Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [February 2013]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
Dear friends,
The Lord is blessing us everyday and we are thankful. The church is growing and as a result, we are encountering several growing pains. When people are reached by the Gospel of Christ, the enemy will do everything within his reach to create havoc. Nonetheless, the Lord gives us wisdom to help people and find ways to share the Gospel.
Here are three special prayer requests:
Please, pray for a couple in their late twenties (I am not able to mention names) that they may surrender to Christ and for the Lord to save their marriage. This is a couple we’ve been working with for a few months now. A couple of weeks ago they had a physical altercation. They have a son who is 5 years old and witnessed everything. Unfortunately, this is not the first time the child had seen this behavior from his parents. Pray for the Lord to transform their lives.
Also, pray for a 17 year old man (again, no names). He impregnated his 19 year old girlfriend. The girl’s mother is a widow and they boy’s parents have a rocky marriage. This young couple does not know the Savior and have been living together for the last 3 months (with their parents’ endorsement). Now that she is pregnant, both parents are furious. A few weeks ago the young couple had a severe fight and the neighbors called the police. She had him gasping for air in a headlock when he bit her arm, amongst other aggressions. I was informed that the young lady was dedicated to the “spirits” as a baby by her mother in a “Candomble” ritual. She struggles with frequent demon possession and is fearful of what the demons may do if she surrenders to Christ. Pray that the young couple and their parents may heed to the Gospel.
Pray for an opportunity to open a new church in another state. Rogério, Dani, and their son Matteus moved last week to Goiania (capital city of Goiás) due to his work. We believe the Lord is opening doors to start a church in this city. We are exchanging ideas and praying for the Lord’s will in this matter. We plan to start a home prayer group once they are settled in at their new house. I’d like to visit them soon for a city survey and planning. Please, pray for inroads within the community and for the family to develop new lasting relationships.
Goiania, the capital city of the state the Hatchers are praying about starting their newest church plant.
Thank you for your prayers and support. Continue to pray and give to the BFM General Fund. It is crucial for the work of our ministry and all of our other beloved missionaries supported through Baptist Faith Missions. Do you know of other churches or individuals in other states who currently do not support missions thru BFM? Do think they may to consider partnering with us too? Could you speak to them on our behalf? I pray that you will.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
Website | Twitter
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [February 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
I hope you got to see the picture of our new church building after we finished painting it. We are sure happy that part is finished. We had been having services in it all during the construction process, but several people have asked us when we are going to begin holding services.
There seems to always be “one more thing” to do when building, but there are basically only two that we are focusing on: 1) buying and installing our sound system, and 2) putting in a ceiling in the auditorium. We are almost there!
The new church building–now painted!
My foot and leg have nearly completely healed. I will have the opportunity to really test them out next Saturday when we take a group mountain hiking. I have run a few times and did a short mountain hike a couple of weeks ago and didn’t feel too much pain or swelling afterward. It has been 3 months since I broke them, but I’m very grateful for how well and quickly they are healing.
Our outreach ministry through American Football is developing very well. One of the 5 teams in our city has recently hired a former NFL player to be their head coach and his brother, a former Arena football player, to be the defensive coach. I have met and spoke with both of them and they have shown interest in working with me to evangelize and minister to the players, leaders and fans. Once again, I want to encourage any football coaches or players to contact me if you are interested in participating in an evangelistic mini-camp in June of this year. Also, we are in great need of football equipment: pads, helmets, cleats, pants and practice jerseys. This equipment can be used, of course, if it is in good condition.
I am praying for guidance about the leader to put over our new work in Corbelia, a neighborhood nearby. There are several thousand residents in this area, but not one single church. We are visiting the folks who live there, but we strongly believe that the most effective way to reach them and impact their lives is to plant a church in their community. I have trained a man for several years who, I believe, would be the right person for the job, but he is also the right-hand man of my former church’s pastor and his leaving would be a great loss to him. Pray with me to act wisely and to truly discern God’s will concerning this decision.
The Lord has blessed us so much with great health, a growing ministry and met needs. We are truly thankful. We also thank Him for you who have felt led to give toward our ministries so that we can continue to share the gospel and minister to those whom the Lord has put in our sphere of impact. We trust that you will be greatly rewarded, both now and forever.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros [February 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 and Sisters,
Hope all of you have had a great time with your families through these holidays. We are all doing fine. Kathy had a great time in the States with the birth of our latest granddaughter, Violet Oliveira. She also got to visit with the other children while she was there.
The work here has been a real blessing. We have a group of 17 people coming that are new. Almost all of them are from the same family. Most of them had been to other evangelical churches, and have been taught several different doctrines. We want to make sure that they understand that salvation is not by works and baptism, but by grace. We have been teaching what the Bible teaches on these doctrines. Last Sunday I taught about baptism. After service one of them said, “You’re going to have a bunch to baptize.” Pray for these people. They are a great group of people, and we spend a lot of time of fellowship together. There is a couple coming to church for the last month. The wife has been in depression for years. Her husband was unfaithful to her for many years and when she had their last child she rejected the baby and went into depression. We are praying that God will work a great miracle in their life. The miracle of forgiveness! We are praying that both of them understands their need for salvation and that they can soon rejoice in God’s forgiveness. Their names are Dalva and Ezekiel.
Violet Oliveira, Odali & Kathy’s newest granddaughter (daughter of Amelia and Ivo)!
We have a new couple that has been coming with their son that came because his wife was coming. The man got saved by reading his Bible, but had not found a church he liked. They have been coming for about a month also. He has been talking about being baptized. We are prayerfully waiting for the day we have our next baptism. Praise God!
We thank all of you for your prayers and support. You are an important part of our ministry. None of us can stand alone. God bless each 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
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [February 2013]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
Dear Brethren and Fellow-Workers:
If the year of 2013 continues passing as fast as the month of January has, the year 2014 will be here in a week or two. But we praise the Lord the month has been a good one and brought many benefits. One was that David and Pennie visited us the last week of December. It was a rare and wonderful time of fellowship. Another blessing was Odali and Kathy came from Garca for a two-day visit.
FAMILY CAMP—Each year in January, the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Cornelio Procopio sponsors a week of Camp. This year our son Paul was the principal speaker. He and Wanda came four days early to have a short visit with us. Our time together was marvelous. Several churches had groups at the Camp. We praised the Lord for the 170 persons who were there. All were from churches in the States of Sao Paulo and Parana that God had given us the joy of starting.
ASSAI—Alta and I still go to the city of Assai each Sunday morning for our services. Please make this city a special item on your prayer list. Our time is very close to running out for going there. Pray God will send a faithful man and wife to take care of this work and to evangelize the other cities close by.
NEWS—The Lord willing, plans are being made for us to go to the States for a short time and to be there during the Spring BFM Missionary Conference. Our son David is making all the plans for us and plans to go with us to do the driving. Unfortunately, we will not be able to visit churches as we usually do. However, we hope that many of you will be able to come to the Spring BFM Conference and see us there. Alta and I are doing well, in spite of some health problems that I have. We praise the Lord every day for our 65 years of marriage. I have been in the ministry for 66 years. We have been missionaries in Brazil 58 years. We thank the Lord for our five wonderful children, 15 grandchildren (all serving the Lord), and 26 great-grandchildren. Some of our great-grandchildren have already trusted the Lord as Savior. How great is our Lord!!! We love you. Thank you for your prayers and financial support for all of our years in Brazil.
In His Name,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [January 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 and sisters,
We begin this New Year with a heart full of gratitude and praise! We hope the same for all of you that have so generously given, so that the word of God can be taken around the world.
For many years my father Alcides when asked if he was saved would always answer saying, “Yes, God is in my heart.” We were not convinced that he had made a profession of faith, but who are we to question what he would say? So for many years we have been praying, that if he had not made that decision, that God would touch his heart and help him understand that he needed to receive Jesus as his only Savior. Well, this week, my other brother who is a pastor had the privilege to preach to him in a service and when the invitation came, my father lifted his hand and said, “I want to accept Jesus as my Savior.” My father is 92 years old and has cancer, and because of his age will not be doing surgery. But now we know he well live forever with us! I have a brother who has never made any decision, so I ask that you please pray that he too will understand his need for the Savior. His name is Edson.
Odali preparing food.
The church here has just been a real blessing. We have had other professions of faith and others that were saved but from other churches that have asked for baptism. Also, we have had several new visitors. The adults that have been coming keep bringing other family members. It is so exciting to see each of them learn more about God and seeing them want to serve. We have been having fellowship every Friday or Saturday night. It has been great for the new people to get to know the others in the church. On Sunday morning we have a big Sunday school. We do have adults, but we use them to help with the kids. Each week we fix something for the kids to eat. Seeing more and more people getting involved is a blessing. Our night service is directed for the adults. We had a young lady that came by the home the other day and said she wanted to know what we were doing here at the home and the church. She said that she was going to her church but she wanted to serve more and that her church did not get involved in the community. She has started coming to our church. Praise God for people who want to serve! God has brought new people that have such servant’s hearts. Their desire to help in any thing is overwhelming!
We enjoyed wonderful fellowship on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Every one that wasn’t going to be with family came and spent the evening here together.
Celebrating Christmas!
We also had a fun time with several of the kids that had lived here when we still had kids in the home. It was really great to see that they were doing great and also how much they had changed. Everyone had fun reminiscing about the past. And, well, as they always did, ate a lot!
Thanks for your prayers and support,
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [January 2013]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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 4, 2013
Dear Brethren,
This month is all about being born and being born again!
On December 8th we organized First Baptist Church in the city of Rodrigues Alves. The new church was organized with 119 charter members. They have been in a nice brick building for a long time, but it has become way too little. They are very close to moving into their new building. They wanted to have the organization service in the new one, but it has rained so much that they didn’t have time to get it under roof. In fact it rained the night of the service and cut down on the size of the crowd, but the building was still full. Another church was born.
The choir at the 2012 Christmas production.
This year we had a mega production for our Christmas presentation. It took a whole year to get ready. My main job was to build the stage, lighting and sound. I started right after the Thanksgiving service. I had been working very long hours to get the annex under roof for the Thanksgiving dinner. We fed more than 900 that night. Then I jumped right into the Christmas program. Andrew and I extended our stage another 4 feet in depth and the whole width of the building. I built a curved set of 4 steps to one side for our 30 member choir. On the other side we built a rotating stage to save space and make it easier to change scenes. We also used the baptistery for the resurrection scene. Many of the backdrops were digitally printed on vinyl. A couple of these were 16 feet wide! Then there were dozens of other props that had to be placed on stage or removed at each rotation of the platform. We also had to install a video mixer, sound and video projector up on the third floor terrace for overflow crowd. My daughter Crissy wrote the script and produced the whole thing. Crissy and Beverly selected all the songs and even translated some from English to Portuguese. If you haven’t gathered, this was a musical, with a modern story line and flashes back to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It was a ton of work and investment. Over 200 members worked very hard for months. We spent about $10,000.00, but it was more than worth it.
The theatre group for the 2012 Christmas production.
We tried our best to keep our members at home, unless they were willing to watch on the big screen up on the 3rd floor. We set up seating for several hundred people with a 16 foot screen. Each night I went through the congregation and asked the few straggler members (only about 5-10) to give up their seats to the lost. Fortunately I didn’t have any backlash from this tactic. Actually many members were pleased and thanked me for doing this. Boy, do I love my church! We also tried to keep people from other Baptist churches away. We reserved our main auditorium just for unbelievers. Because of the larger stage we only had seating for 700 people. Of course there were another 100 or more who attended standing. We had 5 nights from Friday through Christmas night. We were packed to capacity every night. It started raining about an hour before services on Christmas night. It rained hard for hours. No pastor in his right mind would wish for rain on the night of a big service, but after all was said and done, I was glad that it rained. If it had not rained we would have to turn literally thousands away. Even with all the rain there just wasn’t any place to put anyone else! I think that now I will be able to persuade the church that it is more than time to move to a bigger location. During the five nights we had 51 professions of faith. We are expecting many more in the weeks and months to come. Many have been born again.
The Creiglows just welcomed a new granddaughter: Kayla!
Then before I close, let me add that my granddaughter Kayla was born last night. My daughter Crissy worked like a crazy person on the Christmas program and even sang every night with that huge bulge out front. She walked into the brand new maternity/children’s hospital last night, sat down in a wheelchair and 5 minutes later Kayla Cristina was born. Dauro went back to the car to get her things, just 50 yards away, and missed seeing his daughter’s birth. Mom and baby are doing fine. Bev and I now have 9 grandkids: 3 boys and 6 girls. I fear that the boys’ team may never catch up. Rejoice with us at the arrival of Kayla. Crissy and Dauro now have 2 boys and girl.
This letter is longer than most, but I just had to tell you about the birth of a new church, 51 people who were born again and the birth of our newest little one.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [January 2013]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
December 31, 2012
Dear Brethren and Fellow-Workers,
It seems impossible that 2012 has gone by so quickly. The verse that teaches us to redeem the time certainly is one of the most important in the Scriptures. Alta and I celebrated sixty-five years of married life on December 20th. They have been marvelous years while serving the Lord and rearing our children. We now have two children in Heaven: Lynn and the little boy who was born without life in the interior village of Faro in the year of 1956.
After finishing at Georgetown College and serving as pastor for nine years in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Beattyville, Kentucky, and Alton, Illinois, we made application to come to Brazil with Baptist Faith Missions. In one month, we were on our way. We arrived in Brazil in 1955. We came to give our lives to preach the Gospel, establish churches, and train workers. Fifty-eight years have flown by. Our five children were reared in the northern tropical city of Manaus. Two of our sons, Paul and David, are pastors in this great city. Our other son, John Mark, is a missionary with BFM in France. Kathy, our youngest, is married to Odali Barros. They are missionaries with BFM in Garca, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and have six children.
God has given us fifteen grandchildren. All are serving the Lord faithfully. We now have twenty-five great grandchildren in different parts of the world. Some great grandchildren have already trusted the Lord as Savior and been baptized. God has blessed us with an untold number of blessings that will last forever. We praise Him with all our heart.
We thank God that we have been blessed to preach from the North to the South of Brazil. We are still going to Assai each Sunday morning. Please pray for this city of twenty-thousand people. It is the most difficult place we have worked in our entire ministry. We continue because we know that it is God’s will and one day the seed will produce great results to His glory.
Pray that God will be our strength, wisdom, and peace. We thank you for your support throughout many years. We love you and thank God for your faithful support.
In His Name,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [January 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
We may not be able to explain or understand why God allowed it to happen, but one thing is certain, He was taking care of four of our missionaries in their recent accident. When our Projeto Vida bus engine was repaired near the Argentine border, four leaders drove 1,000 miles to pick it up and planned to return in doubles with the two vehicles. Just about 100 miles before they reached the city where the bus had been repaired, the car they were riding in hit a puddle of water and began to hydroplane. The driver lost control of the car as it spun twice on the pavement then hit the grass shoulder causing the car to roll 6 times and then fell 20 feet into a trench. The Lord amazingly protected all four occupants and no one suffered any serious injury, only minor scratches and sore muscles. We are very thankful for His protection. The mechanic who had repaired the bus drove the 100 miles to pick them up and they have since returned with the bus. The car was insured and it was a total loss. We’ll use the insurance funds to replace it as best we can.
Charlene, Brennen and I have moved to a new address after selling our house. We are applying part of the residual funds to complete the construction and supply the sound system to our new church plant. We were very excited to have several new families attending our services in December and we are planning to start new member classes this month. As we get to know these new families we realize just how much we need the Lord for guidance and strength. The issues that many of them suffer from are so severe that only with God’s help can they be resolved or overcome. We know that God specializes in such cases and that His name will be glorified as He uses us to counsel these folks and meet their needs. Our new house is only a block and a half from the church building and that puts us right in the community with those we are seeking to minister to.
In a recent letter I shared that we were beginning outreach to a new neighborhood called Corbélia. We took a group from our new church to visit this community around the Christmas holidays and we had a very good reception. There are thousands of residents in this neighborhood and not a single church of any kind. Please pray with us that the Lord would enable us to plant a church there that would be used in sharing the gospel and teaching the Word of God in the most efficient way possible.
We are really looking forward to the challenges and opportunities for making Christ known and praised in 2013. Thank you for your love and support through prayers and resources as we seek to serve Christ faithfully.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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