failure”. It was about trusting in your own righteousness instead of trusting in the work of Jesus. In it are me, Josiah (who I am making sure will fail the race we are about to have) and Victor. Victor is helping me ensure Josiah fails and I win!
An illustration I used in my sermon last week at the Chapel. It was entitled “How to Ensure Your Failure”. It was about trusting in your own righteousness instead of trusting in the work of Jesus. In it are me, Josiah (who I am making sure will fail the race we are about to have) and Victor. Victor is helping me ensure Josiah fails and I win!
Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie, 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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Christmas Miracles
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
December 12, 2019
Friends and family,
What an AWESOME year this has been! The Seminary has and is going wonderfully; it is because of so many wonderful people like you. Your prayers and giving have helped us minister to the wonderful ministers and church workers in Brasil. So, it is with a heart full of gratitude that I say to you all: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
As we reflect back at this time of year it is good to think of the Christmas Miracle: none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season. And He is the reason for the Seminary there in Brasil. If we can train more and more Pastors in Brasil, just think how many Brasilians can be reached.
Barbara and I would like to take this time to wish one and all a wonderful, AWESOME, and happy Christmas holiday and New Year. May we all use the new year to be better servants of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I would like to mention one more miracle of this year—my last exam this year showed a non-detectable on my PSA. That means that God’s miracle for me and my family is that I am CANCER FREE. How AWESOME is the Lord we serve.
Looking forward to the upcoming year and what God has in store for the Seminary and all who are a part of it.
Thank you BFM family for the encouragement these past two years as I and my family have gone through this time of waiting on the Lord to heal me. Thank all of you who prayed for me and the outcome of this time. God is faithful.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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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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