Young Family Back in Southern France!
July 28, 2024
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It’s only been a couple of weeks since I last wrote you, but tomorrow we are flying to the USA to attend the wedding of our oldest granddaughter, Abigail. She grew up here in France and we have many wonderful memories of those years. She trusted the Lord early in life and was an active participant in our church and various areas of ministry.
We will be flying together with Abigail’s sister, Nathalie and her husband, Brice. It is great to see God at work in this couple who will celebrate two years of marriage this week. You may remember pictures of their wedding in the Alps. It has been great to have Brice in the family.
Yesterday evening after the church meeting, we celebrated the 6th wedding anniversary of Samuel and Laura. Samuel trusted Christ as Savior about 10 years ago after a year of weekly Bible studies with us. Not too long after that, he moved to Germany for a job. He met Laura in German language classes. She is from El Salvador and was temporarily in Germany. They became friends and he took her to church. She trusted Christ and they became engaged.
They were married in Toulouse but have been living in Paris since their marriage. Laura and Samuel along with their two-year-old son, Gabriel, recently moved back to southern France. Since arriving, they have been very active in our congregation. God works in wonderful ways to save, enable His children to grow, and bless them.
Sometimes tender moments arrive in the middle of ministry. Last weekend Judy was holding the children’s class in the backyard of our Bible study location in Campagne-sur-Arize. Emma, the four-year-old daughter of the hosting family, brought a dead bird to the table wrapped in a napkin. When her mother tried to lay the bird aside, Emma was lost in tears. She was sure that the bird, killed striking their window would return to consciousness at any moment. So, ministry life is not boring!
Thank you for serving the Lord along with us.
Yours in Christ,
John and Judy
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
2 T Impasse de la Picardie
31830 Plaisance du Touch
France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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SCENES FROM SÃO PAULO
Jud and Raquel Hatcher are third generation missionaries serving the Lord with their family in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, at least 43 churches have been started in 5 states. Pray for their ministry and influence in Brazil.
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
(872) 400-6522
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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Informal Bible Studies in Full Swing
October 10, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Judy and I hope this finds you enjoying blessings from the Lord. We are very grateful for what He has done in and around us this month. When the school year begins, our regular activities increase. There are seven regularly scheduled Bible studies that take place apart from regular church services. I lead only four of these. Three of these Bible studies began recently. Judy has children’s Bible classes in the city of Campagne sur Arize while the adult study takes place. Meetings in this city began just a few months ago.
Many of you are aware that Bible studies have been a major tool in our ministry here. I was motivated to use this approach years ago through the reference to Paul doing so in the Book of Acts. The Bible studies are informal, but the goal is for people to see from the Holy Scriptures what God says. This is how most of the disciples here have come to Christ. After they trust Christ, they continue to grow as they continue to read, examine and follow His revelation in the inspired written word.
A new Bible study began last Thursday evening in the city of L’Union. We have prayed for an opportunity to start a Bible study in this city for a long time. There were 8 people at the first meeting. Most of the folks have little or no familiarity with the Bible. Besides Judy and me, one or two of the participants profess to be believers. Three of the participants are originally from Iran. Your prayers for these meetings are greatly appreciated. The couple who hosts these meetings in their home are not members of our (or any) church. The lady made a profession of faith as a child and her husband has Muslim origins but makes no profession of faith.
We are also thankful for the blessings of God displayed in the regular church and youth meetings.
God answers prayer. I will close with an interesting answer to prayer shared by a family in our assembly 2 or 3 weeks ago. They and the church along with them have been praying that God would enable them to become acquainted with people from the neighborhood into which they recently moved. Their desire is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with their neighbors. This summer has been extremely hot and dry. Grass and many plants have died. A fire started in a yard of the neighborhood and through underground dead roots spread into several yards. Neighbors from many homes came out to fight the fires and the Veuillets from our church got to meet many of their neighbors!
Your fellow laborers,
John and Judy
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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Ministering to Children at URBC
November 10, 2021
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
I am super excited about what I will report to you this month. That is because it is all about the ministry at the Chapel and because unlike most of my monthly newsletters it will be entirely positive in nature.
Last month I reported that after a hiatus from worshiping at the Upper Room Baptist Chapel because of Covid restrictions, and because of a short visit I made to the US, we would resume our worshiping and serving at the Chapel. Rebooting, or re-kickstarting might be a better word to describe it though, considering the drop-off we had with the hiatus. But, reboot we have. And things are going well. We obviously still have many challenges facing us as I mentioned in last month’s newsletter. Those challenges will probably never go away. For example, I am still throwing around the idea of implementing an “offering” box so that people can make offerings if the Spirit so leads them. These offerings would entirely be used for charity and goodwill for the impoverished and needy in our community. Offerings are something the people at the Chapel have suggested they need to be doing, but offerings in this culture are so fraught with problems and difficulties that I am really, really torn over implementing it at all. But this is not a newsletter about problems.
One of the things we have implemented with the rebooting of the Chapel is the beginning of a children’s worship / Bible hour. I use the term “we” loosely because although it has been something I have been thinking about and planning for, it has really been started, implemented, and gotten working almost entirely through Julie’s efforts. This was obviously something I could not accomplish on my own as the class meets at the same time as my preaching/teaching time with the adults. So, seeing the great need for a children’s worship hour and seeing the benefits of such a ministry, Julie has made the herculean efforts to get it going. She found a great curriculum that focuses on the truth of the Bible and how that truth points us to God and His Son, to loving God and His Son, and following that truth. After we sing together as a congregation, Julie takes the children to our spare room at the Chapel and teaches them the Bible, teaches them Bible songs, reinforces the lessons with activities, and basically tries to bring these beloved Kenyan children to the feet of our beloved Jesus. And it is working. The children are responding well, and from what I can see love their time in the children’s worship / Bible hour.
You already know the benefits of this ministry, but I would still like to point out just two:
1. Our beloved Kenyan children need to know Jesus, to love Jesus, and to follow Jesus as their Savior and King. This teaching is hard for them to get during the regular worship time / preaching time. Their own worship / Bible time is much more suited to helping them know how the Bible points them to Jesus.
2. Having this children’s ministry will tremendously help the overall ministry of the Chapel. It gives the possibility to families with small children to attend and will help everybody to be active listeners and to actively participate in our worship services. I say this because the culture here is such that children can wander freely and unsupervised during the services (I still remember so vividly one of the first church services I ever attended in Kenya when one little guy was wandering around unattended, walked in circles around the pastor while he was preaching and finally ended up in a corner at the front of the church auditorium where he dropped his trousers and relieved himself on the floor. Nobody did a thing or moved a muscle the whole time to stop him or to clean up after him.)
Want to know how you can pray for this new part of our ministry? You can pray for the beloved children who have been attending: Faith, Esther, Isaiah, Chloe, Una and Emma.
Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie, and Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta@gmail.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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God has Blessed in the Village of 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.
November 22, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope all is well with each of you partners in our ministry. We are thankful for your prayer and support. We are doing great and are excited with what God is doing in the ministry here.
We want to thank those who have given for the work in the village of Ubim. God has blessed us with donations for the glass for the windows, tile for the floor, and money for the well we want too. The glass has been bought and we need to pick it up in Manaus. We are working hard to get things bought and get a group to go do the work. God bless all those who gave. As things get done, we will send pictures for you to see.
This month Kathy had a special day for the kids to bring their parents. We had around 100 people. It was great! Kathy was sad because she took a bunch of pictures to use for the mission sheet and when she got home the pictures had disappeared. This village is not very big but there are lots of kids and teens. Please continue to pray for this work as we continue to reach out to them.
The last day of this month we are having one of our reach-out festivals! Our goal is always to reach out to the people that have not come to our church.
The work in the city of Iranduba is doing great. We have started the Sunday night service. Things are coming along well there, and more adults are being reached. They still have the Monday Bible Study which has been a great way to bring people in to the Sunday Service. Continue to pray for the pastor and his wife who are working there. Their names are Pastor Amauri and his wife is Mirian. We have had several saved and soon we will set a date for baptism.
In the other village where we had a special service last month, we have had some people interested in having service in their home. Pray that God will work in the hearts of these families for them to be saved.
Thank God for each for you. God bless you and your families and churches.
Love in Christ our Savior,
Odali and 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
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Mothers Day, Music Classes, and More!
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.
May 15, 2018
Dear brothers and sisters,
It has been such a wonderful month to see how God has worked! God has blessed us tremendously and the works are doing really great.
This month is Mother’s Day, so we’ve had several special days at our mission point. We take advantage of these days to encourage the children to bring their parents. Then we will have a special service with the children singing where we also present the gospel.
At the church of Iranduba we will be starting some new things. On Wednesday and Saturday, we will be going out into the community and homes to have services and special programs for different ages. We have also started keyboard and guitar classes that are going great.
The work at Ubim is going well. We will be having the inauguration of the church building real soon. Last Monday on the way there our car that is used broke down, so they did not make it there. So, they called the lady where we have the service with the kids to let them know they were not coming. The kids started crying! How wonderful it is to know that these kids love to be at the meeting! So please pray that God will help us get a car that we can depend on.
I had the privilege to preach and a village down the river. It was a thanksgiving service. Just wonderful.
Venezuela has sent all foreign missionaries away, and many of the Venezuelans have left their country. We are helping 3 families. They are Baptist. One is a seminary graduate.
The camp ministry we have started working with is doing great. We have been able to get machines working and things fixed along with other improvements. When we started our ministry back when we got married, we worked with the deaf ministry. Well, we got in touch with one of the girls that worked with us back then and asked about having a camp for the deaf. She loved the idea. Pray for this!
Kathy is in the US for the arrival of our grandson. Since he is not in a hurry to come, Kathy is visiting her father.
We appreciate your prayers and your support! May God continue to bless each of you.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
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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Exciting News: New Building! Even more exciting: New Believers!
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.
May 3, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We hope and pray that each of you have had a great month. We have had a great month. It has been ones of many blessings and trials. We are excited to see God working in our lives and protection and in the ministry.
The building in the community of Ubim is finished. Praise the Lord! The children there are so excited. But that is not the most exciting news—what is so wonderful is the parents are so happy that we now have a church. This past Sunday we had 5 baptized from there. Kathy went to pick them up, and the mother of two that were being baptized came. On the way she was asking questions about our church and what we believed. Then Kathy asked her if she was from some church. She said, “I used to go to a 4-square gospel church, but everything they preach is about what you can’t do to stay saved.”
So, Kathy went over the plan of salvation with her and she actually accepted Christ as Savior. And she also asked for baptism. Praise the Lord. Then she said, “My husband already said he is coming to your church”. Thanks for your prayers!
We had 4 others that got baptized from the other churches.
The ones baptized
We are helping 7 Venezuelans. Four are from the same family and then there’s a couple with a little 3-year-old son. They are Baptist and the two men preach. We’re hoping that they can help us to reach other communities.
We have had different seminars here for the people in the missions. Since everything is so far away and many don’t have transportation we try have things at the church. We are starting to see the results and more people getting involved.
This last week I got a phone call at 4 am. A couple that are members of the church had wreck in Manaus. They asked me to come get their son while they were taken to the hospital. Well, on the way there, a motorcycle ran into my car. The couple is in lots of pain but no broken bones. And I am fine. Praise God for His protection.
There are some needs we want to share with you. We spend most of our time in a car since the missions are at a distance from our home. We need a car that is dependable that holds more than 5 people. Also for the new church in Ubim, we will need chairs. If you would like to give, the cost of each chair is $10.00. We thank you so much for your prayers and support.
God bless each of you!
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
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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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [June 2013]
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,
I am grateful for every investment you make in missions, particularly as you pray to the Father on our behalf. In this letter, I want to share with you concerning our new cycling outreach, a challenge for you to participate in a successful church plant in America, our recent salvation decisions, the auditorium expansion, our children’s cookout and also want to share several pictures.
Cycling Evangelism
Since I was 16 years old, I always dreamed of cycling as an Evangelism strategy for making new friends and witnessing. I remember as if it were yesterday, writing in my prayer book what I imaged, including an artistic sketch of a big group of cyclers. Well, 20 years later, God decided it was time. A few weeks ago, two men in their late 20’s came to visit the main Sunday service. As we talked, they told me of how they cycle daily with groups of 20 to 30 people throughout the city. I told them I loved cycling and how I had been an avid cycler during my teens. They invited me to join them in cycling. I did not have a bike so they lent me one. God’s timing was perfect (always is), I was ready for this new challenge although I felt out of shape. I have met so many new people it is unbelievable! Raquel has since joined me in cycling as well. We do not have to invest energy in organizing cycling events; we just go along for the ride, meet new people and share Christ.
Church Planting
Church planting is such an uplifting opportunity and it is the best evangelism strategy developed by the Lord. Everyone should be a part of a successful church planting experience at least once in his or her lifetime. America is also in need of new solid churches. Consider following the Lord’s example in this way – we need more churches. I am grateful to have joined my grandfather, my father and uncles in church planting to during my formative years. Now, as I pass on to my children the experience in ministry through church planting I am grateful that they will have fond memories too. Every location has something unique. The Lord teaches us life-changing lessons through challenges in reaching people, lessons we might not learn otherwise.
Salvation Decisions and Expansion
Over the last month, 11 people have surrendered to the Lord. We continue with small group prayer meetings, home discipleship visits, breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings. Last week, the auditorium received a reorganization in its layout to accommodate more chairs. We now have room for 130 seats. Our main Sunday night service generally lasts 4 hours from start to finish. I generally preach for an hour, we sing, share and eat together. We have intense and sweep fellowship on Sundays.
Kid’s Club
Last month we reached 50 children, plus their parents through a children’s evangelism cookout and game day. It was a true success. As the children sang, heard a Bible lesson, played and competed, the adult members of the church plant made personal connections with the parents and witnessed. As a result, several families have visited during our Sunday services simply because the kids ask their parents to go to church. Most of the parents, who come from Catholic backgrounds, are not used to having a special focus on their children and they love it. One family has a 4 year old daughter who wakes up every day asking “Is today Sunday? Can I get dressed for church?”
Come and visit us anytime. If you want, give me a call. My phone number is (859) 544-9040. Yes, it is a Kentucky number and you can reach me in Brazil. Thanks again for all you do for the Gospel!
Grateful,
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
judsonhatcher@hotmail.com
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