Christmas Miracles
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
December 12, 2019
Friends and family,
What an AWESOME year this has been! The Seminary has and is going wonderfully; it is because of so many wonderful people like you. Your prayers and giving have helped us minister to the wonderful ministers and church workers in Brasil. So, it is with a heart full of gratitude that I say to you all: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
As we reflect back at this time of year it is good to think of the Christmas Miracle: none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season. And He is the reason for the Seminary there in Brasil. If we can train more and more Pastors in Brasil, just think how many Brasilians can be reached.
Barbara and I would like to take this time to wish one and all a wonderful, AWESOME, and happy Christmas holiday and New Year. May we all use the new year to be better servants of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I would like to mention one more miracle of this year—my last exam this year showed a non-detectable on my PSA. That means that God’s miracle for me and my family is that I am CANCER FREE. How AWESOME is the Lord we serve.
Looking forward to the upcoming year and what God has in store for the Seminary and all who are a part of it.
Thank you BFM family for the encouragement these past two years as I and my family have gone through this time of waiting on the Lord to heal me. Thank all of you who prayed for me and the outcome of this time. God is faithful.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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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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Seminary Stats for 2019
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
November 20, 2019
Dear friends and family,
It has been an AWESOME month and one half for our Seminary. First of all, we have a new name. Because of the accreditation process there in Brasil, we have to have an American name. So, we are now Bluegrass Baptist Seminary. The students are having a good time discovering what bluegrass is.
I want to use this letter to give you a yearly report on our work in Brasil. The cumulative report provides impacts for the Seminary and preview of the upcoming work.
Here are the Seminary statistics through the Fall of 2019:
- 32 classes, delivering 9 courses in 6 different cities since our beginning.
- Total enrollment is 277 students including pastors, church leaders and missionaries.
- Students are from 90 churches who have memberships of more than 10,011 people total
- These Churches are located in 34 cities and in 5 States
- 84 students have graduated with a certificate in Pastoral Ministries. This includes the first 4 courses: Systematic Theology, Survey of the New Testament, Survey of the Old Testament, and Pastoral Ministries
- 51 students at 2 locations are enrolled in our Masters Program. We have students in São Paulo and Orlandia that are in the middle of their Masters courses and will continue these courses in 2020. There has been an increased interest in the Masters Program. HOW AWESOME is the Lord we serve!!
- We have 3 new locations for classes in 2020: Ribeirao Preto in the state of São Paulo, Manaus in the state of Amazonas, and Porto Velho in the state of Rondonia. In Rondonia, we will be working with missionaries who work in missions established in the high jungle or North Western Brasil.
As planned in 2020, we are expecting to have an AWESOME year! It would be good to have you, our prayer warriors, praying for me and our Professors: Derek Coleman, Raymond Edge, Russell Zik, Terry Leap, Steven Scherer, and Greg Waltermire, as there will be much traveling this upcoming year. Also pray for the Churches of these pastors who send their pastors to help in this ministry. Without these Churches and these pastors, we would not have Bluegrass Baptist Seminary.
This ministry, Reaching Brasil, is made possible because of caring people like you giving to Baptist Faith Missions. Thank you for your generosity and your prayers.
Happy Holidays!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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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Seminary Classes in São Paulo
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
October 27, 2019
Dear friends and family,
This month has been fast and furious. Barbara left on the 1st of the month and I and Pastor Russell Zik from Durbin Memorial Baptist Church left on the 10th. We went to Caragua to visit the grand kids and Pastor Zik preached at Caragua Baptist Church.
We left Caragua Monday morning, driving to Garça, São Paulo. We got there around 6:00 and the first class started at 7:30. We were expecting 5 to 8 students and God sent 20. There are so many times that we sorely underestimate the Lord. The class that was taught was Pastoral Ministries. Out of the 20 students there were 8 pastors. The rest were church workers. This class was to be the last class taught in Garça but God had other plans for this area. We now have 21 students interested in continuing the seminary there in Garça. Again, we underestimated the Lord. During this week, one of the students called us to ask if we could come to his work to present the gospel. We found out that he works at a prison and the warden wanted us to preach to the prisoners. We did not hesitate nor think twice. Pastor Russell brought a salvation message and there were 12 inmates that made commitments. These inmates were getting ready to be released so God’s Word will be going home with these 12 people. There are many ways to spread the Word and we do not think of not even half of them. We serve an AWESOME God!
Pastor Zik and Barbara came back to the States and I met Pastor Greg Waltermire and Pastor Derek Coleman at the airport. And with this, we begin another week. Pastor Coleman of Gardenside Baptist Church is headed to Campins where he will be teaching Survey of the New Testament. And Pastor Waltermire of Heritage Baptist Church will stay in São Paulo to teach History of Christianity.
There were 29 students in the São Paulo class. One of the students got to class late on Monday and he told us that he had left home at 4:00 in the morning and only got to São Paulo after 7:30 that night. How many of us would travel that far to study God’s Word? He is staying with local pastors for the week. Another of the students is the Doctor that was in the class last year. The students hosted a birthday party for her 83rd birthday. In this class there are 7 different denominations represented. Each of them will be taught Baptist doctrine this week and if they stay for next week’s classes, they will also hear the same Baptist doctrine. Again, God works in wondrous ways His miracles to perform.
In Campinas we were looking for 20 students and there were only 11 students that showed up. But like the preacher who preached his whole sermon when only one person came to church, when he was asked why, he explained it this way: if you went to feed your cows and only one came you would not go home without feeding that one. So, the students received the whole class even though only less than half of the students showed up.
In these two weeks we will have had 5 classes in three cities to 60 students. More than 25 of these of these are pastors, serving 22 churches. It is hard to say how many people will be reached through these men.
I told you last month of my doctor’s appointment. Well I have had that appointment and the report is as follows: the test for the PSA is non-detectable, which means the cancer is not showing up on their test. What an AWESOME God we serve. I will have another checkup in 6 months and I am expecting to hear the same news.
Here are some pix.
In His service,
AJ and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
Seminary Classes Scheduled in Manaus
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
August 12, 2019
Dear friends and family,
Hope your summer has been a good one. Barb and I have had an enjoyable one with just a few hiccups. Have you ever heard the saying, “Man makes plans and God laughs”? Well, He has had a belly laugh on us this past month. We have been planning a trip to Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil for about two months now. The reason for this trip was to scout out new places to take the Seminary. Places where we could help pastors of Brazil. So we had a Pastor in Manaus get in touch with us and ask us to come there. We went into planning mode. Since myself and Pastor Coleman were going on this trip and it was not a teaching trip we thought it would be good to take the wives along. So plans were made. We have a person that graciously helps with our tickets when going to Brasil so we called him and set in motion the booking of the tickets. But as Delta does not fly to Manaus anymore, we had to book the second leg of the trip with another airlines in Brasil. I am telling you all of this to get to the REST of the story. You know the quote I wrote at the first of the letter? Well, it goes into effect now. Barb, Linda and I went to Louisville on the 19th to fly to Atlanta, but the flight was delayed because of bad weather, so we continued behind a long line to the ticket counter. By the time we got to the counter there had been another delay of the flight. The agent then told us even if we got on this delayed flight, we would miss our connection to Brasil. And to top that off we would not have a chance to fly out til the 21st. All that resulted in us missing the flight in Brasil to Manaus. By that time Pastor Coleman’s wife had decided to not try again but I was persistent and decided that Barb and I would drive to Atlanta. Well, guess what. We were unable to get on the flight there either. But Pastor Coleman had gotten on his flight on Sunday and was able to make all his connections. Therefore, we had one representative to do the research in Manaus. Thanks to Pastor Paul Hatcher and Wanda and Rosevaldo who took special care of Pastor Coleman. As I was saying, God had His way for this trip to be accomplished and He did it His way without my help. Not only were we able to meet with all the Pastors, and Pr. Coleman got to speak at the conference on the scheduled dates, he was able to set the dates for the Seminary in Manaus for next year. These dates not only include Manaus, but also the State of Rondonia. Now our calendar is full for the next 18 months. We have 14 seminary classes scheduled in five different cities. Pray for travel mercies and for the professors, translators and for me. We are still jumping through hoops to get accreditation for the Seminary in Brasil. One of the things we had to do was change our name. The Brazilian law says that to be an American Seminary with Brazilian accreditation we have to have an American name. So let me introduce you to Bluegrass Baptist Seminary. We have officially changed from Caragua Baptist Seminary to Bluegrass Baptist Seminary. As those requirements have been met and we have scheduled the classes for 2020 we now have another problem. We are going to be needing some more professors. The requirements are these: pastors with PhDs and with churches that are willing to let their Pastors go to Brasil and help finance his trip. But what an AWESOME problem to have.
Also, as the Seminary is getting known, we were having more and more requests for us to come to other regions to teach. Another AWESOME problem to have. Pray with us and for us as we continue to take God’s Word to Brasil.
We do ask that everyone continue to pray and give to BFM to support this work. Without faithful givers and prayer warriors we could not do this work we are doing.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
New Opportunities in New Cities for the Seminary
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
June 14, 2019
Friends and family,
It has been a very busy time at our house these past few weeks. We are completing our travel plans for July. Our trip for July is to Manaus to see if there is a need for our Seminary. As we are a traveling Seminary, we are in constant pursuit of another group of Pastors that would benefit from the learning more about the Bible. So, with that in mind, we have been in contact with various Pastors in Manaus. As a matter of fact, they contacted us. We will be meeting with them in July to discuss what we have to offer and to meet with them to begin to get to know them and to get to know their needs.
They have asked us to participate in a Pastors Conference in July with them where Pastor Derek Coleman will be one of the keynote speakers. They have conveyed to us the desire of 30 to 50 people to participate in the Seminary and think that after Pastor Derek speaks in July that that number will increase. God is AWESOME!!!!!!
During this trip we will be going to another state named Rondonia. The people have promised us two things for certain there and that is that it will be very humid there. Also, that they are very excited to meet with us and talk about having our Seminary there in the town of Cubia. Just as I always say, “What an AWESOME God we serve.”
Last month we went to visit the church where Pastor Sheridan and Anita are serving. We talked with them about the Seminary and how God is using it to educate the Pastors and the church workers there in Brasil. It was a good time getting reacquainted with old friends.
Also last month I was presenting our work about the Seminary one Sunday night with the mission committee also speaking about a mission trip to Brazil. I believe that every church should have people from their church go on a foreign mission trip because I believe that such a trip broadens their vision and commitment for missions.
As we entered the sanctuary, we were greeted by Odali and Kathy Barros who were also visiting Heritage. After church we went to have coffee and catch up with each other. You see, though we both serve in Brasil, it is rare to see them in Brasil. As we talked, we took the opportunity to invite Odali to be the translator for the planned upcoming Seminary classes in Manaus. Please make that a prayer request for us.
After July we will be back in Lexington, Kentucky for a couple of months and have some time to visit your church and tell you all about what God is doing through us and because of you and your support. If you have asked us and we have not gotten back to you, please reach out to us again. Both Barbara and I feel like we have not responded to someone and that is not our wish to forget anyone.
We will be back in Brasil in September and October for the next Seminary classes in the city of São Paulo and the city of Campins, along with classes in Garça, São Paulo. Please for these five classes and their professors and students.
As in all cases, I want to commend our professors for giving of their time and talent, and not forgetting their churches who allow them to participate in the education of our Brasilian Pastors. As you know, our professors are PhD’s and Dr’s and this is helping us in the accreditation process for the Seminary. We have been doing a lot of paperwork to get the accreditation in Brazil but to do this we had to give the Seminary an American name. We put much thought into this new name and finally settled on one. Our new name is BLUEGRASS BAPTIST SEMINARY. Continue to pray for us and the Seminary as we work to advance God’s kingdom in Brazil and wherever God leads.
The month of June I have become one year younger and I give God the glory. My health seems to be going good except for the occasional pain. Pray with us as we pray that this is not a problem. But above all I just want to say, “WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE SERVE.”
In His service,
AJ and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
Four Seminary Classes in Three Weeks
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
May 14, 2019
Dear friends and family,
In March and April, I was in Brazil taking Caragua Baptist Seminary to the Brazilian pastors and church workers. This is our concept of how to reach more Brazilian pastors and, through that, spread the gospel throughout Brazil.
In these three weeks four classes were taught: Systematic Theology, Survey of the Old Testament, Greek and Hebrew. Then the students have two months of work to be done for each class over the internet. This constitutes two semesters for those who complete all four classes. For these four classes, two pastors from the United States, Pastor Derek Coleman and Pastor Raymond Edge, gave two weeks of their time to go to Brazil and teach. Each pastor taught one course in Campinas, São Paulo and one in São Paulo, São Paulo.
Class in São Paulo
The class in Campinas was our first one in this location and we never know how many students we will have. We were told to expect 20-21 students, but we ended up with 17 students. These pastors have problems that we don’t even think about here in the States. There were some pastors that could not afford the gasoline to come to class, others could not get off in time to get to class, but the 17 that were able to come were very pleased with what they learned. I made many new pastor friends in this class and I expect to make many more.
Each time we go we have many students interested in the courses and this time was no different in that respect, but there was some hesitance or fear with the two language classes. One of the students said that he had taken two semesters of Hebrew and had not learned anything. After some assurance from me that these courses would be taught in a different manner and with a different approach, we had 33 students sign up for the classes. After the classes were taught, that same student told me that he was grateful to have had the opportunity to sit under our professors and that he had learned his Hebrew alphabet and how to do basic translations. AWESOME!!
Pastor Thomas, Pastor Edge, and AJ with the Bibles
The retired pastor, Pastor Thomas, of our host church in São Paulo is the President of the Trinitarian Bible Society of Brazil. He called the Trinitarian Bible Society of England and told them about our classes in Hebrew and Trinitarian Bible Society of England wanted to be a part of the classes. So, they decided to send us Hebrew Bibles without cost. However, Satan saw an opportunity to interfere. When the Bibles arrived in Brazil, the customs charged 2,700.00 Reals to get them out of customs. So, Pastor Thomas and I talked it over and decided that we would pay the cost to liberate the Bibles, but God in His great wisdom had another plan. Pastor Thomas called his friends in England to thank them for the gift and in the conversation, he told them about the cost to liberate the Bibles. And wouldn’t you know that they would not let us pay anything. They also paid the customs charge. They wanted to bless the Brazilian students with a free Bible. Isn’t our God AWESOME!!!!!
Class in Campinas
As I look at these students in each of the four classes, I thank God—for through my cancer, He gave me another way to plant churches in Brazil, and I see in each of these pastors the opportunity for God to use them in a special way to further His kingdom.
I have a special prayer request for all of my prayer warriors out there. One of the students in our classes in São Paulo and a close friend of mine has a 19-year-old son, David, that has been in the hospital for over 120 days and there does not seem to be any improvement. So, when God brings David to mind pray for him and his parents please.
Also please pray for the students, the pastors in the seminary, and especially for the professors as they dedicate their time and money to teach these classes.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
Preparing for Seminary Classes in Campinas & SPC
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
March 12, 2019
Friends and family,
What a blessed day. Sometimes we don’t realize just how blessed we are here in America. While I’m thinking of our pastors—and especially in Brazil—I appreciate just how blessed we are.
The seminary is going great. I have been talking with our Brazilian pastors and planning our next seminary classes. We will be having four classes this year in two cities. We will have two classes in Campinas, São Paulo, and two in São Paulo City. These will be our first classes in Campinas and we are very excited to meet these new pastors and church workers. These pastors seem excited about the opportunity of having these classes in their respective areas. You see, they do not have the resources to travel far to go to Seminary, so Caragua Baptist Seminary takes the classes to them.
I also have been talking to the translator for the Campinas and he is excited about translating for the classes. You see, he has the desire to become a Missionary, and translating for this class will give him the opportunity to study along with the pastors for whom he is translating. This, in my opinion, is AWESOME!!! Pray for him as this is his first time translating. His name is Michael and he has spent several years in the States, but he is anxious about this opportunity. He says that he wants to pick our brains and to know our hearts in the time we spend with him. I’m really looking forward to meeting him.
Lots of preparation has been taking place over the last few months for these classes.
I made a trip to Texas to meet with one of our professors, Dr. Raymond Edge of First Baptist Church of Bastrop, Texas. Dr. Edge and I have become personal friends over the past couple years. We have formed a close bond as pastor and missionary. He is an AWESOME teacher and makes the Old Testament come to life. He speaks 5 languages and received his education at the Jerusalem University.
Last year he and I were in São Paulo City for a class and we had the opportunity to visit the Jewish Temple. Upon introducing ourselves, he discovered that he and the Rabbi had sat under the same professor at the University in Jerusalem. Sometimes it is just amazing how small this world really is. And what an AWESOME God we serve.
All my tickets are purchased and I will be in Brazil for March and April. Please pray for this year’s professors: Dr. Terry Leap, Dr. Greg Waltermire, Dr. Raymond Edge, Dr. Derek Coleman and Pastor Russell Zik as they minister with us Brazil for the Kingdom of God.
What I think is AWESOME also is the Churches that support their pastors as they minister with us in this endeavor to better equip Brazilians to reach their people for Christ.
Thanks for all your prayers for my health. We meet with the doctor this month to hear about what God has done in my fight against cancer. Also, thanks in advance for your prayers for this mission project as we equip Pastors to better educate their people, and for those who attend preparing to open new works in Brazil.
In His service,
Aj and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
Headed to Florida for BFM Conference; 14 Classes Scheduled in Brazil
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
January 14, 2019
Dear friends and family,
We hope your end of year 2018 was AWESOME! We totally enjoyed our Christmas with our family. We had our daughter Mary K, her husband Pr. Walmir, and their two daughters Chelsea and Ashley from Brasil, as well as our son Bryan K, his wife Jill, and our other grandchild Briley. It has been over three years since we have all been together. It is great to have family together on such a wonderful holiday where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our grandbabies from Brasil just knew that they would see some snow. Just about every day they would ask, “Is it going to snow today?” Sadly, for them, most of our time together was in spring-like weather. So, we enjoyed the attractions in and around Lexington, especially the Christmas lights. Their time here came to an end on the 10th and as we were leaving to take them to the airport there was a small flurry and they cried because they would not be here to see what that flurry would bring. For those of us that would like to pass the winter without snow we do not understand their great desire to see snow, but they have not experienced snow and so desperately wanted to.
So, we the grandparents are escaping the snow and will be in Florida for the BFM Conference. We will also be able to spend some time with my brother there in Florida. We are looking forward to an AWESOME Conference. Please pray for all those who are planning to attend.
We are working diligently on our schedule for 2019 for the Seminary. As of now we have scheduled 14 different classes. We have changed two classes, SBC 107 and 108 New Testament and New Testament to Lexical Greek 108 and Lexical Greek 107. We will be in Brasil in March, June, September and October. The courses for the year are: Biblical Proclamation, Introduction to Apologetics, Survey of Church History, Systematic Theology, Old Testament Survey, Pastoral Ministries, Theology of Evangelism, Lexical Hebrew and Lexical Greek. These classes will be taught in four cities, Orlandia, São Paulo, Garca and our newest city Campinas.
As we are planning this intense year of Seminary classes we need to keep our purpose and goal in mind: (1) training Pastors and Church leaders in Brasil (2) to provide these Church leaders with a solid understanding of God’s truth in the Scriptures and to equip them to effectively evangelize, disciple, and build God’s kingdom in Brasil through the local Church.
I ask you to pray with me for all those involved in these classes: interpreters, translators, local Church leaders who will help with class organization and locations and our American Pastors and Professors who make these classes possible. AWESOME!!! Also pray for travel mercies and added resources to help with scholarships for some of the less fortunate Pastors.
As we travel to each of these locations we ask that you keep us in your prayers. Pray for health, travel mercies, the ones who go and the ones who attend. Also, for stamina for me to meet the needs in each of the locations for the professors and the students so that we bring honor and glory to the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Serving Christ,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Like them on Facebook.
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
