Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher [October 2012]
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.
October 5, 2012
THANKFUL HEART
Thank you for your faithful prayers and investing in missions.
Thank you Bro. David Pitman & Addyston Baptist Church, Addyston, OH for
taking us on for support. Thank you also to Atlantic Shores Baptist Church,
Virginia Beach, VA; Friendship Baptist Church, Bristol, VA; New Hope Baptist
Church, Dearborn Heights, MI; Darwin & Cathy Smith, Lexington, KY; and Ron
& Judy Logan, Lexington, KY. WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL!! Now, let me tell you about family news and some exciting moments of our latest church plant.
FAMILY DETAILS
Everyone is doing well. Sarah is 7 years old and studies hard on her math. Laura is 6 years old and is reading and writing amazingly. Benjamin is 4 years old, is learning to read and knows all of his numbers. Melissa is 11 months old and has 4 little teeth. At times, Raquel and I feel overwhelmed with family and ministry, but wouldn’t change a single moment of God’s plan for us.
CHURCH PLANTING: INITIAL PLANNING
On January 7, 2012 two couples, a lady, Raquel, the children and I went on a
van ride to pray and discuss where the Lord would lead us to start a church in
Manaus. I invited each one to make a personal commitment to join us and plant
a church. Everyone in the van that day committed wholeheartedly to start a
new church. The following weeks were filled with excitement as we visited six
different churches on Sundays and met from 5:00pm until 7:00pm to pray, study,
brainstorm and plan. During this time we also selected our name – Ativa: Uma
Igreja Batista (Active, a Baptist Church).
EVANGELISTIC COOKOUTS
During the weeks to come we organized several cookouts in homes where family
and friends were invited. Our contact list grew tremendously. Our fifth event was
a one-day camp where 95 people participated. Several people heard the Gospel
and made decisions.
MEETING AT HOME
Our first Sunday service was March 18, 2012 and met at our home. We had no
music, but the great food led to tremendous fellowship. A sense of belonging
began to grow amongst the team members, the newly saved and the unsaved
attendees. Excitement grew every week as people asked questions and decisions
were made. By the end of April, we had 30 people attending our home services.
During this period a member of the congregation asked “Where should I give
my tithe?” It is worth noting, we did not have a specific moment for tithes and
offerings during the service. We didn’t have a treasurer either. That week we
selected a treasurer and a vice-treasurer, and a box was placed on a corner table
during Sunday services. Those who attended began to give generously, even
though we never spoke of the matter. Six weeks latter we purchased a simple
sound system, three microphones, an acoustic guitar and a two-tone percussion instrument. With low monthly expenses our new congregation was able to save towards what the Lord was about to do.
BUILDING QUEST
Children singing on Sunday (building still under retrofitting)
In May, we began to search for a building to lease. We wanted a building on an
easy to find street, with good visibility. As we looked around the city we ran into
a serious problem – the outlandish cost of rental property. The reason? Manaus
is a host city for the World Cup 2014 and buildings are now exponentially
expensive to lease and/or purchase. Our small budget only allowed us to commit
to $1,000/mo and we needed a location to accommodate at least 150 people
(projecting growth over the next years). The cheapest we could find was $7,500/mo and with little to no parking. I even found a place that could accommodate 200 people and had six parking spaces for $15,000/mo. That’s right, fifteen thousand per month! And yes, that is the cost in US currency. To put the price absurdity into full perspective: the minimum wage in Brazil is currently at US$297.00/mo. Not encouraging… but we sure prayed and searched.
Despite the challenges, the Lord blessed! He gifted us with a small warehouse
to seat 140 people, with two small rooms, and a bathroom. The location is on
one of the main throughways of the city. Guess how much? Yes, $1,000/mo.
Unfortunately, it only has one parking spot. Yet again, the Lord blessed us.
Around the corner, within a hundred yards we found a walled parking lot for 30
cars! We met with the congregation and agreed to lease the lot at $25/Sunday.
BAPTISMS, ORGANIZATION & RETROFITTING
On August 12, 2012 we baptized 13 people (including our daughters Sarah
and Laura) and were organized with 37 members through Tabernacle Baptist
Church. It was an exciting Sunday for us all. We continued to meet at our home
while retrofitting the warehouse for services. Everyone came to help scrape the
old paint of the walls, repair the roof, clean, paint, and install doors and curtains.
Tabernacle Baptist Church donated the needed metal and the welder to build
and install a sign for on the front of the building.
Church building inauguration night with 102 people (84 adults and 18 children)
BUILDING INAUGURATION
On September 23, 2012 we had our inaugural service and kicked off a six-week Evangelistic message series. That evening we had 102 attend (84 adults
and 18 children). The Lord also gave us two salvation decisions that evening.
On the second week a tropical storm hit hard, and most of our invited guests
stayed at home. Despite the downpour of rain, we still had 63 attend and one
reconciliation. Pray for us this coming Sunday, it’s our third week.
PRAYER
Please, invest time in prayer for all of those who will need discipleship. Also,
pray for each one of us to continue in good health. Consider coming to visit us in
Brazil. And, continue to give generously to missions.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [October 2012]
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,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. While on your side of the world you are gradually moving toward Autumn, on this side of the world we are gradually moving out of the rainy season and into the hotter, dryer season. I was feeling sorry for myself earlier this week because I love the Autumn. I haven’t experienced fall in five years because things are pretty much the same year round here in Kenya. Isn’t that a silly thing to be feeling sorry for yourself about? I agree. Sometimes we just have to kick ourselves out of silly moods like that and appreciate again all that God has provided for us.
Here’s a question for you. Do you find living the Christian life to be a challenge sometimes? Of course you do. Do you ever find Christian ministry in the States to be a challenge? Of course you do. I find Christian ministry here in Kenya to be a challenge sometimes too. I know you already know that but I wanted you to know that I also recognize that it’s no different in the States. Christian ministry can be a challenge no matter where you are. Here is a challenge I have been facing here in Kenya lately: Trying to get Kenyans to break from their traditions and accept and follow more Biblical models (I know! I know! If you do any Christian ministry in the States you will face similar problems). So, I spent a few weeks teaching and preparing the new church for taking the Lord’s Supper together. We looked at all the passages dealing with this topic in the New Testament so that they could have a full understanding of what it means for a church to share the Lord’s Table together. We are now scheduling a time for the church to celebrate this together. But now I am facing traditions. I have been told we MUST have a new white cloth to cover the communion bread with. If we don’t have this cloth we are not showing proper respect. I had to deal with this tradition. Next, I was told we MUST have the little cups used for the “fruit of the vine”. When I asked why, I was told “because it’s tradition and without it we can’t show proper respect”. I had to deal with this tradition. I told them we could use their everyday tea cups instead of buying the traditional cups from the store. They didn’t like that idea. Finally, I was told we couldn’t use chapatti for our communion bread (chapatti is a flat, non-leavened bread that the Kenyans eat every day. It would work perfect for communion). Again, when I asked why, they told me it was because chapatti is too common and every day and that special communion bread had to be bought from the store. I had to deal with this tradition. My challenges don’t stop with the Lord’s Table. The church also wanted to start taking up offerings so I thought it would be best to teach them on this subject. I wanted to show them how New Testament churches used offerings (knowing that they wanted to take up offerings for other, non-biblical reasons). I scoured the New Testament and found that when the early churches took up offerings or used money it was either to help the poor, assist widows and orphans, or to help a missionary go to the next city so he could continue to preach the gospel in other cities and spread the kingdom of Christ on the earth. They were OK with this teaching as long as there was money left over after they bought a shamba (a small farm), built a new church building, bought various kinds of musical instruments, bought new chairs (for who knows what reason), and paid all the elders their stipend. Now, while there is nothing sinful about any of these uses for an
offering, trust me, there is not enough money in their collection to pay for any of these uses, let alone the more Biblical uses. All I could say over and over again was, “It’s
better to follow the Biblical examples than our worldly traditions”. In the end, do you
know what I want for these dear people? It’s not for them to follow their worldly traditions. It’s not even for them to follow me. No, I want them to learn how to follow the Bible. All I can do is continue to point them to the Bible and say, “Follow that”.
That’s the challenge I face. Do you face it as well? Fortunately, the church here is
learning to do just that. And we also thank God for the four new people who want to
become members of this new church.
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
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [May 2012]
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 Friends,
Greetings once more from Brazil in the precious name of Jesus. On April 30th I had my 87th birthday. No celebration, just thanksgiving to God for His many blessings in my life.
In the month of December our immediate family spent ten days together in the home of David and Pennie in Manaus. Needless to say, every moment we had together were joyous and precious. We praise and thank God every day for our wonderful children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.
Annual Family Camp
The first week in January was the family camp directed by Pastor Valdir dos Santos of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cornelio Procopio. Our son, Paul, was the special speaker for the week. His messages on rewards and crowns were very profitable and of course Alta and I were thankful to have Paul and Wanda for the camp and with us a few days at home.
Thankful for the Blessing of Serving in Brazil
We thank God many times for giving us the joy and privilege to serve as missionaries in Brazil. When we have camps and gatherings that sometimes have about 400 persons, we recognize that all have come from churches that God has used us to sow the first seed. During our almost sixty years here we have not started works from other churches’ members nor begun works in cities that had a Baptist Church.
Present Works
We are presently members of the Urai Baptist Church. Marcio Faria Moraes is the pastor. He was saved in the Duartina Baptist Church we started years ago. His wife Carol was baptized at nine years old in the Garca Baptist Church. The church has three missions and other evangelistic activities. Alta and I are still able to go each Sunday morning to Assai Mission. Praise the Lord I am still able to drive the forty miles. I am in the process of renewing my driver’s license this week.
Pray for us. We seem to be getting older and have some aches and pains. We are thankful to God, our Heavenly Father, for your faithfulness in praying and giving to supply our needs in His work in Brazil.
We love you,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [May 2012]
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 pray partner and giving friend,
We have great news! In this issue you’ll find updates on the new church plant, a salvation testimony, the flooding in Manaus, our family and prayer requests. The Lord is blessing. Please, join us in prayer and financially investing. Visit us at www.judhatcher.com.
Church Plant
In March of this year, we began our church plant’s first service. We have a lot of home visits and follow-up by phone. On Sundays we have on average 40 people attend. First time visitors are common & returning visitors as well. Our three pre-evangelistic cookouts have given us over 100 contacts to continue connecting. This month 6 people will be baptized and we will have our first Lord’s supper. We are currently meeting at home. Join us in prayer as we search for a location to rent or purchase & build.
A salvation decision
Just recently I was talking to a 19 year old man, who had attended a Catholic church since he was a young boy. The last 7 years he dealt with severe back pain due to a genetic disorder. Consequently, his search for God grew based on his pain. Within the last two years he was working on his salvation and attending a prosperity gospel & works salvation type church. On the very first week we meet we talked for over 4 hours on a Saturday night. By the end of they evening he confessed to the Lord that his efforts to attain salvation we worthless, that he was sinner and that he wanted to surrender into God’s grace through Christ Jesus. His hunger and growing love for the Lord had lead him to bring his mother and five sisters to our services. Praise the Lord!!
MaNAUS Flooding
As I right this Manaus is on the verge of its worst flooding in recorded history. Our city his 4 inches shy of the highest level the Amazon River has ever reached. We still have 2 months of river uprising. Many of the downtown streets are already under water. As a result, we have more mosquitoes flying into our home, rats coming up the pipeline. There are also incidents of snakes in houses due to incoming water.
Our Family
Our family is doing well. Sarah, Laura and Benjamin are all doing well in school. Melissa, who is now 5 months old, is rolling over in the bed and sitting up on her own. Sarah and Laura went to the dermatologist this week due to skin irritations, but should diminish with the doctor’s recommended treatment. Raquel and I are doing fine. We love the Lord, our children and the work of the ministry.
PRAYER REQUESTS
1. Increased financial giving to the General Fund of BFM.
2. Growth of the new church plant.
3. Leadership training.
4. Search for church’s new location – rent or purchase & construction.
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
Website | Twitter
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Spring Conference Recap [Tuesday Evening]
The Lord blessed the Tuesday evening service at the 2012 BFM Spring Conference.
After the congregation sang “Blessed Assurance” and “Saved, Saved, Saved,” Bro. Randy Jones presented the future goals of BFM, all of which are in the Lord’s hand.
Future Goals of BFM:
- eliminate monthly deficits and increase income to the General Fund by 25% over a three-year period (approximately $125,000)
- increase the number of missionaries pending available funds
-one to be added in November 2013
-one to be added in November 2014
-one to be added in November 2015 - increase the base salary of our missionaries by 20% over a three-year period pending available funds
-5% appreciation lump-sum bonus in December 2012 ($1030)
-5% base salary increase beginning January 2013 ($1802)
-5% base salary increase by January 2014 ($1893)
-10% base salary increase beginning January 2015 ($2082)
[Current Salaries: $1717/month] - Change the retirement plan for new missionaries to a 401K or 403B type plan: match 6% to 10% of their salary placed in an individual account.
- Encourage the missionaries to support BFM and extol the benefits of the organization to them and their ministry during furlough visits.
- On a three-year cycle each missionary and his works shall be visited by a Director(s) and a Representative from his sending church beginning in 2013.
- Eliminate the “Car Fund” category
- Establish a repository of BFM documents
- Encourage visits by sponsoring churches to the mission field
- Establish a schedule of church visitation: every supporting church shall be visited by a Director of BFM representative once every three years.
Bro. Jones then discussed the importance of the General Fund and the necessity of keeping it replenished. He ended his message by reading John 14:9-12. “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Bro. Paul Hatcher, missionary to Brazil, delivered the 8:20 sermon, sharing the heartbeat of his and his family’s heart. He spoke about what he has learned through years of church planting and discipling.
If one person shared the Gospel with one other person and taught them everything they knew about God for a year, and then the next year, the same person and the new person each agreed to do the same thing (sharing with one other person and teaching them for a year), then in 34 years, there would be more than 8 billion people following Christ. Nothing is impossible with God!
Bro. Hatcher mentioned that his son-in-law calculated out how long it took Paul (in the Bible) to plant a church amongst Jews: 42 days. Flabbergasted, Hatcher wanted to know how much longer it took the biblical Paul to plant a church amongst Gentiles: 42 days. Shocked once again, Hatcher said, “What did Paul know that this Paul doesn’t know?”
It has to be more than the minister doing the work of the Lord. You have to make sure every sheep in the flock is producing. It must involve every believer sharing the Gospel and teaching what they know.
When you’re teaching new Christians everything you know about God, keep these things in mind about the Old Testament and don’t complicate it. The Old Testament was written to teach us to love God and love our neighbor. (This is the interpretation of the Author, our Lord, given in Matthew 22:36-40.) The second objective is to keep Christ at the forefront because without Christ, you can’t love God or your neighbor.
The Gospel must be simple enough that the simple can understand. There are many good examples in John of how to keep the Gospel simple—straight shots of truth. (John 17:3; 1 John 5:11; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 4:11, John 5:19)
The problem with the Gospel is that we talk. Love! What they notice is love. They see something different and want what you have.
Three important things to remember:
1) Know God = Eternal Life
2) Trust God = Our Challenge
3) Love like He’s loved us (sacrificially)
Bro. Hatcher told a story about a cell phone to illustrate building trust in God. When he first bought his cell phone, all he wanted to use it for was to call people. But as he learned what else his cell phone could do, he started to use it for other things. Pretty soon, he’d gotten rid of his alarm clock and was using his phone. He’d tossed his address book and used the contact list in his phone. He threw away his planner and used the calendar on his phone. But all he had planned to use it for was to make phone calls. It’s the same way with God. As we grow in knowledge, your trust in Him and Him alone begins to grow. As you know God, you lay off the things of the old man. And the most beautiful part? Everything you don’t know about Him is already there.
As we get to know God better, we begin to imitate Him and His character. “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19) You don’t model what you don’t see. To trust Him, you have to know Him. To imitate Him, you have to know Him. When we become so fascinated with Christ and become so excited about Him, we become like Him. “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15) “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” (Ephesians 5:1)
All of us must know what the essentials are. Learn to know God together and love Him more together.
To read a recap of previous conference services, click here.
[You can view a full schedule for the rest of the conference by clicking here.]
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Missionary Update: John Mark & Judy Hatcher in France [March 2012]
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making,”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The tornadoes and storms through which many of you are going have been in the news here. We think about you and pray that the Lord will protect you from harm. This relates indirectly to one of our Bible studies this week. This study is in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The judgments on the lost world symbolized by the blowing of the 7 trumpets draw our attention to the folly of human behavior.
Many people are concerned about protecting themselves from climate changes and the effects that these might bring on them. It is debatable whether we can do much to avoid these disasters. However, anyone can avoid the greatest disaster of all by trusting Christ and being eternally saved from all physical disasters. This is something that anyone, anywhere in the world can do. Yet, few are willing to surrender to Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, our mission here, and your mission there is to bring to the attention of folks around us that Jesus is the only sure hope. May our Lord help us to do the job effectively.
I want to mention three individuals for whom I am very grateful as we study the Word of God with others. The first two are my parents who are still serving as missionaries in Brazil at 86 years old. They taught me and, by example, encouraged me to read through the Bible and then continue reading through the Bible. This lifelong practice has helped me to see God’s revelation of Himself in a more complete and well rounded fashion than what is appropriated by reading most books and theological treatises and by listening to many well known preachers. Please, do not receive this as a condemnation of books or preachers. I am simply underscoring the value of knowing God’s word thoroughly and reviewing it regularly in its full scope. Thanks, mom and dad.
The other person who has had a great influence on me in understanding God’s revelation is Edward Overbey. As my pastor during my college years, he helped me greatly to work toward a correct exegesis of biblical texts. His patient and peaceful manner provided me with an outstanding example of applying Christlike principles in my interaction with others. Thanks, brother Overbey.
All of our Bible Studies are going well. We now have ongoing studies in Colossians, Revelation, II Timothy and the Gospel of John. God continues to open doors and we do the best that we know how in sowing the good seed. Last year three people who had professed faith followed the Lord in baptism. We would like to see many more saved and baptized, but our job is to display the light of the Gospel, sow the good seed, and disciple those who trust Christ.
The Hatchers sowing seeds in France!
As a boy, I was a charter member of the first church established in the work of my father in Manaus. Three baptized in one year would have been a banner year. Now that church, which has started many other churches, baptizes 50 – 100 hundred people every month. Last month they baptized 300 newly saved folks. These are folks who are serving the Lord and being discipled. I have been there among them. They are faithful to God’s word. So, what starts small can multiply…just as the Lord taught. This encourages us to keep working and trusting God.
Thank you for participating with us in the work of the Lord. Your praying and giving is not in vain. Many of you supported the planting of that little church in Manaus.
Today, Judy and I celebrate 39 years of married life serving the Lord together. It is a wonderful life. I asked God to give me the wife He wanted me to have. He gave and I have never been sorry for asking. Judy is a wonderful gift.
Serving the Lord in France,
John and Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com
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