Our 2020 Vision

1. Plant 1,000 churches in the Xingu Region
2. Help Brazilians form partnerships to work in Angola, Mozambique, Portugal, and North Africa.
2. Prisoner Rehabilitation? – Start in Maraba.

Part of a Greater Vision

Our vision outlined above is part of a much bigger vision. In 1992 Deanna and I felt called to plant churches in Mozambique. The Lord made it clear to us that we were not to go to Mozambique directly. We called Luke Huber, of PAZ Mission in the Amazon, and asked him if he would train us to plant churches in the jungle with Portuguese-speaking people, in preparation for Mozambique. I used to tell people, “Maybe our next 30 years are just a dress rehearsal. Maybe our real ministry will start when I am 60.“ Luke died in a tragic plane accident shortly after we arrived in Brazil. This led to us starting the Xingu Mission and the Brazilian Vineyard Church.

100,000 churches

Luke always talked about planting 100,000 (one hundred thousand) churches in the Amazon Basin, an area the size of the continental United States. When we moved to the Xingu Region, we set a goal to start with 1,000 churches in our region. “When we reach this milestone, God will show us the next steps.”

We Learned Some Things.

1. CHURCH PLANTING – Disciple Making Movements are resulting in tens of thousands of churches being planted. Consider the New Generations report below, which is only one of several movements.

2. MISSIONS – Mozambique, Angola, and Portugal all speak Portuguese. We are beginning to mobilize Brazilians to help in these countries.

3. PRISON REFORM – I was let into an inner cell. Alone. Twenty-eight prisoners were sitting or laying on the cement floor of the cell. None of them knew me. After a brief introduction, some of them gathered into a circle and I started a Discovery Group. “What is going good in your life?” Blank stares. “What is something good that happened this week?” Finally, after a long pause, “You came to visit.” 

I want start prisoner reform centers in every city possible.

These dreams are all way beyond our reach financially and in every way, but they are small things for God. We will keep taking our next small steps, keeping our eyes open in cheerful expectation.

*** We plan to have fun along the way, and we are looking for people to pray, support, and help.

This week I met with three pastors from three different churches, one baptist and two mennonite. For two hours we talked about what the next move of God might look like. It is a mystery how our relationship with God is so good we wouldn’t trade it for anything, but how can we effectively help unbelievers experience our reality?

One of our challenges is how do we reach out into lostness with the good news? Roy Moran, who wrote Spent Matches, says that only rarely to Christian start a disciple making movement first among themselves, and then take it to the lost. Movements of people towards God almost always starts among the lost.

Movements?

Moran explained that “In just one of the more than one hundred movements in the last twenty years, more than two million people have been baptized, and eighty thousand churches have been planted” (p. 57). Imagine starting people movements like this in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and South America.

What would you be willing to do if you knew you could be part of reaching a harvest like this?

 References
Moran, R., (2015) Spent Matches: Igniting the Signal Fire for the Spiritually Dissatisfied (Refraction) (p. 57). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. 

We are dreaming of a movement of God that has 1,000 + key leaders

• who love Jesus passionately,
• who are winning their private battles against fear and pride,
• who laugh at hardship in the course of following Jesus.
• They think hardship is fun!

Mão de Ouro came to visit me at lunch time this week.
Some of you have prayed for Mão de Ouro. He helped us develop the Mission Property for many years. Then he lost his job with the city, as their backhoe operator. He went through a long dark season. He had been drinking, and making back choices. His wife of twenty years left him. He lost power to his house, and he could not get work. His son will not talk to him, though his two daughters still come to visit. I started doing a Discovery Group study with him.He got a backhoe job again some weeks ago. This week he came to visit us, and he wanted a stack of Bibles to hand out to his friends. He is starting to be a missionary. Even though he has never come to church for as long as I have known him, he considers himself one of us. “I’m from Igreja da Vinha.” Please keep praying for Mão de Ouro. His real name is Edson.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
⁹ Do not be like the horse or the mule,
    which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
    or they will not come to you.
¹⁰ Many are the woes of the wicked,
    but the Lord’s unfailing love
    surrounds the one who trusts in him.Psalm 32:8-10