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.

December 4, 2012

Dear Brethren,

The problem is: What news to include and what to leave out?

The church at Assis Brasil celebrated her 50th anniversary with a conference mid November. They wanted Dad, the founder, to be the speaker, but he couldn’t be here. They had to settle for a second choice and second rate speaker: ME. The house was packed with over 400 present every night, but one.

The next night I preached at a meeting at our Cruzeirinho chapel.

I have been working day and night to get the steel structure and roof on the third floor of our annex. On the 15th, which was the same day as the anniversary at Assis Brasil, I had over 30 guys helping me put up the trusses. We wanted to have the roof on for our Thanksgiving dinner. On Thanksgiving day we had over 200 people setting up for the dinner while my crew was finishing up the roofing. I finished up the electrical at 7:00PM. I finished up my work, ran home to shave and shower and arrived back at church a half hour late. When I came up the last flight of stairs onto the terrace there were over 900 people sitting and standing around 200 tables. They were patiently waiting for me for Thanksgiving dinner to be served. This was the greatest Thanksgiving ever. It was a very emotional time. I spoke to the church for about 15 minutes then dinner was served. There was plenty to go around. Many of us were still there at 2:00 in the morning. I was the last person to leave and didn’t get to bed until after 3:00AM.

Singing at the 50th Anniversary Celebration in Assis

One weekend last month was visiting the church at Thaumaturgo, 300 KM up river. We dedicated a new work they started in a new location at the edge of town. They have a couple that they trained to take care of this new chapel. This trip was a real vacation for me. I preached 5 services in 3 days. There was time to prepare 2 lessons for here at my home church, too. That light of a schedule is a real vacation compared to the hours I have been putting in here in Cruzeiro do Sul. The church at Thaumaturgo continues to do very well though. The attendance is great, souls are being saved and their small groups are starting to take off.

We have had an extraordinary month here at First Baptist. There have been at least 13 professions of faith and about that many requests for baptism. Many who were out of fellowship have come back and several others have come confessing sin. I preached last Sunday night to an overflow crowd. There were 5 more saved in that service.

Celebrating 50 years at Assis!

Andrew leads the small group that Bev and I participate in. This is a couples group, so there are supposed to be no more than 7 couples. Last week we had 17 couples! We had a first time couple: the former governor and his wife. He has 2 kinds of cancer, just had some major surgery and is having chemo. He is a staunch Catholic. I have witnessed to him before. He is in São Paulo right now having another treatment, but he will be coming to our house when he gets back for us to have a serious talk about his soul. A few weeks ago, while he was in SP recovering from surgery, I gave him a call to let him know that the church was praying for him. Later I found out that he mentioned that call during an interview for a radio program. It must have made an impression. So pray for him, for his health and that I will be used to win him to Christ. One of his boys is already saved and baptized at our church. His youngest son is now attending church regularly and is part of our small group. The 2 boys’ wives are already saved and baptized, too.

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.