Missionary Update: John Mark & Judy Hatcher in France [January 2014]
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”
January 3, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We wish all of God’s best for the coming year and until our Lord Jesus returns to take us to be with Him. Yesterday, I spoke to my younger brother David in Manaus, Brazil to wish him a happy birthday. Next week is my birthday and I am not turning 29. Several years ago I read or heard someone say that there are only two things that are eternal in our World, God and people, and our job is to bring them together. People are the only thing that we will take with us. “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Luke 16:9) We must invest all that is temporal: money, things, and yes, even time into the eternal – therefore the two great commands are Love God and Love people.
During the past three weeks we enjoyed the visit of Judy’s only sister, Peggy. She has been a great co-worker with us during our entire adult life. She is now retired though she still works one day a week. The rest of her time is spent being a missionary where she lives. Two days a week she teaches Bible to children in 4th and 5th grade from the public schools. In this ministry, 3 trailers are moved around the county and parked outside public schools. Children in 4th and 5th grades are dismissed for a period of time once each week and go to these trailers to be taught the Bible. This is all done and supported by volunteers. While we lived in Evansville, our church staffed a similar ministry in the neighboring county. The lady who now heads up this week day Bible ministry that Peggy serves in was also a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church when we were there. Peggy is also involved in a couple of other outreach ministries on weekdays as well as working in the preschool ministry in her church. So, really, she is not retired. She is investing her earthly life into the eternal.
Judy and her sister Peggy with some of the ladies from the Mazere Bible study.
A few days before Christmas, Angela sent us an email to tell us that Joachim’s father had died during his sleep the night before. A couple of days later, as I spoke to Joachim, he ask my advice on the biblical passages that he wanted used for his father’s funeral. Eight years ago, Joachim confessed his faith in Christ and followed the Lord in baptism. This couple was brought into our sphere of life when Amanda (our daughter-in-law) met Angela at children’s play group. Joachim was the first person baptized in our assembly here and just before they moved away, their son trusted Christ and followed the Lord in Baptism. One of these days you will meet these eternal friends.
Last Sunday, the last of 2013, we focused on thanking God for the blessings of the past year and praying for what God wants us to have during the coming year and future. God is soooo good. Oh, how He loves us. There are many others out there who need to know Him. Sunday afternoon while we were taking a walk with the family, we crossed a boy who came a few times to Sunday School who was on a bike ride with his father. The father, who has never been to any of our meetings, said, “We were just talking about you. Our other son (who also came to Sunday school a few times) asked us when God was born, and we said, that is an question we will have to ask John.” Well I gave him a short answer and told him we needed to get together so that I could talk to his son about it.
So, with your assistance, we continue to invest in people in the unexpected as well as the planned encounters. We are very encouraged by the open doors God is giving us with middle school and high school students. One High School student from a broken home attends our youth meetings regularly. She was invited by a girl from our church who used to be classmate. I don’t know exactly how many piercings she has and she used to “make up” quite “Gothic” (I think I have the right term.) For the Bible discussion at our last meeting a couple of weeks ago each child read a verse concerning Christ coming into the world to save us. I had printed these on strips of paper and passed them out randomly. As I called the text, each child read and we discussed the passage. As this young lady was leaving she said, “Can I take this verse, I think is beautiful. I will have it tattooed on me (I think she was joking about this part.)” We are hoping that she will soon be joined eternally to Christ.
That is what we are doing here;
Investing in the Eternal,
John and Judy in France
John and Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [January 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I’m writing this the new year has just begun. We have flipped from 2013 to 2014 and, just like that, 2013 is gone, filed away forever. In this update let me recap 2013 and give tentative plans for 2014.
Recap of 2013:
2013 turned out to be a good year and a difficult year at the same time. The difficulties came in facing the normal hardships of being missionaries. This includes long periods of time away from our home country and living in our host country. Maintaining close relationship with God can also be difficult given these circumstances. But 2013 brought many blessings as well. Throughout the year we saw advances in the ministry and the kingdom of God. We saw Shangalamwe Baptist Church organized, members baptized and a Kenyan elder appointed to oversee the work. We saw other groups come together for worship and Bible study only to see many of these groups falter and stall. However, we learned much from the failure of these groups and why they were never able to mature and ultimately be organized into New Testament Baptist churches. In addition, we watched as our friend and student, Titus, began starting groups on his own that came together to hear the gospel and learn from the Word of God. He started many groups, saw many Kenyan people being saved, was able to organize some of those groups into Baptist churches and baptized many. Sometimes we think that the work is progressing slowly (and it is) but when we look back we praise God for the many things he has accomplished. Then, finally, at the end of August of this past year we returned back to the States for our time of furlough and reporting to the churches of the work we have been doing in Kenya.
Plans for 2014:
Since no one can predict or control the future, these plans and hopes for this year are strictly tentative. We place 2014 into the hands of our Sovereign and loving, Heavenly Father and entrust what we do to Him. That being said, here’s what 2014 might look like. Early this year, in early January, we will take Emily, our firstborn, to Virginia to begin attending Patrick Henry College. This is a major event in the lives of the Tate family as I have written before. In just a couple of days our family dynamic changes dramatically. This event is lying heavy on my heart and on the hearts of the whole family. Then, in March, we return to Kenya. Again, this is all in the hands of God, but we do have return tickets already and barring some emergency we will be back in Kenya in March. The only other major event that I can foresee is that if Amy is accepted and there is an opening, she will probably be attending Rift Valley Academy starting in August. This is the same boarding school outside of Nairobi that Emily attended throughout her high school years. And, of course, in between all of these major events will be the work of the ministry. Our plans include renting a small Kenyan house in order to use for training of men to do the gospel ministry. From this house we will train, model, teach, assist, watch and lead faithful Christian men to reach their own people with the saving message of Christ and to start, organize and oversee New Testament Baptist churches. I would also like to see this house used as some kind of charitable outreach center that would could be used to help Kenya people with the many difficulties they face each and every day. There are many logistics to work out concerning these plans. May God’s will be done in our lives, in our family and in our ministries.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley [June 2013]
The Hensleys have spent nearly 15 years serving in Brazil. They run a vocational school and orphanage in Caraguatatuba and have also established a church and mission points throughout the city.
Friday, June 21
Friends and family,
It has been an AWESOME 3 and 1/2 weeks here. We have had 2 groups back to back, what a blessing for us and the new Church start. When you put together a group of people on a mission trip (ie: firemen, policemen, students,teens, moms, electricians, office workers, teachers, pastors), miracles happen. Our Church building is just about remodeled and it is beautiful!!
Members from FBC Centerville begin painting the church.
They have completely painted the exterior of the Church building, put in an extra bathroom, constructed the sound booth area, built 3 cabinets for the kitchen, tiled the floor, worked at the vocational school, did 3 vacation Bible Schools (one at the Indian Village), repaired a trailer (electrical and fenders), and started putting up speakers in the Church. How AWESOME is that? Two of these Bible Schools were in Public Schools. It don’t get much better than that!!! Also at these Schools, we were able to do a work project. We painted the exterior walls around the schools. These groups have been an AWESOME testimony around the schools where they did the Bible Schools. And due to people passing the Church while we were working, joking, talking differently, and playing, we have had an amazing increase in attendance these past 3 weeks. We have been in the high 80s. How AWESOME God is!!! The Lord is moving in this neighborhood. Thanks Hallsville Baptist Church of Hallsville, Ky., Centerville Baptist Church of Centerville, Ga., and Central Baptist Church of Paris, Ky. Thank you is such a little thing to say after so much work, but THANK YOU ALL for helping expand the kingdom of God here in Brasil these past weeks.
Bible School in a public school!
So if you are a church thinking about a mission trip, I highly recommend a mission experience here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil. You can make new friends, create amazing relationships, accomplish impossible tasks, and also help build the Kingdom of God. (Sounds a little bit like a job for Superman), but with God the impossible becomes possible.
Well what more can I say —COME ON DOWN.
Barb and I are so blessed to have friends and Churches that pray for us, and help financially in this ministry here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil. So continue to pray for us as you know Satan is never happy when you are expanding Gods kingdom and he is very angry with us right now. So I ask you to pray a hedge of protection about us as we work for the Lord here in Brasil. Without you and your prayers and financial help, we would not be experiencing the joy of seeing God at work here. Thank you all so very much.
Again, come and see what your help is doing here and put your hand to the plow with us, even if it is only for a week. God can do many miracles in just a week.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: Harold Bratcher on Permanent Furlough from Brazil [June 2013]
Harold Bratcher served the Lord in the Amazon Valley for 52 years from July 15, 1959 through December 29, 2012. His dear wife, Marie, faithfully served with him for 51 years until her death in February 2011. The Bratchers organized over 20 Baptist churches and many other missions in Brazil. He is now on permanent furlough in Kentucky, still in the service of the Savior.
June 9, 2013
Dear Brothers of the Blessed Lord and Sisters of the Savior:
Once again we (Asa Mark and I) greet you not from the Amazon Valley of Brazil, South America, but from our temporary warm Kentucky home where the sun is shining bright!
This Mission Sheets month began April 8 and finishes today. During this period I heard 19 sermons, or Bible studies. I also had the privilege of preaching twice. The first time at the Spring Conference at the Thompson Road BC in Lexington, Ky where Bro. Dave Parks is pastor. The second time was Sunday morning the 26th of May, at the High Point Baptist Church of Alexandria, Ky, where Bro. Ron Duty is pastor. During all the conference, we enjoyed a time of great food, preaching and fellowship. Also during this MS period, we attended the services at the following churches: Porter Memorial BC, Lexington Bethel BC, David’s Fork BC, all of Lexington, Ky, and Linden St. BC of Richmond, Ky, Glen’s Creek BC of Versailles, Ky, and the Lexington Baptist College Alumni Meeting at the Heritage BC, of Lexington, Ky. We also attended the funeral services of Dr. Hoge Hogensmith, Bro. Derek Gilpin, and Sis Eva Sams, 105 years old. I pastored this dear sister at the Valley View BC, over 60 years ago.
During this past weekend, we were privileged also to attend the 9th Bratcher-Porter family reunion at the General Butler State Park in Carrolton, KY. What a wonderful time we, along with Stephen, had there.
I hope to be a blessing to many of you, during this first year of my permanent furlough. I would like to report and thank each of you that have supported us during these past years. We appreciate the invitations we have already for this month, and the next one. I look forward to seeing many of you soon. I will be speaking on Saturday night, the 15th, one week from yesterday, at the Emanuel BC, of Oldtown, KY, where dear brother, John Lybrook is the pastor. The Lord permitting, until next month.
Yours in the Service of the Savior,
Harold Bratcher
1012 Balsam Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 277-3716
(859) 806-9827 cell
harold_bratcher[at]yahoo.com
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [June 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
I’m not writing to make you envious, but I can’t help but mention just how wonderful everything is these days. Everyone in the family is doing very well physically. The weather here is as close to ideal as I could want it and all of our ministry efforts are producing encouraging results. I trust that you can rejoice together with us for these blessings.
We celebrated another baptismal service recently and we have another young lady who will be baptized this coming Sunday. We are so happy to see how the Lord is using His word to transform the lives of several of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Just two weeks ago a teenage girl had nearly fallen into the world of sexual promiscuity, but the Lord used a series of events and our team leaders to rescue her from that and get her onto the path of obedience and joy in living for Christ. It is nothing short of amazing to see how different her level of happiness is since surrendering to Christ and fleeing immorality.
A young father of four, named Germano, almost lost his life recently when he was shot twice in a bar room fight. This fight occurred just one day after he had brought his kids to our neighborhood outreach “shin-dig”. While Germano was in the hospital his kids asked their grandfather to take them back to the church where they had been so warmly received on the following Sunday, so he did. The kids haven’t stopped coming since and, once Germano recuperated sufficiently to walk, he began to come with the kids to services. He told me last week how thrilled he is to see God at work in his life and how thankful he is for the grace of the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. I expect that I’ll be performing another baptism in the very near future.
We had a Brazilian holiday just recently and we took advantage of it to have a “family day” at our church building. One new member specializes in Brazilian “churrasco” and insisted on preparing the 70 lbs of slow-grilled beef ribs. He and two other volunteers came out at 4:00 a.m. to roast the meat for 9 hours. We encouraged our members and visitors to invite their un-churched friends and family at no cost to enjoy the day of fun, games and fellowship. We had a great turnout and several of those have since returned to our regularly scheduled services.
Charlene, Brennen and I thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support so that we may continue to be used of the Lord to make His love and glory known in southern Brazil.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [June 2013]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil for 36 years. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
May 29, 2013
Dear Friends,
God gives some people the ability to move to a new city and preach the gospel, nurture the new believers in Christ, and in a short time, organize the body of believers into a new church. Many times the starter missionary does not enjoy the ongoing pastoral duties because his heart is burdened for another place that does not have the Gospel. Even with so great a burden, the missionary realizes he must stay until the Lord provides a pastor to lead the new flock. Missionary Raimundo Pinto and family are great starter missionaries in the city of Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil. They have been sent from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus. The church plant was successful and a blessing, but Missionary Pinto was anxious to move on to a new state to begin a new church. He waited and prayed anxiously that the Lord would provide a pastor so he could move on. He was elated and grateful as the Lord answered their prayer and provided a man of God, Pastor Vilian and family. The new church invited him to become their new pastor and He accepted the call. They are working on the transition; and soon Missionary Pinto is planning to move to the city of Aracaju, in the state of Sergipe in northeastern Brazil. Needless to say, the two families are very excited to move and get started. We ask that you pray for them, especially the Pinto family, as many challenges will present themselves in this new church plant. We will rejoice as God continues to work out all the details.
John is a member at Tabernacle Baptist in Manaus and has a small farm in the jungle on the banks of the Amazon River. He is a joyful Christian and loves to talk about his faith in Jesus. As he talked about Jesus to the people living out on the river banks, several became interested and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. So he would get together with them on the week end and read the Scriptures and talk about the Lord and pray together. About three weeks ago, John requested that one of the church pastors go and talk to them, as they wanted to be baptized. There are about 25 adults who have professed Jesus as Saviour. This is wonderful! Pray for them, their baptism and growth in the Lord, and the forming of a new church.
This month of May, Wanda and I are having some special time with our parents. My parents, John and Alta Hatcher, live in the southern part of Brazil, and Wanda’s mom, Mrs. Willa McGary, lives in the opposite direction: Mayfield, Kentucky. At the beginning of the month, we had a special treat with my parents and my two brothers and their wives – about a week of fellowship and thanksgiving.
The following weeks we are spending some time with Wanda’s mom visiting and caring for some of her needs. We would like to say a great big Thanks to churches and individuals for your meaningful prayer and support. Likewise, thanks to the wonderful men who serve on the board and the churches they pastor who also invest in missions through them. Your intercessions to God on our behalf bring us comfort and strength in the Lord Jesus. Your faithful financial support is laid to your account in heaven, as God brings salvation to many, which results in our rejoicing together and glorifying God. We thank God for each of you and pray that He will richly bless you.
In Christ,
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
Avenida J. Carlos Antony, 172
65063-150 Manaus
Amazonas, Brasil SA
hatcher[at]argo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [December 2012]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This month I want to do something a little different and instead of talking directly
about the ministry I want to address something that will effect the lives of every Kenyan –The upcoming Kenyan presidential elections (and so, in a very real way, I WILL be addressing ministry because this event will not only effect the lives of every Kenyan, but our lives also and the ministry that we do here). I know that we just finished a presidential election in the States. And whether you like the results or not, I’ll bet none of you reading this worried, even for one moment, about losing your life because of the election process. Well, that isn’t the case here in Kenya. The last presidential election in Kenya in 2007 resulted in mass rioting, ethnic cleansing, tribal warfare, murders, looting, and crop burning. People were targeted, profiled and killed simply for being in the wrong tribe. Others ran to churches for refuge only to lose their lives when those churches were intentionally set on fire and burned to the ground. Thousands of people lost their lives, many of whom lived in Eldoret, a city not 50 miles from where we live in Kitale. This went on for months before things finally got settled down and the rioting and killings stopped.
Why am I mentioning this? Because we have another presidential election coming up
in March, 2013 and there is already tension in the air. Nobody is certain how things will
go and so we are beseeching your prayers.
Most of you probably don’t know this but I am the warden for the United States embassy here in the Kitale region. That means that I work with the embassy to distribute information and help the American expatriates in the Kitale region try and stay safe in Kenya. So, to help me in this position I attended a meeting at the US embassy to hear what they were saying concerning the upcoming elections. They related a number of problematic scenarios that could occur over the next couple of months that I would like to relate to you so you can be praying for us, for our ministry, and for the people of Kenya.
First, a change in the registration process here in Kenya is cause for concern. The new constitution made it available for Kenyans to register and vote within whatever district they wanted. That means that if a presidential candidate thinks he has a certain district locked up, he can send followers from that district to another district that he doesn’t have locked up. The bottom line is that people from other districts, who have no links or connections to Kitale whatsoever, could be bused to Kitale to register and vote. Having people in Kitale with no links or care of this place could bring unwanted abuses.
Second, the high court of Kenya is supposed to vote soon on whether two presidential candidates can even run for president. The problem with these two guys is that they were indicted by the ICC at the Hague for stirring up the people to riot and murder after the last presidential election. These guys are guilty of mass murder and yet are trying to run for president. Depending on the high courts decision, this could cause further rioting and problems.
Last, the elections take place in the first week of March. But since there are many candidates running and since they need 50% of the popular vote to win the election, there is a potential for a run-off or even several run-offs before one candidate gets elected. This means the election process could drag on for months with lots of uncertainty and tension. The embassy’s advice has been “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” Hopefully the Kenyan people have learned from the last time that they don’t want a repeat performance of the rioting and murders of 2007. But when I ask Kenyans what they think will happen this time around, only about half of them feel comfortable and think things will go smoothly. I tell you all this because, again, I desire your prayers for our family and this country. May God receive glory in Kenya even throughout this entire process.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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