December 2012 Mission Sheets [PDF & Flip-through]
Your December 2012 Mission Sheet is now available in PDF format. Follow the link below to view it!
BFM Mission Sheet December 2012
You can also flip through the mission sheet at the link below:
(Once you get there, click at the bottom of the page to flip through.)
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Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [January 2013]
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.
Dear praying friends,
Lord willing, by the time you receive this prayer letter, it will be the year 2013. I know at this time that many people make “New Year’s resolutions” for the upcoming year. My prayer is that we would make resolutions to follow the Lord closely this year, be committed to serving Him, and reaching the lost with the Gospel message. Would these be good resolutions for us to follow this upcoming year? I think so, and I hope and pray that these would be some of the goals for this year. May we have more zeal to serve the Lord this year that is ahead. Romans 12:10-11 says “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” This update will share ministry progress as well as prayer requests.
Before discussing ministry, I would ask prayer for two specific things. The first is our work permit. To legally continue in the ministries here in Kenya, a work permit from the government is needed. These usually expire every two to three years. Our permit expires in April of this year. Please pray that if it would be the Lord’s will, that the renewal of the permit would be granted with no issues or problems. We have heard of other permits having problems, so this is why I ask prayer for this specifically. We know the Lord is in complete control, and we trust Him with it. What a comfort it is to know that God is sovereign, nothing takes Him by surprise, and we can trust Him with everything in our lives. Psalm 115:3 says “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” Thanks for prayers for this.
Also, the election of Kenya is drawing near. As you may recall from the previous election, the country had unrest and certain areas were dangerous. We praise the Lord that during the last election Kitale was calm and peaceful. I believe the election is scheduled for March, so please pray for the whole election process, that it would be done fairly and that it would remain peaceful. During our recent missionary community meeting we discussed the election and it was recommended to have additional supplies at home to last one to two months. This way, in case of any unrest or problems, we would have our necessary supplies. Even while Kitale is usually peaceful, other communities on the route from Nairobi to Kitale aren’t and this causes problems for the delivery trucks, thus a shortage of supplies. How thankful we are to have a close missionary community who takes care of each other. We are truly blessed. 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.” What a great verse for us to know and claim, wherever we are or whatever situation we are in.
The church plant in the village of Shangalamwe is continuing along. There have been definite challenges along the way such as high dependence on the missionary, and I am so thankful for my good friend Roger Tate and our co-laboring in this village. I thank the Lord for his family’s willingness to live and serve here in Kenya. Life here is difficult as we are often homesick, lonely and experiencing culture fatigue but what a blessing they are not only to us, but so many others.
Please pray for this church in Shangalamwe, that they would follow the Scriptures in their faith and practice. There are many requests such as that they would recognize the authority of the Word of God and follow it wholeheartedly. Also that they would have a heart to serve others and that they would seek to be independent of us and rely on the Lord. Please pray also for us as missionaries, that we would faithfully teach the Scriptures in love and that we would be an encouragement to this church. Please pray that we would be a good example before others and be the “salt and light” that the Bible calls us to be. There are so many things to pray about, and these are just some of the current prayer requests. A quote I like is “There is much to pray about and nothing to worry about.” We will keep you updated of this ministry.
The Annex prison is continuing along well. We are now near the end of the “Firm Foundations” course. It has been exciting to watch the growth spiritually in these men. The next plan is to teach the men how to study the Word of God inductively, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. In this way, Lord willing, when they are released, they can go and teach others in their areas and villages. These men come from all over the country, and when I discussed this option with the men, they were very excited about it. I thank the Lord for the cooperation of the main office and the chaplains. We will keep you updated of this also.
In family prayer requests, one of our current requests is for playmates for our two daughters. Unfortunately, it has not been very easy for our children to have other children their age to play with. Most of the missionary children here are older. So, a big family prayer request is that our daughters will have children their age to play with. There has been a recent opportunity for them to go weekly to a nearby children’s home to play with the Kenyan children, and this has greatly helped. However, it would still be good for them to have American children to play with also that are their age. We would appreciate prayers for this, as this is specifically for our children.
In closing, may we all be zealous for the Lord this year. We do not know the day the Lord will return. It could be anytime. If the Lord were to come today, would He find us faithfully serving Him? I hope and pray so. There is no better time to serve the Lord than right now. I pray that we would be the living sacrifice the Bible calls us to be. I will close with Romans 12:1-2, which says “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
God’s blessings to each of you.
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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Missionary Update: Harold Bratcher [January 2013]
Harold Bratcher has served the Lord in the Amazon Valley since July 15, 1959. His dear wife Marie, faithfully served with him for 52 years until her death in February 2011. The Bratchers organized over 20 Baptist churches and many other missions in Brazil, and he currently serves at the 24th of March Baptist Church in Manaus.
January 7, 2013
Dear Brothers of the Blessed Lord and Sisters of the Savior:
Once again I greet you not from the Amazon Valley of Brazil, South America, but from my cold Kentucky home where the sun is shining bright!
This Mission Sheets month began December 6th and finishes today, January 7th.. During this period I preached 2 sermons, one at the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in the interior town of the Vila do Engenho and the other one at the 14th of December Baptist Church in Manaus. These were special farewell services.
During this period I heard a total of 7 sermons preached at 6 different places. One was at the New Jerusalem Church, on Saturday night the 8th. The Church was celebrating their 18th anniversary. The three Sunday nights were at the Compensa Baptist Church where the president of the Brazilian Baptist Faith Missions, Bro. Ortan Barbosa is pastor, twice, and once at the Liberdade Baptist Church.
The last Wednesday night in Manaus, heard a sermon by evangelist Alessandro Braz of the 24th of March Baptist Church. On the first Wednesday of this year, I heard a sermon by the Assistant Pastor of the Porter Memorial Baptist Church, where I attended with our dear friends, Steve and Eva Blake. They have been a blessing to us in many ways already!
Yesterday, I had the privilege of hearing dear pastor Mickey Hyder at the 212 year old Historic David’s Fork Baptist Church.
On Friday, December 15th, we attended the third of five special farewell services. This one was at the Mount of Olives Baptist where almost 300 people representing all of the churches of the BBFM gathered to honor our missionary labors for the Savior. Very emotional and inspiring service. On Saturday the 16th, was the official farewell at the 24th of March Baptist Church where I served the last 12 years as pastor. They also honored me with a church wide supper. On Sunday morning, the 17th, attended the special farewell Breakfast and service at the Communion Baptist Church.
On Saturday night, the 29th, I left my home of exactly 47 years to begin our trip back to the States, after serving the Savior in Brazil for 52 and a half years. There were over 120 of our brethren from several churches there to see us off. I feel that in the past 3 weeks, I was probably one of the most photographed men in Brazil. We appreciate so much all the expressions of love and gratitude we received during these last 3 weeks. We left with mixed emotions, but with a profound sense of Mission Accomplished. To God Be the Glory, great things HE hath done!
After a safe trip and blessed trip with layovers in Miami and Dallas, we arrived at 6:30pm, at Bluegrass Field in Lexington. We were met by Carolyn Sue Bratcher, who was a blessing to us during this first week home.
On New Years Day we traveled in her car to Frankfort to my Brother Charlie’s home where we had a Delicious Dinner.
I conclude this letter asking that you pray for our future plans. We hope to soon move into the BFM Mission house in Lexington KY, while we await the sale of my house in Manaus, or the financing to go through to purchase one here. We have purchased a good car, thanks to the help of Bro. Glen Cummins in Richmond, Ky.
I hope to be a blessing to many of you, during this first year of my permanent furlough. I would like to report and thank each of you that have supported us during these past years.
Until next month.
Yours in the Service of the Savior,
Harold Bratcher
1012 Balsam Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 277-3716
(859) 806-9827 cell
harold_bratcher[at]yahoo.com
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Missionary Update: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [January 2013]
Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru for 28 years. Their main ministry is church planting and they have helped establish churches all over the country. Sheridan also works to train pastors and Anita works with the ladies’ ministry and developing children’s material.
January 7, 2013
Dear friends,
Anita and I hope that everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. We had the opportunity to spend our first Christmas ever with some of our grandchildren, our daughter, Leah and her husband, John, in Columbus, Ohio. It was such a blessing to have that special time with her children, Jack and Clara. We enjoyed New Year’s Eve with my mother and sister in Dickson, Tennessee. Please remember my mom in your prayers, she is 84 now and refers often to how nice it would be to go home to heaven. I am very blessed to have her as my mother.
Our scheduled return to Peru has finally arrived and (Lord willing) we will be flying out of Lexington, in route to Lima, Peru on Wednesday morning the 9th of January. We are very much looking forward to going home! We would appreciate your prayers.
We strongly urge you to pray for Anita’s sister, Hilda Bayhi. As we have reported before she is dealing with a very aggressive type of brain cancer. More tumors have appeared and the reports are not encouraging. The doctors have done and continue to do all that modern medicine is capable of doing. But our faith and hope is in the Great Physician. He can still perform miracles and we trust in HIM. Hilda is a Christian, and we know that if the Lord chooses to call her to her heavenly home then we know she will be better off. Please remember her husband, Charlie, in your prayers also. He is a great guy and loves her very much, and devotes full time to being her caregiver.
As I reported last month, our son, Major Joshua Stanton USAF, returned from Afghanistan and was reunited with his family and newborn son, Benjamin. He is waiting for further orders as to his next assignment. Anita and I thank so many of the churches that have his name, continually, on your prayer lists.
December was not a hectic month of travel compared to the previous months; however, we were able to visit some of our supporting churches on the weekends:
December – 2 with the Rosedale Baptist Church of Rosedale, West Virginia, pastor Larry Fisher. It was our first time with this great church and we had the opportunity to enjoy their hospitality and also spend time with Pastor Larry and his dear wife Joyce.
December – 9 with the New Life Baptist Church, Lexington, Kentucky, pastor Steve Wainright (am service). In the evening we visited the Ashland Baptist Church, Lexington, Kentucky, and enjoyed their Christmas program very much.
December – 16 with the Heritage Baptist Church in the morning service, pastor Greg Waltermire and enjoyed their Christmas program in the evening.
December- 30 with the Cornerstone Baptist Mission, Salt Lick, Kentucky, pastor Jason Minix. Jason worked with us in Peru for a few years and is now doing a tremendous mission work here in the States. Jason and Andrea have two small children that were born in Peru, and they have grown so much since leaving Peru. Please pray for this young missionary and the work there.
January – 06 found us visiting with the Bryan Station Baptist Church here in Lexington, Kentucky, pastor Brent Spears.
Our next letter should be from Peru once again. Remember to pray for us as we travel back and get settled back into the routine.
SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS
- Hilda Bayhi (Anita’s sister) continues to battle with brain cancer and was placed in the intensive care unit this morning (Monday 7th January).
- Our son, Major Joshua Stanton, USAF, has returned from his second tour of service as a pilot in Afghanistan. He is waiting for his next assignment.
- God’s grace and protection as we travel back to Peru.
- For the Calvary Baptist Mission of Huánuco, Peru and all the churches and pastors of Peru.
- Anita’s health.
Until next month,
Apartado Postal 860
Huanuco, Peru
South America
(614) 500-8823 – Internet Number
sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [January 2013]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
Dear brothers and sisters,
We begin this New Year with a heart full of gratitude and praise! We hope the same for all of you that have so generously given, so that the word of God can be taken around the world.
For many years my father Alcides when asked if he was saved would always answer saying, “Yes, God is in my heart.” We were not convinced that he had made a profession of faith, but who are we to question what he would say? So for many years we have been praying, that if he had not made that decision, that God would touch his heart and help him understand that he needed to receive Jesus as his only Savior. Well, this week, my other brother who is a pastor had the privilege to preach to him in a service and when the invitation came, my father lifted his hand and said, “I want to accept Jesus as my Savior.” My father is 92 years old and has cancer, and because of his age will not be doing surgery. But now we know he well live forever with us! I have a brother who has never made any decision, so I ask that you please pray that he too will understand his need for the Savior. His name is Edson.
Odali preparing food.
The church here has just been a real blessing. We have had other professions of faith and others that were saved but from other churches that have asked for baptism. Also, we have had several new visitors. The adults that have been coming keep bringing other family members. It is so exciting to see each of them learn more about God and seeing them want to serve. We have been having fellowship every Friday or Saturday night. It has been great for the new people to get to know the others in the church. On Sunday morning we have a big Sunday school. We do have adults, but we use them to help with the kids. Each week we fix something for the kids to eat. Seeing more and more people getting involved is a blessing. Our night service is directed for the adults. We had a young lady that came by the home the other day and said she wanted to know what we were doing here at the home and the church. She said that she was going to her church but she wanted to serve more and that her church did not get involved in the community. She has started coming to our church. Praise God for people who want to serve! God has brought new people that have such servant’s hearts. Their desire to help in any thing is overwhelming!
We enjoyed wonderful fellowship on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Every one that wasn’t going to be with family came and spent the evening here together.
Celebrating Christmas!
We also had a fun time with several of the kids that had lived here when we still had kids in the home. It was really great to see that they were doing great and also how much they had changed. Everyone had fun reminiscing about the past. And, well, as they always did, ate a lot!
Thanks for your prayers and support,
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [January 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello, Beloved, and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. I want to start this update by saying thank you for thoughts and prayers. I am saying this because we seem to especially need them right now because we feel like we are under attack. This attack isn’t from flesh and blood but from principalities and powers, from the rulers of the darkness of this age. These attacks are designed to discourage and depress us and cause us to doubt our reasons for being here in Kenya. I think we are facing spiritual, physical, financial and emotional attacks.
1) Spiritual. This is coming from the various ministries that we are working on. What we had hoped would not happen seems to be happening. Those who we had reached with the gospel and with the Word of God and thought were genuine might be turning out to be otherwise. In the Kanisa la Baptisti ya Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe) the numbers have dwindled as members of the church begin to realize they will not be receiving gifts and money from the missionaries. They were faithful for a long time but many seem to have been faithful because they still held out hope for gifts. Now they know they will not get them and so have dropped off and we no longer see them. Others are still around but even they seem to hang around simply because they want things. For the first 6-8 months we had virtually no requests for things. Now, every other week we get requests and this month it has turned to down right begging and manipulating. We were told that God sent us to them so that we could take care of them. I can’t begin to tell you how discouraging this is to see those who we thought wanted Bread for their souls trading this in for bread for their stomachs (and it’s not as if they are in need of food either).
2) Physical. We can’t seem to get Julie healthy for any sustained period of time. She’ll feel good one day and rotten the next. She’s having a hard time eating. If she doesn’t have malaria, she has typhoid. If she doesn’t have typhoid, she has schiztosemiasis. We really don’t know what is ailing her. There are no good doctors here in Kitale. There are no good doctors in Eldoret (nearest bigger town about 1½ hours from Kitale). I’m not even sure there are good doctors in Nairobi. We’ve already been done there once for Julie to see the doctors and we will be going again next week.
3) Financial. It seems like one thing after another. First, I have to buy a new car. Then I have to pay Emily’s school fees. Then I run over the dog, breaking his leg and requiring him to have surgery in Nairobi. And that seems like just the start of it. Recently I feel like I’ve been wearing a path between Kitale and Eldoret and between Kitale and Nairobi for one reason or another. These trips have become very expensive (Especially Nairobi. It seems everything in Nairobi has doubled in price in the last couple of years). I’m not mentioning any of this to solicit financial support. I’m just keeping you all updated as to our condition and why I feel we are under attack.
4) Emotional. We just finished with the holiday season. We enjoyed being together and celebrating Christmas as a family but December is still one of the hardest months to be in Africa. It’s emotionally hard to be away from the States during the holidays. We miss the gatherings, the festivities, the holiday cheer.
I hope I don’t sound as if I’m whining. I’m not. I just want you all to be prayer partners with us and to know how much we need your thoughts and prayers right now. May God bless you all.
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 Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [January 2013]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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.
January 4, 2013
Dear Brethren,
This month is all about being born and being born again!
On December 8th we organized First Baptist Church in the city of Rodrigues Alves. The new church was organized with 119 charter members. They have been in a nice brick building for a long time, but it has become way too little. They are very close to moving into their new building. They wanted to have the organization service in the new one, but it has rained so much that they didn’t have time to get it under roof. In fact it rained the night of the service and cut down on the size of the crowd, but the building was still full. Another church was born.
The choir at the 2012 Christmas production.
This year we had a mega production for our Christmas presentation. It took a whole year to get ready. My main job was to build the stage, lighting and sound. I started right after the Thanksgiving service. I had been working very long hours to get the annex under roof for the Thanksgiving dinner. We fed more than 900 that night. Then I jumped right into the Christmas program. Andrew and I extended our stage another 4 feet in depth and the whole width of the building. I built a curved set of 4 steps to one side for our 30 member choir. On the other side we built a rotating stage to save space and make it easier to change scenes. We also used the baptistery for the resurrection scene. Many of the backdrops were digitally printed on vinyl. A couple of these were 16 feet wide! Then there were dozens of other props that had to be placed on stage or removed at each rotation of the platform. We also had to install a video mixer, sound and video projector up on the third floor terrace for overflow crowd. My daughter Crissy wrote the script and produced the whole thing. Crissy and Beverly selected all the songs and even translated some from English to Portuguese. If you haven’t gathered, this was a musical, with a modern story line and flashes back to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It was a ton of work and investment. Over 200 members worked very hard for months. We spent about $10,000.00, but it was more than worth it.
The theatre group for the 2012 Christmas production.
We tried our best to keep our members at home, unless they were willing to watch on the big screen up on the 3rd floor. We set up seating for several hundred people with a 16 foot screen. Each night I went through the congregation and asked the few straggler members (only about 5-10) to give up their seats to the lost. Fortunately I didn’t have any backlash from this tactic. Actually many members were pleased and thanked me for doing this. Boy, do I love my church! We also tried to keep people from other Baptist churches away. We reserved our main auditorium just for unbelievers. Because of the larger stage we only had seating for 700 people. Of course there were another 100 or more who attended standing. We had 5 nights from Friday through Christmas night. We were packed to capacity every night. It started raining about an hour before services on Christmas night. It rained hard for hours. No pastor in his right mind would wish for rain on the night of a big service, but after all was said and done, I was glad that it rained. If it had not rained we would have to turn literally thousands away. Even with all the rain there just wasn’t any place to put anyone else! I think that now I will be able to persuade the church that it is more than time to move to a bigger location. During the five nights we had 51 professions of faith. We are expecting many more in the weeks and months to come. Many have been born again.
The Creiglows just welcomed a new granddaughter: Kayla!
Then before I close, let me add that my granddaughter Kayla was born last night. My daughter Crissy worked like a crazy person on the Christmas program and even sang every night with that huge bulge out front. She walked into the brand new maternity/children’s hospital last night, sat down in a wheelchair and 5 minutes later Kayla Cristina was born. Dauro went back to the car to get her things, just 50 yards away, and missed seeing his daughter’s birth. Mom and baby are doing fine. Bev and I now have 9 grandkids: 3 boys and 6 girls. I fear that the boys’ team may never catch up. Rejoice with us at the arrival of Kayla. Crissy and Dauro now have 2 boys and girl.
This letter is longer than most, but I just had to tell you about the birth of a new church, 51 people who were born again and the birth of our newest little one.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [January 2013]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
December 31, 2012
Dear Brethren and Fellow-Workers,
It seems impossible that 2012 has gone by so quickly. The verse that teaches us to redeem the time certainly is one of the most important in the Scriptures. Alta and I celebrated sixty-five years of married life on December 20th. They have been marvelous years while serving the Lord and rearing our children. We now have two children in Heaven: Lynn and the little boy who was born without life in the interior village of Faro in the year of 1956.
After finishing at Georgetown College and serving as pastor for nine years in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Beattyville, Kentucky, and Alton, Illinois, we made application to come to Brazil with Baptist Faith Missions. In one month, we were on our way. We arrived in Brazil in 1955. We came to give our lives to preach the Gospel, establish churches, and train workers. Fifty-eight years have flown by. Our five children were reared in the northern tropical city of Manaus. Two of our sons, Paul and David, are pastors in this great city. Our other son, John Mark, is a missionary with BFM in France. Kathy, our youngest, is married to Odali Barros. They are missionaries with BFM in Garca, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and have six children.
God has given us fifteen grandchildren. All are serving the Lord faithfully. We now have twenty-five great grandchildren in different parts of the world. Some great grandchildren have already trusted the Lord as Savior and been baptized. God has blessed us with an untold number of blessings that will last forever. We praise Him with all our heart.
We thank God that we have been blessed to preach from the North to the South of Brazil. We are still going to Assai each Sunday morning. Please pray for this city of twenty-thousand people. It is the most difficult place we have worked in our entire ministry. We continue because we know that it is God’s will and one day the seed will produce great results to His glory.
Pray that God will be our strength, wisdom, and peace. We thank you for your support throughout many years. We love you and thank God for your faithful support.
In His Name,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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