God at Work in New Ministry to Deaf Community

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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.

January 31, 2023

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from frigid Lexington, Kentucky (26 degrees). Yes, I am in the States and will tell you why a little later. For now though, some nice warm news from down home.

Our Christmas musical was back almost to pre-Covid levels. We averaged over 1,000 in attendance. The last night we had 1,217. There were at least 9 people saved the first 4 nights, but do not know how many after that. This was the first time that we were able to serve the deaf community. That is the next big news of the past few weeks.

Tatiana was saved as a girl right here at First Baptist Church. She married one of our young men and has 2 great kids. She served for several years as our nursery leader. She is very efficient and made that ministry what it is today – great. Just over 3 years ago, she came to me and said that she had already trained another team to take over her ministry. Then she said she was called to start a ministry for the deaf. That was music to my ears. She recruited some 20 people to start training. It was a 3-year program at 3 levels. We made sure she had all the support and resources she needed. I was with them for each graduation ceremony along the way and a few other occasions.

On the last Sunday of November, we had the first official service, which was geared to the deaf community and to get the church fully on board. There were over 15 deaf present. In the following weeks they have been back in almost every service and a few more continue to show up. Andriu was the first to be saved. Since then, 5 more have made professions of faith. In my last time in the pulpit this month one more young mother was saved. Bev and I had prayed for over 30 years that God would raise somebody up that would take this challenge. Our prayers have been answered.

 Several of the deaf who are attending services. The 2 guys up front and to the right were the first 2 saved. Andriu is in the red shirt. We are saying “Love you” with our hands. 

I have 2 things that I really need you to pray about. The first thing will be couched in somewhat veiled language because this newsletter will be on the internet and I must choose my words wisely. Pray for the country that I serve in. It has taken a sharp turn to the left. On the last Sunday before the general election, I took 15 minutes to implore people to not stay home or abstain, but get out and vote. No party name or candidate name was mentioned. On a Friday night, just before the big day, our church was gathered in prayer in groups throughout the 2 buildings. We had been praying every morning from 5:00 AM, too. That night I was pulled from my group and handed a 3-page threat from a federal prosecutor. If I continued to “campaign” I could be jailed and fined. In the document I was directly forbidden to teach or preach about God or family. The incident was all over the news across the state before the night was even over. A few days ago, I learned that it was also reported in the third largest newspaper (also oldest) in the country. That is down south. In the largest city in the country. If it got that far it may be somewhere in the workings of the people who run the country. I pray that it is over and forgotten, but I don’t know, so please pray for me and the work of His kingdom down there. We really need you to pray for the land and people that I love so dearly. We are in deep trouble and desperate times like I have never seen in these 62 years that I have lived and served there.

Also pray for me as I have some health issues that I could not get taken care of down home. Although I did many tests as required by my doctors and gave them all the results, they did not act upon them and did not even respond to my contacts. Beverly, the family, the church, and the pastors told me to get moving. Four days later I was in the States. Just to not leave you too in the dark, the matter concerns my ongoing fuss with skin cancer. Two recent surgeries and biopsies showed positive for squamous cell and melanoma. The doctors here are acting quickly. They have seen all my testing from down there. I have also had another CT scan here. Last week I was seen by 3 different doctors. There are to be 2 more surgeries. One is scheduled for March 6 and waiting for the date of the other one. Hopefully this is not more info than you need or want to know. Just really need your prayers.

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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Successful Surgery & Record Attendance at Christmas Musical


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.

January 21, 2020

Dear Brethren,

Grace and peace to all. 2019 ended and 2020 started with tons of work, but no real news. Sorry, it’s true! I have worked a lot, but don’t have much to report or little to show for all the activity. There are a few things that you may be wondering about, so let’s fill in those blanks.

Andrew is finally home and well. After over a year in and out of hospitals, fighting with said hospitals, doctors and insurance company, the Lord opened the door for the equipment to come to Manaus for his procedure. The word came down right as I was in the midst of the preparations for the Christmas Musical. Andrew went to Manaus and once the final dates were set for his surgery, I went to be with him. It was a huge success. In fact, it was the first procedure of this nature in all of northern Brazil. There were over 20 people (mostly doctors and other health care specialists) in the room to watch the procedure. The doctor was able to do all that we had been praying for and a couple of other things were corrected, also. You can’t imagine my joy 2 weeks later seeing my son on the front pew during the Christmas Musical smiling at his little boy, Devin, who was on stage. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for him. Thank You, Lord!

The musical was a lot of work as usual, but really great. We had 6 presentations (6 nights) ending on Christmas night. We are now in our new building and set several attendance records. We averaged just under 1200. On Christmas night we had 1718 in the building. Many people were not able to get in. A few more people were saved.

I only made one short trip out of town so far this year. I visited the congregation at Canela Fina. This work was started by Igreja Batista Betel, which is one of our daughter churches. It rained big time and it was pretty muddy, but the building was packed with over 200 people.

The first weeks of the year have been mostly just plain ole hard manual labor. I have been building a new office for me in our garage. Beverly needed a space for her crafts, so I gave up my office in the house and built my new space. It is not quite finished, but getting there. Yesterday I finally installed a new router to be able to have internet service. Now all I “need” is a lazy boy and big screen TV for my man cave to be complete! Waiting for Beverly to approve those last 2 items. It may be a while.

In my spare time (?) I have been working on my boats and motors getting ready for the upcoming mission trips of the rainy season. The new 60HP and 25HP outboards have finally arrived. My old motors were 11 years old. Thanks to the churches and friends who have helped to purchase the new engines. It took months to get them here, but now it will only take a few more days to have the boats ready. There are a number of repairs to do on the boats. The 25HP is already installed on the jon boat, but waiting for water in the river to do the break in. In fact, last week I was supposed to go up the Moa River, but the rains stopped suddenly, and all the rivers are shallow and clogged with stumps. The bigger boat needs several repairs and the installation is much more complex. Right now, I am waiting on new control cables. The old ones off the old motor are different, so I had to order new ones.

Bev and I have had some health issues. She had dengue fever! Fortunately, she had a mild version of it or maybe she is just plain tough. Probably the latter. I have had 2 kinds of infections over the last few weeks. Routine stuff, but very painful and debilitating. Had to go through rounds of antibiotics. Even though health care here in Cruzeiro do Sul is rather precarious, I have the advantage of having folks in the church that are doctors, nurses and lab owners. One lady that has a lab, came to the house to take my blood sample, did the full round of tests and even brought the results to me. One of our doctors took care of me by cell phone. I did have to go out, get a shot at the ER and buy medicine, but our folks take good care of me.

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

In Christ,
Mike Creiglow

Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [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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Great Christmas Musical; Progress in Porto Walter


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.

January 10, 2o18

Dear Brethren,

Our Christmas Musical was better than ever, if that is even possible. We had 7 nights this time. The building was full every night, but not always overflowing. The crime wave is keeping folks in their houses at night. We still had big crowds even when the restaurants and streets were empty, so it was all good. We did not have one night of rain, even though we are in the rainy season. Several people were saved and a number of other people asked to become members or requested baptism. Eight of my grandchildren live here. Of these, 6 were involved in important parts of the Musical. Adriel (Crissy’s second) played the main character and sang the conversion song. Alec was Gabriel. Melany and Kayla were angels. Heloisa and Caleb sang in the acapella quartet. We have been blessed with lots of talent in the church and our own family. Our stage was completely rebuilt this year. We wanted to really emphasize the birth of Christ this time, so I made a new manger scene that came down from the rafters during the play on a cable and winch system. In all we had almost 350 of our church people involved. We are thankful.

“Joseph, Mary and Jesus during the Christmas Musical. We always have a fresh batch of babies to portray Jesus every Christmas!”

Although we were not able to break our attendance record at Christmas (the building has its limits), we did break 2 other records. Last year we had 132 motorcycles in the parking garage. This year there were 179. I didn’t think this was possible, but they squeezed them in. That ministry leader got really creative this year. We have a special section in the garage for people to check in their helmets. It is already a challenge to care for some 300 helmets. Marcelo decided to go the extra mile. Any helmet that had a scratched visor got a brand new one with the church’s logo installed while the owner was at the service. Also, I had the guys count the cars parked along the four blocks around the church. For the first time ever, we had more cars than motorcycles.

The building at Porto Walter just before Sunday morning services.

The river has finally started back up. I took out about a week here and there to do all the maintenance on outboard motors and generators. In mid-December I took out a full weekend to visit our work at Porto Walter. We had hoped to formally organize the church at that time, but they are not quite ready. The visit was very good. Huge crowds and a few decisions. They just got the trusses up on the new building. Soon I am to be with them again to help put on the roofing. The new mayor has managed to get investment money and has paved almost all the streets. Looking really good. The congregation has continued to work at Vitória further up river and has started new works at California and another mission point inside the Grajaú River. All three are growing rapidly. Many have been saved over the last year.

The walls and roof are now up on the new building at Gama. Continue to pray with us that God will give us a missionary to move there permanently. Other doors are opening, but we are still short of missionaries and the funds to send them. Please pray with us.

Our mission at Foz do Breu just reported on their last mission trip to Pedra Pintada and Caipora. Attendance at these villages has been in the 50s. There were 4 saved at Caipora.

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

In Christ,
Mike Creiglow

Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [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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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [January 2016]

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.

January 13, 2016

Dear Brethren,

What? Half way through the first month of a new year already! Closing out the old year was busier than ever. Besides making the rounds taking care of churches and congregations, counseling pastors and missionaries, I helped out with the Musical de Natal (Christmas Musical) at our home church. Fortunately my part is building the stage and props. My daughter Crissy and her team write the script, select the songs and produce the whole thing. There are teams that do advertising, direct traffic and parking, care for the motorcycles and helmets, crowd control, reception, nursery, children, reception, ushers, decisions, counseling, stage hands, refreshments, besides all those who participate directly in the production. We have over 350 people working.

The preparations start out a year in advance. Every year is a new story and all original materials. The last three months are crazy. Then with a month to go we have to alter our services and all activities at church. There are activities going on for 20 hours every day right up to the last dress rehearsal. I put in some 16 hour days along the way.

This year we had one night just for members. Since the whole program is visitors only we have had quite a bit of griping from some members over the years. That night was Saturday, December 19. It rained and yet the building was full. Then we began the official program on Sunday, December 20 and ran it through Christmas night. It ended up being a whole week this time. From Sunday through Friday we did not have any rain at night. It rained almost every day, but not at night. The main building was standing room only every night. We have overflow on the third floor of the annex. We can seat 600 there. It too, was standing room only on Sunday and Christmas.

We can gauge the crowds by counting the number of motorcycles in our parking garage. I’m sure that sounds strange to all of you. Small motorcycles are still the most common kind of personal vehicle in Cruzeiro do Sul. Our previous record had been 122. The first night we had 136. The last night we had 181. Since we can’t really count people in the two venues, we count motorcycles. Cars also line the streets for blocks from the buildings. It was tough to see hundreds of people turning around and going home, because they could not get in. The good news is that 37 people were saved. Some of these are already in discipleship, small groups and have requested baptism.

In January we give folks a break. We only have Sunday night services. That means that five other regular weekly services are put on hold. All the training programs stop. There is still a lot going on, because this is when we do all of our planning and preparation for the year. The two Sunday services of the year have been overflow crowds. Pastor Pedro and I are doing all the preaching this month. The other pastors, all the ministry leaders and teachers are all resting up. We have already had 5 more saved, 3 new members by letter and several requests for baptism.

Please pray for Beverly. She has been diagnosed with diabetes and a couple of other things. Her treatments start today. She is really tough, but right now she is discouraged.

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

In Christ,
Mike Creiglow

Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com

Click here to donate to BFM.


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