Praying for a Peaceful Election in Kenya
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.
June 1, 2017
Dear praying friends,
We are now halfway through the year 2017, and time is going so quickly. We appreciate each one of you for your prayers, sacrificial giving, and encouragement to us. Each of you are a blessing and we thank God for you.
Earlier this month, our daughters finished the school year at Calvary Baptist Academy. This was a great year for them, as they had to learn time management, how to get along with others, studying hard for exams that they had, playing on the playground at recreation, gym classes, etc. We are so thankful that they had this experience and it was a great blessing. Please pray for them as they transition back to life on the mission field, as there are different challenges that they will face there. My wife is looking forward to homeschooling them again, but this was certainly a great year for them and we are very grateful and thankful for it.
Now, just to update you on our return to Kenya. Our original plan was to return to Kenya in June. However, Kenya has a presidential election in August and there is always the possibility of unrest, etc. The last election passed fairly peacefully, but the one before and others have not gone as well. After discussing with a missionary in Kenya, as well as our mission board and the pastor of our sending church, we have all decided it is best to wait out the election and go back after it. This decision was made after much prayer and seeking the Lord’s will in the situation. The election could pass totally fine, or it could be problematic. We just don’t know.
Please be in prayer for this, both for the people of Kenya and the election process itself. Please pray that there would be no unrest and things would continue along peacefully. Please pray for those that will be in the country at the time of the election, for their safety and well-being. God is in control of all things and we trust Him with the outcome. Psalm 34:14 says “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” John 14:27 says “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
A good quote that I read recently with all this said, “When I trust God, I trust the outcome.” How true. Trusting God involves trusting the outcome, knowing He is in control of all things. We will keep you updated. God bless each of you so much.
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Furlough Address:
56 Lobo Lane
Culloden, WV 25510
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
News & Reports – June 2017 [Online Edition]
Read more
Mothers Honored, Men Helping, Training Musicians
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.
May 26, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Well this past month was May, “Mother’s Day Month”. Maybe to most of you it is just a normal day. To me, it is a very special day and I like to celebrate this day with the mothers and their children in our church. I grew up never seeing my mother. She died when I was two years old. I did not have a mother to teach me everyday things, about God, or how to pray. Most of you did have your mother present in your life. So many times we take it for granted. For me it is great to have a special day for the mothers and their children, and this year was not different. How many of you have a special dish that only your mother can fix in a special way? And maybe in a special way only for you?
We planned a day with the mothers on a boat ride. We asked the mothers if they would like that and they all agreed. The mothers could take all their children. We had mothers that had the opportunity to take their children that had not even been to church before. That was great. All the fathers and children helped get the food ready. All the mothers had to do was enjoy themselves and relax. God gave us a beautiful great day.
We have been blessed with men who have started helping with the preaching. That really helps us because Kathy and I only have one day of the week free. We have so many communities that need to be reached, but we cannot do it alone. We have four men who have been helping. Please pray for them: Francisco, Raimundo, Divino, and Ivan. We are planning an evangelistic service in a community nearby. The mother church and the two other mission points are working together to make it a great evening. Pray for us as we reach out to this community of Lake Limao (lemon).
The works are going well and we have had people who have made decisions. We need to get a place in the community of Ubim as soon as possible. The land at this place is not expensive. Ten thousand dollars would get what we need. The work is really growing. We don’t even do visitation to bring more people because the space we use is small. The family that graciously lets us use their porch are not even saved.
The church that I pastor is growing and we are adding on to the building to have classrooms and an area for fellowship. We also have a group of ten learning how to play piano. We can use more musicians–that’s for sure. We are excited! The oldest one learning is 50 years old and the youngest is 5 years old.
We want to thank each of you that pray and support our ministry. May God richly bless each of you and your lives.
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Read more
Teaching Future Ministers, Caring for Tina
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
May 23, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
If you read my report from last month (and I certainly hope you did), then you know that I gave you a little teaser at the end about what I wanted to write about in this month’s report. This teaser concerned some of my future plans that I feel God leading me to do. Now, I know it’s not “right” to give a teaser and get your readership all excited and anticipating what you will write about (if indeed you read last month’s newsletter and care about what I teased you about) and then NOT write about it. I know that’s not decent and decorous. However, that’s what I’m going to have to do. The reason for this is because I wanted to use this past month to solidify some of my thoughts and plans and have something more concrete to present to you. However, this month ended up being so busy for me that I had little time left for thinking about future planning. So, instead of laying out future plans, I will have to content myself (and you) with relating my busyness of the past month.
I guess I should have known this month would be busy as most, although not all, of what I did was pre-planned. I had two classes scheduled to teach at the local Bible college I teach at on a fairly regular basis—one in May and one in June. The class in May was Hermeneutics and the class in June is Old Testament Prophetic Literature. The Hermeneutics class I have taught before but having taught it before I recognized that my notes and class material needed to be revamped to better address the level of my students at the college. The OT Prophetic Literature class is a new class for me and has to be prepared from scratch. That being said, I have been working feverishly to prepare for these two classes. Then, last week I taught the Hermeneutics class to a new, fresh group of young, future pastors and ministers. Teaching future ministers proper Bible interpretation methods and principles is a great joy and worth all the time and effort it requires. It is, however, quite exhausting, especially for an introverted person like me who would prefer not to have to talk. Talking is exhausting, especially when you are not used to talking for an extra 40 hours a week. My throat is always raw and sore by the end of the week. But believe me, if these future ministers can learn to properly interpret and teach God’s Word then it is worth any effort and sacrifice. Oh, and before I started the class I took a long trip to Rift Valley Academy to spend the weekend with my kids at school.
On top of all this, Julie and I have another baby in the house again. Tina, whom we have cared for in the past, is back. She was born three months premature, we cared for her for the first two months of her life and she is now six months old. Tina had been in the hospital for a week with pneumonia. When she was discharged from the hospital the director of the children’s home where she lives called to ask us if we could take her in for a while while she recuperated. Julie and I talked about it and came to the conclusion together that we were too busy right now to take her in. We just couldn’t add the full-time care of a sick baby to our plate. I knew immediately in my heart that it was the wrong decision but didn’t admit this to Julie. What?!? Too busy to help one of God’s precious little ones back to health? Too busy to make some small sacrifices for the life of a child? Bad decision. Anyway, I found out a little later that Julie also thought it was a bad decision. When I returned home one night after teaching she said something like this: “I know I shouldn’t have made this decision unilaterally but I told the director we could take Tina in and care for her until she is well”. I responded with the words “OK, Julie, if that’s what you decided” but what I thought in my heart was Good for you Julie! Way to go! That WAS the right decision. Thanks for having the courage to deny yourself and follow God’s leading in this. So, Tina is back with us until she is well, and although unbroken sleep and less work is good and desirable, caring for and loving God’s children is better.
One more thing to add to the list. Tomorrow I am heading to Nairobi for a Bible conference on the local church. I have not been to any kind of Bible conference of any sort since I first left the States to come to Africa nine and a half years ago. I am looking forward to the conference but am already tired just thinking about it.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Read more
A Tribute to Brother Jim Orrick
By: Kenny Hurst, Pastor, Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church and Director, BFM
Bro. Jim Orrick and his wife Irene
To say that Jim Orrick loved Baptist Faith Missions goes without saying. It is like saying the people of Kentucky love basketball: their actions speak for themselves. Brother Orrick, by his actions, demonstrated his love for missions every day of his life.
I became a member of Storms Creek in October 1980. Brother Orrick had already been pastor of this historic church for seventeen years, having been called as pastor in October 1963. What impressed me most about him was his love for the Lord, the Word, and missions. He loved missions, especially BFM, and those who faithfully served as missionaries. Brother Orrick always had the missionaries come to Storms Creek when on furlough. He treated them like royalty, for that is how he viewed them. Many people may not know that Brother Orrick led Storms Creek, which is not a large congregation, to give fifty percent of their tithes and offerings to missions, the majority being designated to BFM. In doing this, he was sometimes taking money from himself and his family, but he was willing to make that sacrifice for the good of BFM. Every year he encouraged Storms Creek to give a special Thanksgiving and Founder’s Day offering, a tradition we continue to this day. My love for missions and Storms Creek’s love for missions was fueled by the example of Brother Orrick. He faithfully served as a director and executive secretary for years, in addition to being responsible for addressing the mission sheets each month. BFM has never had a greater friend or supporter than Jim Orrick.
In 2000, the Lord called me to preach, and in 2001, I was called to serve as co-pastor with Brother Orrick. Everyone knew,though, that he was really the pastor, and I was just assisting him. But he was insistent I be called co-pastor. His purpose for this was his upcoming retirement, and he was preparing me to take over the church full-time. Also, Brother Jim wanted to make sure the church continued its support of BFM. He did not want another pastor coming in and changing the way the church supported missions. In March 2005, he retired after forty-one years of faithful service to the church. As a pastor, what I remember most about him was his ability to say in thirty minutes what it took other men to say in sixty; he was not a long-winded preacher, but he was sound in what he preached. He had a tremendous influence on me, especially in the way he handled funeral services. I learned from him that funerals were the best opportunity to preach the Gospel. Those who knew Brother Orrick know how much he liked to laugh; he had a great sense of humor and loved to show it. He stood up for what he believed in, especially when it came to God’s Word and its importance in a believer’s life.
When Brother Orrick retired, he and Irene stayed at Storms Creek and turned the leadership of the church over to me. He was never critical and never offered any advice unless it was asked for, but supported and encouraged me in every way. For that, I will be forever grateful. He was my mentor and friend; I dearly loved him. I was so sad to hear of his passing. I am going to miss talking to him on the phone and hearing him preach at our Homecoming service each year. I take comfort in the fact that I know he is with his blessed Lord. There is only one Jim Orrick, and I had the privilege of working with him. May God bless all of those whom Brother Orrick touched during his ministry.
Yours in Christ,
Kenny Hurst
[Full obituary for Bro. Jim Orrick can be found here.]
Read more
Church Planting in Multiple “Municipíos”
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.
May 16, 2017
Dear Brethren,
The state of Acre has 22 “counties”. Here they are called municípios (municipalities). We are trying to plant churches in all of them. So far, we have churches in 7 of the “county seats”. The 2 largest cities are the capital, Rio Branco, and Cruzeiro do Sul. These churches have been around for years. The other 5 churches are in smaller cities close to us. Now we are going for the most isolated towns that have no Baptist church. We sent a missionary family to the city of Jordão 2 years ago.
This month we made a visit to Jordão and a survey trip to Santa Rosa do Purús. We had to fly to these cities that are deep in the forest and along the Peruvian border. We chartered the New Tribes Mission plane. It was necessary to make and pay for 2 flights as the pilot had to come from way up north in Roraima to make our flights and others over a short 1 week period. New Tribes Mission has a plane here now and mechanics, but still don’t have a pilot stationed here.
Jordão is on the Tarauacá River. The population is 8000 and 60% of these are from the Jaminaus and Kaxinauwa tribes. Our missionary couple is Idevaldo, Queila and their daughters, Vitória and Ludmilla. They have already bought a house and rented a place to hold services. We had a low of 45 people and a high of over 70 in services. One young couple that they have won to Christ have already been trained to help with the music. The man did not play any kind of instrument. Idevaldo taught him to play bass in 3 months. Idevaldo plays guitar and actually made his own instrument! Very talented. Queila has started a kid’s club that has an average of 25 children attending. They have already acquired 2 lots for us to put up our first church building. They are also already doing mission work in the villages and along the streams out of town. I am so proud of them. On Sunday morning, I baptized the first 14 members.
Our visit to the town of Santa Rosa do Purús was exciting, too. This is the smallest town in the Acre: 6000 people. 70% of these are Kaxinauwa. It is almost 2 hours by air. For us to get there by land and river we have to go 250 miles east by road then up river from the bridge on the Purús River for another 225 miles. The Purús is another one of the major tributaries of the Amazon River that flows parallel to the Juruá River. It flows into the Amazon a few hundred miles downstream from the mouth of the Juruá River. In other words, we are getting into a completely new river valley.
There is already a small group of the Kaxinauwa who meet and hold services. The tribe is called “Kaxinauá” by most folks. The name means “people of the bat”, as in the animal. They call themselves “Huni Kuim”, which means “The True People”. Many of the tribes around us see themselves as the original people of the earth and superior to all others. Their “building” is really just a hut. There are 6 poles, thatch roof and dirt floor. We had 50+ in the one service we held. The singing and most of the service was in their native language. My message was NOT in Huni Kuim! They all understand Portuguese.
The town has 15 sects and cults, but no Baptist church, so we are going to try to open the work there soon. There are 46 villages along the river between the border and the bridge, so we have our work cut out for us.
I took Zico (our missions coordinator), Ruben (one of our businessmen), and Rondisson (one of our chapel pastors) along on this trip. Please pray for the new missionary that we need and the funds to support him, whoever he may be. So much to do and so few workers and funds.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
Baptism in Jordão
Service with the indigenous folks at Santa Rosa do Purús
Baptism in Jordão
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
Read more
Trying Month of Bus Problems; Encouraged with Seminary
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.
May 13, 2017
Friends and family,
This month has been one that has been somewhat trying. Our church bus has had a minor problem with the air brakes. Well, we were told that all we had to do was take off the part and replace it with a new one. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, we were told by the mechanic what part to purchase, so we call the parts store in the next city and ordered the part. We go get the part on Tuesday and bring it to the mechanic (good—this is one day before we will need the bus for Wednesday night). But they call us on Wednesday to say that the part is the wrong one. So, Thursday we make the trip up to the other city to get the new part—which they don’t have—so we order the new part. So, this is the first week that we will not have the bus to pick up the children on Sunday. When we ordered the part on Friday, we were told that there would be a delay in the order because this is a holiday and there would be no mail to get the piece to the parts store. So, we would have to wait 5 days for the part to get to the store. This takes us past Wednesday again. When it arrived and we went to get it, it was for the wrong side. So, they ordered it again.
By this time, I have to go up north for the seminary in Orlandia and the part has not come yet. I was there for a week and upon my arrival, the part had not come yet. Now we are in the third week without a bus for the kids. We were called and told that the new part was at the parts place so Barbara and Edson make a trip up the hill to get it, hoping that this Sunday we will have a bus for the kids. Guess what—this piece did not fit either. Now we discover that someone has worked on the brakes sometime in the past and none of the pieces would have fit so we tell the mechanic to cut the new piece and make it fit the bus.
The blessing in this story is that the bus company that we use when we have big groups has generously loaned us one of their buses on Sunday morning to pick up the kids, but not for the people on Sunday night nor on Wednesday night. But on the last Sunday they could not loan a bus, so we made trips with 2 cars to pick up the kids. We have around 80 to 100 kids that attend Sunday School every week–so you can imagine the amount of kids we had in each car. We were so busy getting the kids to church that no one got pictures.
The bus was functioning on Wednesday night and we are looking forward to a full house on Sunday!!! Sometimes things so simple can become so complicated. Oh well, we are still so blessed that it is unreal. And even in all this mess we have had numerous visitors in the church each week.
Now on to more blessings. At this session of the seminary we had a group of students, 26 in number, 18 of which were pastors and 8 church workers. The classes were taught by Dr. D. Colman from Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and Dr. R. Edge from First Baptist Church in Bastrop, Texas. What a blessing these two men are to the seminary. The seminary now has accreditation given by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and this has helped us to gain more students. These students are now asking if we can add a Master’s Program to our original classes. You know that with God all things are possible! We are working on this as you read this letter and by God’s grace we will have the Master’s Program included for the classes that start in 2018. How AWESOME is the God we serve.
Pray for our Seminary: Caragua Baptist Seminary as we continue to train Pastors—specifically for us to be able to reach more Pastors to train them to take to gospel to Brasil. In 2018 we will be offering the classes in São Paulo City, Orlandia, São Paulo, probably in Manaus, Amazonas, and maybe in one other location. We are taking these classes to different regions to make them more available to the areas where the pastors reside. That way more pastors can attend and then take the teaching to their areas. This will be an AWESOME blessing to them and their churches.
We always ask for prayer for the Seminary everywhere we go so we now have 70-100 pastors praying for Caragua Baptist Seminary. Won’t you join with them in praying for the seminary also? For the pastors and the workers that participate in the Seminary, for the teachers and for the translators, and the churches that these Pastors return to after they finish the classes. Please include in your prayers Barb and I, our church here in Caraguatatuba, Pastor Walmir and all the works here in Brasil.
To end the letter on a note of a blessing, this month we have had one more soul added to God’s kingdom. Praise His Name.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Click here to give. | Like them on Facebook.
Read more
Projeto Vida Gears Up for Winter Evangelism Opportunities, New Youth Volunteer
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
May 6, 2017
Dear Friends,
As you gear up for summer mode in the USA, our evangelistic teams in southern Brazil prepare for the chill and activities of winter. For example, the only school break between May and September is a two week “winter break” in the late part of July. The best thing about this is that, when the schools are in session, we have a much greater opportunity of taking the gospel to entire school assemblies ranging from 200 to 1500 at a time.
Two of Projeto Vida’s teams will be heading out to minister in separate states for trips that will last for 3 weeks before returning to headquarters. Not only will they get the opportunity to share the gospel in public schools, but they will also assist some church-planting missionaries with evangelism in the neighboring streets and parks close to new church plants. The free health checks, haircuts, counseling and creative interaction with the children serve to open people’s hearts to listen to a clear presentation of the gospel, both one-to-one and through publicly preached messages.
One young lady from Brandon, Florida has recently returned from what is called a “Go Term”. The church where she attends in the USA has developed a program that encourages recent high school graduates to spend 6-12 months in a foreign mission field ministry before heading on to college. This program is to help them get a greater and clearer sense of how God can use them in life, beyond or through their eventual career choice. Hannah Baxter has just returned from a 10-month term of service and was greatly impacted by all the ways that she saw God use her in missions. Zoe Peeples will be the next youth embarking this month to begin a shorter term, but certainly she’ll have a tremendous number of experiences that will make a major impact on her life choices afterward.
We are thankful that our Projeto Vida teams always graciously adapt to these new volunteer members coming on board. There are always several learning challenges involved. The US students usually don’t speak Portuguese and very few of the Projeto Vida team members can speak English, so the communication level is an automatic obstacle in the beginning. Add to that the cultural differences and then the personality traits and you can imagine how 13 people living in an 18-passenger van and sleeping on mats in homes or church building floors for several months can test one another’s Christian character. We haven’t had any cases yet, though, where unity and love didn’t increase and abound. Presently there are more than 20 missionaries serving worldwide whose first mission experience was with our teams and nearly all say that this initial experience was a major tool God used to lead them into fulltime mission service. We are joyful and grateful to be used of God to have a part in that process.
We appreciate you continued prayers and support.
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Stateside Address:
3912 Casaba Loop
Valrico, FL 33596
Field Address:
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
Phone: (813) 481-7007
Cell Phone: (813) 727-6405
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Give: Click here to give.
Read more
