Open Doors to Share the Gospel
September 9, 2022
Dear Co-Laborers,
Thank you for your faithful support in many different ways. Compared to last month this one has been relatively quiet. We enjoyed having Lydia and Adam (our daughter and son-in-law) along with their children with us for nearly a month. These rare moments with family are a great blessing.
One day when Judy was at the grocery store near our house along with one our granddaughters, she was stopped by a young lady who had heard them speaking in English. This lady has a son in grade school, and she wants him to become proficient in English. They set up a time to come by our house while our grandchildren were still here. Judy has had continuing contact and walks with this lady. God opens doors for us to have relationships with people with whom we can share the gospel.
One of the ladies in our church is a chiropractor and a people magnet. She called me the other day because one of her patients had approached her seeking information for her daughter’s sake. The patient said that her 12-year-old daughter wanted to get baptized. The family has no religious practice. The request is interesting considering the fact that only about 2% of French people are practicing Catholics, less than one half of a percent are evangelical believers. I do not yet know what instigated this desire in the girl. The mother told Anaelle, the chiropractor from our church, that she had approached her on the subject because she thought Protestants were more open than Catholics.
Anaelle called me to discuss the best way to talk to this lady and her daughter about baptism. The lady lives on the other side of the metropolitan area of Toulouse from us. Coming to meetings here would be quite a drive, but we are hoping to see her Sunday.
We are very encouraged with the Bible studies and hope to be starting a new one in a different city this month.
May God bless you and use you as His light where you are.
In His service with you,
John and Judy
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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Presidential Election Update + Discipling Young Men
September 6, 2022
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and there are many important items in the country to update you on. This update will share current prayer requests as well as ministry progress.
We thank the Lord that the Kenyan presidential election was resolved yesterday, September 5th. It was a very close, competitive race with less than two percentage points separating the two main presidential candidates. The election results were sent to the Kenyan Supreme Court for a two-week consideration and examination, to see if there was probable cause to overturn the election. In this case, the election would need to be done a second time within 60 days of the previous election. This is called a “run off.” In this case this year, the Supreme Court decided the results were legitimate and declared the presidential elect, without a runoff. He will be sworn into office next week, Lord willing.
So far, much of the country has been calm. Both of the main presidential candidates have urged calm with their supporters, and not to resort to violence or any kind of unrest. Where we are in Kitale, it has been calm, for which we thank the Lord. There were some skirmishes last night in a different part of the country, but we hear that the police are prepared and many. We will see how things go in the coming days as it is still early. We trust the Lord with our safety and follow all the precautions we can. Proverbs 18:10 says “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Also, Psalm 27:1, which says “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” These verses are certainly a comfort during these times.
Please pray my wife, as she continues to homeschool our daughters. She is doing a great job, and the girls are staying on schedule. Please pray also for new families with kids the girl’s ages to come to Kitale, so they can have stable friendships. We have heard of some families that are interested in coming later in the year, so please pray they would come when planned, and that the girls would make friends. Many long-term families that were here in Kitale have moved this year, so it has not been easy, but we are praying and trusting the Lord and His timing. Lamentations 3:25 says “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” We are waiting in faith, trusting the Lord.
I (Nathan) am continuing along in the discipleship course in the village of Taito. Please pray for me as I continue to disciple and train the men, as I trust the Lord for the results. I am praying that God would raise these men up to go out and start churches as the Lord leads them. It is God I am trusting, every step of the way. I like 1 Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Amen. It is still the same today, and may God receive all the praise and glory for all things.
This is the current update from Kenya. We appreciate each of you so much and your heart for missions. We will keep you updated.
Blessings,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
naterad[at]yahoo.com
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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Teaching Young Men How to Properly Read the Bible
September 4, 2022
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Beloved, Brothers and Sisters, thank you so much for your prayers over the past 16 years and especially over the last couple of months. God has been moving in our lives and Julie and I find ourselves in a much more spiritually healthy position than we have been in for a long time. And Chloe is also getting some of the help that she has been needing for years. Life is still hard, but I think Julie and I would both say we are not living day to day in absolute survival mode. We believe this is the result of many prayers on our behalf and God working powerfully behind the scenes and directing us in ways we could not have envisioned. So, dear friends, thank you for your prayers and loving support and please continue to pray that God would uplift us and fill us with His Spirit, His grace, His love, and His strength.
I am very tired as I write this, but it is a good kind of tired, knowing that the last couple of weeks have been filled with good things. The students have returned to the college, and I am teaching them wonderful things about the Bible. I am teaching them how to properly read and interpret the Bible, and, frankly, they need it. These are young men coming from various parts of the country who have not received much training yet in their young lives. My oldest student, Simon, is 35. His parents died when he was very young, and he was never able to go to school. When he became an adult, he went back to school. He started at primary school and went and sat in the primary class with primary age students until he could proceed to secondary school. This is a great shame for an adult in this culture and is almost unheard of. But Simon wanted his education, not caring about the shame, and he finally finished it a couple of years ago, got married last year, and now finds himself in my Interpretation class and wanting to be a minister of the gospel. Amazing. Anthony is 19. When he wanted to be baptized his pastor asked him, “You do realize that being a Christian is more than going to church on Sundays and having Christian parents, right?” Actually, Anthony did NOT realize that, and it got him thinking about what a Christian really is. Now, he is trusting, following, and loving Jesus as his Lord, Savior, and Master and wants to help other young people know what it really means to be a Christian. These two are just a couple of my students. The others have similar kinds of testimonies. I also have a Ugandan student who is arriving in Kenya this weekend after struggling with immigration issues.
I also serve at the school as the finance manager. This means that every student must eventually funnel through the door of my office to receive my signature stating they have paid their fees. When they cannot pay their fees, it is me that they need to see. This past week I have sat with many impoverished students who could not pay their fees. I would cry with them, pray with them, help them put together a plan on how to raise their money, and pray with them some more. It was a hard week for me because most of these students have never had to take any responsibility whatsoever for their finances, being completely dependent on parents and/or sponsors. Being responsible for their finances is a hard lesson that many of them need to learn. The financial culture and mentality in Kenya could not be more different than the financial culture and mentality of America. Another time I will try and explain some of the vast differences between the two cultures when it comes to dealing with money. But not right now, as this newsletter is now full.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie, and Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.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 – September 2022
The Online Edition of the September 2022 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is at work through our faithful missionaries and continue to lift them up in prayer.
*Remember you can click on any headline to view the post/story on our website.
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New Missionary Family + New Ministry at Annual Missions Conference
August 22, 2022
Dear Brethren,
We’re still here. It has been a while, but here we are with some more news from Cruzeiro do Sul.
We had all our missionaries come in with their families for a little break and to be honored during our annual mission conference. We started off on a Thursday night with a dinner for all our pastors, chapel pastors, missionaries and their wives.
For the next 3 days we had lots of training during the day and services with the whole church every night. Bringing everybody in from so far away is a big expense, but worth every “Real” (Brazilian dollar).
On Saturday night we gave all our official workers a new ID card issued by First Baptist Church. All of Latin America is big on formality (red tape, too). We decided to renew the credentials of all of our workers, for two reasons. 1. There are so many fake and false preachers around now that we wanted ours to be identified as approved by the home church. 2. Then, believe it or not, our ID card is even accepted at border crossings! We now have 33 workers officially under our authority. There are many other evangelists in our many congregations and mission points who did not get this official sanction.
Also, during the conference, we were able to present a longtime desire and dream to the whole church. For many years we have wanted to have a way to share the gospel with the deaf. For the past year and a half, we have had a big group in training to learn their language. The group has already been through three levels of training. They are in the fourth and final advanced course right now. We were able to present them and let them show the church more of how it works. They have been active for months, but this was another opportunity to get the whole church behind this important ministry. Just last night there were a few hearing impaired and our folks were preaching to them. The official launch is scheduled for November, but fortunately they are already serving this group in most services and during the week on a personal level.
During the last service of the conference, we took on a brand-new missionary family. Ronaldo, wife and daughter are now sponsored and authorized as missionaries out of First Baptist Church. They are from the Marubo tribe. He was first evangelized and taught by one of our long-time members who married a Brazilian lady from here. Ronaldo spent some time with us and then went to Rio to go to seminary. He came back and went right back to the tribe. He has started preaching points in 13 villages among his people. These villages are deep in the rainforest north of us. To get there it is a 6-hour boat trip down the Juruá River then a 2 day hike due north to the Ituí River. This is another tributary of the Amazon River. Very remote! Recently Pastor Ezi (one of our 7 pastors here at First Baptist) went to see what Ronaldo is doing. He was amazed. We now have works in 6 tribes. Two of our ten full-time missionaries are Indians.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
The signing group at First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul. 
The signing group at First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul.
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@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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Sarah Returns from Mission Trip + A Look at Steward Leadership
August 20, 2022
Dear friends,
Thank you for your faithful financial support & prayer. Please, pray for me as I will undergo several surgical procedures in the coming weeks. 1) The removal of the port catheter from my chest (cancer-free & no longer needed). 2) Surgery on my hands/wrists due to severe carpal tunnel (I am looking forward to the pain relief). Also, pray for 3) Laura as she continues her cochlear implant hearing therapy. 4) Our return to São Paulo at the end of this year. 5) The church ministries conference at Nova Baptist Church in Manaus, where several pastors and leaders from across the country are flying in for the occasion.
Sarah returned from her two-month mission trip in the Amazon. The Lord used her mightily, and she learned so much while there. Our four children started back to school this week. In September, Raquel will attend a foster care/orphan care conference in Georgia. She is looking forward to this special event.
I have trained leaders with the “servant leadership” framework for the longest time. Within the last year, conviction has grown in my heart for the “steward leadership” framework instead. Let me share a little about “steward leadership.” One of the most outstanding steward leaders in Scripture is Joseph. What a leader and administrator! According to author Kent Wilson (2016), “A steward is someone who manages resources belonging to another person in order to achieve the owner’s objectives.” Wilson discusses the role and responsibilities of the steward. Particularly important for the steward are work ethic, personal virtues, absence of personal vices, training and experience, loyalty to the accountability structure and relationships, wise use of resources, and practical management skills.
In his book, Rodin (2010), addresses the age-old debate “nature-versus-nurture” and posits that leaders are “freed to lead”. As his primary thesis, this freedom fosters holistic transformation and renders an obedient response from born-again believers. This obedient response establishes the person’s work effectiveness. He continues, “Our call to be stewards is based on our acceptance of each as a gracious gift and our rejection of the lure to play the owner.” We are freed from self, equipped by God according to each calling. In addition, “We were created as caretakers of creation, and in Christ, we have been restored to that high and holy calling.”
Steward Leadership is a worldview mindset where a called individual is a learner who leads as a proctor administrator, free of second intentions, where with high integrity and character serves another and is responsible for resources (or an organization) with full-fledged decision-making authority and is accountable for those responsibilities, the use of power and the strategies implemented (Rodin, 2010; Simmons, 2019; and Wilson, 2016).
The steward leader is a servant at heart, but not every servant is a steward leader. This leadership lifestyle involves self-denial but not lacking confidence to influence people and outcomes. A steward leader is deeply accountable, trustworthy, and empowered to mobilize and delegate to successfully lead within all levels of an organization, selflessly empowering and encouraging people within his sphere (Simmons, 2019).
If you love to read and acquire new insights. Check out these resources:
* Rodin, S. (2010). The Steward Leader. Downer’s Grove, Intervarsity Press.
* Simmons, B. (2019). LDR 9610 Unit 1 Lecture HD. Online Studies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOv8eyIeKSg&list=PLHAVnCRu3fmg6wLpFmZFrP80dOhf04GEs&index=12
* Wilson, K. R. (2016). Steward Leadership in the Nonprofit Organization. Intervarsity Press.
Thank you for your love!
Jud Hatcher
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
(872) 400-6522
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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10 Baptized and Prayers Answered
August 20, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings to all our family in Christ and supporters. We pray and hope that all are doing well and blessed. We are doing great. We have had a wonderful month. Thank God that things have calmed down and we have been able to have several activities.
We had our first pizza day in the village of Ubim. We were there morning and afternoon. We enjoyed the day and so did the students. We are going to have a pizza day in the Indian village there in Ubim also. We are contacting other school in communities near us to have pizza day. We want to thank all those who have donated to this project.
We also had baptism day at our church, Pedras Vivas. Since everyone lives far away here, when we have baptism, we make it a day of fellowship. Last month we asked prayer for a family that came to live here at our place. Well, God is working!!!! Thanks for your prayers! The father and the 3 sons accepted Christ and were baptized. Also, three from Ubim were baptized. Cleomar, the teen who lives with us, was also baptized, and Gabriel, the other teen that is always at our home. Thank God for these 10 that were baptized. Pray for them!
Pray for us as we want to reach out into the communities, that God will open the doors. Also, that God will touch the lives of the members to help more and more in these projects.
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@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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Tampa Teens Share the Gospel, English Classes Resuming
August 9, 2022
Dear Friends,
Our church’s anniversary is on July 22nd. In celebration of its anniversary, each Sunday of that month, a different aged Bible study group gave a chorale presentation and culminated with a chorale formed with the church leaders. The church rejoiced in how God has blessed in so many ways. We have experienced phenomenal growth, by His grace.
During the month of July, we had the privilege to host a team from the Tampa, Florida area. The group consisted of 8 members who ministered with our Projeto Vida evangelistic team in 3 public schools, two drug rehab centers and in a homeless shelter. The group was very enthusiastic and helpful in each outreach effort. The Lord used them and there were many professions of faith in Christ through their sharing of the gospel. Half of the group were teenage girls who were very courageous in giving their testimonies in front of hundreds of students in middle school and high school auditoriums. I didn’t think about it at the time, but in retrospect, I’m sad that no young men/boys decided to come be a part of that group and share the gospel. In fact, we have noticed that more and more, visiting groups consist of mostly girls. Come on down, young men! Be valiant servants of the Lord! A big shout out to you young ladies who heed the call to share your faith despite the fears you face.
Our traveling evangelistic team leaves tomorrow for another two-week trip to the northwest corner of our state and then on to the Federal District where they have been invited to minister in several schools. We have the van fueled up and the team of 11 members is excited about the privilege of sharing the gospel to school staff and students. Please remember them in your prayers as they present the gospel in a variety of ways and venues. We do not take this privilege for granted because we know that it may not last long, just as it has been taken away in almost every other country in the world, including the USA. What we seek is to take advantage of it as long as it is open to us and seek to honor the Lord through the sharing of His word and love.
Because of COVID-19 the government shut down our in-person English classes back in 2020. This week Charlene is restarting one of those classes and she already has about 15 students signed up for it. The classes are offered free of charge to our community for the purpose of providing an opportunity to meet new people and share Christ’s love and gain an open door for evangelism. We have already had several conversions, baptisms, and church growth through this ministry effort in the past and we pray that this will be the result again. Please pray for Charlene as she teaches these students in the weeks and months to come.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Annabelle 
Mandy & Mark 
Taylor
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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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