First Baptism of Two Ladies from the Deaf Ministry

Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.

November 20, 2023

Hey! Still not home, but maybe in a couple more weeks, by God’s grace and mercy. In the meantime, here is a little news. The pics are of Tatiana with the 2 ladies who were baptized yesterday and the team along with several of the deaf folks who attend our services. If you look really hard you will see my grandson, Alec, who is part of this ministry. My daughter Crissy also participates as well as her daughter Kayla.

The video clip is of Pastor Wilem in action. It is awesome, to say the least.

I have also included a photo of Dad and me. I visited him again yesterday and gave him a haircut. He recalled cutting my hair with those old handheld clippers and ripping out more hair than was actually clipped! His mind is sharp as ever.

Thanks to all and God bless.

Mike C

Pastor Wilem baptizing the first two ladies from the deaf ministry

CONTACT INFO

Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@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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CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF GREAT COMMISSION WORK OF BFM IN BRAZIL

Reflections from Jonathan Turner

I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father and to Baptist Faith Missions for the wonderful privilege that I was given to travel to Brazil on the one-hundredth year anniversary of the Great Commission work of Baptist Faith Missions in that great nation. Accompanying me on this trip was my sister, Kimberly DePalma. She drove from Virginia to meet me. We left my home in Kentucky on Tuesday, September 5th to catch our first flight out of Saint Louis. My father-in-law, Ken Greenwell, who lives in Saint Peters, Missouri graciously allowed us to leave my sister’s car in his garage and then drove us to the airport.

We boarded our flight bound for Houston with much excitement and some trepidation. We were excited because I had not been able to visit Brazil for eighteen years and Kim had not been back for thirty-seven years when she left at the age of seventeen. We were filled with trepidation because I had not been able to renew my Brazilian passport. I have dual citizenship and we were not sure what to expect when we would arrive in São Paulo and would be required to go through immigration.

We left Houston in the evening hours and after an approximately 9-hour flight we arrived in the São Paulo metro area at the Guarulhos International Airport Wednesday morning, September 6th. We went through immigration, and I showed my American Passport. The Federal Police officer looked at my passport, typed some information into her computer, and then asked if I had any Brazilian paperwork. Kim and I had spoken to a Brazilian friend who advised me to take all my Brazilian paperwork with me including my Brazilian birth certificate. I am thankful that I listened to his advice. I showed the officer my birth certificate. She entered more information into her computer and gave me the okay to proceed through. What a relief that was and an answer to prayer! Thanks be to our God who put a friendly face in front of us and who opened the door for us to enter the country legally and without any problems.

From the airport we took an Uber ride across the great city of São Paulo where we saw miles and miles of skyscrapers many of them filled with people who need the gospel of Jesus Christ.  BFM has one missionary family, Judson and Raquel Hatcher and their four lovely children, who are trying to reach those folks. They are worthy of your support. The Uber ride took about two hours due to the distance and the traffic.

Upon arriving at the Hatcher’s Kim and I showered, changed our clothes, packed a few things into our overnight bags and drove with Raquel and her four Hatcher kids for six hours to the interior of São Paulo state. We arrived around 11:00 p.m. at the house of Pastor Sergio Balbo and wife, Cris. They were gracious hosts. We enjoyed our time with them, and I feel like we made some lifelong friends. He is the pastor of the Igreja Batista da Fe in the city of Garça. They will be building a new building soon, God willing. 

The next morning, we went with Pastor Sergio and Cris to the city of Lupércio to attend the one-day conference that Missionary Judson Hatcher had invited us to attend. It was well attended by several churches, their pastors, and pastors’ wives. I had the opportunity to preach that morning, Thursday, September 7th which happened to be Independence Day in Brazil. I was also privileged to sit on two different panels with Pastor David Pitman and several Brazilian pastors and answer questions from pastors and others in attendance. It was a very encouraging time with good music, good preaching, good fellowship, and good food. It was the first time this type of conference had been organized to bring the churches together. Many of these churches were started by faithful missionaries John and Alta Hatcher. The conference was organized to celebrate their shared heritage, to allow the pastors to network, and encourage each other. It was a well-organized event and they have already begun planning next year’s conference. I am so thankful to Missionary Judson Hatcher for the invitation to come and to participate. After a long day we returned with our hosts to their home where we spent the night again.

The next day, Friday, September the 8th, we were picked up by Raquel Hatcher and we made the drive back to São Paulo City. That night Kim and I were privileged to take the Hatchers out for a great meal and to enjoy some great fellowship. Saturday, September 9th, we left São Paulo and flew to Cuiabá. Cuiabá is the capital city of Mato Grosso, a state about the size of Oklahoma and Texas. Cuiabá is the place where Kim and I spent most of our childhood years. It is the place where in 1973 my dad, Missionary Richard Turner, traveled with Missionary John Hatcher to survey the city and to hold some evangelistic services. God blessed and land was bought, a church building was built, and God filled it with people. I would encourage you to visit the website bfmnow.org and read the history of this Great Commission work under our Legacy Library where all the previous letters of faithful missionaries have been digitized. You can read the letters that Dad wrote from this time. That church, Igreja Batista Boa Esperança (Good Hope Baptist Church) is still in existence and several other works have been started out of this church in other locations in the city of Cuiabá and in the state of Mato Grosso. Kim and I had the privilege of spending five days with folks that were saved, baptized, and added to a New Testament church during the ministry years of my parents in Brazil. They shared their testimonies with us and their memories of our parents. This Great Commission work in Cuiabá and the surrounding areas was a great work of God through faithful missionaries, Richard and Wanda Turner, Bob and Betty Creiglow, George and June Bean, and Harold and Ursula Draper.  While we were in Cuiabá, we visited several churches. I preached Sunday morning, September 10th, at the Boa Esperança church. That was a real honor and privilege. It was also a very emotional time for Kim and me to return to the church where we grew up. I was baptized in that church after being saved at the age of seven during our furlough in Lexington. That Sunday night we visited the Igreja Batista Bereana (the Berean Baptist Church). I had the opportunity to speak for a few minutes and share a little of BFM’s history.

Tuesday, September 12th, our host in Cuiabá invited family and friends to his house for a fish fry.  There were approximately 30 people present. He asked me to speak, and I gladly accepted.  Then several others gave testimonies of what my parents meant to them and how God used them in their lives.  Mission dollars from churches and individuals in the United States were used to send my parents to Cuiabá, to buy land, to build a building, to financially support my parents so that the gospel could be given to people in that city.  Some of those people were at that fish fry recounting God’s blessings and their salvation in Christ. Those dollars were not wasted! Let’s be encouraged to support missions, to support missionaries in places like Cuiabá and São Paulo.  There is still a great work to do.  Christ has not yet returned which means that the Great Commission still needs to be the focus of churches. 

Wednesday night, September 13th, we visited the Igreja Batista Jardim do Pinheiros (Garden of the Pines Baptist Church). This was a church started by Missionaries Harold and Ursula Draper.  This church is without a pastor and has been for about two years now. Pray for them.

Thursday, September 14th we began the long journey back to the United States. Our time had flown by, and it was difficult to leave, but we also were missing our families back in the States. We arrived safely back in Saint Louis, Friday, September 15th. My hope is to return, God willing, in a year or two to visit Cuiabá again but also to visit some other works in Brazil. I would encourage everyone to make a trip to the mission field and visit one of our missionaries.

Finally, let me quickly share some other ways God used my sister and me while we were in Brazil. We had some God-ordained appointments to keep that we were not aware of when we got on that first plane in Saint Louis. On our flight from São Paulo to Cuiabá on Saturday, September 9th we sat in a row with a young man named Gladson. Kim was the first to strike up a conversation and he was more than willing to talk to us. After a while, the conversation turned to spiritual matters. He shared with us that he had been raised in some type of Assembly of God Church. However, he could not give us a good testimony of salvation. He also shared that he had been taught and still believed that one can lose their salvation. Kim and I both were able to share the gospel with him. We are now friends on social media, and I am planning on sending him some gospel material. Pray for God to bless those efforts.

Our second God-ordained appointment was with a young man from Sweden. This young man had never heard the gospel. He was staying in the house where we were staying. He was in Brazil doing some volunteer work with two brothers of our host. He went with us to the Sunday morning service at Boa Esperança where I was preaching, and the gospel was given. Imagine that! God brings an American/Brazilian to Cuiabá, Brazil to preach in a service where a Swede who has never heard the gospel will attend a Baptist church service for the first time. Who but God! 

Our third God-ordained appointment was with an Uber driver. He was a young man who also had been raised in some kind of evangelical church but was not currently attending. During our conversation he shared that his mom still attended church, and he tried to do good, and that he said his prayers every day. We were able to share a little bit of the gospel with him during our short ride. Only God knows how those interactions will be used.

I pray this recounting of our trip to Brazil will encourage you and be used of God in some way in your life to bless you and increase your love for missions particularly the work that God is doing through the missionaries of Baptist Faith Missions.

The young man, Gladson, we met on our flight to Cuiabá and were able to witness to.
A view of the church started by Missionary Richard Turner and that has been used to start other churches.
Just a few of our friends came to see us off from Cuiabá to return Stateside. These are folks that were saved years ago and are still serving the Lord.
One view of the attendees of the conference in Lupércio, São Paulo. It was a great event.
A view of the skyline of São Paulo City where Missionary Judson and family are serving. This place is immense. 

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Mission Trip to Peru, Surgeries Scheduled

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Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.

February 22, 2023

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from not so cold today Lexington, Kentucky. It has now been over a month that I arrived here for medical attention. Things have gone pretty well so far.

Before leaving home, I had confirmed my first visit of the year to our mission work in Peru. That didn’t quite work out as planned. Still there is good news. Our missions director, Zico took Pastor Benjamim (yes, that spelling is correct) with him and made the trip anyway. The church building was packed and they had a baptism, too.

Today is the final day of our first big youth camp of the year. Andrew is the leader of that ministry.

Baptism in Peru
Packed church

The last Sunday of January we had our “Ministry Fair”. This event is just as many ministries as possible setting up displays and recruiting new help for the year ahead. Our church has an average of 70% of the membership involved in some kind of ministry or service. We are so thankful that the Lord has made this happen. It is why so much gets accomplished. Sharing the workload across the membership has made it a joy to pastor.

Mike with his dad, Bobby Creiglow

My oldest son Adam and his wife Suzy came over from California to visit. Also, my grandson Caleb came in from Indiana. I am staying with my daughter Monica and granddaughter Isabella here in Lexington, Kentucky. We all went over to visit my Dad and his wife Lois last night. Dad is now 96. He is not in the greatest health. He is still very much alive and has not lost his sense of humor. Last night he was in great form. He told a bunch of stories. We had some really good laughs and shed many a tear. Dad and I have 90+ years of missions combined between us. One date that he and I share is January 29. He was baptized on that day in 1956. I surrendered to be a missionary on that same date in 1966. Great times. Wonderful blessings.

My first surgery is scheduled for tomorrow February 23. Please continue to pray for all of my treatment. I will have a second surgery on March 6. There will be other doctor visits and procedures along the way.

Since the treatment is going well into March I have accepted an invitation to attend the Baptist Faith Missions Spring Missions Conference in Ohio on March 31 and April 1. Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.

In Christ,
Mike Creiglow

CONTACT INFO

Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@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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Wonderful Trip to Homeland

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Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.

June 13, 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are thankful for each one of you who are part of this ministry! All of you who give and lift us up in prayer—God bless each of you.

We had a wonderful trip to my homeland. It was great seeing family and so many of them who have gotten saved. I was the first one in my family who got saved. Thanks to Bro. Bobby Creiglow who God sent up the river to preach the gospel.

It’s great to be back home and see that things went well while we were gone. We are working on using the adults who are being trained for leadership. We want to have services in more communities. So, as we have more leaders, we can reach more people.

This next month we will be having our first festival since the pandemic. Everyone is getting excited about it. Also this month we will be having the first pizza night at the village of Ubim, where we go every Monday.

Also this year we are planning a trip to a tribe close to where I was born. This will be a wonderful experience. One of the head men in the tribe is a Baptist preacher.

Our services in the homes are doing really wonderful. Each Wednesday we are able to go into different homes. Pray with us that God will open more homes so we can preach salvation to more and more people.

Special thanks to all of you who support Baptist Faith Missions.

Love in our Savior,
|Odali and Kathy Barros

Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy

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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VMP: Bobby D. Creiglow

BOBBY D. CREIGLOW

Bobby and Betty Creiglow served in partnership with BFM from May 1960 to May 1993. Bobby also served as Stateside Field Representative for BFM from 1998-2003.

Here is Bobby’s missionary service testimony: “We began our missionary service in Faith Baptist Church, Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil. This was our home base from 1961-1973. There were five other Baptist Churches in villages scattered up and down the various rivers, and only two had pastors.  My service included visiting these churches on a regular basis holding evangelistic meetings, and many times conducting VBS. During the same time period, I was the founder of two new churches, along with another that was started, but not formally organized until some time after I left the area. I visited there several years later and preached to a thriving Church.

Here are some of the churches we either established or nurtured during our 33 years of missionary service:

STATE OF ACRE [Served among these churches already established before I arrived…]

  • Faith of Cruzeiro do Sul
  • Faith of Moura Piranga
  • Faith of Japaim
  • Faith of Barao
  • Faith of Parana dos Mouras
  • Faith of Campo de Santana

I established these two churches during my first term:

  • Faith of Humaita (1962)
  • Faith of Colonia de Japaim (1963)

CUIABA/VARZEA GRANDE – STATE OF MATO GROSSO

In 1974, I moved from Acre to Cuiaba, Mato Grosso to build a building and a congregation for fellow BFM Missionary Richard Turner, while he was on his first furlough. When he returned from furlough in 1975, I turned a congregation of thirty members over to him. I continued working with him on the building that was finished one year later. He organized that congregation into the Boa Esperanca Baptist Church in 1978.

In late 1976 or early 1977 I moved just across the river from Cuiaba to the city of Varzea Grande, where after a reasonable search, I found there was no Baptist Church, in the city of 40,000 people, where I set up shop once again. A church building was built for the new church that was organized in October 1978. I served as pastor of the church until 1983, at which time the congregation numbered around 130, and was turned over to a Brazilian Pastor. Two boys, one three years old, and his brother, seven years old, that were in Betty’s first Sunday School class, were years later called to preach and organized a daughter-church from the one I had organized.

NOVO DIAMANTINA

Upon an invitation buy a lady saved in the Boa Esperanca Baptist Church who had moved 130 miles miles away to a city called Diamantina, I agreed to start a church in an area on top of the mountain from the city. I started this work by building the church house before ever having a preaching service. In fact, the first service was the inauguration of the new building. One year later, the Novo Diamantina Baptist Church was organized with 20+ members.

I am now a member of New Life Baptist Church, Lexington KY, serving every way I can to assist our pastor, Steve Wainright, and our fellow members.”
 
UPDATE, 2023:
Bobby will be 97 years old on 25 July. He is under constant medical monitoring and treatments. As he recently told one of his converts from years ago in an email exchange, “I’m living every day now between the doctors and Heaven.” He has been housebound for the past year, too weak to be out and about except to be taken to his numerous doctors’ appointments. Also, after suffering a fall in his home late last year, he was hospitalized, and it was discovered that he was acutely anemic. He received the first of what would be several subsequent blood transfusions to replenish his body’s blood supply. He was referred to a hematologist and was subsequently diagnosed with failure of his bone marrow to replenish his red blood cells. After other treatments were tried to rebuild and maintain his blood counts, his hematologist prescribed him to receive an injection that acts as a ‘booster’ to his bone marrow and his blood’s ability to carry oxygen to his body. He receives these injections weekly.

He is greatly encouraged also by numerous contacts that have been re-established over the recent years with friends, former church associates, and converts in Brazil who have ‘re-discovered’ and re-connected with him through Facebook. Some of these converts and former associates in the churches he ministered in go back forty or more years ago. He is overjoyed to correspond with them again and hear them tell their stories of how they are continuing to serve the Lord largely to the credit of his ministry and influence on their lives. One of them in particular has gone from Brazil to Mozambique, Africa to serve the Lord there. It fills his heart and these later years of his life with much gladness. As he said during a recent visit, “God is so good!” Please continue to pray that God will strengthen and encourage him as he remains faithful to Christ to the end – that he will finish well.

Pray for him! Reach out to him through every means you can (call, write, e-mail), and let him know you still appreciate him and his service. He would love to hear from you personally, or from your Sunday School class, or your church leadership.

BOBBY D. CREIGLOW [Betty is with the Lord]
279 Mockingbird Ln | Lexington KY 40503
859-278-1932 / home phone
606-425-1424 / cell phone
bobcreig26@twc.com

When you designate your offerings for ‘Veteran Missionaries Pension’ or for ‘Founder’s Month Offering’ [they are the same], they will be applied toward the continuing and on-going financial honor and support of these faithful life-long servants of Christ.

Click here to give now or you can mail your offering to:
BFM, c/o George Sledd
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280


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News & Reports – June 2019 Issue [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of June 2019 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.

Click here to read the BFM News & Reports – June 2019 edition! 


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Visiting Relatives & Recalling God’s Faithfulness

Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.

September 25, 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings to all of our dear friends and supporters. Hope you have had a blessed month. We have had a great month.

This month I had a wonderful time with 2 of my brothers. We made a trip together to visit our relatives and the place where we were born: Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre. That is where Brother Bobby Creiglow worked. We lived up in the jungle 3 days’ travel by boat. That is where Bro. Bobby Creiglow went once and that is when God worked in my life the desire for salvation. Back then, there was no other church except the Catholic church, but now there is a Baptist church. Praise the Lord. I also had the privilege to visit other places that I used to go with Mike Creiglow on mission trips. In the village of Porto Walter, where I went to Catholic school to study to be a priest, there was no other kind of church. The Catholic Church was the only one permitted. Today there is Baptist church there! It was so wonderful to visit the church. When I got saved, I was the only one in my family. The family really hated that I was a Christian. Today it is a blessing to be with many more in my family who have been reached and been saved. What a blessing! Thanks to all of you who have given to BFM for so many years. God bless each of you. Thanks to Bro. Bobby Creiglow and Mike who gave their lives to serve God in missions.

Things are good in the missions. This month we have a holiday that is called Kids Day. We are making plans for each mission for a special day. In the community of Ubim, we are having a sister church who offered to help with this special day. They are going to bring people who do health and beauty things. We will visit the community to invite parents and their children. It is amazing how many young people and children there are in this community. It is a place with lots of opportunities to reach these children and teens.

We are praying that God well raise up more people that want to serve in reaching out to the many communities around us. The buses that we have are of great use to us and we can bring those that live close to the church.

This Saturday we are going to have Bus Cleaning Day. We are getting them all in order, from documents to looks! There are lots of people that live close to us but do not have transportation.

Love in Christ our Lord and Savior,
Odali and Kathy

 

Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]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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