God Orchestrates Events for His Glory
November 19, 2023
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I had the privilege of fellowshipping with several of our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ last week at the annual Thanksgiving Conference in Detroit, Michigan. It was at that same event 39 years ago that the Lord called me to Brazil as a missionary. There were so many blessings and memories re-lived at this most recent event. Also present at this conference was Brother Mike Creiglow, who was my professor of Cross-cultural Missions while in Bible college in Clarksville, Tennessee back in 1980. An added blessing was that Brother David Mitchell and his dear wife, Ellen, were present. I learned from him that he had invited Mike Creiglow to lecture at the college that year while he was in the USA on furlough. Now I can see a little part of how the Lord was working to expose me to the missionaries and their works in Brazil, the field to which He would call me as my career-long ministry. And there we were, 39 years later, enjoying the fellowship, and the fact that God had orchestrated these events so that hundreds of thousands of people have heard the gospel, and thousands have surrendered to Christ because of His sovereign and loving hand on our lives. What a great and loving Savior!
Yago and Manoela, our missionaries to Portugal sent us a video yesterday of how their ministry is progressing there. It was a joy to see their growing group meeting together to study God’s word and share the gospel with the lost Portuguese people. The Lord provided them with a place to meet temporarily, but they are still searching for a more permanent place of assembling. They do a fantastic job of teaching the Bible to the new converts and even to some who have been in church for years but have never been taught the Bible thoroughly.
Our traveling evangelistic team, Projeto Vida, has had a productive month of ministry. We continue to have open invitations into public schools to share gospel skits and personal testimonies to God’s grace and forgiveness. The Lord has shown them, and us, that He is still on His throne and is still transforming lives through the preaching of the gospel.
We are so grateful to you, our ministry partners, for your faithful prayers and support. We hope and pray that you are blessed with a joyous Christmas season and a prosperous New Year.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside on Furlough from Brazil
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: bobbymichael_1@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
Visiting Church in Rodrigues Alves 51 Years Later
September 26, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Grace and peace to all from the Creiglow duo. Well my calloused and stained hands are back. One of my friends once said, “If you want to find Mike Creiglow in a crowd just call for a raising of hands.” Besides being back into all the preaching, teaching, meeting and counselling, I have accelerated the construction and repair part of my work. I have felt good and am recovering my strength to some degree. Most days I get back to the house around 7:00PM. I am so grateful to our Lord for being back into my home setting and routine.
A couple of weeks ago we held a baptism and Lord’s supper service. I performed the baptism of 7 new members. We have had folks saved most weekends. There have been folks coming for membership from other Baptist churches both here and other cities. We have had more requests for baptism, including several from other denominations. Our attendance continues to nudge upward. Our Sunday school attendance is now above pre pandemic levels. The evening services are still just shy of where they were before COVID.
Bev and I went to visit our church in the city of Rodrigues Alves. This town of 15 thousand people was just a village of a couple hundred when Dad first held services there in the 60’s. They now have paved streets, two paved roads from Cruzeiro do Sul, banks, stores, schools and many churches. When Dad held services there on our trips up the Juruá River, it would take the better part of a day to get there in our houseboat. When Bev and I started going there weekly in the early 70’s, we could only get there by boat. Bev mentioned the high river back that had to be climbed hauling our baby (Adam) and gear. We slept in a tent, used an outhouse, and took our dip baths by a shallow well. On our recent visit Bev and I left the house at 6:00PM in her little Chevy SUV and an hour later stepped out on a sidewalk and right into the big church building.
It took many years to establish the church there. It has now been 51 years since that small and slow beginning. They were celebrating 30 years of official church status. The building was full. The music was exceptional. The pastors are Edson Lopes and Raimundo. We sent Edson about 20 years ago. Raimundo is much younger and trained by Edson.
Next month Bev and I will be returning to the States for more medical procedures. I will be seeing my dermatologist, my surgeon and my oncologist for routine follow up visits that they required. Also, I have a retina repair surgery and cataract surgery on both eyes (3 separate procedures). We are scheduled to leave home on October 14 and return on December 6. Please continue to pray. Thanks to all who pray and give toward my health expenses.
I have one unusual request to make. Many of the places I have projects out in the bush, I need a portable generator. The local Honda dealer has a 1000W generator for just over $1,500.00. The same thing costs only $1,000.00 in the US, but I can’t bring one from there. The freight and taxes would more than double the price. So if you can help me out, please 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
Back Home in Brazil
July 24, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from hot and dry Cruzeiro do Sul. Perfect! After 6 months in the United States, I have arrived back home. Bev was with me for the last 3 months of my “vacation”. My treatment ended at the beginning of July. Our return trip was long, tiring, but went without a hitch. My parting shot as the surgeon left the room on my last checkup was, “Doctor, you did what nobody has ever been able to do: You made time stand still. These have been the longest 6 months of my life.”
Thanks to all of you who have prayed. Please don’t stop though. At age 75 I am still not out of the woods and may never be. Special thanks to my daughter Monica who had to put up with the “homeless guy” for 6 months. What a trooper, just like her Mom.
We have been back home for 10 days now. You would not believe the number of things that can break in 6 months. I am still weak, but have gotten quite a few things repaired. Of course, there have been meetings and more meetings as I try to catch up. It has all been very pleasant though.
Attendance is on the rise at church. Yesterday morning we had a baptism and Lord’s supper service. Pastor Maicom (one of our 7 pastors) performed the baptisms. We added 10 new members. We also had 3 more requests for baptism yesterday. Three more people came back into fellowship. We also reinstated a family of 6 that had been away for a long time. We had 1,089 at church yesterday.
Yesterday was one of our oldest members birthday. Sister Eunice Sá was at church to celebrate her 90th. Many of her children and grandchildren are faithful members to this day. Her husband pastored First Baptist Church back in the fifties. He went to heaven many years ago. He was a deacon when I became pastor. Many other family members were at church last night to help her celebrate.
Our missions teams have been busy these past few days. They made visits to Ramal 7, Campinas, Gama and Paraná dos Mouras. We are having a little trouble with our missionary at Campinas, but the work is doing pretty good. Gama just continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The congregation at Ramal 7 has just finished their first building. They have moved in, but haven’t held the dedication service yet.
Well I realize that this is much news, but it is a start. It is hard to express the relief and joy of being home again. Thanks again for being patient and prayerful.
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
7 from Remote Tribe Baptized in Ituí River
June 17, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Last time I reported to you, I had been in the States for 2 months. Now it is pushing 5 months. Beverly arrived a couple of months ago, which has made my life much easier through these toughest months of this ordeal. Tuesday will be my final radiation session of 25. I saw the oncologist on Thursday and the surgeon on Friday. Both have given me the green light to return home as soon as I heal a little bit and feel up to it. The original surgery took over 6 weeks to heal then the radiation has undone much of that. However, we hope to start our journey home on July 5th. So far I have spent about $7,000.00 out of pocket. The insurance covered much of the treatment, which, as you can imagine, was astronomical. Hopefully we will get some back. Don’t be shy if you would like to help.
The reports from the field are glowing. People have been saved every weekend.
Our missions conference was in mid-May.
The 3 nights were attended by crowds of 600 plus. Three more surrendered to be missionaries. We preach and teach about how people are called and commissioned to be missionaries. The Holy Spirit performs His power in it all. The 3 new candidates are already in training by Zico (our missions coordinator) and Geverton our full-time missionary at large.
Now let me share a couple of the recent mission trips that our teams have made.
Two of our teams did house to house, village to village, evangelism on the Boa Fé River. This river runs west to east about 50 miles north of Cruzeiro do Sul. It flows into our main river, the Juruá, about 100 miles downstream from us. Since we have a full time missionary and congregation at Gama (about halfway from headwaters to mouth), one team went there overland and went upstream to the last house. The other team went down the Juruá to the mouth of the Boa Fé and worked their way up to Gama, where the 2 teams finished up. That way in just a couple of weeks the 2 teams were able to share the gospel with everyone on the whole river. I haven’t seen the final report that was given to the home church.
Pastor Ezi (one of the 7 pastors of First Baptist Church of Cruzeiro do Sul) went to visit our work among the Marubo Indians. Ezi’s son-in-law is a Marubo and went with him. Ezi’s daughter went, too, taking their 2 children (one is just a few months old)! To get to the tribe they had go down the Juruá River 100 miles to the mouth of the Boa Fé River. Then they had to hike due north for 2 days to get to the reservation. The Indians come out to help them carry their baggage. These Indians end up making this hike 4 times to get our missionaries in and back out again! While there he baptized 7 Maoubos in the Ituí River. That river is actually a tributary of the Amazon River, to give you an idea of how remote and isolated the tribe is. Our full-time missionary there is Ronaldinho. He was born there. We did much of his training, but he also spent a couple of years in a seminary in Rio de Janeiro.
For lack of space, I am holding one more great piece of mission news for my next letter. Sorry about the suspense, but you’ll just have to wait!
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Pastor Ezi baptizing at the Marubo reservation on the Ituí River
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
God’s Kingdom Bursting Along the Breu River
March 23, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Well I have now been here in the States for two months. It looks like I will be here for a while. I have been through many visits to the doctors, many tests and two surgeries. The recovery will be long and even once that is finished I still will have 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments. It could be another three months, so please continue to pray. So far the expenses have been low and some friends and family have been helping out. I am so thankful that Baptist Faith Missions has provided such good health coverage.
Here is some really good news, at least for me. The church down home has paid for Bev’s tickets to come and be with me for the coming months. She will be leaving Cruzeiro do Sul in a couple of weeks. The news from my doctors has all been pretty good. News that Beverly will be here with me is very, very good news.
Things are going well in the work. Attendance has been growing over the last weeks. We are now consistently over 600 in both morning and evening services. We had been just over 500 each in January. February was better. Now in March almost every service has been 600+. Last Sunday 2 more were saved including another young lady from our deaf folks.
Two weeks ago, our deaf ministry started having discipleship classes. We have 4 basic training courses for all new converts. These are now being ministered to our new deaf members.
Last Sunday 2 newborns were presented to the church. We also found out that 6 more couples are expecting. Over the past weeks 3 couples have done “reveals” out at our house and property. This is an honor for Bev and me. Shame I am not there to participate.
As a reminder, our church has a team of 7 pastors. I am the senior pastor. While I am away the others pick up my slack. Pastor Ezi Lopes went to visit our congregation on the Breu River. This river runs along the border between Peru and Brazil. He baptized 22 new members at the Hunikuim tribe.
We sent a missionary there several years ago. José Maia was forced to leave by a federal judge. That is when one of the young girls, Damiana, went to live with Maias in Tipisca, Peru. She got saved and she was the first person that I baptized in Tipisca in 2017. She later returned to the tribe and was used to reach them with the gospel. A couple of years ago I baptized the first 9 converts there. Among them was Cosma, Damiana’s twin sister. One of the young men who was baptized is now their pastor. Aldenir is his name.
When Christ’s kingdom bursts out no one can stop it. The judge kicked out our missionary. One girl left with him. She got saved and went back to her people. Many others got saved. God called one of the young men to shepherd them. I baptized some, but am not there to care for them. Ezi went and baptized another large group. I didn’t tell him to go. One of the videos I saw of the baptism service showed the congregation singing “I have decided to follow Jesus” in the Hunikuim language as they made their way to the river. Who taught them that? Where did that come from? How can that be? It’s not me. It’s not José Maia. It’s not Ezi Lopes. You know who it is! To God be the glory.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Pastor Ezi baptizes a man in the Breu River 
Baptism of 22 new members at the Hunikuim tribe
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
Mission Trip to Peru, Surgeries Scheduled
February 22, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from not so cold today Lexington, Kentucky. It has now been over a month that I arrived here for medical attention. Things have gone pretty well so far.
Before leaving home, I had confirmed my first visit of the year to our mission work in Peru. That didn’t quite work out as planned. Still there is good news. Our missions director, Zico took Pastor Benjamim (yes, that spelling is correct) with him and made the trip anyway. The church building was packed and they had a baptism, too.
Today is the final day of our first big youth camp of the year. Andrew is the leader of that ministry.
The last Sunday of January we had our “Ministry Fair”. This event is just as many ministries as possible setting up displays and recruiting new help for the year ahead. Our church has an average of 70% of the membership involved in some kind of ministry or service. We are so thankful that the Lord has made this happen. It is why so much gets accomplished. Sharing the workload across the membership has made it a joy to pastor.
My oldest son Adam and his wife Suzy came over from California to visit. Also, my grandson Caleb came in from Indiana. I am staying with my daughter Monica and granddaughter Isabella here in Lexington, Kentucky. We all went over to visit my Dad and his wife Lois last night. Dad is now 96. He is not in the greatest health. He is still very much alive and has not lost his sense of humor. Last night he was in great form. He told a bunch of stories. We had some really good laughs and shed many a tear. Dad and I have 90+ years of missions combined between us. One date that he and I share is January 29. He was baptized on that day in 1956. I surrendered to be a missionary on that same date in 1966. Great times. Wonderful blessings.
My first surgery is scheduled for tomorrow February 23. Please continue to pray for all of my treatment. I will have a second surgery on March 6. There will be other doctor visits and procedures along the way.
Since the treatment is going well into March I have accepted an invitation to attend the Baptist Faith Missions Spring Missions Conference in Ohio on March 31 and April 1. Looking forward to seeing many of you there.
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
