Positives in the Midst of a Pandemic
October 19, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from gradually opening Cruzeiro do Sul.
Last month we started having a Sunday morning service. These meetings have been limited to one hour. The state will not allow us to have childrens classes yet. In mid September we started having our Wednesday service again. Now in October we have added back our Sunday evening service. For all of September and half of October these meetings have been at 50% of what they were up to March 18th when we had our last service before the pandemic.
Even though the attendance has not been as good as I would like, we still have had some surprising results. We have had 3 professions of faith, 5 requests for baptism, 4 requests to become member by letter, 1 by statement and 5 members coming back into fellowship after being out in the world. Besides these, we have presented 2 babies in the last 2 weeks. It is no surprise that these babies are pretty big kids already!
Then last Sunday we had a 27% increase in attendance in both services. We had 346 in the morning and 350 at night. That was encouraging. I am praying that we will continue to increase.
This period has been beneficial in sorting out some things in our church. We have been able to find out who is courageous and committed. We have also found out who is timid. These have been quite a letdown. As things were before they were involved and seemed to be audacious, but now they are still home cowering because of the virus. These are the ones who don’t hesitate to run a red light, but now are shaking in their boots because there is a 0.05% chance they may die of covid-19. A couple of these have received a sizeable investment in their ministries by the church. Needless to say, I am not too happy about the situation of this rather small group. They are His children though and we will do our best to get them moving again.
There are some positive things going on in our work overall. We just put the trusses on the building at Centrinho. The pastor there resigned recently, but we have already found 2 good men to take over. We also started building an annex at Miritizal. They are needing classroom space and a nursery. I drew up the plans a while ago and now we are building. This week we started paving the second half of our parking lot at church, too. Even though the economy took a hit, still many things are in short supply because of the high demand. Building supplies are really hard to get.
Today I stepped out of my office as I heard a jet going over nearby. It was the first flight after over 6 months of isolation. The news reports say that we will have 4 flights a week. We used to have daily commercial flights. That went away overnight back in March. Now they are back and hopefully the isolation is over.
We are starting to have rain now and then. Hopefully the rainy season will kick in and the pandemic subside so I can get back out on the rivers. Can’t wait!
Thanks for all of 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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Challenges in Resuming Services
September 22, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from the lockdown in the rainforest: Cruzeiro do Sul. My days alternate between “frustrated” and “angry”. Our timid (spineless) governor has tightened the shutdown even against the data that show we should be moving toward normal.
We had already authorized our congregations out of town and our chapels in town to resume services, as I reported last month. Three weeks ago, we had our first (limited) Sunday school. After our weekly pastor’s meeting, we had decided to have a Sunday morning service of just an hour (9:00AM), but without publicizing the first one. If the news leaked and folks showed up, then fine. It did leak and we had 191 present. We followed the state rules as close as possible. The next week we had a 20% increase. The third week another 44% increase over the previous week. There were 329 for that service.
Then the state brought down a new law requiring ALL citizens in the Acre to wear a mask in all public and PRIVATE places. It is now illegal to eat or shower without a mask if you follow the law as written. The next Sunday morning we had only 225, a 30% drop in attendance.
For the past 2 plus months I have been getting data on the state of the pandemic in Cruzeiro do Sul. The daily cases have dropped way down. Hospitalizations, which had been in the hundreds is now down to 7. There have been 4 deaths in over 2 months. There had been as many as 6 deaths weekly 3 months ago.
The “tyranny of the mask” as I call it, has kept me oscillating between frustrated and angry. I called off the livestream of our services until this is past. The livestream could bring the authorities down on us, if they saw anyone without a mask in the auditorium. I refuse to comply and certainly refuse to preach in a mask. Now I am back in the studio recording messages and lessons for all those who are afraid to come to church. We continue to have live services, but I must also prepare duplicate lessons and sermons for those too timid to get out or for the few who are hindered by some other high-risk factor.
One of the pastors wants us to follow the letter of the law, which is impossible. He comes to staff meetings in a huge cannister mask, face shield and gloves. The other 6 pastors take it in stride, even though we can’t understand a word of what he says during the meetings! All of us get along fine though and do the best with all of this mess around us.
To end on a better note: We have added some new members by letter. Then on Sunday we presented a new baby that was born during the pandemic. Of course, that too is illegal as no children are allowed (according to the law) to be present. Someone more important than the governor once said, “Let the little ones come unto me.” I think letting them come to His house counts, too.
Pray that we will be able to be faithful and continue to do our best for Christ and His kingdom.
Thanks for all of 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.
Read more
Resuming Meeting Together
August 19, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from hot and sunny Cruzeiro do Sul. All of Brazil is hot and dry. We haven’t had any rain this month. The river is as low as it can be. Not much has changed here over the past few weeks.
A lady from our church is head of the health department and for the past 23 days she has been giving me daily reports about the evolution of the virus here in town. She gives me new cases, hospitalizations, discharged, cured, deaths and a few other categories. I now have a spreadsheet to be able to help evaluate the situation. Mostly though, I just spend lots of time in prayer in the wee hours, asking God to show me the way forward. Although the state and city have given permission for churches to meet, the restrictions are so severe that we have not returned.
We have given our congregations at Foz do Breu and the one in Peru, permission to meet. Last week we gave all of our interior works permission to hold public services. Also, this month we authorized our small groups to resume meeting. Today we will be giving our chapels here in town permission to resume regular services. So, little by little, we are coming back. I meet weekly with my staff to discuss and pray about each new step. We meet again this afternoon and I am going to recommend we have a morning service on August 30. This will be live streamed. We will add services incrementally from there. I have been informed that the city only has 4 “spies” on payroll and these refuse to work on Sundays, so that is good news. Pray for us. It has now been 5 full months since our last service at First Baptist Church.
We have been getting news from several of our mission works and missionaries. José Costa (border village) reports good attendance and at least one saved. José Maia (Tipisca, Peru) has been having limited crowds. He stays very busy though in the community. He even managed to find a plow to pull behind his ATV and has upped his gardening game! His son, who is our missionary at Santa Rosa do Purús, is now working part time in a cabinet shop and has started a small Bible study class. I just bought him a motor, so that when things get back to normal, he will be able to start mission work on the Purús River.
I have continued to work on construction jobs nonstop and pretty long hours. Don’t watch the news. Work keeps me content. Still hoping that things will get back to some kind of normal pretty soon.
Bev and I are doing well. The whole family is doing great. We have been meeting every Saturday night for our family time. Every Sunday afternoon we play a few innings of whiffle ball. Even the little squirts play. I even play! Only Grandma Bev sits on the sideline and watches to make sure nobody cheats. Bev had not been out for over 3 months. Last week she finally started to get out occasionally. She actually went to a supermarket for the first time in 5 months. On her last time out, she saw a guy from down south with a truck selling strawberries. She bought enough for the 3 families. She made me some shortcake and whipped cream. She really does love me after all!
Thanks for all of 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
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The Wild, Wild West of Brazil
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.
Dear Brethren,
Four months and counting. Cruzeiro do Sul is still two months behind the rest of the world as far as the evolution of the virus is concerned. Last month the city and state went crazy doing all kinds of traffic stops requiring masks even inside your car. In one of these stops the city official opened the door to my jeep without my permission and the lady cop already had her hand on her gun and I was resisting or didn’t even have a chance to resist. MY MASK WAS ON! It has gotten really scary here in the wild, wild west of Brazil. The state has finally rushed to finish a new wing of the hospital. There are 100 new beds, including 10 new intensive care units and 20 more semi-intensive care complete with all new respirators and equipment. All beds in all medical facilities are full. They have quit publishing data. No test materials are available, so no new tests are being run. The death toll continues to rise. We are New York (of 2 months ago) times X factor of chaos.
Then 2 weeks ago they let all the stores reopen and churches to meet. Well that ought to work out really fine! I called for a special meeting with the pastors to discuss what we would be doing. We are not opening any time soon. Other churches started meeting, but with empty buildings. The people aren’t as stupid as the bigwigs think. The rules for reopening were draconian. The most troublesome was the presence of government monitors (spies) to check for compliance. In the past we have seen that the media do not show up to cover our mission programs, social programs, rehab programs or even our big Christmas or other events. I am sure that they would have been crashing the doors to check out our reopening. We don’t intend to give them or the state the satisfaction. We will come back when we feel that the Lord has led us to, in His time and in His way. The church is solid and doing well. We have actually seen an improvement in our giving. Our missionaries are being taken care of in a timely way and we are still able to do some minor work on our buildings.
We have authorized our small groups to meet and the band/praise groups to practice. Hundreds of our people have had the virus already. Supposedly many are already immune. We sadly did lose Brother José Nunes to this disease. We have many hospitalized.
Given the situation, most people don’t even go to try to find a doctor or the hospital. Most are just self-medicating based on what they see on TV and the internet. Those medications that are most highly recommended are not available here.
As for the Creiglows, we are trusting the Lord. We are being careful. We are still working though. In fact, I have been keeping my grandsons busy working for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, Alec (one of Andrew’s boys) got a full-time job. Andrew’s wife Eline is still employed. She works for GOL airlines, but since there are no flights she is at home with the little ones. Andrew continues to work. Crissy’s school is shut down for now. Dauro and I continue to work at camp. Actually, I have several construction projects going simultaneously. These are providing work for my grandsons and a couple of our church members. I don’t know how long I will be able to keep this up. Staying busy helps me out, too.
We have had quite a bit of really good family time and this, too, has been helpful.
Well sorry to bring such a gloomy report, but it is how things are right now. I sure hope things are better for all of you. We pray for you all the time and hope that you will remember us often in your prayers. Thank you again for praying for us and continuing to support us financially.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig@hotmail.com
Personal Site
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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Celebrating 50 Years of Marriage
June 20, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Well now we are 3 months without services in our building. I had to have all of our congregations, mission points and chapels suspend public meetings. This includes our works in the far-flung towns and villages where we have missionaries in their fields. The home church has continued to do well financially so far, and we are able to continue to support all of our missionaries with their full salaries. Last week I did authorize our congregation at Foz do Breu (on the border with Peru) to resume services. They are still not authorized to conduct their regular river trips to the various mission points that they cover. I gave this order even though the state has not given permission for any churches to hold public meetings. The town there still has not had any cases of the virus, so I went ahead and gave them the go ahead with regular services.
Bev and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. We were married on Friday, June 12, 1970. We had planned to celebrate this date by going to the States for a few weeks. We had even bought tickets, hotel reservations etc. The church here bought our tickets for the international flight. All those plans imploded. We are still just as happy as always though. A lady from church came out and took some pictures for us. That evening Andrew’s family and Crissy’s family were with us for a meal. God has blessed us with a very full and fulfilling life. We have 4 beautiful children who honor God with their lives. We have a bunch of beautiful, talented grands who are also His. We have our adopted kids, too. We have many children in the faith, as well. We are part of an incredible church and mission work. Our love grows steadily. It is just hard to understand how 2 people, so different, could be so right. We have spent almost all of these 50 years in a very isolated place, under mostly harsh circumstances, depending on one another and our Lord. Bev and I have been a “unit”, a “capsule” from the time we met. Many have wondered why we are so insular. We confess: we really aren’t very “social”. This is the way it had to be to do the job He separated us for. Only He could do such a miracle.
Mike & Bev with Andrew & Crissy’s Families
Bev has not been out for the last 2 months. I do our shopping once every 15 days. Every item is sanitized, one by one. The past few weeks I have been working at camp doing some good ole hard labor and getting home late every night. Three days a week I record lessons and messages for our YouTube channel, Facebook and radio programs, too. Although the governor will probably open stores, restaurants and churches this week, we won’t be back to regular meetings any time soon. Cruzeiro do Sul is 2 months behind the rest of the country. All of Brazil is in a mess. We are the worst in the world right now in numbers of confirmed new daily cases. Politically we are in deeps trouble, too. The president is on the right track, but has no backing in either the senate or the congress. To top it off the 11 justices on the supreme court are all either communist or leftist appointed by socialist over the past 30 years. Not one conservative to be found. The supreme court over the past few weeks has decided to take over the country. It is a disaster. Pray for us.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [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
True Hardship in Isolated Areas
May 18, 2020
Dear Brethren,
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
Our most isolated mission point is actually in Peru. Our missionaries at Tipisca, Peru are José Maia and his wife Silvânia. They are on the Juruá River, which has its headwaters in Peru, but flow to Brazil. The town there is mostly supplied by goods from Brazil and a little that can be flown in from Pucalpa, Peru. As soon as the pandemic hit Europe, the border (Brazil/Peru) was closed and all flights were cut off. That really caused instant suffering. There are still no cases of Coronavirus in Tipisca, but the authorities won’t allow the natives to fish or hunt. The order is to stay home! The population is mostly made up of people from 4 indian tribes. They can no longer sell or trade. There is nothing to buy in the 2 stores in town, even if they had any money. Now they can’t even fish or hunt? José Maia is ok for now since he does his shopping just twice a year and had just stocked his shelves in February. They are feeding 7 indian children. This is true hardship.
Our people here are used to being together all the time. Very social. This shelter in place stuff is very hard for them. In fact, even after the first 2 cases appeared here, the couple that brought it in let their teenage son throw a party with his friends. Even now with hundreds of cases, folks who have the illness continue to defy the authorities and mix and mingle, wandering all over town. We have a few members who are infected. These are being responsible.
Feeling the yearning that our church folks have to at least see each other, Bev and I decided to try to help a little. We put out the word on Facebook and Whatsapp that on the next Sunday morning we would be at one of the main doors of our building to wave and throw kisses to those who wished to drive by on the their motorcycles or in their cars. They showed up with banners, signs and even a ton of presents! We had some of policemen from church to be there, just in case. Of course, we all had to pull down our masks to see one another’s grins. The thing became an event and was even in the newspapers. The following week the bishop of the Roman Catholic church announced that he would be in front of the cathedral to sprinkle people with holy water as they drove by. We all got a good laugh out of that. Those Baptists still ahead of all the rest!
Greeting people at the front of the church. 
Greeting people at the front of the church.
I have been recording all of our regular lessons and messages to feed the folks and share the gospel. The lessons and messages go out over YouTube, Facebook and our radio programs. One of our pastors also does a live on Instagram. It seems to me that I am busier now than before.
Besides all the preaching and teaching, I have been able to continue some other projects. Jobs are under way at the new church property, camp, church and the shop. Maintenance is being caught up on all my equipment. A few projects I have farmed out to help some of our guys who have already lost their jobs. Bev and I are trying to help as many folks as possible. We are in good health and continue to have as much fun as can be expected. We are closer than ever.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [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
Life and Ministry at Home
Hello to all.
These past weeks have been very different, not to say “weird.” It has been just a little over three weeks that Brazil has called for the “stay at home” quarantine. That has not been too difficult for me since I do not go out much anymore. My life is centered around church activities, but now that this has been taken away, I have a hard time remembering what day it is! I do a lot of crafts and reading to occupy my time. I do not get to see my grandkids as much as before. I miss the hugs.
Mike and I usually start our day with a cup of coffee, sitting in our comfortable chairs in the living room. Each individually read the Bible and then we share and pray together. I enjoy this time.
We have no more flights in and out of Cruzeiro do Sul. The only way in or out of here is by road and they wanted to even shut that down. Thankfully, the federal government would not allow it. We would have been completely shut off from any kind of food supplies. We had not had any positive cases of the virus here until a couple of days ago. Hopefully it will not spread. The media here is doing as in the States, making people panic.
People have asked what my ministry here is. For the last several years, it has been taking care of Mike. That in itself is a big job!! Kidding. He tries to live his life as he did twenty or so years ago. His mind wants to do it, but his body just is not as young as it was then. Mike is still very active and it is a struggle to get him to slow down. He records several videos a week to keep our church fed spiritually. My mind and body have a hard time cooperating with each other.
Mike and I always have spent a lot of time together. At this different time in the world, we have taken advantage of watching some movies together in the evenings. He hardly ever had time to do that before. He always lets me have his new recliner to sit in. He is a nice guy.
We are praying for the presidents of Brazil and the USA. Please help pray for them both. They both have so much in common. The opposition has made both their lives very difficult.
Please continue praying for us here.
Love to all, Beverly
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.
Read more
Navigating the Global Crisis in Cruzeiro do Sul
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.
March 25, 2020
Grace and peace to all,
It is a beautiful day in Cruzeiro do Sul. Looking out my office window, all looks as if all is well and the world is fine. You and I know that all is not well in the world. Even as isolated and far away as we are, our world has been shaken.
Beverly and I are well. Andrew and family are better than ever. Crissy and family are just fine.
The work is fine, but now it is quite different from 2 weeks ago. Our church held our Homecoming service on the first day of March. We had 874 present for the morning service and meal. We had 612 the same night and several folks were saved. The next weekend we had 1134 in those 2 services and more people saved, requesting baptism and others coming back into fellowship. The following Sunday we had 1197 in the 2 services and many more folks coming to Christ. I was able to win several people after services ended. Our attendance was growing at 15%.
Over the weeks my staff had been meeting regularly and often to try to put together a plan for the present global crisis. On Wednesday night, March 18, we had our doctors do a roundtable to explain to the church what the disease is, what can be done and how to take care of themselves. After their extensive presentation (3 doctors covering the disease, testing and prevention), which lasted over an hour, I shared our plan for the coming 10 days. There have been no cases of the virus in Cruzeiro do Sul, so we felt that we might have a few days to transition. We had hoped that we could still hold services for 10 days. The next morning the state and the city put everyone into “shelter in place”. Through social media we were able to inform everyone about the next phase that came into play immediately.
Recently we had created a YouTube channel and Facebook account to replace our waning local TV broadcast, so that was already operational for this new chapter. These have been our “services”. Internet here is still not where it needs to be for live streaming.
That was just one week ago today but seems like years have gone by. Recently I built a new office in the garage here at home. My old office is now Bev’s craft room. My office has become our new studio. I have 3 guys who work with me in media and have been with me for a lot of long hours. In fact, some days they even eat lunch and supper with us. Two of the other pastors are also helping with some of the media production, but most of the burden has fallen on me. The other pastors who still haven’t quite “gotten there” with cameras and studios have helped with messaging and calls, but otherwise have been told to stay home.
One day last week I was on the phone helping other pastors all over the country who needed to know what to do. The same day I spent many hours in the studio recording. We also have a daily radio broadcast (30 minutes at noon and 30 minutes at night) that needs materials. Since our preachers are not able to go and do the programs live, we are converting my sermons from now and the past to mp3 files.
It has been a long hard week. Besides all the work to feed the sheep in this new era, I have had to spend even more hours on my knees and in the Word. Just a month ago I turned 72. I am feeling pretty good but need you to pray that I will hold up under the added strain and frustration.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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