Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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.

June 20, 2013

Dear Brethren,

A few weeks ago Zico (our missions coordinator) Thiago, Pastor Ezi and I went to a little remote town called Jordão. We chartered one of MAF’s planes. There is no road to Jordão and to make it there by river is a major challenge. We had very little time to get there and back. For years we have been working toward a goal of having sound and dynamic Baptists churches in all 22 cities of our state. Jordão is the next one where we hope to plant a church soon.

The population is only 8000. There is an Adventist church, four varieties of Pentecostals and, of course, the Catholic church. Zico and Thiago went to get things set up with the local authorities to bring in a major medical mission group early next year. Ezi and I walked every street in the town, stopping to talk and witness to some of the town folk. We even walked the mile long beach up the Tarauacá River to the mouth of the Jordão River!

Jordão, Acre

We are now praying and seeking the right missionary couple to send. It will add to our already overstretched financial commitments to missions, but our main concern is getting the right people to that remote field.

A few months back I appointed a group of men from our church to start looking seriously for property to eventually relocate First Baptist church. As many of you know, for the past 15 years we have been filling our auditorium every Sunday night. Six or seven years back we even went to an extra service on Sunday afternoon. That service now has an average of 400 and the evening is still packed to capacity. Last Sunday night there were 8 more professions of faith. One couple even came before the church for him to ask her to marry him! Their wedding is in August. So we have been living dangerously by not providing enough room for our growth. A long time ago I tried to get the church to move out of the center of town, but couldn’t budge them. That is no longer the case. Even if they had not become ready, we were going to have to move them or risk the very real possibility of lost attendance.

I gave the three men a list of properties and GPS coordinates and took them around to identify each. There were 12 in all. Most were not for sale. Those that were had price tags anywhere from $500,000.00 the 2 and a half million dollars. Can you believe such prices in a town of 100 thousand sitting out here in the middle of the vast Amazon jungle? There was one last place that we could not find even though we had heard about it. Pastor Benjamim finally found it while I was out of town for a couple of weeks. We went to check it out the day after I got home.

18 acres of nice flat land with gently sloping sides. No street yet, but the city is supposed to put in a major thoroughfare in soon. We don’t know yet exactly where, but it should be very close if not right along one side. The land is just 3 miles from our present location. Best of all, it “only” costs $250,000.00! There is a clear title and no back taxes, too. Yesterday I sat down with the owner to hammer out a deal. We came up with 3 different ways to move forward.

Last night we had over 600 present for my presentation of the plan to the church. Actually the church had no idea that I was going to spring this on them this soon. They were so ready that the vote was unanimous to buy and the crowd erupted in applause at the close of the business meeting. NOW…..Please help us with your prayers.

We are going to try to keep our property in town. It will continue to serve our seminary and other training programs even after we move, which won’t be soon. Just our 6 lots where our present buildings sit are worth 4 million dollars! If the Lord doesn’t hurry up and come back we are going to end up leaving 10 or 15 million worth of property for the cults to squabble over during the Great Tribulation. Exciting times, these! Pray real hard for us as we advance the Kingdom of our Lord.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.

In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com

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