31 Baptized, including Adriano from Florianópolis
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.
September 30, 2024
Dear Brethren,
Hello from Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil. It has now been exactly 3 weeks since I arrived back home after a month in the States. While in the US I had 2 more malignant tumors removed from my head plus a couple of follow-up procedures on both eyes. I am feeling fine and went straight back to my usual work routine. I get up at about 5:00AM every day and turn in at about 11:00PM. I have been able to complete several catch up/maintenance projects and some new ones, too.
I haven’t made any mission trips yet. The river is at a record low level and only canoes are getting around. I have already installed an electric start kit on my 25HP engine and done all the maintenance before the rainy season comes around. I am also getting the new boat project organized. Andrew has finished the drawings and we are almost ready to start building. The engine and aluminum materials have already arrived. Hoping and praying that some of you can help me with this project.
Things are going very well at church even though we have had some major opposition in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday we had baptism and the Lord’s supper. I baptized 31. More people have been saved each week since my return. One of the ones who made a profession of faith was a young deaf woman. This ministry which finally launched a couple of year ago has grown steadily. We now have at least 5 who have been saved and 12 who attend services.
One of the men who I baptized yesterday has a unique story and was especially gratifying to me.
Adriano is from Florianópolis in southern Brazil. He manages a firm that operates here in Cruzeiro do Sul. Before he was transferred here, he had a spiritual shake up. He was Roman Catholic, but feeling empty and desperate. On a rainy day he “randomly” stopped into a Baptist church there in Florianópolis. A pastor talked to him about Christ and told him that as soon as he got to Cruzeiro do Sul to find a church. He came to our Sunday evening service here at First Baptist. He heard me preach the gospel. That was my last time in the pulpit just before my trip to the States. After the invitation and after the service he came and told me his story. I shared the gospel with him. He trusted in Christ that very night. After my one month absence, I was back in the pulpit on Sunday night, September 22. He made his public profession of faith that night. On Thursday night he attended a one-night course for candidates for baptism. Yesterday I was privileged to baptize him and 30 other new believers.
Some of those who were baptized are from our congregations out of town. Some of them came from our congregation in Guajará, state of Amazonas.
Our camp, Salém, has been busy all summer. There were 2 more retreats just since my return. The youth had one with 4 teens getting saved. Pastor Ezi who takes care of our older members also had a retreat for them. The women’s retreat was the weekend that I was headed back home. They always have about 250 ladies even though the camp only has room for about 150! Friday, I laid out the markings of a new 2,600 square foot metal structure. Saturday was the groundbreaking. We hope to have this building under roof in time for the first big youth camp next February.
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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3 in Brazil Surrender to the Call to Serve as Missionaries
July 2, 2024
Dear Brethren,
It has been a long time since I reported to you. News I have a plenty, but I have not stopped long enough to report it to you.
After the long trip to Peru and the big flood it was time to go back up the Moa River to finish some work on the building at the mountains. I had intended to go in my boat, but the bottom dropped out of the river and I had to get our itinerant missionary, Geverton, to take me in his canoe. It took us 12 hours as opposed to 5 hours, but it was pretty nice to have somebody else at the helm for a change. I loaded up the little Honda generator and a bunch of power tools and in 3 days was able to finish up the windows in the front of the building. We also held services with the congregation there.
Shortly after that we had the huge privilege to have Pastor Mark Pyles and wife Valarie with us for a far too short visit. We were able to let them get a little sample of what the Lord is doing here in Cruzeiro do Sul. Perhaps the neatest thing we were able to do was visit our work at Gama. We all piled into my Jeep and went out there for an afternoon baptism service and the regular service at night. The folks there treated us royally including a great meal. We don’t get many visits out here in the middle of nowhere, so it was such a blessing to have the Pyles with us.
Our church celebrated her 95th anniversary on May 12th. We also had our missions conference at that time. We had all our missionaries come in from the bush for this major event. We treated all the missionaries and their wives to 2 days at a local resort before the conference. Many of them had never had this experience. Of course, we had some good teaching and sharing during those 2 days. Our guest speaker was Pastor Edward Luz who is also president of New Tribes Missions Brazil. The preaching was great and our people responded well. The crowds were really big for all three nights. The last night we had 850 people at First Baptist Church. That was all home folks since it was a Sunday night and people from other churches were at their own churches. We had 3 more people called to serve as missionaries. On Saturday morning we had our annual pastor/missionary meeting for fellowship and training. There were over 200 workers present for that event and lunch.
Many more people have been saved and added to the church over these last 3 months since my last report. We have had 2 baptisms. 38 baptized and then last week another 23. We have also added several by church letter. I have intensified my teaching at the home church. One highlight was our last membership course. We graduated just under 150 new members. That coursed is 8 lessons, which I taught over 2 weeks. Sunday night they received their certificates.
Bev has been with me as I have visited several of our works. I held meetings for our churches at São Pedro and Santa Rosa. These are both “First Baptists” organized out of our church. We have also visited our congregations at Cruzeirinho and Guajará for either morning or night services, multiple times.
I have much more to report, but this report is already too long. I will send more news soon. Just so you know, I work long hours all day every day building “stuff” and almost every night teaching or preaching. It just seems so hard to “stop” to send you the reports that I know you all deserve. 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
Transitions and Plans for the Future
October 26, 2023
Dear Brethren,
The temperature has dropped! Could it be because we left Cruzeiro do Sul, where we were seeing 100’s on the thermometer, and landed in chilly Lexington, Kentucky? Bev and I left home on the fourteenth of this month. We will be here for around 6 weeks. Between return doctor visits and eye surgeries, I will be in and out of clinics at least 10 times. So far, I have gotten through 4 of these. Help us in prayer as you remember.
Attendance continues to improve at First Baptist Church of Cruzeiro do Sul. We just had 2 weeks in a row with over 600 in every Sunday service. We continue to see folks saved and baptized. We also have added several more by letter. Also, there is a steady stream of people who come from other denominations and get their first teaching and preparation for baptism.
Our church purpose statement is this little 3 letter word: AME. First it is the imperative of the verb “to love”. Also, it is an acronym for “Adorar” (worship), Ministrar (serve) and Evangelizar (evangelize). Many of the ministries in our church have incorporated this into their titles. The youth call themselves “AME Jovens”. The pre-teens adopted, “AME Teens”. Just last Saturday this latter group had a special night to preach the gospel to their friends. There were 31 saved! Miller, the leader of this ministry, is a full-time policeman at the state prison. Maybe he just doesn’t want these kids to end up there.
We have had a few changes of pastors in some of our churches. Earlier this year Pastor Eliel, who had been at First Baptist of Japiim (city of Mâncio Lima) took over the pastorate at Ipixuna, state of Amazonas. This is on our river, downstream from us about a days trip. They had been without a pastor for some time. Frist Baptist of Japiim then just recently called Carlos August after being without a pastor for 8 months. Carlos turned over his pulpit at Gethsemane Baptist, to his father and father-in-law. He had been pastor there from the time of the organization until last month. That church is in Iracema, just a few miles down the road. We had a good long talk about all this just before my trip to the States. It looks to be a good situation for all 3 churches. The 2 churches that had been without pastors were in poor shape even before the pastors left. It is good to see how well He takes care of His churches.
Speaking of that…Three Sundays ago I communicated our 5-year plan to First Baptist Church on a Sunday morning. After teaching a lesson on what the Bible teaches about how God plans and human planning, I let the church know that she needs to get ready for the time when I will need to step aside, or down or something like that. My goal was to let the church know that all of our programs and the mission work is already in good hands and flowing. My part in the coming days is to make sure that we finish all the building we need to do at the downtown campus and get a pilot program in place for the move to the new, bigger and better property that we purchased a few years ago. By God’s grace we hope to see that all happen by the church’s 100th birthday on May 12, 2029. If Christ returns before that, great. If He takes me home before that, no problem. Get ready and be ready. He who knows all things knows exactly what He has planned and will do. 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
New Boat for Itinerant Missionary
August 15, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Hello from perfect weather Cruzeiro do Sul. We just had a cold front come through. There were 3 days of rain and temperatures in the low 70’s. We had just come off a 30-day drought. Now the grass is green again and clear blue skies. So good to be home. Speaking of being home: Bev and I have been back for exactly one month.
The church has been taking advantage of my return and put me to work big time. I have been preaching or teaching at least 3 times a week. Sometimes more. Besides these messages in our regular services, I have also been in the studio recording videos and have visited one of our chapels, too. This month they asked me to prepare a series of lessons about some of the “One to another” texts. I singled out 8 in the book of Romans. Sunday morning, I taught about having the “same mind” from Romans 12:16. Each lesson is supposed to be 1 hour. Mine took an hour and a half. When I closed, they broke into applause. My hope is that they enjoyed the lesson. Of course, there is always the possibility that they were just glad I shut up!
Bev and I visited Cruzeirinho last Sunday night to help them celebrate the Brazilian Father’s Day. Although it was raining, they had a really good crowd, and one lady came back into fellowship after being away for 3 years.
This is church camp season. The preteens went to Camp Salém (our own 400 acre camp) three weekends ago. They had 55 kids. The next week was the men’s retreat. They had over 170. This past weekend was the youth group. Don’t know exactly how many went. I was up there yesterday, and I am sure they had well over 100.
The church bought a brand new aluminum boat and 23HP motor for our itinerant missionary Geverton. The boat and motor were unveiled in the church parking lot 2 Sundays ago. The boat will carry 12 people. He has been taking care of all the congregations and mission points between here and Porto Walter. His last trip covered Valparaiso, Nova Cintra, Valquiria, Profeta and Luzeiro.
Since my last letter our evangelists have been back to Gama and Ramal 7, plus Generoso on the Boa Fé River.
Besides all the meetings and work at church, I have been trying to squeeze in as much repair work as possible. It is unreal how many things broke down while I was away for 6 months. It seems like every day I find something else that needs to be fixed. I have started up some new building projects, too. Nothing major yet, but things are starting to get back into a rhythm.
My health has improved. I have lost 13lbs so far and am getting my exercise pretty regularly. The medical bills are still trickling in, but nothing big of late. Thanks to all who have prayed and given. 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.
Read more
On the Way to a Tribe in Cruzeiro do Sul
July 21, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The year is passing so fast that it is hard to believe July is gone. We pray and hope that all are well and blessed. We are doing well and blessed by God through each of your prayers and support. We have had the privilege of having some friends from Kentucky visiting us. It’s been wonderful. One of the ladies, Jennifer, used to work with us at Alpha and Omega in Garça. We have visited different places and shown where we have ministries.
Also, me and my son Joshua, mostly known as “Zinho”, are on our way to a tribe in Cruzeiro do Sul. We will be walking in the forest for 43 kilometers (26.7 miles). The chief of the tribe is a Baptist pastor. His son is from Mike Creiglow’s church.
Now that is raining less, we will be able to work more on the camp buildings and also work on the remodeling of the church in the village of Cacau Pereira. We hope and pray we can get a lot done and finished so we can use both places.
We had lots of problems with our cars but looks like the problems are getting solved. Praise the Lord. Living out where we live is difficult without a car. Also, we take several people to church. Pray that the cars will continue working so we can use them in the ministry.
Thanks to each one of you that are part of the ministry through prayers and support.
God bless you!
Love in Christ,
Odali & Kathy
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@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
Remembering Missionaries of BFM
May 18, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thanks to our Lord for precious moments in our lives. This month is a special month as we remember the missionaries of BFM who have served the Lord for many years.
Kathy and I had planned a trip to my home state, Cruzeiro do Sul, for over a year. With all the pandemic problems we had to change it. But finally, this month we were able to make the trip. The day we arrived we got a message that Brother John Hatcher had gone to be with the Lord.
Many places we have been we have met people that were led to the Lord by Bro. John Hatcher and also Bro. Bobby Creiglow. What a special moment! These men of God were used to touch many lives and also left an example of serving through good times or hard times.
May God bless each person and the churches that have given to this mission and for uplifting all of us in prayer.
Our works in our ministry are doing well. While we are traveling, we have left those from our church that are doing leadership training caring for the work. Pray that this will encourage our members to want to do more.
We had a special evening with Mike and Beverly Creiglow. My Christian life and ministry started with them. I’m thankful for their influence in my life. May God continue to bless them and their ministry.
Thank God for each of you supporters of BFM. God bless each of you.
Odali preaching at his nephew’s church in Rio Branco 
Service at the Creiglows’ Church 
Service at the Creiglows’ Church 
Odali & Kathy Barros with Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@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 Rollercoaster to Start the Year
February 8, 2022
Dear Brethren,
What a roller coaster. We have had joy and sadness. We have had health and sickness. There has been frenetic activity and standstills. Numbers have been up and down.
In December we had a baptism service with over 40 new members added to the church. We had a couple of services with over 1000 people present. The average over all services was in the six hundreds.
Then came January. Then came the common cold, the flu, a new variant of Covid, more dengue fever and plenty of malaria. All this illness got so bad that last Wednesday night we had to cancel services. All of the 50+ musicians, 20+ praise group singers and all 7 pastors were sick. There was a grand total of 3 people that showed up. Fortunately, we have not had any deaths.
December 2021 
January 2022
Even with all the wave of disease we still had pretty good crowds during January. There were from 2 to 8 saved every week. One of the really wonderful things about those who have been saved is that most of them are between 8 and 10 years of age.
On one Sunday night I really messed up my scheduling. I accepted an invite to be with one of our chapels, but hadn’t noticed that I was also scheduled to preach at First Baptist. Oops! So I sent one of the other pastors over to Cruzeirinho in my place and begged forgiveness of the chapel folks. God wanted me in my pulpit that night. The core of my sermon was about ways that adult Christians can really mess up a clear presentation of the gospel and how adults have a hard time grasping the simple truth of the gospel. My closing illustration was the Elon Musk interview with the Babylon Bee and his purported “profession of faith”. If you haven’t watched it, stop right now and go look it up. That night ALL 5 of the professions of faith were children. There was such joy and also many tears were shed. Even though our human planning got all twisted up by me, God had His plan working as smoothly as ever. It was one of the best services I have ever been in.
The city has put us in lockdown again, complete with mask mandates, mandates to show proof of vaccination, social distancing and all that stuff. No public gathering is to have more than 300 people. We are not following any of that. It is interesting that our last service had 297 present, even though we did nothing different to keep people away or bring them in. Our people love to be in church. We are back to livestreaming all services, because so many just can’t come.
The Creiglow gang has been sick, too. Some have tested positive for Covid, others for the flu. Bev is still quarantined. Bev and I don’t know what we had and haven’t gone to the trouble to get tested. We ruined enough swabs during our travels to the States and have had our fill of that stuff. I am back in the pulpit full time. My cough is completely gone while I am preaching. When not in the pulpit I am hacking away. We are all on the mend though.
Well this has been one strange report, but I hope you were edified at least a little.
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
Homecoming Celebration & Encouraging News from Mission Works
August 4, 2021
Dear Brethren,
Although technically it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, the Amazonian summer is here. We have had bright blue cloudless skies for days. The river is at its lowest and the muddy Juruá River has turned to a deep green color. We have had temperatures in the mid 60’s at night and early morning. Usually only gets up to lower 80’s during the day. Nice!
With the pandemic subsiding and good weather things have picked up at church. We have a homecoming service every year in late January or early February. This year, because of the virus we did not have one. Well last Sunday we had our homecoming service. We had 559 in the morning and 440 at night. Those add up to 999. I don’t know what I would do to the member that stayed home and kept us from reaching the 1000 mark for the day! Now these numbers a still way below our normal attendance, but are still very encouraging. We served lunch for everybody up on the third floor terrace of the annex. A really good day overall. We added 4 new members, too.
Our 2 youth groups (15-24 year olds and 25 and older) are back in full swing. Our nursery is now open, too. The “tweens” will start back next Sunday. Andrew had a special activity for the teens out at the new church property last Saturday. They had a bonfire and roasted hotdogs. There were over 180 for a chilly evening of Bible study and worship under the Southern cross. Again these numbers are only about 50% of normal, but still really good considering where we were just a couple of short months ago. Children’s activities will return in early September in a very limited fashion.
Although I have not been able to visit as much of our mission work as I would like, we still are getting great reports from our missionaries all around the region. The work among the Hunikuin on the Breu River is a very bright spot. They have outgrown their great house (holds about 100) and are gearing up to build a new building. I have promised them the aluminum roofing for a building that should seat a couple hundred.
Recently the federal government expelled the missionaries of New Tribes Mission from among the Marubos on the Ituí River north of us in the State of Amazonas. Fortunately we have 2 members of our church who are full blooded Marubos and have moved back into the tribe in 2 different villages. We are going to put them on as our missionaries. The feds will not be able to expel them!
During the month of July I did most of the teaching and preaching. I had a series to do that was much needed. That is all finished up now. I also had a ton of jobs to do on the building and was able to finish those projects as well. Now Bev and I are getting ready to make a trip to the States. We had planned to go last year and hoped to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary while there, but we all know how that turned out. Now we have several urgent health issues to try to get taken care that have only gotten worse with the delay. We are scheduled to leave Cruzeiro do Sul tomorrow afternoon. We will have to go all the way to São Paulo before heading north to the States. For now that is the only way to get to the US. It is going to be a long grueling trip, so pray for us.
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
