New Seminary Student from the Jungle
September 9, 2024
Dear friends and family,
With the conference and the first graduation for the Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministries behind us, we must get back to the work at hand. But just let me say what a blessed accomplishment it all was. AWESOME!!!! The end of classes for this semester and the completion of exams. The classes were Theology of Missions and Lexicon Hebrew. All passed with flying colors.
We are truly blessed because God has sent us a Brazilian to be one of our professors. He will teach for the Bluegrass Baptist Seminary in the class for Pastoral Ministries. He also is the Pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in the center of São Paulo.
This church sold their old building and are now in a construction project that hopefully will be completed in June of 2025. The plans for the grand opening is to coincide with the graduation of the first Zoom classes we were able to have after COVID. This opened a new era for us there in Brazil. These are friends of the Seminary and our friends also.
We would like to introduce you to one of our newest students. We met him in Manaus in July and he showed great interest in entering into the Seminary. We soon discovered that there would be some LARGE hurdles to jump but we always say, “There is nothing too big for God to conquer,” so the class is taught at 7 o’clock and that is 8 o’clock in Brazil. Not such a big obstacle, but this student lives and works in the jungle. And he only had solar powered energy so he could only receive the classes in the daylight hours. Not such a big deal, right? So, we are now recording the classes and he can listen during the day when the sun is shining. God will make a way, He is AWESOME!!!
Barbara and I will be returning to Brazil on October 9th with the church we are attending here in Sebring, Florida on a fact-finding trip. Our church wants to see if God is calling them to find a place where He is working and join with them to further His kingdom. We will be going to visit Caraguatatuba and see our family there and then go to Rio de Janeiro to visit an Indian tribe there.
We covet your prayers on this trip. Though we have been missionaries for many years there, we have always received the visitors, not been the people visiting. So, this will be a new journey for us.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@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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Bluegrass Baptist Seminary Prepares for Graduation
July 5, 2024
Dear friends and family,
As we here in the USA are getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July, Barbara and I are making our final plans and travel arrangements for the First Pastoral Graduation. This graduation will have 11 Pastors receiving their Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministries. This is such an accomplishment! These Pastors have been in class since before the Covid pandemic, which is the reason for the delay in this graduation. The first master’s class graduation was this past year and it was for the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. In this graduation we had many church leaders and others who just wanted to extend their personal Bible knowledge, AWESOME!!!
These Pastors who will be graduating in July have had additional classes they were required to take for the Pastoral Ministries Degree, those being: thesis writing, Greek and Hebrew, and the completion of their chosen thesis. I send a hearty congratulations to them and thanks to all who helped sponsor, and for the many prayers sent up for this ministry. AWESOME is the God we serve!!!
I am trying to keep this letter short because the next one will be filled with pictures of this labor of love and the Pastors who have stuck to the plan. Bluegrass Baptist Seminary has many things planned for the rest of this year and the next! So as you go to your prayer closet, remember us in your prayers—the students, the professors, the translators, the volunteers, the facilitators, BFM, the many supporters of BFM, the AWESOME God and prayer warriors who make all this happen.
Barb and ask for prayers as we go. There will be many challenges on this trip. Also pray for our health as we are no longer in the spring of our youth. Pray for connections as we travel over the country of Brazil. There is one more request regarding our travel: we have just been informed that there will be a change in the cost of additional baggage. It has always been $100.00 for each additional suitcase but now they will be charging $400.00. And if you know how Barbara packs, you can just imagine that she has three we will be needing to carry and pay for—things the churches need, Seminary needs, and personal requests from Pastors and our family. This will add a great cost for this trip, but we know that God is in control.
Thank you in advance for the prayers.
In His service,
AJ and Barbara
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@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
