Life and Ministry at Home
Hello to all.
These past weeks have been very different, not to say “weird.” It has been just a little over three weeks that Brazil has called for the “stay at home” quarantine. That has not been too difficult for me since I do not go out much anymore. My life is centered around church activities, but now that this has been taken away, I have a hard time remembering what day it is! I do a lot of crafts and reading to occupy my time. I do not get to see my grandkids as much as before. I miss the hugs.
Mike and I usually start our day with a cup of coffee, sitting in our comfortable chairs in the living room. Each individually read the Bible and then we share and pray together. I enjoy this time.
We have no more flights in and out of Cruzeiro do Sul. The only way in or out of here is by road and they wanted to even shut that down. Thankfully, the federal government would not allow it. We would have been completely shut off from any kind of food supplies. We had not had any positive cases of the virus here until a couple of days ago. Hopefully it will not spread. The media here is doing as in the States, making people panic.
People have asked what my ministry here is. For the last several years, it has been taking care of Mike. That in itself is a big job!! Kidding. He tries to live his life as he did twenty or so years ago. His mind wants to do it, but his body just is not as young as it was then. Mike is still very active and it is a struggle to get him to slow down. He records several videos a week to keep our church fed spiritually. My mind and body have a hard time cooperating with each other.
Mike and I always have spent a lot of time together. At this different time in the world, we have taken advantage of watching some movies together in the evenings. He hardly ever had time to do that before. He always lets me have his new recliner to sit in. He is a nice guy.
We are praying for the presidents of Brazil and the USA. Please help pray for them both. They both have so much in common. The opposition has made both their lives very difficult.
Please continue praying for us here.
Love to all, Beverly
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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News & Reports – May 2019 Issue [Online Edition]
The Online Edition of our May 2019 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. This special edition features letters from our missionary wives in celebration of Mother’s Day!
Click here to read the BFM News & Reports – May 2019 edition!
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Prepared in Advance for What God Would Have Her Do
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
This month we missionary wives have been asked to write the letters for the mission sheets, so here I go with the many memories.
This year we will be completing 22 years in Brasil. It seems as though it was just yesterday that AJ started his campaign to convince me to go with him to be missionaries to Brasil. As many of you all have heard, in the beginning I was hard to convince, but God is faithful, and He worked on my heart. So, when AJ told me that he was going before the Church on Sunday night to tell the Church he was surrendering to be a missionary, God put these words in my mouth, “I am ready”.
I have not regretted—not once—that response. Our first place of service was in Garça, Brasil, with Odali and Kathy Barros. I helped Kathy with the children and AJ worked with Odali. There I used all the various skills that I had learned in Owsley County, Kentucky, as the daughter of Pastor H. W. Baker, who was a mission pastor. We stayed in Garça for 6 years being parents to up to 21 boys. There are many stories that could be told of those years. Needless to say, we have many children who call us Mom and Dad there in Brasil. We share that honor with their biological parents and with Odali and Kathy. Of all the boys that went through our care, some have their own businesses, some are lawyers, others are in the business world, and another is finishing his studies to become a veterinarian.
Me and some of the girls with the pillowcase dresses that the American ladies made.
Have you ever washed clothes on a wash board? I did as a teenager and again in Garça. Have you ever had to heat your water on a stove or in a big tub outside? I did as a teenager and again in Garça. Have you ever had to walk to Church? I did as a child and again in Garça. As I said before, God prepared me early for what He would be having me do later. In the words of AJ, “God is AWESOME!”
This is me with children at Jacareí.
After Garça, we moved to Jacarei, Sao Paulo, where we had plans to open another orphanage. As we worked through the paperwork, we started a mission church and there I continued to work with children. We had several families in the neighborhood who did not have transportation to get to a Church. They also had children, so I worked with them on Saturday and Sunday in Bible schools and Sunday schools. But after two years we realized that we were not going to be able to get the approval from the mayor for the orphanage, so AJ began to pray for a sign to stay or move on.
Maybe you have heard this story, but God answered these prayers with a sequester. You see, we were living on a farm way out in the country and were a target for theft. This gave AJ his answer, so we moved to Caraguatatuba. There we worked with Pastors in two churches and then we opened a new work there.
This is Matheus the young man who influenced our location for Caragua Baptist Church.
My service for the Lord continued to be with children. With the help of one of the boys from the orphanage in Garça who came to help us in Caraguatuba, we had Saturday Bible school in the homes of various members.
As we began to look for a place to open a new work, one of the children from these Saturday Bible schools, who started as a babe in arms in these Bible schools, stopped us on the streets. He stopped us on the street and said, “Mrs. Barb, when are you coming back to our neighborhood to teach us?” So, guess what that sealed our decision as to where to start our new church.
Caragua Baptist Church came to life in this young man’s neighborhood. There again my job was with children. God sent many, many children to our location and we love them all.
So my time in Brasil has been an adventure where I have sat up all night rocking a sick boy, planned a wedding for one of the boys in our care, taken in people who are down on their luck, women who have been abandoned by their husbands and grandmothers whose homes are being flooded, and counseled women in their day-to-day problems…to name a few of the things that God has let me do.
I just want to say, “Thank You, God,” for working in my heart to make me willing to go on this adventure with AJ Hensley. We serve an AWESOME God. Thank you for all these memories and we look forward to many more.
In His Service,
Barbara Hensley
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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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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My “Raison D’être”
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”
April 12, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Fussy babies, worried moms, scared friends, those with an uncertain future, those who are clueless to their need of a Savior, Bible studies with young Christians who eagerly desire to live for Christ, youth launching out into a future they hope is bright, empty nesters who, all of a sudden, wake up to realize that their home is void of what gave them purpose, children with minds waiting to soak up the teachings of the Bible, those who retire and wonder “now what?” Does this sound like the world that surrounds you? It’s the world that surrounds me!
My “raison d’être” is to share Christ in the place he has placed me, but how does that work out in my daily life, how do I prioritize, how do I keep my eyes on the goal? GOOD QUESTION!
First, by fixing my eyes on Jesus. How much does He love me? What are His plans for me? How did He interact with those around Him? What did He do when…?
As James 1:5 says, “…ask for wisdom…” Seeking God’s leading is first and foremost. Daily communication with the Father through prayer and Bible reading is necessary for my personal well-being and for being able to give wise counsel and how to share Him with people who don’t even consider that they have a need of Him.
Often “getting into people’s lives” requires making muffins, offer of babysitting, a dinner invitation, picking up mail, invitation to a church event, with the prayer of being ready to give an answer to the hope that I have. Often we stand in amazement when we are asked a question, seemingly coming from nowhere, yet knowing it is God as He does go before us. Oh how we rejoice as we see God open doors that normally would be nailed shut!
Again, you may say, “Hum your life is not much different from mine.” Yes! One difference is God has placed me here and you there for the same purpose, that His Good News of Salvation would be heard.
And, I can only be here because of your love for the Gospel and your generosity toward us. Thank you!!!! May God bless us all as we labor, each in our corner of the world.
With love from France,
Judy Hatcher
John Mark & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.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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God at Work through Each Stage of Ministry
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
Greetings to all of you who are supporters of Baptist Faith Missions. I thank God for each of you. Missions is a joint effort of us missionaries and the churches that support us financially and also pray for us.
Being on the mission field is probably not as difficult for me as it may be for most missionaries as they arrive on the field. Since I was born on the mission field, this place has always been my home.
The different kinds of ministries that we have done have been a life of experience.
The beginning was in church planting, which is always wonderful when you see souls saved. As we worked with teenagers in the missions, we saw the need to help them. That is when we started having them live in our home.
One of the first boys we helped is worship leader in his church and he is now our lawyer! There are many others that are doing well. Many of them stay in contact with us. Living in a place with over 100 people was not always the easiest thing for us as a family, but God was always present and giving us strength to keep on working. One of the things I thank God for each day is, that even though our children had to share us with so many others, they don’t have regrets. Also, they have a love for helping people in need. To God be the glory!
At the time that the children’s home was closed down, it was very hard to deal with the situation. The sensation of failure was hard to deal with. As time passed, God gave peace and comfort. To me it was like God saying, “You have reached those that I wanted here, it is time to move on.” We have moved on!! It is hard to believe that it has been five years since we moved to the Amazon. We live very near Manaus, the city where I was born. Living in the middle of the jungle has its positive points and, at the same time, some difficulties. The peace and calm we have is great. What is a problem is that you need good transportation because that is the only way to get around. All our ministries are an average of 15 miles from where we live. Needless to say, we spend lots of time on the road. For me as a pastor’s wife, I have enjoyed the new change in our ministry. Working with kids and youth in church, training teachers to help in the different ministries—that was something that I did not have time to do when we had the children’s home.
But I thank God for each stage in our ministry that we have gone through. It is wonderful to see God working each day. As I look back, I see so many ways God worked that at the time I could not see. Each day as I pray, I ask God to help me see with “His eyes”. Living in the crazy world it is easy to be blinded. I praise God for calling me to serve Him and caring for me, my life and my family. May God bless you, supporters and friends, and continue to direct our ministry.
Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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Challenges in São Paulo, God’s Faithfulness Through It All
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, 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.
São Paulo, 8 of April of 2019
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It’s with joy I write to you. God has done great things in our lives and around us. Since we arrived in São Paulo, on July 20, 2016 (almost 3 years ago), we have faced difficult challenges. But God is faithful and has given us wisdom in every step of the way. We thank you for your prayers and love demonstrated towards us in so many ways. Without you supporting our ministry, it wouldn’t be possible.
I want to share, even if in a nutshell, a little bit of our routine. When we first arrived, we were involved in starting/ministering at an English-speaking church and a Spanish-speaking church. Both were connected to a Portuguese-speaking church. Both churches were growing fast, and we were happy to be serving in that capacity. But God had other plans for us. Frustrated efforts in church plants in homes were discouraging. Through a turn of events, He redirected us to the other side of town. In the beginning, it was not easy. It was an unexpected change for all of us. There were questions in my mind at that time but never doubts about God’s faithfulness and love for us. As a wife, I learned I need to be prepared to follow my husband’s lead, and trust God. I think, this attitude of readiness (like Sarah – who had to pick up everything she had and follow her husband Abraham to a place where she did not know) was for me, the most difficult challenge as a missionary.
In August, we complete one year since the move. With God’s grace, we started two new churches. One meets on Saturdays – Hope Church. We have children’s church at 4:30 pm (they live in a very poor community, and they come by themselves bringing along their baby siblings; their ages average from 1-year-old to 13), and at 6:30 pm we have an open service to reach mainly adults. Another church meets on Sundays – Imagine Baptist Church. We have an English service at 5:00 pm and a Portuguese service at 6:30 pm. This church is an urbanized, more middle-class neighborhood. Jud is also mentoring a team of leaders from another Baptist church during the week (it is part of the network of churches Jud has started in São Paulo). But I stay home during the week. It is a tremendous joy to have the privilege to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to little ones, young and old. It’s an honor to serve Him.
Our children are very involved in both ministries – Hope and Imagine. They help us with children’s ministry on Saturdays, and in different ways on Sundays. It is priceless to see our daughters and son involved in church planting. I know the seed will grow in their hearts and be fruitful. They are a blessing to us. Sarah just turned 14 years old. Laura will be 13 in July, Benjamin is 11, and Melissa is 7 years old. They are attending an American Christian School. We are very happy. When we came to São Paulo, we brought material for me to home school them. Well, it didn’t work. So, they went to a public secular school. It was a mistake. Finally, we took a huge step of faith, and we registered them at Pan American Christian Academy, a well-known school for its strong biblical foundation and Christian worldview. They follow the US school calendar. With so many school changes, our kids had to adjust to the new school, which follows both curriculums: American and Brazilian. In other words, they have more disciplines in order to get both diplomas when they graduate. And 90% of their classes are in English.
During the week, I volunteer a few hours a week at our kids’ school. I also help families as a psychologist during the week. Next month, I’ll be guest speaking at a meeting for people who are thinking about becoming foster care parents, and families that already have a child under their care. This event is led by a Christian organization which has several ministry fronts in São Paulo. I also participate in a weekly, small group Bible study. It’s a blessing to study the Word of God with sisters in Christ. We are doing True Woman 201 – Interior Design – Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend.
There are so many other things I could share, but I need to save it for another opportunity. So, I will end with prayer requests:
1. For our ministries – that people can be saved
2. For our children – spiritual growth and studies
3. Our health, but especially for Laura who had her left eardrum ruptured and lost 90% of her hearing (the doctor in Brazil declared it as permanent hearing loss).
We are so thankful for each one of you. May God bless you with His spiritual blessings.
In Christ’s love,
Raquel Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 544-9040
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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Amazing Opportunity to Reach the Lost
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
Greetings from Kenya!
As I sit here typing this letter, the girls are at an art class they are taking during a break from school. We are so thankful another local ministry is providing this class for kids. The girls are enjoying it immensely and they have the opportunity to be around other kids. Breaks from school are difficult for kids here, as there are limited options of activities for them. Our school follows the Kenyan school calendar, which runs from Jan-Nov. The students are in classes for 3 months, then have 1 month off. We like the schedule as the kids retain more information and are less likely to need much refreshers at the start of the new terms.
Speaking of school calendars, we are so excited the girls have a school to attend now. Julie Tate, along with myself, and 4 Kenyan parents (directors) have seen the need for our community to have a Christian school for the children. We currently have 10 students enrolled, including our girls and a Hindu student. The school is such an amazing opportunity to reach the Hindu and Muslim population in our area. Not only do the students have a dedicated Bible class, but all their regular classes have Biblical principles woven into them. We are using a combination of Bob Jones University curriculum with Mystery of History and Math-U-See. All the students have enjoyed the year thus far and are anxious for classes to resume. As a mother, I am so happy to see our daughters thriving and enjoying their new friendships with kids in the Kenyan culture.
We are also very excited about a new family who is planning to move to our area sometime in June or July. There are 4 children in the family, including 2 girls close in age to our girls. McKenna and Cami haven’t had American girls here their ages, so this is a huge answer to prayer for them. We are praying for the family and their upcoming adjustments.
Speaking of prayer, a request we have as a family is for homesickness. The girls have been especially homesick lately, and it’s hard as a parent to see this. We want so badly for them to be happy, but we also recognize that God is able to work through the sadness and is teaching them things that will benefit them in the long term. School definitely helps as it keeps them busier and they are around kids, but still, they miss their family in the States. They don’t always understand why we are serving here in Kenya, so please pray for us as we lead and teach them.
As I close this letter, the sun is shining and the heat is rising. Kenya is in a bit of an emergency due to drought conditions. Please pray for rain and temperatures to cool soon. The farmers desperately need the rain for their crops and food prices are rising for everyone.
May the Lord bless each of you as you serve Him in the States. Thank you so much for all the prayers and encouragement you offer to us. We appreciate you all!
In Christ,
Carrie Radford
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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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Going Back in Time
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.
I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I came to Brazil in June of 1971. I tell everyone that I went back 50 years in time when I arrived in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre. I grew up with running water, indoor bathroom, hot water from the faucet, buying almost anything needed, electricity 24 hours, etc. I came to a town with no running water, no hot water, and electricity only in the middle of town at night for a few hours. To buy most anything, it was a hassle, especially meat.
The first few years were pretty difficult, Mike traveled a lot. I knew very little Portuguese. We walked in a lot of mud those first several years! God knew I would need my first born, Adam, to occupy my time. Today much has changed. We have very nice supermarkets, 24-hour electricity (most of the time), and paved roads, even though they are full of holes! We have internet and cell phones.
When it came time for my kids to go to public school, for a while it was fine. After they started insisting that the students bring items for the saint’s holiday, that began our search for a way to home school them. Thankfully a church in Missouri bought the books for this to happen. All of my children homeschooled then went on to get their GED or equivalent and further education. Their social life was at church. Most of their friends were from church. That’s a very important detail.
Adam is an IT manager in the California court system. He has two grown daughters. Monica is manager of a law firm in Lexington and has a young daughter. Andrew started and owns a boat factory, but because of the poor economy, he is also a shop manager of a regional airline. He has two daughters and two sons. Crissy has her own English school and is married to one of our pastors. She has three sons and one daughter. Andrew and Crissy live across the street from us and I usually get visits from my grandkids once a day!
I wasn’t able to go with Mike on his river trips while our children were at home and at school. Now that they are out and on their own, I am able to go with Mike on a few trips. My arthritis limits my activities. Now on most of his longer river trips men go with him. My most important job now is supporting him and caring for his needs.
I cannot see Mike retiring. He doesn’t know how to stop! If he doesn’t retire, I guess neither do I.
Keep us in your prayers,
Beverly
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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