April 2013 Mission Sheet [PDF & Flip-Through]
Your April 2013 Mission Sheet is now available in PDF format. Follow the link below to view it!
You can also flip through the mission sheet at the link below. When flipping through, you can enlarge the pages by clicking the magnifying glass with the arrow in it. ( <–> ) Flip by clicking on the curled up page corner.
(Once you get there, click at the bottom of the page to flip through.)
Read more
Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [May 2013]
May 2, 2013
Greetings to all our friends and family!
We pray you are all doing well! The missionary ladies were asked to write this month’s prayer letter to share some of our thoughts and insights as moms and wives on the missions field. To write all that’s on my mind would take too much space, so I will try to be concise!
Living on the missions field has its share of joys as well as times of struggle and heartache. One of the nicest things of living where we do is that we have a wonderful missionary community, especially with the Tates here as well. We support each other, cry with each other, care for each other and pray for each other. Nathan and Roger are a great team working to minister to the Kenyan people. They both bring different strengths to share with each other and learn from each other. Julie is like a sister to me and I treasure her. I’m so very thankful that we are able to all be here together.
As a mom raising our girls on the mission field, I’m very thankful that our girls will grow up with a large world view. They will have experience with other cultures (not just Kenyan culture, but insight into Indian and other European cultures as well) and flexibility to adapt to different circumstances. I pray they will develop hearts to serve the Lord and other people. I pray they will have thankful hearts for all the Lord has done for them.
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.
One of the biggest blessings I have personally is to be home with the girls and care for them. I started some homeschooling with McKenna this past year for preschool and am looking forward to ordering her kindergarten curriculum. I count it a huge privilege to homeschool both McKenna and Camille. My prayer is that I will be vigilant to use the opportunities the Lord gives for teaching and discipling both girls.
However, along with these many blessings also come some definite struggles and heartaches. For the girls to learn flexibility and adaptability means they have to experience great changes in their young lives. The missionary community here is always changing, people always coming and going. Sometimes there may be a family here with younger children for our girls to play with for a few months and then they leave and our girls are left without playmates again until someone new comes. The girls are always saying “hello” and “good bye,” which is difficult for little ones to understand. Most days they are home with me all day with little interaction, if any, with other kids their age. One of our biggest prayer requests is that families with young children would move to our area. But the Lord knows what we need, and especially what our girls need, so we trust in Him to provide. Not always an easy thing to do!
Another difficult thing for our girls (actually, our whole family!) is separation from family at home. Family at home misses the girls. They miss seeing the cute things the girls say and do, they miss the milestones the girls have here, birthdays, Christmases and other holiday celebrations. Our girls miss relationships with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. McKenna tells me almost daily that she misses family at home. And that breaks my heart. One thing that has helped with this is the opportunity to skype. It’s amazing how much technology has improved the lives of missionaries! We are very thankful for this service. But while it opens a window between our family here and family at home, it is just a brief window that closes when the session is done. We are really looking forward to furlough and being able to spend time with our families in the States.
Well, I could continue sharing my heart and thoughts for several more pages, but I must close for now. Thank you for allowing me to share with you some of my joys and struggles as a wife and mom here in Kenya. May the Lord bless each of you and your families as you serve Him wherever you are.
In Christ,
Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
Read more
Spring Conference 2013 [Wednesday Evening]
The Spring Conference came to a close tonight with hearts stirred for the work of the Lord to be revived.
The final session opened with two congregationals: Blessed Assurance and And Can It Be? followed by three specials: Be Thou My Vision, His Eye Is On the Sparrow, and I’m Feeling Fine.
Pastor Richard Westfall from Hardman Fork Baptist Church in Normantown, West Virginia, brought the final message from Nehemiah 4:1-6. Before he got into the text, he shared how the Lord has taken him to school over the past few years by facing some health problems of his own and also by waiting by his son’s bedside 29 days in ICU after an auto accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. “Sometimes in this life all you have is your faith–and that’s enough.” God answered the many prayers of his children to restore Bro. Westfall’s son!
Sometimes in little churches, preachers feel almost like Hospice workers instead of pastors. It may be that the Lord has paused, but He’s not quit working. It’s not His fault if things aren’t getting done.
“For the people had a mind to work.” –Nehemiah 4:1-6
When we wonder why the work is slow, could it be because we’ve become weary in well-doing? We must guard against becoming weary. Sometimes we don’t feel like we’re making a difference. But we ARE making a difference. His Word won’t return void. The problem is, we have become so obsessed with the results we think we ought to get. The Lord has not called you into the work to have results. His work will ALWAYS have results if we faithfully do what He has told us. His work will always accomplish something.
We must deal with wrong thinking. You’ve got to get your mind right!
Ways to get your mind right so you can continue in the work:
- Renewed Mind (Romans 12:1-2) Have we let our devotions become rote, routine, and dull? If you want your mind renewed, you must cleanse it continually with the Word of God. The garbage thrown at you by NBC, CBS, ABC, and and FOX will taint it. When we get in the muck and mire of this world, it becomes hard to keep our feet shod with the Gospel of peace (Like stepping in muck in a bog–you can’t keep your shoes on.)
Pastors: Is the only reason you spend time in the Word to prepare your message? Read the Word for the pleasure of your soul. Read God’s Word recreationally as well as devotionally.
As the Lord gives light, we can walk in the light. Don’t let the devil rob you of joy by trying to exist on the garbage of the world. - Willing Mind (1 Chronicles 29:5) Who’s willing? “I just need a little ME time.” No, you must take up your cross daily and follow Him. We rush and tear through our days and then wonder why the Lord isn’t working. The eternal souls around us depend on us being willing to take the Word to them. Ezekiel sat in the midst of the bones. We must compel them. It’s not compelling to have the lights on and the doors unlocked. We must be willing for Him to use us to accomplish His work. He’ll do what it takes to get you to the point where He’ll use you–or He’ll take you out.
- Seeking Mind (Luke 15:4-10) Maybe your wallet is important to you, but it’s not nearly as precious and valuable as the souls around you.
- Humble Mind (Romans 12:3) Don’t think you’re some big thing. (Philippians 2)
This is not about you. This is about Jesus. And if it’s not about Jesus, then it’s a waste of time.
Am I serving the Lord out of a pure heart for His glory or am I cutting deals with God? This is worshiping the Lord, not Storage Wars. The best deal ever is that He calls you to serve maybe 80 or so years and then takes you to live with Him for eternity. It’s not about what you can get out of it, but what you can do out of appreciation for the One who’s done everything for you. - Focused Mind (Colossians 3:1) We allow our minds to stray from the important things to the temporal things. What do you think about? What do you occupy your mind with? Don’t we spend a majority of our time thinking about earthly things that won’t matter in the long run? Then we get aggravated when something eternal comes along. We must look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He’ll lead us straight as we look to Him! (Like plowing a field…)
- Above all else, we must have a Compassionate Mind (Acts 16:9). Has our hearing become so dull that we don’t hear the lost all around us crying “Come and help?” Are we so busy in our little lives that we’ve lost our ability to hear them?
Oh may God revive His work!
Read more
2013 BFM Spring Conference
We welcome you to join us for the
53rd Annual Spring Missions Conference
April 22, 23, 24 | 2013
Hosted by Thompson Road Baptist Church
320 Thompson Road | Lexington, KY 40508
Dave Parks, Pastor-Teacher | 859.223.8374 | daveparks @insightbb.com
Conference Theme: “O Lord, Revive Your Work”
“O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years…!”
– Habakkuk 3:2 –
Monday Evening, April 22
5-6:00 pm Supper
7:00 pm Praise
7:15 pm Pastor Harold Draper
Seventh Street Baptist Church | Cannelton, IN
8:00 pm Praise
8:20 pm Missionary-Pastor Harold Bratcher | Lexington, KY
53½ years of faithful service in Brazil; Relocating to States
Tuesday Morning, April 23
9:30 am Praise
9:45 am Pastor Mark Pyles
Grace Baptist Church | Fairborn, OH
10:25 am Break
10:30 am General Seminar/Workshop
“O LORD, REVIVE YOUR WORK!” | And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. [Acts 11:21]
Ladies’ Seminar conducted by Alta Hatcher
Veteran Missionary to Brazil
12:00 noon Lunch
1:30 pm Open Forum for Q&A/Suggestions & Advice
Tuesday Evening, April 23
Special recognition and appreciation will be expressed for John & Alta Hatcher and Harold Bratcher during this session.
5-6:00 pm Supper
7:00 pm Praise
7:15 pm Missionary-Pastor John A. Hatcher | Urai, Brasil
Marking 58 years of faithful service in Brazil
8:00 pm Praise
8:20 pm Missionary-Pastor David Hatcher with John A. Hatcher
History and Progress of the Lord’s churches in Manaus, Brasil and beyond
Wednesday Morning, April 24
9:30 am Praise
9:40 am Pastor Carl Morton
Berry Baptist Church | Berry, KY
10:20 am Praise
10:30 am Pastor Jeff Hurst
Calvary Baptist Church | Hurricane, WV
11:10 am Break
11:20 am Pastor Mark Campbell
Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church | Salyersville, KY
12:00 noon Lunch
Wednesday Evening, April 24
5-6:00 pm Supper
7:00 pm Praise
7:15 pm Pastor Richard Westfall
Hardman Fork Baptist Church | Normantown, WV
———————————-
CHILDREN’S MISSIONS CONFERENCE SESSIONS
Every year we conduct sessions for the children [age 4 through grade 5] who attend our Conference services. Sis. Debbie Parks conducts these learning and activity sessions. Each year, we focus on a particular nation of the world, highlighting its culture and customs along with their need for the Gospel and opportunities to take the Gospel to those peoples. This year’s theme nation is BRASIL.
Our Children’s Center is always set up with crafts and activities which engage the children’s attention and interests in the missions lessons.
———————————-
A Word document of a full conference packet is available for download here:
53rd Annual BFM Spring Conference
———————————-
Related Posts:
Read more
Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros [March 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.
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
Hope this finds each of you doing well. We are doing great. The Lord has blessed us with many great things in our lives and ministry. As we have mentioned in other letters, we are still having our Saturday night get-together with the people from church. This has brought great results! We encourage each one to bring some one new to the get-together. Through this, several people that came are now coming to church. Some have been coming on Sunday and also to our mid-week service. It is great to see more people each week bringing others.
They have been having fellowships on Saturday nights with people from church where they encourage their church members to bring someone new. They have seen great results with new people attending their services!
Sunday morning we have several kids that come faithfully. There are some that you can tell probably come to eat a good meal. There is one specific family that even brought their mom. She came several times and then quit. Last week she came again. While we were singing a specific song about having faith and trusting the Lord, she started crying and got up to go outside. One of the ladies in the church followed her outside. She said, “I want to believe and trust the Lord, but it is hard when you don’t even have salt in your house.” How would you feel if that were you? Would you have faith? Sunday in service I asked if some one would like to go visit the lady. Kathy, Lizene and Marcio, a newly saved young man offered to go. They set a time and went. Sure enough–they had nothing to eat. After they came back we decided how we could better help them. First of all, Kathy told her that it was very important that she understand that God loved her and wanted to give her much more that just food, He wanted to give her eternal life. Marcio, the newly saved young many gave his testimony. What a wonderful time!!!!! We believe that by helping them solve their physical hunger, they can then listen to how to satisfy their spiritual hunger and needs. It is probably hard to get someone to listen about God when you have no food, 3 light bills, and 3 water bills to be paid. So we helped them with some food and started by paying one light bill and one water bill. The mother said she wanted to keep coming to church. I talked to the kids and asked them to pray with us so that we can get their father to go to church. When you don’t have God in your life, it is not always easy to understand why you have problems and have nothing to feed your kids.
As you can see, they have many children who faithfully come on Sundays.
While I was writing this letter, I had to get up and run to the emergency room to take a mother and her 3 year-old son. They live here with us. The son had fainted. Pray for them.
Serving people and helping them to understand God’s love is a tremendous feeling. Actually, that is what Jesus did in His ministry on earth. We are privileged to be able to do some of what He did. Continue to pray for these people, for us, and for the ministry. Thanks to all of you who have been faithful in your prayers and your financial support. God bless all of you.
In Christ,
Odali & Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA
Read more
Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [March 2013]
The Hensleys have spent nearly 15 years serving in Brazil. They run a vocational school and orphanage in Caraguatatuba and have also established a church and mission points throughout the city.
March 7, 2013
Dear friends and family,
Needless to say this has been a very busy month! The building we have rented is in need of a general makeover and we have started the work of repair. We have a concrete roof and it has about 3-4 areas where, when it rains, you can take a shower. We have re-done the roof and now will need to put a sealer down in a few weeks (giving a little time for the concrete to cure). We have also started installing additional electrical outlets and repairing the existing electricity. We also have installed 3 fans (need 2 more). It has been very hot and this additional circulation is very needed. I have been preaching and carrying a towel to keep the sweat wiped away. There is lots more work to be done.
The Sunday School group in the new church building. God is good!
Our attendance is steadily increasing. Sunday School is just an AWESOME blessing. The young children are just totally a blessing and are so open. We already have 2 mothers now coming with their children. We have increased so much now we are going to need to separate our classes. So already we are starting to need space. God is AWESOME!! Our Sunday night services have grown also and are on an average we have 30–plus or minus–adults in attendance.
When we get back to Brasil, we have at least 2 weddings to perform and several baptisms. We are looking forward to many more souls to be added to Gods kingdom through this new work.
We are working in the prison with our vocational training. We have a member who is teaching the young men a heating and air class. And I have been enjoying giving “English Classes” using the Bible as the manual. God sometimes uses unusual ways to get His work where it is needed, because here, our Church was not invited to come in, but our English classes were. Just another way we see our Lord getting things accomplished.
The road in front of our home has been worked on and is now a wonderful street. However the last 2-1/2 months in preparation has been terrible. They tore up the road in preparation and the rain started. We almost needed a four wheel drive to get in and out. We are planning 2 conferences this year. The first is to the Jewish community in Sao Paulo and the second is for the Pastors here in Brasil (September and October-November). These are two big prayer requests. The Pastors will be coming from different areas of Brasil and this will be a financial challenge for them.
We told you of the need for chairs for the new work last month–THANKS to the people who sent money to purchase 4 of our needed 50. As you can see, there is still an opportunity for you to be a part of this blessing to the new work.
We are in the States until March 25 for medical exams and to visit with Barbara’s mother. Pray for us as we return to Brasil. There is still much work to be done for God’s Kingdom and our desire is to be used in this work.
Well I know from personal experience that it is cold here in the States so if you want to get some sunshine just come on down to Caraguatatuba and enjoy the heat. We can offer you a great time in the Lord and some great fellowship with some great Brazilians. Your bed is ready and the beans and rice is on the stove.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Give to Baptist Faith Missions.
Read more
Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [March 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
In just 2 days (March 9th) I will have one of the greatest pleasures that I can imagine – to have my wife and 2 kids working together with me side-by-side sharing the gospel with the community of people the Lord has placed me in. My daughter, Jessie, will be arriving with a group of 55 youth and their leaders from Brandon, Florida to minister in our community for one week. Jessie serves as the coordinator of my group of translators. My son, Brennen, is only 15, but has been helping as a translator for over 9 years. He has been getting more excited by the day as we await this group of dedicated youth. I can’t even begin to describe how much of a joy it is to work together with my wife, Charlene. For you who have met her personally, it is easy to understand my feelings. Her sweet disposition and tireless work ethic keep me motivated even when I feel like I can hardly keep going. I never cease to be amazed at how the Lord takes the humble and meek to display His greatness and power, and not our own. We will have three of the Project Life teams working in and around our community for a week trying to reach every house and individual with the love of Christ. Our New Church will seek to follow up on the results of this week of outreach ministry by the visiting group from Bell Shoals Baptist Church.
I am still praying and hoping to be able place a competent leader at the head of a new mission point at Corbélia, a newly established community on the outskirts of our city. The man and his wife, whom I had hoped would accept this challenge, have declined stating that they didn’t think they were quite ready for this level of responsibility. I have another young man and his wife in mind for a more distant future leadership role, but they are key parts of my team at the new church and I wouldn’t like to see that workforce depleted at this stage. Please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom about who and when I need to really invest into planting a church in that community.
The progress of the plans to evangelize and disciple through American football is moving forward steadily. Once again I would like to encourage anyone with experience in football and would like to use that experience for sharing the love of Christ to contact me as soon as possible. Also, the team who will be coming to donate their time, expertise and spend the funds for travel and lodging need football equipment to bring with them. If you have good used equipment, or know where we can get some donated for this purpose, I would also appreciate your contacting me. With the date of this ministry coming up soon, I must ask you to act soon.
Today the material needed to put the ceiling in our new church will arrive. Also, the painter of the sign on the front of our building is working as I write and that job should be finished in two days. The Lord has greatly blessed. We are completing the finishing touches on this building and we’ve been blessed to reach this point without incurring debt, except the debt of love to God and to those who gave sacrificially to make Christ’s name known and praised by many.
We are grateful.
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
Read more
Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [March 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’m doing something just a bit different this month. I’ve included a chart/picture that will hopefully give you a good idea of the happenings in Kitale and might clarify some of the thoughts in my head. More on that in a minute.
During my first term in Kenya, God began to show me that the traditional missionary approach (an approach I myself was following) was an approach that needed tweaking here in Kenya. If we were ever to get past the dependence and paternalism inherent in Kenyan Christianity and Kenyan churches we had to change our model. I didn’t want to go away from Biblical models. I, in fact, wanted to get closer to Biblical models. When we returned to Kenya after our first furlough we began to implement this new model. We started groups in people’s homes. We taught them simply from the Word of God. We trained local, lay leadership. We taught them self-governance and independence.
We taught them how to reproduce themselves without Western aid. Most of these groups slowly dwindled and faded until they had to fold. Only one of these groups became a struggling, small new church. Was it because the model was flawed that the groups dwindled and failed? No, I believe in this Biblical model now more than ever. I think what precipitated this group failure was the weekly presence of the white missionaries (Roger and Nathan) in the groups. The people would come to the meetings believing they would receive free handouts from us and when they realized they would not see their expectations fulfilled, they left and the groups faltered.
Now look at the chart/picture I have provided. I want to describe what is happening in this chart.
In one of the groups that we started was a young man by the name of Titus. Titus became very excited about the Biblical principles we were teaching and adhered firmly to and accepted our Biblical model for church planting. However, instead of us going with Titus and working directly with him in the village to start a new group, we taught and modeled for Titus the Biblical models, principles and teaching on church planting. Then we sent him out to do the work himself.
You can see from the chart the results of Titus’ work. First, he started a group in a village called Kipsongo. That group quickly grew to have about 30 members. From that one group, five other groups were started in five nearby villages: Kibomet, Shanti, Folkland, Matisi and Rafiki. One of those groups even began a new group in another nearby village called Bikeke. As you can see from the legend on the chart, all of these groups are progressing very well. The Kibomet group now has over 60 people attending the worship and Bible study every week. The most exciting part is what is becoming of these groups. We spent many weeks teaching Titus about what a church is (as opposed to just a Bible study group) and on how to organize and start a new church. Titus took these teachings and started teaching the Kipsongo and Kibomet groups on how to organize into a New Testament church. They are very close to being ready now to organize into New Testament churches. In a separate weekly session he has been teaching the leaders of the other groups the same Biblical teachings and principles.
All of this has been done without the presence of the white missionaries in the groups, a presence we have found can be damaging and preventative. We have been in much prayer about these happenings and believe God might be leading us to focus our church planting approach down a slightly different path (same Biblical model and principles just with a different path). Please be in prayer with us about these things.
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
Visit their blog!
Read more
