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.
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The Season of Hope
December 1, 2021
Merry Christmas from the Tates, everyone!
This Christmas of 2021 marks the second Christmas marred by a general feeling of world-wide fear and trepidation. For some people, the words “Corona Virus” bring feelings of imminent threat. For others, it is more a feeling of caution but also uncertainty because of the way world governments are dealing with the situation. For some there is fear; for others there is angst. For some there is fear of disease, suffering, and even death; for others there is fear of corruption, oppression, and tyranny. Either way, there is more shared world-wide distress than I have ever seen in my adult lifetime.
I love how the Psalmist in Chapter 4 of the Book of Psalms says to God, “Hear me when I call…You HAVE relieved me in my distress.” David prayed because he was in need of relief, but he talked as if God had ALREADY given it. David assumed it; it was a foregone conclusion to him. He prayed with an expectation of hope. Not a “hope so,” but a “hope KNOW.”
Sometimes I’m not sure what specifically I need – I just know there is this anxiety, this longing…this emptiness that needs filling. This…dis-satisfaction with this world. It’s a longing for Hope – for the end of futility…the end of sin and its effects both around me and in me…the end to brokenness, disease, and death…the end to evil, poverty, and oppression…the end to division, hate, and violence…the end to suffering of all kinds.
But God teaches me through His Word that He has ALREADY relieved me in my distress. He has ALREADY sent His answer – in the greatest, most complete, and most comprehensive manner possible.
IMMANUEL.
GOD WITH US.
JESUS.
God IS the God of all Hope, and this is the Season of Hope because Jesus is our “Hope Know.”
This season especially (right now in 2021) is given to us as a reminder – a refocus.
“Take heart,” Jesus said, “for I have ALREADY overcome the world.” It’s done. It’s finished. Now we are simply waiting for it to work its way through – but it’s done – it’s a foregone conclusion.
All the suffering, the hate, the disease, the oppression, the death – it has ALREADY been dealt the death blow and lies writhing on the ground fighting for its last gasp of oxygen. The answer has ALREADY been given – the healing medicine ALREADY applied. It’s been done in the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. We long for peace, and the Prince of Peace has come.
So, God, hear us when we call. Have mercy on us. You HAVE relieved us in our distress. Now, fill us with the Peace You have ALREADY provided so we can love others with the love with which You have loved us. Help us be satisfied in our dis-satisfaction, knowing we hope (KNOW), along with all of creation, for the full coming of Your PERFECTED Kingdom.
The King is Coming!
Love,
Julie
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.
Read more
