Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher [October 2012]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
October 5, 2012
THANKFUL HEART
Thank you for your faithful prayers and investing in missions.
Thank you Bro. David Pitman & Addyston Baptist Church, Addyston, OH for
taking us on for support. Thank you also to Atlantic Shores Baptist Church,
Virginia Beach, VA; Friendship Baptist Church, Bristol, VA; New Hope Baptist
Church, Dearborn Heights, MI; Darwin & Cathy Smith, Lexington, KY; and Ron
& Judy Logan, Lexington, KY. WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL!! Now, let me tell you about family news and some exciting moments of our latest church plant.
FAMILY DETAILS
Everyone is doing well. Sarah is 7 years old and studies hard on her math. Laura is 6 years old and is reading and writing amazingly. Benjamin is 4 years old, is learning to read and knows all of his numbers. Melissa is 11 months old and has 4 little teeth. At times, Raquel and I feel overwhelmed with family and ministry, but wouldn’t change a single moment of God’s plan for us.
CHURCH PLANTING: INITIAL PLANNING
On January 7, 2012 two couples, a lady, Raquel, the children and I went on a
van ride to pray and discuss where the Lord would lead us to start a church in
Manaus. I invited each one to make a personal commitment to join us and plant
a church. Everyone in the van that day committed wholeheartedly to start a
new church. The following weeks were filled with excitement as we visited six
different churches on Sundays and met from 5:00pm until 7:00pm to pray, study,
brainstorm and plan. During this time we also selected our name – Ativa: Uma
Igreja Batista (Active, a Baptist Church).
EVANGELISTIC COOKOUTS
During the weeks to come we organized several cookouts in homes where family
and friends were invited. Our contact list grew tremendously. Our fifth event was
a one-day camp where 95 people participated. Several people heard the Gospel
and made decisions.
MEETING AT HOME
Our first Sunday service was March 18, 2012 and met at our home. We had no
music, but the great food led to tremendous fellowship. A sense of belonging
began to grow amongst the team members, the newly saved and the unsaved
attendees. Excitement grew every week as people asked questions and decisions
were made. By the end of April, we had 30 people attending our home services.
During this period a member of the congregation asked “Where should I give
my tithe?” It is worth noting, we did not have a specific moment for tithes and
offerings during the service. We didn’t have a treasurer either. That week we
selected a treasurer and a vice-treasurer, and a box was placed on a corner table
during Sunday services. Those who attended began to give generously, even
though we never spoke of the matter. Six weeks latter we purchased a simple
sound system, three microphones, an acoustic guitar and a two-tone percussion instrument. With low monthly expenses our new congregation was able to save towards what the Lord was about to do.
BUILDING QUEST
Children singing on Sunday (building still under retrofitting)
In May, we began to search for a building to lease. We wanted a building on an
easy to find street, with good visibility. As we looked around the city we ran into
a serious problem – the outlandish cost of rental property. The reason? Manaus
is a host city for the World Cup 2014 and buildings are now exponentially
expensive to lease and/or purchase. Our small budget only allowed us to commit
to $1,000/mo and we needed a location to accommodate at least 150 people
(projecting growth over the next years). The cheapest we could find was $7,500/mo and with little to no parking. I even found a place that could accommodate 200 people and had six parking spaces for $15,000/mo. That’s right, fifteen thousand per month! And yes, that is the cost in US currency. To put the price absurdity into full perspective: the minimum wage in Brazil is currently at US$297.00/mo. Not encouraging… but we sure prayed and searched.
Despite the challenges, the Lord blessed! He gifted us with a small warehouse
to seat 140 people, with two small rooms, and a bathroom. The location is on
one of the main throughways of the city. Guess how much? Yes, $1,000/mo.
Unfortunately, it only has one parking spot. Yet again, the Lord blessed us.
Around the corner, within a hundred yards we found a walled parking lot for 30
cars! We met with the congregation and agreed to lease the lot at $25/Sunday.
BAPTISMS, ORGANIZATION & RETROFITTING
On August 12, 2012 we baptized 13 people (including our daughters Sarah
and Laura) and were organized with 37 members through Tabernacle Baptist
Church. It was an exciting Sunday for us all. We continued to meet at our home
while retrofitting the warehouse for services. Everyone came to help scrape the
old paint of the walls, repair the roof, clean, paint, and install doors and curtains.
Tabernacle Baptist Church donated the needed metal and the welder to build
and install a sign for on the front of the building.
Church building inauguration night with 102 people (84 adults and 18 children)
BUILDING INAUGURATION
On September 23, 2012 we had our inaugural service and kicked off a six-week Evangelistic message series. That evening we had 102 attend (84 adults
and 18 children). The Lord also gave us two salvation decisions that evening.
On the second week a tropical storm hit hard, and most of our invited guests
stayed at home. Despite the downpour of rain, we still had 63 attend and one
reconciliation. Pray for us this coming Sunday, it’s our third week.
PRAYER
Please, invest time in prayer for all of those who will need discipleship. Also,
pray for each one of us to continue in good health. Consider coming to visit us in
Brazil. And, continue to give generously to missions.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
Website | Twitter
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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [May 2012]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the "SeedFactory" church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
Dear pray partner and giving friend,
We have great news! In this issue you’ll find updates on the new church plant, a salvation testimony, the flooding in Manaus, our family and prayer requests. The Lord is blessing. Please, join us in prayer and financially investing. Visit us at www.judhatcher.com.
Church Plant
In March of this year, we began our church plant’s first service. We have a lot of home visits and follow-up by phone. On Sundays we have on average 40 people attend. First time visitors are common & returning visitors as well. Our three pre-evangelistic cookouts have given us over 100 contacts to continue connecting. This month 6 people will be baptized and we will have our first Lord’s supper. We are currently meeting at home. Join us in prayer as we search for a location to rent or purchase & build.
A salvation decision
Just recently I was talking to a 19 year old man, who had attended a Catholic church since he was a young boy. The last 7 years he dealt with severe back pain due to a genetic disorder. Consequently, his search for God grew based on his pain. Within the last two years he was working on his salvation and attending a prosperity gospel & works salvation type church. On the very first week we meet we talked for over 4 hours on a Saturday night. By the end of they evening he confessed to the Lord that his efforts to attain salvation we worthless, that he was sinner and that he wanted to surrender into God’s grace through Christ Jesus. His hunger and growing love for the Lord had lead him to bring his mother and five sisters to our services. Praise the Lord!!
MaNAUS Flooding
As I right this Manaus is on the verge of its worst flooding in recorded history. Our city his 4 inches shy of the highest level the Amazon River has ever reached. We still have 2 months of river uprising. Many of the downtown streets are already under water. As a result, we have more mosquitoes flying into our home, rats coming up the pipeline. There are also incidents of snakes in houses due to incoming water.
Our Family
Our family is doing well. Sarah, Laura and Benjamin are all doing well in school. Melissa, who is now 5 months old, is rolling over in the bed and sitting up on her own. Sarah and Laura went to the dermatologist this week due to skin irritations, but should diminish with the doctor’s recommended treatment. Raquel and I are doing fine. We love the Lord, our children and the work of the ministry.
PRAYER REQUESTS
1. Increased financial giving to the General Fund of BFM.
2. Growth of the new church plant.
3. Leadership training.
4. Search for church’s new location – rent or purchase & construction.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
Website | Twitter
Click here to give now.
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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [February 2012]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the "SeedFactory" church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
Dear friends,
In this issue is a testimony of how the Lord saved a hopeless teenager from suicide and into new life in Christ. You will also be encouraged about a new church plant and get a quick update on our family.
Suicidal
A couple of weeks ago I received a desperate phone call from a mother who pleaded for help. Her 17-year-old son had attempted suicide and was in dire condition at the hospital. According to his Facebook post, it was approximately 3:00pm when he swallowed 70 muscle relaxants in the attempt to take his life. His mother arrived home from work at 6:30pm unaware of what happened earlier that day. She found him in convulsions laying on his bed. Quickly she called a neighbor with a car & rushed him to the nearest hospital. Only to discover there was no room & to look for another hospital. They stopped at multiple locations in search for an available ICU bed. It was only at the fifth hospital where they were able to find an available bed. At this point, with his vital signs virtually null, fluids in his lungs & with possible neurological damage the doctors informed the mother his chances of survival were slim to none. In hopelessness, she was instructed to give her last farewell to her son. Shortly after she called me for help. I have visited them daily at the hospital. The good news is that the Lord was merciful and allowed him to live, leaving the doctors confused by his comeback with no neurological damage. A few days ago, he surrendered to Christ and found new life. Unfortunately, many people live without hope. Our Messiah is the only hope. I am so grateful this teenage boy finally found a reason to live. Pray for him and his mother.
Church Planting Innovation
In August of 2011 the Lord laid on my heart to take on a new challenge. The previous four years of my ministry were focused on supervising construction/remodeling of buildings, in training & equipping pastors, while guiding them side-by-side (mentoring & coaching) as THEY led the church plant as senior pastors. Leading dedicated men in a “pastoral team in training” was fantastic and worked great!
Unfortunately, the Brazilian legal system is changing. Many new laws are already in place against churches, and more are on the way. So, upon our return to Brazil the Lord led me to do something different – to be the senior pastor of a new church plant & to train pastors in a slightly different fashion. In late 2011, I began church-planting conversations with two other couples the Lord laid on my heart. God is incredible. He confirmed our prayers and this is what happened:
On the second Sunday of January we had our first team meeting. We began with a prayer tour in a van throughout our city. We asked God to lead us where to start a church. Since then, we have met once a week for 5 hours at a time each Sunday. We decided not to focus on a church building, but instead invest more time on the people and meet in homes. Three weeks ago we started a weekly home prayer meeting on Wednesdays and now have 16 people attending. Last Sunday we had our first pre-evangelism cookout. We had 5 unsaved first time guests at the barbecue. We plan to have these cookouts every two weeks until May and reassess. Each event is hosted & sponsored by a different couple of the team, who are in charge of inviting friends and colleagues to their house. At the cookout we all mingle and connect with the new friends. The prayer before eating is a crucial moment for the guests to identify us as Christians, pave the way for the Gospel presentation and connect them into the Wednesday prayer meeting. March 25th will be our inaugural Sunday service. The new work will be called “Active Baptist Church”. Pray for us. It sure has been a lot of fun.
Family Life
Sarah, Laura and Benjamin are enrolled in school and doing well. Melissa Nicole was born December 1, 2011. She cries a lot due to gases. Sarah has shown to have a good ear for identifying instruments in songs as she hears them play on the cd player. Laura loves to tell stories and jokes. She has a charming laughter. Benjamin is a fast runner and likes to go with his daddy to the store. Raquel is lovely, as always. I am doing well. I’ve lost 5lbs since January.
Please, continue to support, challenge others to invest into the Kingdom through Baptist Faith Missions and pray for us. And, if the Lord leads, speak to your pastor, reach out and start a church! America still needs church-planters.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
Website | Twitter
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