Missionary Update: Harold Bratcher on Permanent Furlough from Brazil [June 2013]

Harold Bratcher served the Lord in the Amazon Valley for 52 years from July 15, 1959 through December 29, 2012. His dear wife, Marie, faithfully served with him for 51 years until her death in February 2011. The Bratchers organized over 20 Baptist churches and many other missions in Brazil. He is now on permanent furlough in Kentucky, still in the service of the Savior.

June 9, 2013

Dear Brothers of the Blessed Lord and Sisters of the Savior:

Once again we (Asa Mark and I) greet you not from the Amazon Valley of Brazil, South America, but from our temporary warm Kentucky home where the sun is shining bright!

This Mission Sheets month began April 8 and finishes today. During this period I heard 19 sermons, or Bible studies. I also had the privilege of preaching twice. The first time at the Spring Conference at the Thompson Road BC in Lexington, Ky where Bro. Dave Parks is pastor. The second time was Sunday morning the 26th of May, at the High Point Baptist Church of Alexandria, Ky, where Bro. Ron Duty is pastor. During all the conference, we enjoyed a time of great food, preaching and fellowship. Also during this MS period, we attended the services at the following churches: Porter Memorial BC, Lexington Bethel BC, David’s Fork BC, all of Lexington, Ky, and Linden St. BC of Richmond, Ky, Glen’s Creek BC of Versailles, Ky, and the Lexington Baptist College Alumni Meeting at the Heritage BC, of Lexington, Ky. We also attended the funeral services of Dr. Hoge Hogensmith, Bro. Derek Gilpin, and Sis Eva Sams, 105 years old. I pastored this dear sister at the Valley View BC, over 60 years ago.

During this past weekend, we were privileged also to attend the 9th Bratcher-Porter family reunion at the General Butler State Park in Carrolton, KY. What a wonderful time we, along with Stephen, had there.

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. We appreciate the invitations we have already for this month, and the next one. I look forward to seeing many of you soon. I will be speaking on Saturday night, the 15th, one week from yesterday, at the Emanuel BC, of Oldtown, KY, where dear brother, John Lybrook is the pastor. The Lord permitting, 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: The Tates in Kenya [June 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,

I would like to give you a short update on the churches and groups here in Kitale. The church in Shangalamwe is progressing OK, although I wish there were more members. Nathan and I have decided it is time that we start “pulling away” just a little and give the church the chance to minister on its own without our intervention. Maybe our presence there has prevented it from growing and maybe with us being absent a bit, the members will begin doing more of their responsibilities and reaching out more to the community and villages nearby. More and more we will have to place this church and its members into the hands of the Holy Spirit and pray that they follow His leading in place of ours.

In the past two months, four of the groups that Titus began have been organized into Baptist churches. Here are some of the data for these new churches:

  • Kipsongo Baptist Church – Organized with 13 members, 2 believers baptized
  • Kibomet Baptist Church – Organized with 80 members, 19 believers baptized
  • Shanti Baptist Church – Organized with 17 members, 3 believers baptized
  • Rafiki Baptist Church – Organized with 10 members, 2 believers baptized

By the way, Kipsongo, Kibomet, Shanti and Rafiki are named after the towns where the churches are located. One of the other groups has a desire to be organized into a church as well but we have decided that this group is not ready yet. This group meets in a village called Folklands. It has a problem with leadership. We are still evaluating the leadership and have deemed it not ready. This group also needs some more teaching about some Biblical issues before we feel like it will be ready. So, we have decided to wait on this group instead of organizing it into a New Testament Baptist church. Maybe the Lord will lead this group into becoming a church sometime in the future.

Two other new groups are also hopefully going to be started soon. One group is in the village of Shimo la Tewa. A couple members of the Kibomet church have been walking each week from Shimo. Now they want to start a new group in their own village. In their own words they said, “We want to change Shimo and win it back to Christ.” Those are exciting words and we pray that the Lord would empower them to do just that. The other new group would be in a town called Kimilili. It is about 45 minutes from where we live in Kitale. It also would come out of the Kibomet church as two members of that church moved to Kimilili and want to start a new group there. So, things are going well although we are not without our challenges and problems.

In closing, let me ask for prayer for safety for our family here in Kitale. We have had a rash of break-ins, armed hold-ups and even murders here in our small town. A police officer was murdered responding to a break in just a quarter of a mile from our house. He was shot six times by the group of thugs. I also heard just today of an armed robber of a bank in town yesterday in the middle of the day. The thugs are getting bolder and we do sense a bit of danger living here right now. Please continue to pray for our safety here in Kitale.

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: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [June 2013]

Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru since 1983. 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.

June 6, 2013

Dear friends,

Tomorrow, June 7, Anita and I will have been married for thirty-nine years! Over thirty of those years have been in Peru. God has been very gracious to me by giving me such a wonderful life companion. She is truly a Proverbs 31 kind of woman. I am blessed! We will probably spend the day here like any other day, but next year for our fortieth we are hoping to take a trip. You can tell from the pictures here that her most common expression is her smile. I love her smile!

May was a rather uneventful month for us here in Huánuco, Peru. I had to do some serious repairs on our living quarters. But most of my time was spent studying, teaching and preaching.

The Calvary Mission is down a bit in attendance but it is planting season up in the mountains and most of our folks still “go to the farm” during these times. We had three of our young ladies from church be accepted into college. They are the first ones from their families to ever go to college. They are struggling a little, but persevering. We appreciate your prayers for them and the Calvary Mission in general.

My Monday night Pastor’s Bible Class is doing quite well. This year I am taking them through a course on Systematic Theology. I have eleven men attending. They took their first test a few weeks ago and we came out with six “A”s, three “B”s, and two “F”s. The two failing grades were close to “D”s but they left several true/false questions blank rather than take a 50/50 shot at getting it right! They are a great bunch of men to work with, and they all have a genuine desire to go deeper in the Word of God. Your prayers are requested for these men and their churches.

Anita did a great job of teaching forty-five women at the Annual Baptist Women’s Conference here in Huánuco. It is for the women of our churches and they spend an entire day together from 8:00am to 7:00pm. I have heard only good comments from the ladies! Anita worked really hard preparing for this teaching opportunity and many of the women were really touched by the Holy Spirit as a result.

We hope that all of our supporting churches and friends will consider giving a special “Founder’s Day Offering” this month to Baptist Faith Mission. For the past two months your missionaries with BFM have taken some substantial cuts from what we normally receive due to lack of funds in the General Fund of BFM. Founder’s Day offerings help fill the gap at this time of year. Please pray about it and give as the Lord leads.

You all are always in our thoughts and prayers. A few churches had talked about a mission trip for this year and also next year. Write me and let’s get the dates settled. Until next month,

In HIM by HIS grace, 

Sheridan and Anita Stanton

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: The Wacasers in Brazil [June 2013]

Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.

Dear Friends,

I’m not writing to make you envious, but I can’t help but mention just how wonderful everything is these days. Everyone in the family is doing very well physically. The weather here is as close to ideal as I could want it and all of our ministry efforts are producing encouraging results. I trust that you can rejoice together with us for these blessings.

We celebrated another baptismal service recently and we have another young lady who will be baptized this coming Sunday. We are so happy to see how the Lord is using His word to transform the lives of several of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Just two weeks ago a teenage girl had nearly fallen into the world of sexual promiscuity, but the Lord used a series of events and our team leaders to rescue her from that and get her onto the path of obedience and joy in living for Christ. It is nothing short of amazing to see how different her level of happiness is since surrendering to Christ and fleeing immorality.

A young father of four, named Germano, almost lost his life recently when he was shot twice in a bar room fight. This fight occurred just one day after he had brought his kids to our neighborhood outreach “shin-dig”. While Germano was in the hospital his kids asked their grandfather to take them back to the church where they had been so warmly received on the following Sunday, so he did. The kids haven’t stopped coming since and, once Germano recuperated sufficiently to walk, he began to come with the kids to services. He told me last week how thrilled he is to see God at work in his life and how thankful he is for the grace of the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. I expect that I’ll be performing another baptism in the very near future.

We had a Brazilian holiday just recently and we took advantage of it to have a “family day” at our church building. One new member specializes in Brazilian “churrasco” and insisted on preparing the 70 lbs of slow-grilled beef ribs. He and two other volunteers came out at 4:00 a.m. to roast the meat for 9 hours. We encouraged our members and visitors to invite their un-churched friends and family at no cost to enjoy the day of fun, games and fellowship. We had a great turnout and several of those have since returned to our regularly scheduled services.

Charlene, Brennen and I thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support so that we may continue to be used of the Lord to make His love and glory known in southern Brazil.

In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser

Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR  Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br

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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [June 2013]

Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil for 36 years. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
May 29, 2013

Dear Friends,

God gives some people the ability to move to a new city and preach the gospel, nurture the new believers in Christ, and in a short time, organize the body of believers into a new church. Many times the starter missionary does not enjoy the ongoing pastoral duties because his heart is burdened for another place that does not have the Gospel. Even with so great a burden, the missionary realizes he must stay until the Lord provides a pastor to lead the new flock. Missionary Raimundo Pinto and family are great starter missionaries in the city of Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil. They have been sent from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus. The church plant was successful and a blessing, but Missionary Pinto was anxious to move on to a new state to begin a new church. He waited and prayed anxiously that the Lord would provide a pastor so he could move on. He was elated and grateful as the Lord answered their prayer and provided a man of God, Pastor Vilian and family. The new church invited him to become their new pastor and He accepted the call. They are working on the transition; and soon Missionary Pinto is planning to move to the city of Aracaju, in the state of Sergipe in northeastern Brazil. Needless to say, the two families are very excited to move and get started. We ask that you pray for them, especially the Pinto family, as many challenges will present themselves in this new church plant. We will rejoice as God continues to work out all the details.

John is a member at Tabernacle Baptist in Manaus and has a small farm in the jungle on the banks of the Amazon River. He is a joyful Christian and loves to talk about his faith in Jesus. As he talked about Jesus to the people living out on the river banks, several became interested and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. So he would get together with them on the week end and read the Scriptures and talk about the Lord and pray together. About three weeks ago, John requested that one of the church pastors go and talk to them, as they wanted to be baptized. There are about 25 adults who have professed Jesus as Saviour. This is wonderful! Pray for them, their baptism and growth in the Lord, and the forming of a new church.

This month of May, Wanda and I are having some special time with our parents. My parents, John and Alta Hatcher, live in the southern part of Brazil, and Wanda’s mom, Mrs. Willa McGary, lives in the opposite direction: Mayfield, Kentucky. At the beginning of the month, we had a special treat with my parents and my two brothers and their wives – about a week of fellowship and thanksgiving.

The following weeks we are spending some time with Wanda’s mom visiting and caring for some of her needs. We would like to say a great big Thanks to churches and individuals for your meaningful prayer and support. Likewise, thanks to the wonderful men who serve on the board and the churches they pastor who also invest in missions through them. Your intercessions to God on our behalf bring us comfort and strength in the Lord Jesus. Your faithful financial support is laid to your account in heaven, as God brings salvation to many, which results in our rejoicing together and glorifying God. We thank God for each of you and pray that He will richly bless you.

In Christ,

Paul and Wanda Hatcher
Avenida J. Carlos Antony, 172
65063-150 Manaus
Amazonas, Brasil SA
hatcher[at]argo.com.br

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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [June 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.

June 2, 2013

Greetings to all of you who faithfully support us and pray for us. We hope that all of you are doing great and enjoying God’s blessing in your life. We are doing great and seeing God at work around us each day.

We have had unusual weather these days. This is not our rainy season, but we have had lots of rain. Today we woke up with it pouring down rain. When the bus left to pick up the kids for church, I honestly thought we were going to be coming back with an empty bus. Wow! Were we surprised, there were kids waiting in the rain for the bus. We ended up with 30 kids on the bus. They were soaking wet. So we took them to the clothes room and gave them clothes to change into. Wonder how many of us would wait in the rain to get the bus to go to church. Well, needless to say, it was an inspiration for us to keep on working with them. These kids come from very difficult and complicated homes. God bless and keep these kids in His care.

The kids love to sing. We started singing “King of Kings & Lord of Lords” and immediately these 3 boys sat on the floor to sing the song with the gestures we do. Special moments.

We had a wonderful service tonight. During invitations, 4 people asked for baptism: 3 men and 1 teenager. Praise God.

Our friendship suppers have been a blessing. We encourage our people to bring new people to be with us. Last night we had a family that brought 15 visitors. When you hear what we had to eat you will probably say, “What in the world does that taste like?!” We had cooked calf’s foot soup or stew. Well, it’s different, but it sure is good.

A few months ago I mentioned that my father, Alcides had made a profession of faith while my brother was preaching. That was such a blessing. In the beginning of last month I got a phone call that he was very ill. So I decided to go see him. But as I was on my way, waiting at the airport in Sao Paulo, my brother called and said he had passed away. We praise God that he had gotten saved. We will be together again. I ask you to pray for my oldest brother who is very sick and is not saved, and has a very hard heart.

We know that God can break the hardest heart. He has 3 sons which I have spent lots of time with. One of them has shown an interest in knowing more about God. Please pray for them. Here are their names: Edson is the father. The sons’ names are Edson Jr., Jefferson and Anderson.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. Our ministry is nothing without the help of our co-laborers. May God bless each of you.

In Christ,

Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA

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Missionary Update: John Mark & Judy Hatcher in France [June 2013]

Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”

June 3, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our desire is that this finds you enjoying the Lord’s blessings where you live and serve. We thank the Lord for His blessings and above all His presence in us. We are encouraged by what the Lord is doing on several fronts. The Bible study in Mazere, about 45 miles by car south of here is going well and during the past few months we have had several new participants. We would one day like to see a church in this growing city with a population of about 3,500. At present there are only two believers in the group that actually live in the city, though we average about 7 or 8 at the Bible studies.

The youth meetings are on the increase and those coming are showing interest.

Another area of activity that causes us to rejoice is the meetings with youth. The attendance at these is on the increase and those who come show an interest. Of those who now attend, only one has actually made a profession of faith and followed the Lord in baptism. We hope many others will follow.

I like to keep a positive note and share with you what God is doing, but there are bumps in the road here as there are everywhere. This past week I have been a little frustrated by the lack of commitment and selfishness of some believers. It is important, however, to remind myself of God’s patience with me and His forgiveness. We must continue to sow the seed and disciple those who believe as we look to Christ for strength and trust Him to work in hearts and lives.

Of the youth who now attend the meetings, only one has actually made a profession of faith and followed the Lord in baptism. Pray that many others will follow.

Judy and I pray together each morning after our personal time in the Word of God. Thank God for you. If you would like for us to pray about your area of ministry, we would love to do so. We know that you have family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors and even people who frustrate you that you would like to see trust Christ. We would be glad to pray with you for them. You contact us through the email or mail address below. We are not interested in forwards off the internet, so be please to not send us links and copies. We are interested in praying for you and your needs personally, so please do not hesitate to share these. We would like to be a blessing to you as you are to us.

May God’s blessings be evident to you during the month ahead.

Proclaiming the Good News in France,
John and Judy Hatcher

4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com

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Missionary Update: Nathan & Carrie Radford in Kenya [June 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 middle of the year 2013. Where has the time gone? Our lives are just a breath when compared to eternity. May we be ever committed to making our lives count for the Lord, sharing the Gospel message with the lost, and seeking to please Him in our actions and behavior. God is so faithful, and we thank the Lord for His many blessings.

Concerning ministry, it has been a definite challenge with church planting here. One of the main reasons is the dependency within the culture. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to the right people, and even for wisdom in the different models. My good friend Roger Tate and I have been thinking of and praying over the best way to do church planting in this culture. We have tried it both ways: with us going to the village and starting the church within the culture and village, and also training a national to go and start churches without us ourselves going. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages, and we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom. We praise the Lord for the church that has been planted in the village of Shangalamwe, as well as the churches that have been started through the national we have been training. Even in this endeavor, God will give wisdom. Proverbs 4:7 says “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

The hospital ministry is also continuing along well. My wife has been involved with this ministry for several years now, and God has been faithful to keep the door open there. She enjoys going to meet the mothers and seeing the babies that are in the ward. There are many babies there that need care and attention, and my wife helps as she is able. Please pray for her also, that the Lord would give her wisdom also. God cares for these people, and there are many challenging Scriptures. One is Psalm 72:12-13, which says “For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.” Please keep this ministry in your prayers.

There are many prayer requests. Once is for us personally, as the end of a term is always difficult. The reasons for this are many, including cultural fatigue/burnout, homesickness, and loneliness. There is definitely a spiritual battle going on, and we appreciate your prayers for us as we finish up this term. We know God is able, and will help and assist us in all our needed areas.

Another prayer request is for safety. We have done all we can in regards to security, and first and foremost we trust the Lord to watch over us. Kitale has had some security issues in various areas of the town lately. We do our best to stay aware and be as safe as we can be. We know the Lord protects us as we serve Him here, and would appreciate your prayers not only for us, but others who live and work here. Psalm 121:1-2 says “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” Our help comes from the Lord, and we know He is faithful to protect us as we serve here in East Africa.

Some other major prayer requests are for our upcoming furlough. Just to explain, furlough is very expensive. Why? We have many expenses here in Kenya that we still have to pay, even when we come to America. It actually can be overwhelming, when there is so much to pay during our absence while we are home. A huge help for us would be twofold at this time.

First, we are in need of reliable transportation during furlough. A minivan would be very helpful, for the needs of our family and for transporting what is needed. I could go pretty much anywhere to pick it up if anyone would be interested in donating or selling cheaply for our needs. Another need is housing. We would prefer housing to be in the Charleston/Huntington area of West Virginia, if possible. This would also be a huge help to us right now. We plan to be home in America later in the year, but wanted to announce a few months early, so there would be awareness. If anyone is interested in either of these needs, please email us at: naterad@yahoo.com As always, we trust the Lord for all our needs. We know He is faithful and we depend on Him. Thanks for allowing us to share our current needs.

Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to finish this term well and be faithful to the Lord. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 says “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” What tremendous verses, and a challenge to us today as we serve the Lord, wherever He calls us. Thanks to each of you for your interest in missions.

Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200

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