New Missionary & First Baptism Service of the Year
July 7, 2021
Dear Brethren,
Time flies when you are having fun. It has been a long time since I reported to you. For several months there wasn’t much positive to tell. For most of this year, it has been kinda rough. Things are improving a little though, so here goes.
After the last trip to the Moa the rivers went down quickly. Just as I was to go to the upper Juruá River the bottom dropped out and things opened up for us to start having public services again. For the first six weeks I put in a lot of long hours on the building and sermon/lesson prep. At first, we were having all the services streamed live until folks could get used to coming back to the in house services. Now we stream just the Sunday night service. Attendance has not yet gotten back to normal levels. However, we feel that things are looking pretty good, given the level of fear that so many people suffered. We have services on Wednesday, Sunday AM and Sunday PM. For the 2 months that we have been back there have been at least 300 people in every service.
We had our first baptism service of the year. There were 528 people present and 41 new members were baptized. Pastor Ezi baptized the adults, and I baptized the children. We also observed the Lord’s Supper.
Here is a little side story about this particular baptism. My granddaughter Kayla came to my office to talk to me. She had already requested baptism at church, but wanted to talk to me about her baptism. First she gave me a pretty good lesson on the doctrine of baptism. Not bad for an 8-year-old. Then she got down to talking to me about what she really wanted. She wanted to know if grandpa could “bapticize” her. Now I am not sure that I got the spelling right, but I got the meaning!
She is Crissy’s only girl. Later Andrew’s youngest came with the same request. So that is how I came to baptize (or “bapticize”) the 17 children, Kayla and Devin among them.
Last Saturday we had an activity here at the house. Occasionally we have what we call “Breakfast with the Pastors”. It is an opportunity for people to have some casual time with the 7 pastors. About 80 people showed up at 7:00AM. We spent a great couple of hours together. We had a surprise announcement during the gathering. One of our evangelists, who works at our chapel at Cruzeirinho, announced that he was going into full time mission work. His name is Jeverton. The pastor of the chapel and he had met with me 3 other times over the past few weeks to talk about the fields that are ready and waiting. He is going to be our itinerant missionary on the Juruá River from Ipixuna to the border. He will be checking in on all of our congregations and preaching the gospel house to house. Next, we need those other 2 missionaries, for those 2 other fields!
There have been one or more saved on all weekends since we started services again. Also, our youth (15-24) and Youth+ (25 and older) have started back. The nursery is also back. We are still not able to have our children’s programs, but hope to begin soon. The lockdown here has been severe, to say the least, but we are getting things back as soon as possible, trying not to have the authorities breathing down our necks. We still have whistle blowers reporting us all the time. We are doing our best at trying to be bold and wise at the same time.
Well, that is pretty much what is going on. Busy, tired and happy. Hope you are, too.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@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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Open Doors in New Community
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.
February 14, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This beginning of the year has been really great! God has been working and opening doors for us to do new work for His kingdom.
We were offered a church that is in a small community not too far from us. Actually, it is the first community once you cross the bridge from Manaus going to where we live. Pray that God will give wisdom and strength to not give up. Like so many other communities around us, there are not many good things going on, but drugs and prostitutions are predominating in these places. There are so many kids and teens in these places. The enemy knows where to work and do his job and so many times those who call themselves Christians don’t have time to do God’s work. Actually when we mentioned to some people about the work there they said, “You’re crazy, that’s a waste of time.” Well, our Lord went where the people who needed to hear were. May God direct our path each day. There is lots of work to be done on the building and part of the building the pastor that left there had rented it to a man who owned a construction store. We won’t have that part for another 2 months. The people who are still going that stayed together from what was left from the church seem to be getting excited. Pray for them!
Kathy had a wonderful experience this week. She had to go to a health department to get a document for the boy who lives with us to have for school. This village is on the way to where she goes every Monday for the kids’ work in Ubim. She got to talking to the nurse and they got on the subject of church. Kathy mentioned she did a kids program in Ubim. The lady then mentioned that she had to 2 kids and she was worried because there was nothing for the kids in that village, there was lots of drugs and prostitution. Kathy told her, “Maybe we can do something here also.” She smiled. Then she asked me,
“Can I visit the work you do in Ubim?” Kathy said, “Sure. It starts at 5 every Monday.”
Last Sunday we had Baptism day! We make this day a special time to be together. Since everyone lives so far away, we always make the effort of making this a very special day. We have lunch and baptism and then fellowship. This baptism was very special for the mission in the community of Mutirão. They had the first adult man to be baptized. We had two men From Pedras Vivas to be baptized and 3 teens. What a blessing!
We appreciate your prayers and your support! Thanks for being a part of this ministry! God bless each of you!
Love in Christ our Savior,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]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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Fellowship with Teens from Ubim
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.
January 18, 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope and pray that all had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed beginning of a new year. We had a great beginning of this new year.
This past week we had a group of teens from the community of Ubim. There were 17 that came. We just had a great time of fellowship and fun doing several activities with them. If we had let them choose, they would stay another week. Well, if any of you have a freezer or a fridge full of food you want to get rid of, just bring in a group of teens and they will take care of that for you.
We have planned for this month a baptism service. We get all the people that have been saved from the different missions and have a day together of fellowship. This is always fun and a great time of fellowship since everyone lives a good distance from each other.
We have some plans to work on the camp facilities making some changes and adding some new things. We need to repair some roofs and need some new utensils for the kitchen. Please pray that God will provide the means for us to do these things. We thank God for the two churches that gave offerings for the new freezer. What a blessing. We really want to use it more and more as a form of reaching out to the people in these distant communities. In the world we live in today, all the bad influences on our teens move faster than what is good and from God. The drugs are a very big deal in all these areas. Pray with us that God will raise up more people that are interested in reaching out to these teens and the families in all these places.
We are still in the process of taking over the church that was offered to us to take care of in the little town of Cacau. We are making plans with a group of 3 young couples to help us there. Pray with us that God directs us each step of the way. There are many drug dealers in this tiny town.
The work in Iranduba is coming along. So many of the kids that come, their parents use drugs. Pray for these kids that are coming that they can learn about God and accept Him and Savior while they are young.
We thank God for each one of you that support us through your prayers and financial support. May God bless each one as we work together in His work for His kingdom!
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]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
Read more
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!
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.
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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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [December 2015]
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.
December 4, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Time goes by so fast that it is hard to believe that it has been 2 years since we moved to Manaus, Amazonas. This past year has gone so fast. The Lord has blessed our ministry here in so many ways. We had visited different villages and communities near us. We wanted to start works in some of them and were praying for God to open the doors. Well, God provided 4 different places, all of them in very exciting ways. We praise God for His blessings! Many people have been saved and baptized. It has also been great to see members from the mother church getting involved and excited about the ministries in the church.
Children at the Mission in the city of Iranduba
We appreciate your prayers for each of these ministries. We have services every day except Tuesday and Friday. Last Sunday we had a baptism. Our baptism may be different for some of you. The last three times we had a baptism, it was down by the river. So we just took advantage and had a cookout for fellowship. Everyone has enjoyed the time of fellowship.
Tonight while we were waiting for church to start a teenager that comes to our house a lot called me to the corner and asked if he could ask a question. I said, “Sure.” He asked, “Pastor, what does it mean to receive Jesus as Savior?” Well what a blessing! At the end of the service when I asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ as Savior, the teenager promptly responded and came forward. Praise God!
Clemersom, the teenager who was saved.
Please pray for all the new converts as they grow in the Lord. We appreciate all your prayers and your support. May God bless each of you!
Love,
Odali & Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [August 2013]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
July 28, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope and pray that all is well with each of you and your loved ones. We are all doing well. This has been a month full of many happenings.
We took a few days break and went to Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, where we met our daughter KathyLee and her husband. We had a great time together. The boys enjoyed the beach. It was a little cold but they still got to learn to surf. This time of the year here it is winter.
The Barros Family: Gabriel, Tito, Kathy, KathyLee, Jonas, & Odali
When we went on our break we took Kathy’s car because my truck’s transmissions was bad and I left it in the shop. Well, on the way back Kathy’s car heated all at once and stopped. Thank God we had left KathyLee at the Airport and had traveled 5 hours. That got us to Curitiba. God took care of us. There we have friends. They provided food and a place to stay. The next day we were on our way home on the top of a truck. We made it home safely. We took Kathy’s car to the shop too. Well, the cars are in order now.
The church is doing great. We praise God for the 10 people baptized last Sunday. There are others who have made professions of faith. We pray that they will soon be baptized also. We have several people that come to church that came from other churches. There are all kinds of churches in Garca with some really crazy doctrines. Mostly salvation by baptism and by works and mixture of all kinds of beliefs. So we have been teaching on what the Bible says about baptism–especially that baptism is not salvation. Pray for these new babes in Christ.
Those baptized last Sunday!
So many times we preach and come in contact with many people. Some times we may think that nothing is happening and that no one is hearing, that is when we remember that God is always at work.
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. -I Corintios 3:6
This week I was looking for a mechanic and I went to his home to talk to him. His wife told me that he was at his church doing some work on the building. So I went to his church, and when I got there…was I surprised! There with him were two others that I knew. Actually all 3 of them had worked with me and been to our church. Now they were saved and serving God. It is important that we keep on telling people about God. It is God that works on their lives and hearts. Praise God!
I want to thank all of you who prayed for me during my father’s death. I praise God that he was saved and that we are only separated for a short time.
Also we thank all of you for your prayers and support. Each of you are an important part of our ministry. God bless each of you.
Love
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [March 2013]
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.
March 7, 2013
Dear Brethren,
We were not able to have our monthly baptism services in December and January. We even had to postpone our homecoming service until February. We scheduled the baptism to coincide with the homecoming service. There were 862 present. We baptized 75 new members. This time we decided to let all the ladies go first. I baptized the 37 women and my son-in-law, Dauro, baptized the 38 men. A couple of the women I baptized used to be Presbyterians. One of these is a judge.
Most of the people this time are adults. The Lord’s Supper followed the baptism. At the close we fed the whole crowd up on the third story terrace of the annex. I managed to get the tile down and the bathrooms far enough along to use. There is still a lot of work to do, but at each of these events we have the building in better shape.
The newest members of First Baptist Church, Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil. 75 were baptized on Sunday morning.
A few days ago we had a get-together for all of our couple’s small groups. This meeting was also held up on the third floor. We had 110 couples present. This was a lively meeting with plenty of fellowship and food (of course). Our couples groups have tripled over the past year. The number of groups has increased and the size of the each group is really growing. Since I returned from our visit to the States in 2011 we have gotten these age/interest groups better organized and done much more training. Anyone can attend our small groups as long as the whole group approves.
We have several lost people attending. Many of these would be averse to going to church…at first. One such couple that started coming to our group a few months ago are doctors. Their marriage was on the brink. The group has nursed them along. They invited us to have our last meeting at their house. We had 18 of our 21 couples present. By the way, these groups are supposed to have only 7 couples maximum, then multiply (start a new group). Anyway, at this last meeting the husband came to me and said that they are going to go to church for the first time on Sunday. They invited themselves!
This week I met the new commander of the Military Police and his wife (similar to a local police force, but run by the state). Our small group approved my inviting them to attend our next meeting.
The elders of our church held a weekend retreat at our camp. There were 55 men present. I didn’t get to go as I was holding service at the penitentiary that weekend.
Already this year I have taught our membership class to 5 big groups of new members and some older ones, too. The course is 8 hours. So far over 200 people have completed the course. The last round was a day-long marathon to get the last bunch through by the end of the month. We started classes at 3:00PM. It was raining one of those Amazon Valley rains. I got soaked just getting from the house to the jeep; even with an umbrella! Even so, I had 50 students! Years ago we couldn’t even get out a single soul for Sunday services if it was raining. Now they come out by the dozens under torrential rain on a workday to study. We finished up in the early hours of the next day. It took us about 10 hours straight through. The students were pretty much spent, but still had enough energy to break into applause at the close of the marathon. The teacher was just plain dead, so the Holy Spirit had to drive the jeep back to the house.
Our seminary classes started last Sunday. We have about 350 students enrolled for Bible Survey, Life Principles and Study Methods. People really do want to study. More about this later.
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
Click here to donate to BFM.
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