Transforming the Outreach Strategy

Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.

Dear Friends,

October 29, 2020

We are finishing up a great month of ministries! Our in-person attendance at our worship services has reached 95% pre-COVID numbers and our youth ministry is actually larger than it was before.

As I mentioned in my last report, our traveling evangelistic team has had to completely transform its strategy of outreach. Our public schools continue to remain closed to in-person classes, which was/is our principal venue for taking the gospel to the unreached. Brazil’s school year begins in February and ends in December, so most likely, there will be no return to classes until next year. We did discover other means and locations to minister, though.

This month we worked in partnership with a ministry that feeds the homeless. Because of the virus quarantine, many people lost their jobs. Some of those were people who were already struggling to make ends meet and, especially, to pay their rent. Many of those were forced to move out of their homes and ended up on the streets or under bypasses. Through the homeless population grapevine, these folks hear of where they can get a hot meal and some shoes, clothing and blankets. We have been going out regularly to some strategic points to meet, speak with and help as many of these people as we can. In every situation, our teams seek to share the love of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Lord has blessed by bringing many to Christ as Lord and Savior. Also, those members of our teams who minister the word are greatly blessed to see God use them and they come away even more grateful for the blessings that the Lord has poured out on them.

For many years we have had teams come from churches in the USA to partner with us in evangelism. In all of these opportunities I have sought to locate local English speakers to assist in translating for these non-Portuguese speaking volunteers. Two former volunteers had moved to the state of São Paulo, about a 6 hours’ drive from our city. They had asked their pastor if he would allow them to begin a worship service in English at their church following their regular Portuguese speaking service. He agreed and they began right around the beginning of the COVID outbreak. They continued the services, but were required to do everything through a live-feed video and not with a congregation present. The two volunteers who had met with and worked with me a few years back contacted me to invite me to go to their town and preach in English for one of their live broadcasts. It has been quite some time since I last preached in English, but I am always open to the opportunity to preach God’s word, whatever the occasion. Charlene and I drove there on a Saturday, spent the night, I preached on Sunday around noon and we immediately returned to our own church in time for the evening service. It was a neat adventure and we heard that that broadcast service reaches an audience of over 1000 people in several different countries. We are thankful to the Lord for this privilege to preach His word and share His love. 

We pray that He’ll continue to use us for His glory and to give us wisdom and insight on ways to be faithful despite the strange times we are living in. We thank you for your faithful prayers and support for us.

In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser

Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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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A Day of Worship & Fellowship!

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.

March 31, 2017

Dear Brother and Sisters,

We praise God for each of you and pray all is well with each of you. Thank you for your love, prayers and support! You are an important part of our ministry.

Things are doing great here. God has blessed the ministry. We have had many visitors coming. Most of them have been reached through the youth ministry. Our house is always filled with youth. On weekends, we have several that come and stay and during the week many come to play volleyball. Since most of them come from homes that are not saved, they enjoy being here at our house with other kids from church. It is a blessing to see them grow each day. Pray for them and for us that we can continue to help them grow spiritually each day. Next month the youth are going to have a special supper for their parents. The idea is to bring their parents to visit the church in an informal way, to see where their children are coming and what they do.

The last Sunday of the month we had a special day. When we have baptism, we make it an all-day celebration. We gather all the mission points and start the day at 9:00 am and go to 4:00 pm. We eat, have fellowship time, then eat lunch, then have service and baptism. Then we fellowship some more. It is a great day. Since the missions are not close to each other, we make baptism day a very special day. This time we had 7 baptized and after the service, 3 received Jesus as Savior. What a wonderful and blessed day!

In Christ,
Odali and Kathy

Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Progress in the Village of Gama, Praying for Permanent Missionary

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.

October 12, 2016

Dear Brethren,

Well it has been a while. Bev and I took a month off for a much needed vacation. We just arrived back from the States. This time we went through Peru to catch our flight out of Lima. Now that many of our flights in Brazil have been cancelled due to the economy it was closer and cheaper to go through Peru. Part of this trip was by car from Rio Branco to Puerto Maldonado, Peru. A nice adventure overall. I like Peru and the lovely people there. Great visit with family, friends and churches in the US. Would have been nice to see many more of you, but time was short.

Before the trip Stateside I made a last minute visit to one of our newest mission points. Gama is in the state of Amazonas. It is on a tributary of the Boa Fé River (Good Faith River). To get there by river is a long hard trip. Down the Juruá River for almost a day, then up the Boa Fé for a day to the Generoso creek. Only a couple more hours up this small stream sits the village of Gama. There are over 300 people living there. However, now there is a dirt road through the jungle that is open in the dry season. That is how I went this time. It is “only” 30 miles from Cruzeiro do Sul by road. I have never been on this so called road in the rainy season and can only imagine the mess. It is all red clay and sand, with many stream crossings.

We have taken our doctors and dentists there twice now. Our evangelists make regular visits. Zico (our missions director) managed to locate and purchase a nice big lot to put up our first building there. While I was there we laid out the plot. While I was in the States some of our bricklayers went up with Zico to dig the foundations and start laying brick. Zico has been great with all the work, but it is outstanding to see how he gets and keeps things rolling even when I am away. I don’t even know how he raised the money to start the building! Since we are on the subject, if you would like to chip in with a little extra offering, make your self right at home. We still don’t have the permanent missionary for this new field, but are praying that the Lord will raise up one soon.

Also, while we were away the church here continued to grow. 25 new members were added by baptism in September. I preached this last Sunday to a packed house. There were two young women who had been saved for a while, but not yet baptized that presented themselves. We also took up the first of a couple special offerings for our next big building project. More about that later.

Our youth have had to spit up into different age groups. We have a big group 12 through 14. The middle bunch is the biggest. They are 15 through 24. (This works in our town, for now, but must sound like a strange grouping to you in the States). The newest group is singles from 25 years old and up. They just had their first retreat with 25 at Camp Salem.

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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