Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, 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.

Dear friends,

We have great news about the church plant and some sad personal news. Please, pray for us as you read the remainder of this letter.

“UNFORGETTABLE” EVANGELISTIC COOKOUT

Our latest all-day evangelistic cookout was a great success with 240 people present and 6 salvation decisions. It was a day to remember. We wanted to impress our guests with the love of Christ. Upon arrival, everyone received a nametag, had their name entered into a drawing (this allows us to receive their contact info for follow-up), and an invitation to join us the next Sunday. We had three sport tournaments with trophies and medals, rappel, “rock wall” climbing, swimming pool, Brazilian barbeque, children’s games, puppets, children’s Bible story and I preached a 30 minute evangelistic message. We wanted our guests to have and unforgettable day, but most of all, an unforgettable, life altering, personal experience with the Lord. This type of event takes much planning and preparation work, but it is well worth it all. We have great responses from these type events, as the following weeks are full of personal contacts and home visits.

KID’S CLUB

Two weeks after our “Unforgettable Cookout” we had an all-day children’s evangelistic event with 44 kids present and 2 salvations. The children absolutely loved the day. On days like this, I get a major boost of encouragement. Especially, when we play soccer – everyone wants to be on the “pastor’s team”. I now have 5 “best buds” as a result of our soccer games that day! I am so glad they feel the love of Jesus through us. It is amazing to see how connecting with children brings us to close proximity with their parents too. We will not give up on reaching children and their parents for Jesus.

GROWTH AND RELOCATION

As the church has grown, we have developed into some space challenges. Parking is an issue every Sunday, as are the children’s classrooms. Our auditorium also serves as our fellowship hall. Lord willing we plan to relocate by the end of December. We are at the end of our building’s lease agreement, so this allows us flexibility to move into a bigger location.

FELLOWSHIP AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH

After worship services everyone stacks up their chairs against the wall to make room to eat and mingle with our friends and guests. We always serve finger foods to eat after our gatherings. This allows us to enjoy each other’s fellowship for an additional hour beyond the last worship song. Our fellowship has brought a unity amongst our people and our studies have rendered a spiritual awakening into Scripture with thirst for more. I am preaching a series entitled “Synopsis: A Bible Survey”. We have a lot of fun, I wish you were here to join in.

PASTORAL TRAINING

The Lord is working in the hearts of our men and already two of them have expressed a desire into pastoral leadership. The Lord is also working in the hearts of others within the church. I am passionate about pastoral mentoring and love every opportunity to develop new leadership.

PREGNANCY & MISCARRIAGE

A couple of months ago we discovered Raquel was pregnant with our fifth child. It was a complete surprise to us, as we had a surgical procedure done a year ago. We felt blessed the Lord had given us special gift according to His will. At 9 weeks, she flew to São Paulo to be with her father prior to his open-heart surgery. The kids and I remained in Manaus. On the day of her father’s surgery, she felt pain, went to emergency room, checked in, only to find out the equipment was broken. She rushed to the next nearest hospital and they too, had broken equipment. It was only at the fourth location and a few hours later, she received medical help. While her father was nearing the end of his 8-hour surgery, she received word of the miscarriage. Our hearts were heavy laden as we cried, but God’s grace comforted us.

Pray for church planting, evangelism opportunities, discipleship of new believers, pastoral mentoring and the search for a new location. We are grateful to you for the time and resources invested in our favor.

Thankful,

Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
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