Continuing Remodel & Fellowship in Homes
December 16, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters,
We pray and hope that all of you are well. This year has been wonderful after so many hard years with the virus. This year, we were able to do much more amongst the people in our communities.
The work on the building of Cacau is coming along. We covered the building, which will help to be able to work inside and get more things done since this is rainy season. Soon the building will be ready so we can reach out to the people in that town. There are so many children there and we want to do special work with the children to reach out and bring them to church, which is a wonderful ministry. The children really need help because there are tons of drugs around but very few ministries. Pray that God will help us to reach out and have more people to join us from the church in this ministry. Thank you for your support and prayer.
Working on the camp is harder since it’s raining right now, but we are getting things ready when there’s a little bit more sun to be able to work there too.
At the mother church, Pedras Vivas, we’ve had many new people coming in and it looks like we’re going to be having more people to help with the ministry. One of the things that we’ve been doing to help people meet each other is that on Sundays, we have been having get-together dinners and lunches, which has really been exciting.
This week we will be starting a new group of visitation to bring people to the church and if they need transportation, we will be using the bus to bring them to church. The area we will be reaching is around 30 miles, most of which is on the highway. The bus will be coming by the village of Ubim also and those from there can come on the bus if they want to.
Thanks for your prayers and support! God bless each of you!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy Barros
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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Reflecting on Blessings in 2023
December 15, 2023
Dear Friends,
As this year nears its end, we reflect on just how much the Lord has blessed us and our ministries. We moved to larger facilities in February and that allowed us to continue to grow and hold well-attended evangelistic events. Through those events, we reached dozens of neighbors and visitors and many of them, upon hearing the gospel, surrendered to Christ and have followed Him in believer’s baptism. Pastor Cledson is doing a fantastic job of guiding the church in this, his first, senior pastorate. They are presently putting on a Christmas musical play and we pray and expect to see many more people come to Christ as a result.
Projeto Vida is out on their last evangelistic trip into the public schools this year. Brazil’s academic year follows its below-the-equator seasonal pattern. School will be out for the summer from December to February. Our team will still minister in some public parks and at several end-of-the-year events during this period, but they won’t have the “captive audience” of 300-1500 students at one time that the school rallies provide. They will also take this window of opportunity to do some maintenance on our van and equipment. The Lord truly blessed throughout the year, and we were able to speak in person to over 40,000 people of Christ. Hundreds of those believed the message of God’s grace and surrendered to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
The young missionary couple that we sent to Portugal, Yago and Manoela, called this week to report that the attendance at their worship and Bible study meetings continues to increase regularly. They are super excited about how the Lord is using and blessing them. Charlene and I plan to visit with them at the end of January for about a week. Portugal is in desperate need of the word of God and the love of Christ lived out before them by those who profess Him as Lord and Savior. May the Lord continue to supply Yago and Manoela’s spiritual and material needs and use them to bring many to salvation.
Charlene and I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside on Furlough from Brazil
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: 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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Many Opportunities to Witness Over Meals
December 15, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We hope this finds you enjoying the New Year. Judy and I are very grateful for the many blessings received from our Heavenly Father during 2023. Among other things, our home and meeting place is now in a new house. More importantly, we have had new young people attending our meetings who show a great interest in spiritual matters and one young lady who trusted the Lord and participates regularly in Sunday worship. She is the only believer in her family.
In my last newsletter I mentioned that we were going to be dining in two different locations later in the week. The meals with friends were a great blessing. The first was in the home of a Swiss couple who are participants in the Bible study group in Mazere. They invited the whole group to their home for a Swiss Fondue. Two ladies who are believers and regular participants in this Bible study are married to men who claim to be atheists. Both of them were at the dinner and much of the conversation revolved around spiritual issues. It was a great witness to these two men.
The second dinner was in the home of our neighbors. They have eaten with us in our home, but it was the first time that we had been invited to eat in their home. When we sat down to eat the lady said, would you pray before we eat. She had liked it when we prayed before the meal at our table. Our evening was great, and the couple was very open with us about their lives. Please pray for them to trust Christ.
One of the ladies in our church who is a chiropractor loves to invite folks to her home for a Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday in France, but most people know about it because they have seen American-made movies that include Thanksgiving meals. Because it is not a Holiday in France, Annaelle holds the Thanksgiving meal on a Sunday and invites the church to come for service at her house and eat some of the desserts. She invites her dinner guests to stay for the service. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet people and share the gospel with them. After the service, one of the ladies who Annaelle has brought to church meetings in the past, told me, “I have a lot of questions (about spiritual matters) I want to ask you.” God is clearly at work in this lady’s life.
May God bless you, your family and your church during the coming year and until Christ return for us,
John and Judy
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
2 T Impasse de la Picardie
31830 Plaisance du Touch
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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The Importance of Biblical Financial Management
December 10, 2023
Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,
Julie and I are both currently on break from teaching duties as our students have all returned home for the Christmas break. This makes me say “boo” and “yea” at the same time. “Boo,” because I enjoy teaching and helping students to know the Bible better and to become better ministers for the Kingdom. “Yea,” because with the students all gone on break it makes my duties a little bit lighter for the month. I say a little bit lighter because now that the students are gone, I still have to spend the month preparing for my two classes next term. Next term I will be teaching Basic Theology 1 to our first-year students and Biblical Financial Management to our students who will be graduating in July. I have taught the Basic Theology course before so it will not take much time to prepare, and also, I know how much I enjoy the class. What a pleasure to teach and talk about Bible Theology with our new students, all of whom are so eager to learn and grow in the grace of God. I have not taught Biblical Financial Management at Moffat before so this is the class that will take up my free time in the month of December. It would probably be stretching the truth a little to tell my students that Biblical Financial Management is the most important course they will take at Moffat, but I will probably say it to them on their first day of class anyway (I have also said it to my Hermeneutics class, my Basic Theology class, my New Testament Survey class, and my Church Planting class). Yeah, it may not be their most important class, but for these students it is a very important class. These students need to know what the Bible says about money and the Biblical principles for handling money. They need to know that the way they use their money reflects the status of their hearts and their relationship with God. They need to know how to Biblically manage the financial resources of their churches in order to better fulfill their mission and to bring glory to God. Money is a really big issue in Kenyan churches. Church members fight over it, and most pastors are not trusted by their church members. Transparency is unheard of, but what is often heard of is the pastor taking money out of the offering plate and putting it into his pocket when he thinks he needs it more than the church does. And with the Prosperity gospel and the Health and Wealth gospel being so ubiquitous in Kenya, these students really need this class. All around them and on TV they see “pastors” fleecing the members of the church and getting rich. They need to know that these are not true ministers of Jesus, and they need to stand strong when the same temptation comes their way. There is even a book by an African author I may have them read called “Pastor, Stop Fleecing your Flock”. It really is that common of an occurrence. So, yes, we will be looking at budgets and income/expense worksheets, and bank reconciliations, and all that stuff. But the real purpose is not for them to get rich but for them to honor and glorify God in the way they conduct their personal finances and the financial management of their church resources. It is a good class. I am looking forward to it.
I am also looking forward to the Christmas season. I cannot believe it, but all my adult children and their spouses will be here with us for Christmas this year, the first two arriving in just two days from the writing of this letter. All my children (including Chloe) being together with us for Christmas has not happened in a very long time, so this event is very unique. Those of you who have been following my newsletters know that our first Christmas in Kenya was fifteen years ago: Emily was thirteen, Amy was eight, and Josiah was seven that year. Now Emily is twenty-eight and has been married for seven years, Amy is twenty-three and has been married for almost two years, and Josiah is twenty-two. In just a few days they will all be here, sitting on the porch, drinking my coffee, and looking out over the Rift Valley. How time flies.
I will make a missionary confession here: the sacrifice of time with my children is NOT a sacrifice I like making. I know I am supposed to be strong and to be able to say, like other missionaries of old, “I never made a sacrifice, and it was all worth it.” But being so far away from my kids is hard, and I don’t even have grandkids yet. You all can pray for me in this area. You can also pray for Chloe for the next two weeks. She is going to be overwhelmed, over-sensitized, out of sorts, and out of her routine. Pray that she might somehow not be anxious and that she somehow would be able to go with the flow and enjoy the season.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & 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 – December 2023
The Online Edition of the December 2023 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below.
*Remember you can click on any headline to view the post/letter on our website.
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SCENES FROM SÃO PAULO
Jud and Raquel Hatcher are third generation missionaries serving the Lord with their family in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, at least 43 churches have been started in 5 states. Pray for their ministry and influence in Brazil.
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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Meals: Great Opportunities to Discuss Spiritual Matters
November 17, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We hope this finds you enjoying blessings from the Lord and filled with gratitude during this Thanksgiving Season. Judy and I are very grateful to our Lord and Savior for all of the gifts we have received from Him.
The English Bible study in Mazere that began a month ago is going quite well. Two new participants were present and involved at the most recent session held the day before yesterday. This Bible study is for people who are interested in improving their English and getting to know the Bible better. The latest additions are an English lady who has lived in France for about twenty years and a French girl who is a senior in High School. The young lady’s mother was at our first Bible study and had returned. There are a total of seven people in this Bible study. The English lady has lived in France for about 20 years with her husband who claims to be an atheist. She certainly does not need to improve her English, but seems to be quite interested in knowing the Bible better.
This week seems to be banquet week. Tuesday evening, we had dinner in the home of the Iranian couple who participate in one of our Bible studies. There were twelve of us from the Bible study present and Sh____ put out quite a spread of traditional Iranian dishes. It is great to see this couple’s great interest in spiritual matters. Tomorrow we are having a Swiss fondue lunch with the members of our French Mazere Bible study in home of one of the couples who are a part of this group. We will have dinner in the evening in the home of our next-door neighbors. They have never attended the Sunday meetings but have indicated that they will do so. Meals are great opportunities for getting better acquainted with people and often lead to conversations about spiritual matters. Following the Lord Jesus’ example in sharing meals is one of the highlights of “making disciples” and we love it!
We also love being on the same team as you! Please continue to pray for us including the activities and contacts mentioned above.
May the blessings from our Father fill your lives,
Judy and John Hatcher
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
2 T Impasse de la Picardie
31830 Plaisance du Touch
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.
Read more
Bluegrass Baptist Seminary Adding PhD Program
November 20, 2023
Dear friends and family,
This month we made a trip to Brazil to attend a missions conference. We were granted the privilege of telling about the Bluegrass Baptist Seminary to over 200 Pastors and Missionaries from various countries. We had a wonderful time and the Lord we serve was AWESOME with His presence there. It was even better than we had prayed for in that we got to talk to everyone there and many were interested in participating in Bluegrass Baptist Seminary. For example, there was a missionary from Argentina and they have a Seminary there in Argentina, and want all 15 of their teachers/Pastors to enroll in Bluegrass Baptist Seminary’s Master’ s program. Many of their Pastors/ teachers have completed a four-year Seminary but their schools are not accredited; but for a window of time they can take a State course to get that training accredited, and that is important because we require an accredited diploma to enroll in our Master’s program.
Also present was one of the lead pastors from Temple Baptist Church in São Paulo City and we got to sit down with him and plan another graduation for the pastors there in São Paulo. Nine of them have finished their thesis and are now ready to receive their diplomas. It will be a grand ceremony for the Master’s of Pastoral Ministries, which is only given to pastors. AWESOME!
Also in January 2024 we will be initiating into Bluegrass Baptist Seminary an accredited Ph. D program. AWESOME IS THE GOD WE SERVE!!!! NOTE: we already have two students ready to enroll, one of which is a missionary to the Jews in São Paulo City.
We were able to set up a table with all our information about the Seminary and the classes for the coming year. The classes begin in January. Our family there in Caraguatatuba were a big help in manning the tables and talking to those interested in the Seminary.
As you know, it has been an uphill battle to get this Seminary running. Many prayers, tears and much sweat and dedication of our professors (all of whom are doctors and PHDs and are from the USA). These Professors donate their time as a gift to the Bluegrass Baptist Seminary. THANKS!!!
All this being said, it would have not been possible without Baptist Faith Missions and all of the AWESOME people who give regularly and pray for the missionaries and the works of Baptist Faith Missions.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@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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