Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [February 2015]
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 10, 2015
Dear Brethren,
The year is 41 days old and we have had 38 days of rain. Fortunately it hasn’t hurt our crowds too much. Many people have been put out of their homes and there have been a few deaths because of the flooding across the state. We are concerned about having supplies cut off again this year. Even though there has been so much rain our attendance was actually up for January. We added three new families by letter and have had a few professions of faith.
February 1st was homecoming. There were 637 for the morning service and meal. We had our “almost like” faith promise pledge, too. This should bring in an extra $4,000.00 per month for our extra outreach programs.
I know you would rather hear just uplifting news, but…..This month I had to fire the guy who has worked with me in all the construction projects over the last 5 years. He was slacking and also playing loose with the truth. Then a week later I had to fire the man who has been my traveling buddy for the past 7 or 8 years. There were a bunch of little things that he has not corrected in his life. I had been warning him for years, literally. Then recently there were problems with the occasional beer and sex. These have not been easy things to handle.
There have been a bunch of other situations, just as tense, that I have been dealing with for weeks on end. Also, with the expansions of the programs at church, the workload has increased a ton. Yesterday I got up at 6:00AM and started my Bible reading. Before I finished even a chapter I fell asleep in my chair. Bev has a lady from church that helps her a couple of days a week with the cleaning. When she arrived at 8 o’clock and saw me asleep in my chair she was alarmed and sure something really bad had happened. The only times she has ever seen me that way was when I broke 4 ribs and the last time I had malaria. Well I’m not sick, but I slept until 10:00AM then fell asleep again after lunch and slept another 3 hours. During my morning nap I even had a dream. I was standing in a room surrounded by people who needed my attention and instructions, but I was just standing there, sound asleep! So I guess that counts as double the rest. I was asleep in my sleep. This will all pass soon, I hope. I think we have turned the corner on the wave of unusual problems that we have had to deal with. Just keep praying. Good news is coming soon.
In his 49 years of ministry, Bro. Mike Creiglow has been through at least 3 accordions!
To put the smile back on your face I am sending a picture of me making noise with the accordion during the homecoming service. By the way, on January 29th I celebrated my 49th year in the ministry and an accordion has been right there with me all the way. The accordions have had to be replaced at least 3 times. One of these days I will have to be replaced, too!
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
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [January 2015]
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, 2015
Dear Brethren,
December was one crazy month. Every year the program that the church provides at Christmas time keeps growing and getting more complex. We manage to keep all the other programs running right up close to time for the presentations. This year we had one more night – six in all. We put out 4,000 less printed invitations. We had rain on 5 of the 6 nights, but the building was packed out every night. There was much more media coverage this year. It has become a fixture in Cruzeiro do Sul.
We don’t permit our members to be in the auditorium. They have to watch on a big screen on the third floor terrace of the annex. Many visitors ended up on the terrace, too! We also have many, many visitors from other Baptist churches and from other denominations. It would be nice if these folks would stay home and leave more room for lost visitors. There are hundreds that cannot get in and turn around and go home. We urgently need to do something to remedy that. It is in the works, but not in reach just yet. Please pray that we will be able to expand.
There were over 350 of our members involved in the program. There are 2 choirs, adult and children’s. There are all the actors and all the huge team that is back stage. We have black light and shadow presentations that help tell the story.
Every year my daughter Crissy creates an original story that goes back and forth between present and past to tell the story of Christ’s birth, life, death, burial and resurrection. We have to build an extension to our stage, extra screens, more curtains, a motorized rotating section on one end of the stage, special lighting, sound and all the props. Practice starts in the middle of the year. It is a lot of hard work. The thing is that we get the gospel to hundreds of folks who have never really heard. Now some of these are very religious folks (priests and nuns) and know the story of Christ’s birth, but they have never really heard the gospel. One year the governor was even present.
This year there were 7 people saved. All of the work and dedication is worthwhile.
The first services of 2015 have been really good. The building has been full for every service. There were 5 saved the first Sunday and 2 more last Sunday.
We are still working through some disciplinary problems, but God is blessing our efforts to get things cleaned up. Besides the professions of faith of the past 2 weeks, we have had members confessing sin. Some more of the recently saved have requested baptism. We also have more folks joining by letter. In fact, whole families are coming our way. Pray with us that we will be able to get things cleaned up and running as He wants it to be run, soon. I have had many sleepless and tearful nights of late. There has been a lot more fasting and praying. I need your prayers, too.
I have made some more visits to our works in the interior, but more about that at another time.
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
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [December 2014]
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.
December 9, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Although I have been to several places over the past few weeks, I think I will concentrate on my last trip up the Juruá River. Let’s start out with some background.
In January 1966 the Lord called me to be a missionary. It was and has always been clear that I was to work right here in western Brazil. At the time I was only 17. On a Sunday night I made the call known to the church. On Tuesday night I preached my first sermon. Just after I turned 18 I went off to seminary in Manaus. Twice a year I would come back to Cruzeiro do Sul during school breaks. The first break I built a little wooden boat and Dad loaned me one of his motors. My first river trip was that same year and was to places beyond where Dad had been working in those first years of his ministry here.
At the time, there was a little church at a place called Campo de Santana. Dad visited them regularly. The next major village up stream is Vitória. This was my first stop on that first trip.
The full moon coming up over the Juruá river just before time for services to start.
The house that I stayed at belonged to Henrique Linhares. He was a first generation descendent of the northeasterners who came here for the rubber boom in the early 20th century. He was born at Vitória and at age 57 had never been to Cruzeiro do Sul. His wife, Dona Bastinha, (Little Sebastiana) was the local midwife. They lived in a big house made of bark floors and walls with a thatched roof.
There were no Christians (saved folks) on the entire Juruá River from that village upstream. I preached in Seu Henrique’s home twice a year from 1966 until 1978, the year I became pastor at First Baptist Church. I started preaching there 48 years ago. I played the accordion, sang hymns, prayed and preached the gospel to them for years sitting on a crude stool. The services were lit by little open flame kerosene lights. The whole village would come. Not a soul was ever saved.
In the mid 90’s we sent our first missionary to Porto Walter, which is about a hour downstream from Vitória in my fastest boat. We encouraged Mário to keep up preaching points at Campo de Santana and Vitória. A few people were saved. Then 6 years ago we sent Alexandre to Porto Walter, as Mário had moved to Cruzeiro do Sul. He sped up the pace of work at both villages. This year he led the little congregation to saw lumber and build their first building.
The new building at Vitória from the outside.
Last weekend I was there to dedicate the new building. What a difference from way back when. All the houses in the village, which has grown a lot, are made with nice sawed lumber and covered with aluminum roofing. The government put in a dirt road from Porto Walter and strung up electric through the jungle. As I stood in front of the building waiting for them to open up and turn on the lights I had a strange experience. Looking up stream and downstream there were strings of lights from LED flashlights and cell phones as people coming to church lit the paths along banks of the river. How different and strange from years ago. There were over 200 present for services on Saturday and Sunday. I preached about the timing of salvation, for obvious reasons. There were 2 people saved! What a thrill.
The new building at Vitória packed on the inside. Notice the kids sitting on the floor…they were very well behaved!
Some of the young Christians there are Sr. Henrique’s grandchildren. Some of them remember the services I held there. One of them came to me Sunday night and said. “I understand you clearly now, but back then I didn’t.” His thought was that my Portuguese has improved, but it hasn’t really. I explained to him that back then he understood the words, but not the message. Today he understands because of the Holy Spirit who opens eyes and hearts. What a comfort. What a victory at Vitória after all these years.
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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [November 2014]
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, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Hello from under water Cruzeiro do Sul. We have had more rain in November than I can ever remember. The Tarauacá River is already out of its banks with hundreds of people driven from their homes. Even the Juruá River, which is much bigger, is almost to the top of the bank.
Speaking of under water and banks, let’s use the same words for different things. Brazil’s banks are making record amounts of money, but Brazil is “under water”. We are officially in a recession. Cruzeiro do Sul is really in trouble. Our inflation is always 3 times higher than the rest of the country. Last month our church was over $4,000.00 in the red in a budget of $20,000.00. We have 9 missionary families to support besides a few other staff members. Since my return to Brazil after a month’s vacation in the US, we have been able to recover much of the loss. We have 2 new missionaries to send though. I know many of you are going through much the same thing, so that will help you as you pray for us.
We are also having some tough times in our struggles with sin. The wife of one of our chapel pastors fell into adultery and she has not told him yet. One of our single missionaries has fallen into fornication with a lost friend who is now pregnant. We are dealing with other similar cases inside the home church. This has hit us as a wave. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Our missionary at Foz do Breu has decided to resign and become the associate pastor at Thaumaturgo. Pray for a replacement. This is a strategic, very important field right on the border with Peru. One of our Brazilian missionaries, José Maia, who we sent to Peru had his work visa cancelled and is in a huge battle to try to get a permanent visa.
Now, after all the gloom and doom, let me finish with some good news. This month I visited Cruzeirinho. They are growing steadily. They have moved their old wooden building up on the hillside and are building a new brick one. They already have the foundations, slab and some of the walls up. I started this building just before vacation. Porto Walter has finished their foundations and they are gearing up to pour the slab. I started this building program in late August. The work there is also growing. They have been caring for one of our congregations further up river at Vitória. They had been meeting in the school. They just put up a big wooden building and it is already under roof. I was supposed to raise the money for the roofing, but they did it on their own!
Last week we held a Family Workshop and couple’s retreat. At one stretch during those 5 days we had 48 hours of nonstop torrential rain. We still had good turnout. Besides the camp team, there were 42 couples at Salém (our camp).
Then a couple of weeks ago I presented and dedicated my youngest grandson at church. Devin is Andrew and Eline’s fourth child. He is 3 months old today.
Then to cap off the good news I got a call a few days ago from a brother in Rio Branco who decided to donate a brand new state of the art sound system to the church. He bought it at Brazil’s biggest technology fair in São Paulo. It is the most modern system in the world. He put the pile of boxes on a truck and sent a technician by plane to help us do the install. The tech, a half dozen of my guys and I took all day Friday and Saturday to tear out all of the old system and do a complete install from the ground up. I was skeptical about all they said it would do, but it works as billed!
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Please take some extra time to pray for me as I deal with the huge problems and challenges we are facing. 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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [September 2014]
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.
September 12, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Hello from the…….States! Right now Bev and I are on a short vacation in the States. So I am writing this from the mission house in Lexington, Kentucky. But before this could happen we had a lot to happen in Brazil.
The week before we left home I had several short mission trips to make.
The river is very low and the summer (dry season) is in full swing. Manuel and I headed 100 miles up river to Porto Walter to visit our congregation there and start the construction of their new building. It took us 9 hours in one of our aluminum canoes. Not bad for as low as the river is. We started laying out the position of the foundations and doing some digging the same day and worked into the night. The next day we managed to get a backhoe to do the biggest job on the lot. We managed to square up and level everything to begin the actual foundations. I just talked to Hudson and Manuel and they are up there, as I write, working on the footers.
The same week we went across river to Miritizal to build the first truss for that new work. We had plenty of help from the members so it went pretty quickly. Just yesterday they sent me a picture of what they have done. They have the building under roof. This is the way I like to see things happen. I gave them a little help, instructed them on how to proceed and the task is finished while I rest up here in the US!
The weekend before leaving Cruzeiro do Sul I was able to visit our missionary Rivaldo at Nova Cintra. Most of the year I would go there by river, but in the dry season it can be reached by a narrow dirt road. They are in a brand new building and had over 200 people inside and almost that many that couldn’t get in. They are doing really great. One woman made a profession of faith on Saturday night.
On Tuesday, August 26th, Bev and I went to Manaus for our conference at Nova Igreja Batista. David Hatcher is pastor and has done a super job with this training/fellowship conference that happens every 2 years. There were pastors and leaders from 13 states, 5 countries and 39 different cities. We had over 30 from our home town. Unfortunately for me I took the flu along for the ride. I was able to go to the opening banquet and the last service. By Saturday night I was able to preach. There were over 3000 present. Bev and I went from church straight to the airport to catch our flight to the States.
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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [August 2014]
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.
August 13, 2014
Dear Brethren,
This month I spent 2 weeks on a motorcycle trip leaving Brazil and visiting Peru, Bolivia and Chile. This was for adventure, but the Kingdom is ever present. One of the things I wanted to do in Chile was buy a new computer at the Free Zone in Iquiqui. Baptist churches are not as prevalent or visible as in Brazil. The Andean culture is ancient and dominant. Very different from what I am used to here in Brazil. Nevertheless, while in Puno (city on the shores of Lake Titicaca) I met a great Baptist named Henry. He was saved at age 20 and is a member of a Baptist church of about 200 members. He teaches a Bible class 3 times a week. He went to Copacabana, Bolivia with us. There are no more American missionaries in Bolivia, or so I was told. The president there hates all Americans. Henry says that many Bolivians are being saved in spite of the persecution by the president who he described as “tonto” or CRAZY! My good friend Sherman Smith was along for this trip and we almost got caught in “no man’s land” for Americans on the border between Bolivia and Peru. It was tense. I won’t be going back to Bolivia any time soon. Anyway we traveled 3500 miles through the Andes. Much of the trip was at 15,000 feet. One mountain pass was 16,000 feet. The winds were violent. We were in temps at or below 0º much of the time. We stayed one night at a little town called Macusani which is almost 16,000 feet. There was no heat in the rooms and no water in the communal bathroom. Most of our guys were fainting, vomiting, dizzy and out of breath. I was fine. Like I said: adventure!
We had a good month here at church. There was another baptism with 26 new members. Last weekend we had 3 days of special services. The main feature was the tenth anniversary of our theatre group. Each night they presented a play which they created around a pirate theme. The message was about the true treasure of salvation in Christ. There were 9 people saved just this weekend and 5 more requests for baptism.
The five pastors of First Baptist Church have been busy working with our chapels and chapel pastors. At the beginning of this year we allowed our chapels to have Sunday evening services. For a short time this put a dent in our attendance at the mother church. Now it looks like we have already grown back the ones who now attend the chapel services. Sunday night we were at capacity again. This past weekend the Catholic church had their biggest festivity of the year, but had no impact on our attendance.
Zico, our missions director, took Idevaldo and wife to visit the town of Jordão on the upper reaches of the Tarauacá River. They are our newest missionary couple and we will be sending them to the field later this year. The church has already approved them and put them on full time salary.
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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [July 2014]
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.
July 10, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Bev and I went back to Pé da Terra for a few days of training with the church there. We are trying to help them with their financial teaching and management. There were over 50 members present for the 4 lessons I taught during 4 nights.
We had another baptism at First Baptist this month. I baptized another 32 new members. That has been right at the average all this year. Attendance has been a little below average for the month. That is to be expected during the World Cup. The consolation game is coming up on Saturday. Brazil will be playing after being humiliated by Germany in the worst match in World Cup history. All that to say that spirits are generally at a low ebb in Brazil, but we still have a lot of good news about the Good News.
Our annual missions conference was a huge success. We had very big crowds for all meetings. We even had 3 more professions of faith and 2 more requests for baptism, even though no invitation was given. Five more were baptized, too. We had the usual 100+ present for the annual pastors and missionaries’ meeting. Also during the conference we had a special business meeting to approve Idevaldo and family as our newest missionaries and to approve his being put on payroll, full time beginning August 1st. Zico will be taking them to visit the field at Jordão on July 21st. We hope to move them there by October or November.
It was my privilege to participate in the organization of our newest Baptist church. Three of our churches in the western region past Cruzeiro do Sul started a work at Japãozinho. The name of the place is “Little Japan” although there are no Japanese within several thousand miles! The churches at Mourapiranga, Pentecostes and Assis Brasil cooperated to begin the preaching point 16 years ago. The new church adopted the name Igreja Batista Elohim and starts out with 25 charter members. They already have a beautiful new building. Their pastor, who has already been working with them for 12 years is Pedro Mariano. Most importantly they are already participating in mission projects. Authority was granted by First Baptist Church of Assis Brasil.
I visited our chapels at Cruzeirinho and Centrinho. Centrinho has just finished putting up a little wood frame building. Cruzeirinho has moved their wooden building to the back of the lot and is getting ready to build a nice big brick building on the front of the lot. All of our chapels are growing at a steady pace. We now have 7 chapels placed strategically around town. Last year we had only 4. Our youngest is Cruzeirão and is meeting on a rented lot, but we are looking for property. One more is to open soon out near our house on the north side of town. We have property and 2 workers being prepared right now.
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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [June 2014]
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.
June 12, 2014
Today is a big deal any way you look at it. Today is “Valentines Day” in Brazil. Today is the opening game of the World Cup soccer tournament, which is being held in Brazil. The tournament returns to Brazil after our loss in the final match in 1950. The really big deal today though, is that Bev and I have now been married for 44 years! Time flies when you are having fun and boy are we having fun.
Last month I made 2 river trips and 2 road trips visiting our works in the interior. The first trip was to preach a couple of times at Pé da Terra. The church there has really picked up since Aésio took over as pastor. This church is on the road to Mâncio Lima. They are having an attendance over 100 in a very rural setting.
Bro. Creiglow and Pastor Alexandre with floor plans for the new building at Port Walter on the upper Juruá River.
The next trip was up the Juruá River to work with the congregation there on their plans to build a new building. Their old wooden building is shot. They have such crowds that the floor is starting to sag. Even so they are going to shore it up and add another 12 feet to the length of it until they can get the ball rolling on their new facilities. We came to the consensus that they should build a 2 story brick building with 8 classrooms and other rooms on the lower floor and the second floor will be their new auditorium. They will have access to the auditorium directly from street level via a ramp, since the property is on a slope. Upon my return home I drew up the floor plans and virtual views. Last week I took those up to present and explain to the congregation. I have included a picture with Pastor Alexandre and me holding up one of the sets of drawings. They don’t have much money, but they are excited.
PMy next visit was to Santa Rosa. They called one of our guys from First Baptist to be their new pastor. They had been without a pastor for a few months and we had been helping them by sending someone every weekend and sometimes during the week, too. They called Alquimar, nicknamed “Guima”. He and his wife, Isabel, have a little boy called Douglas. Their building is very nice and even has AC! It was packed for the Sunday night service when we officially “installed” him in the pulpit.
Somewhere in there Hudson and I made it back to the mountains on the Moa River. There was still quite a bit of water in the river, so the trip was long but a breeze. We didn’t even get rained on! We had the congregations from República and Serra together for the weekend. On Sunday morning we held a baptism and 14 were baptized.
Last week Hudson and I went all the way back up the Juruá River to the Peruvian border where we gathered 4 of our missionaries and had a 3 day visit with our congregation, too. The river is now very low. We went in my 16’ shallow water boat with 25HP outboard. We managed to get there with the prop drive. However I took the jet drive, just in case. Well it was the case. The river went down another 12 to 18 inches during the days we were there. On Sunday afternoon it took us a couple of hours to switch out the prop drive for the jet pump. We got it all checked out and tested before the last service that evening. We got up at 4 something in the morning and were already on the river by 5:00AM. It was still pitch dark, but that is not a problem for the jet drive as long as you can keep the boat between the river banks. It took us 15 hours to come down stream. It is over 455Km (284 miles) from the border to Cruzeiro do Sul. After we got past the last set of rapids we stopped and switched back to the prop drive. It took us only 28 minutes to make the swap. Otherwise we would have been on the river for 18 hours. By 8:00PM I had the boat out of the water. That was an ordeal, which I am trying to forget. We still have no boat ramp in the largest city on the Juruá River! Beverly was waiting to make me some supper after the 24 hour fast.
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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