Category Archives: Uncategorized

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River Church

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Clenildo tells stories that the river people can identify with. Many times God has directly answered prayers to calm storms, give him fish, one time he and Athila caught a deer with their hands. People around there could not believe it. As Clenildo shared stories about how God wants relationship with people, He wants our friendship and He is a living God, the people respond. Leading people to give their lives to God is one thing. Making disciples is a much longer and more involved process. We travelled to two river villages, Cruerá is overseen by the church in Souzel, and Tomandoá by the church in Vitoria.

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Three Ordinations

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We ordain people for one year. We call this giving them a “license” to pastor. If all goes well, we ordain them for another year. Another “license”. If all goes well, we ordain them permanently.

We had three ordinations at this InterVinha Conference in July. Three “licenses” to pastor for a year. They all are taking existing churches, while the existing senior pastors are moving on retraining or, in Clenildo and Angelita’s case, to be freer to help all the churches.

I trust that those they lead will make their work a joy! May God give them vision, grace, patience, perseverance, and everything else they need to equip the saints!

These three couples are:

Athila and Elke (sp?): Central Church in Altamira
Leão and Edna: Gurupá
Jefferson and Simone: Mutirão Church


Never be in a hurry about appointing a church leader. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. 1 Timothy 5:22 NLT

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Hebrews 13:17 NIV


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Clenildo and Angelita

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At the InterVinha Conference Clenildo and Angelita were blessed to be supervisors, freer to travel and encourage the leaders here in Northern Brasil, and to help new regions open up. They were the founding and senior pastors of Central Church. They have now passed this responsibility over to Athila and Elqui (sp?). May this be a great blessing to all involved, and my God’s Kingdom advance rapidly.

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Danny Meyer

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Danny Meyer brought a team to come and help us during our first year in Brazil. Since then he has come back once or twice every year, and became a mentor to me, and to our team. Things got even better when his wife Penny started to come. Last year they sent their son Christopher to Altamira as a full-time missionary.
One of Danny’s main messages throughout the years is: “Pace yourselves. Take one rest day per week. This is a marathon, not a sprint.” I know I speak for all our Brazilian and foreign team when I say that we are so grateful that God sent Danny and Penny to help us along the way.
“Thank you Danny and Penny.”
These photos were all taken at the July InterVinha Conference in Altamira. Translating for Danny in these photos is Denise, Clenildo and Angelita’s daughter.

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Macacheira

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“Would you like to come and get some macacheira with me?” I was walking by Clenildo during the InterVinha Conference. It was still before breakfast. Clenildo drove me out to his chacara, and pulled up some small trees. The roots of these trees kind of grow like potatoes. You can boil them, fry them and bake with them. They are easy to replant. You just put one of the branches back into the hole you pulled the tree out of, and it will be ready again in a few months. Clenildo also showed me banana and papaya trees that were bearing fruit, and lots of fruit trees that are still very young. “Thanks for coming out here with me. Life is a lot more fun when you can show friends what you are doing.”
Clenildo is the main pastor of this movement here in the Northern Brasil, and greatly loved. 
The cooks prepared the macacheira as part of the lunch for the 200 + conference participants.

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Zezinho

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I took Zezinho to the bus yesterday. He is moving to Mato Grosso, another state a few thousand kms away. Zezinho has been with us since we met under the mango tree here in Marabá. He gave his heart to Jesus during our first Cristovál event, in February 2009. He was 14 years old. Soon after he started to learn to play the drums, and joined the newly formed Vinha Worship Team, under Annika’s leadership. (Annika was 16). He has been at it ever since. For his last night in Marabá the worship team got together, set everything up, and played worship songs all evening.
Zezinho writes things on his Facebook like (and I am translating loosely) “Everything was set up for me to go bad, but God found me and changed my story,” and “God must have a lot of patience. He is still working on me. kkkkkk (the “k”s are Facebook laughing, in Portuguese)”.
Zezinho is a good example of “Centered Set” Christianity. “Bounded Set” thinking means you are either in, or you are out, based on whatever set of rules your group thinks are important. “Centered Set” says you are in if you are heading towards God. The direction of your heart is more important than your haircut, for example. Some people are born into “good” families. Maybe they are only a -10 away in their behaviour and appearance. Other people are born into more challenging situations. Maybe they are a -200 in what they think is normal, compared to what the Bible teaches us. Let’s say they both grow at the same rate. After a year the first person will be a -5, the second person will be a -100. Who grew the most?
About four years ago Zezinho’s dad moved out of their home. “Too much violence and drugs.” He moved across the river from us, and still comes over to watch a soccer game here at the church on the occasional Saturday. About three years ago Zezinho’s brother-in-law’s brother started coming to our Pre-Encounter meetings. We were all very happy. Then he got shot, and ended up in intensive care at the hospital. Zezinho’s sister’s husband decided, “I will take my brother’s place and go to this Encounter meeting, since my brother is in the hospital.” During the retreat week-end he told me, in all sincerity, “This has been the best week-end of my life. I can rest in the afternoon. I don’t have to worry if someone is going to come in my house and kill me.” During the Encounter week-end, his brother died in the hospital. A few weeks later the killers came after him. He narrowly escaped a round of bullets by jumping over a wall. I remember the brother-in-law’s mom was screaming and waving in front of the gunman shooting at her son. She only had two sons, and one was already in the ground. Both boys were in their mid-twenties. Zezinho’s sister and brother-in-law left town and have not come back.
In September 2010 Zezinho’s mom told me she was going to move into the house right by the front gate of our church. “It will be safer for me and my family. And I love the church.” She never did move. In November she was killed. Five bullets. Zezinho, of course, was in shock. He moved onto our church property. Ivanildo and Monica took him in a cared for him like he was their son. They helped him keep going to high school. They got him a job installing TV satellite dishes.
This is a small part of Zezinho’s story. He is moving to another town to visit his sisters. We hear they are now Christians. May God bless Zezinho with a good church that he loves, and with some good friends who will help him along the Way.
“Friends That Are Closer Than Brothers”

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Watermelon Cake

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The girls are enjoying their summer holidays. Bella has been done school for a couple of weeks, and Emma wrote her last final on Thursday. Pre-Calc 11. And she pulled off an A for the year! She worked really hard for this A, and we are very proud of her.

On Saturday the girls made a watermelon cake, and then they invited some friends over and lived the fancy life for awhile. Big smiles all around.

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TransAmazon Dust

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The TransAmazon Highway is now mostly clouds of billowing dust, with
patches of ashfalt. There are long stretches when I have to keep my
eyes glued to the shoulder, where I can see a dim outline of the
direction the road. When we break onto the paved parts of the road it
kind of feels like we are floating, everything gets strangely quiet,
and we can see clearly what is ahead. Our family drove to Altamira and
back on Thursday and Friday for a leadership meeting. I am including a
couple of photos of people we passed on the way.
As the Lord leads us through unexpected twists and turns in our
journey, quirky bible verses take on meaning. Psalm 68:13 caught my
attention this morning.
“Even while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are
sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.”
The meaning for me as I pondered these unusual words is that even while
we are in a time of resting, God is blessing us in ways that are beyond
our imagination.
I trust this is your story too, that whether you are in a time of work
or rest, mourning or celebration, or whichever season you are in, that
you will find joy in God’s presence, and that your heart will be filled
with gratitude for God’s incredible goodness towards us, which reaches
to the limits of our imaginations, and then, it does not stop there but
races out to infinity where we will explore it and be filled with awe

and wonder for eternity. May this be your story today.

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Baptism

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We had a baptism service yesterday.
Several singles and family groups got married including two moms and their boys, and two sisters.
Fransisco told me, “I really struggled to make the decision to get baptized today. I realized I would not be able to do several things once I take this step of commitment.” I think he is going to find out that our loving Heavenly Father is going to increase His love, protection, and relationship.
After the Bible Study and breakfast together everyone walks down the river frontage at the foot of the church property. A fisherman had his net in the perfect place, so he kindly moved on. About 30 seconds after the baptism ceremony and prayer, all the kids went for a quick swim.