How are you spending your time?
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
September 15, 2017
Dear friends,
During my college days at Lexington Baptist College, I had the privilege of one-on-one time with Dr. Lindell Ormsbee. He taught at the University of Kentucky and served as a volunteer pastor at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. We would meet at Fazoli’s to discuss Larry Crabb’s book. Our conversations rendered insights I still use to this day. While on furlough in 2015-2016, I ran into him at Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY, and later connected with him on Facebook. He recently wrote a post that engaged my thoughts. I want to share with you his adapted quote from Dallas Willard:
“There is a widespread notion that just passing through death transforms human character. Discipleship is not needed. Just believe enough to ‘make it.’ But I have never been able to find any basis in scriptural tradition or psychological reality to think that this might be so. What if death only forever fixes us as the kind of person we are at death or sets the asymptotic limit of glory that we may experience in heaven. Indeed, the Bible does seem to imply that our assignments in eternity will be based on our faithfulness while on earth. Maybe there is much more going on here on earth than we even imagine. Maybe every day we are speeding down the highway of life, heaving bags full of eternal treasure out the window, more preoccupied by the road ahead than the silent occupant that sits patiently beside us. Maybe every day of our lives, every conversation, every decision has eternal consequences. How have you spent your time today? How are you spending your time now?” –Adapted from Dallas Willard
Convicting, isn’t it?
I’d like to send a special thank you to Durbin Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, KY, for the mission team that came to São Paulo and for the tremendous love offering. I’d also like to thank fellow missionary A.J. Hensley for all the tools you bestowed me during the days I was with you in Caragua. Over the last several weeks, 13 people have surrendered their lives to the Lord. We are investing time in discipleship these new believers and praying that He gives us more opportunities to share the Gospel message and for each new Christian to be bold in sharing to others how their life was changed forever. Last month I traveled to Manaus (a 4 hour flight) to attend the Pastor’s Conference at Nova Igreja Batista, where my Uncle David is pastor. It was well attended. I had an incredible time of encouragement, learning, challenge and connectivity with other pastor friends from Manaus and other parts of the country. It was also great to see Michael & Beverly Creiglow and Odali & Kathy Barros. I remained a few extra days to ship our furniture and other belongings to São Paulo. Thankfully, all of our furnishings arrived and we began unpacking and organizing our home. Living in an almost empty house and sitting down to eating at a make-shift table was getting old. We moved into a new house in July. We are blessed by the opportunity to serve in São Paulo. Thankful for your support and prayers! Grateful always Jud Hatcher
Grateful always,
Jud Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 544-9040
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [December 2015]
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.
December 12, 2015
How awesome to be involved in the Lord’s work here in Caragua, SP (Brasil, SA). The month of November has been great!! We have had our Pastors’ Conference and it was a huge success. Thanks to all who were involved.
This year’s conference was made possible by these pastors and churches:
Dr. Jim Perdue, Second Baptist Church, Warner Robbins, GA
Dr. David Grantham, Pinecrest Baptist Church, Cordele, GA
Pr. Mike Durough, Riverbend Baptist Church, Gainesville, GA
Pr. Tim Price, Pinehurst Baptist Church, Pinehurst, GA
Pr. Jason Hamlin, First Baptist Church, Centerville, GA
Dr. Luann Purcell. Member of Second Baptist Church, Warner Robbins , GA
The weeks leading up to the conference were somewhat difficult, to say the least. Satan was working to his fullest to impede our conference planning efforts. Just to mention a few, Pr. Mike Durough had many last minute issues so he was unable to leave Georgia. Dr. David Grantham made it to Brasil and as we were traveling to Caragua, he received a phone call advising him a member of his church had gone home to be with the Lord. Dr. David was able to preach for us Sunday evening at Igreja Batista Caragua before he returned early to the US. So, even with problems, God is blessing. We temporarily moved our church, chairs, sound system and the lot, in order for Dr. David to preach in the new building—the first message. We were able to use and be blessed by Dr. David in a very special way. AWESOME! So this obstacle became a blessing, our first Sunday in the new building and it was full. The space in our new church building will be double our present rental building. All we can say is GOD IS AWESOME!!
Now don’t think we don’t use these pastors and helpers when they are not otherwise occupied teaching and preaching. As conference began Tuesday night, Monday morning Dr. Luann and Pr. Jason helped the church members go through old vegetables and fruits a local supermarket had designated as past their time to sell. Many of these vegetables and fruits are just bruised and soft and are still good enough to be eaten. So they helped sort this food to be given away to church members in need and the poor people in our church’s neighborhood. Also, we had enough to help a recuperation center (drug and alcohol abuse center) who were very grateful for the supplement to their needs.
It always amazes me how here (USA) we have so much in abundance and here (Brasil) many have so little. This food supply, after we had sorted, cleaned, divided sacked and thrown away the undesirable in our eyes, some others went through that “undesirable” or “bad” portion and saw it as good. Sometimes even at home we see people going through our trash to get the “leftovers”. So please pray for our church and the outreaches we have in the communities of Caragua.
Now to the conference—Tuesday night through Friday noon. It was held at a local hotel and we had approximately 180 in attendance. We had approximately 86 churches represented which included church plants. We were expecting more, but God had there those He wanted. There were over 50 ladies present and they were blessed by Dr. Luann Purcell daily. Our daughter Mary interpreted for her and with Mrs. Barbara did a wonderful job encouraging these ladies to follow God and to support their husbands in the ministry.
So, now you may say, why a pastors’ conference—I think it is an excellent way to further reach Brasil for Christ. So from all these present, we estimate the outreach of this conference to touch over 10,000 lives. So this is an AWESOME number, but what excites us is the pastors are rejuvenated and will go back to their communities more excited about reaching people for Christ!
Pray for all as they return to their respective regions and us as we continue our ministries here—reaching more people for Christ!
God is AWESOME!
AJ and Barb
P.S. More about our new church building next letter.
P.S.S. Everyone have an AWESOME Christmas!!
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [November 2015]
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.
November 9, 2015
Dear friends and family,
Well another AWESOME month has become history here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil! It is just AWESOME what God is doing. Lots of physical labor being done on our new Church building. Just think, what used to be a soccer club building has been converted into an AWESOME sanctuary for the Church and the upstairs that will be used for Sunday School rooms and a kitchen.
We have had a wonderful time this month with our children’s ministry. Here we celebrate a holiday that we do not have in the States. It is called Children’s Day. It is a day bigger than Christmas for the children here in Brasil. Our attendance was 119, we had a special breakfast for the children and then each of them received a present. This was accomplished by the generosity of many Churches and individuals there in the States. The boys got soccer balls and the girls got Barbie dolls along with various other things. We include things like toothpaste toothbrushes and other hygiene articles. There were a bunch of HAPPY children on that day.
Back to the Church—we have sealed the walls where the roof has been installed and began the drop ceiling downstairs—this is to cover up the places in the ceiling where we removed 3 walls to make the room bigger for our Church services. We had to put in a steel beam as the walls that we removed were load-bearing walls. Overcoming many obstacles, these areas are now one big room. And this big room will soon be our sanctuary. The drop ceiling that is being installed is making an AWESOME difference in the interior appearance. Just beautiful if I may say so!
This construction and remodeling has at times been very trying. But through it all God is and has been supplying our many needs. How AWESOME is the God we serve. Here we get to see miracles almost daily. It helps one to see how the Apostles were in Bible times. When they would meet they would ask “How has your day been?” the other would answer like this, “Just one miracle after another.” Our God is AWESOME and He is still in the miracle business. We just have to have our eyes open to see what He is doing all around us. This could not happen without the prayer support of many praying saints back home. THANKS.
Another prayer request: pray for our “Pastors Conference” Nov. 10-13. We are planning for 200 to 250 Pastors and wives. This Conference is planned in conjunction with several Pastors in the States. They come down and do the classes for the Pastors. It is just heartwarming that these Pastors and their Churches are giving of their time and money to help train our Brasilian brothers. A big THANK YOU to Dr. Ji Perdue, Pr. Mike Durough, Dr. David Grantham, Pr. Jason Hamblin, Pastor Tim Price and Dr. Louann Purcell (she will be bringing studies to the Pastors’ wives) and their Churches. We see this Conference as one more way of reaching Brasil with the gospel. How AWESOME!!!!
Pray for Barb and I as when this Pastors Conference is over we will be coming back to the States for more Dr. appointments and possibly some treatment. Thanks in advance for your prayers. Thanks for your financial help and thanks for your encouragement. We need all three of these things to do God’s work here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil.
If you would like to see your mission dollars at work, come to Caraguatatuba and we will introduce you to the work that God is doing here. Come on down!!!!
In His service,
AJ and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [September 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.
Friends and family,
What an exciting time we are having here in Caragua with the new Church start. This past Sunday we had 72 for our morning Sunday School program and 52 for our Sunday night services. God is really working in our Church. How AWESOME it is to serve our Lord and Savior.
Along with being an AWESOME month it has also been a lonesome month. Barbara visited her mother in the States and I had to serve alone for three weeks. Barb had a real good visit with family and was greatly missed here.
Our Church work continues to expand. We have started one small group meeting on Friday nights with 2 more being planned. This first group has already produced fruits in that 2 young people have confirmed their faith in Christ and have requested baptism. How AWESOME!!!
Sunday School!
Now for some more AWESOME news: We now have a Brazilian coming alongside to help in our ministry. His name is Rosevaldo Cavalcante and he is from Manaus. He is a product of Bro. Paul Hatcher’s work there in Manaus, Brasil. He his wife and two daughters will be a great asset for our Church. He will be serving in a 2nd Pastor position and his ordination will be Oct 27th . This date will be the Sunday before our Pastors Conference. This will be significant because two years ago at our first Pastors Conference Rosevaldo surrendered to be a pastor. God has been planning this for quite some time. His plans are AWESOME.
Speaking of the Pastors Conference our Church is sponsoring here in Caragua, we are expecting around 200 pastors from all over Brasil. This conference is to encourage Pastors!! The last conference we had almost 100 in attendance and was a very exciting conference. We had lots of positive comments and many questions about when we would do another. We are having this conference in conjunction with Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia and their pastor Jim Perdue and Pastor Mike Dorough. Also First Baptist Centerville, Georgia with Pastor Allen and Pastor David Grantham. And lest we forget the ladies, the ex-first-lady of the State of Georgia, Mary Purdue, will be speaking to our ladies in attendance. We are really excited about our Conference—pray with us for an AWESOME turnout and all of us to be refreshed our ministries. The conference will be held in one of our local Hotels here and the owner is a great Christian and has helped with this conference. Our theme is “TIMOTHY AND BARNABAS: Instructions and Encouragement.”
When Barb got home here in Brasil we began preparations for the group that was coming from Bastrop, Texas. They have been a tremendous help in the preparations of the house that the new pastor and his family will be living in. We are fixing the dormitory house on the lot for them to live. There has been painting, cabinet building, scrubbing of walls and floors and every other dirty and grungy job you can think of. But these servants of God did not cull any one of these jobs but did them with a joyful heart. I am commending them because when we invite some of you to come down and help us you say that you are too old to be of any help. So let me tell you that you are never too old. The youngest member of this group is 54 and the oldest is 82. So suck it up and come serve the Lord here in Brasil. You will love it!!!
As our Church continues its growth Igreja Batista Caragua [Caragua Baptist Church ] keep us in your prayers. The work continues because of AWESOME prayer warriors and supporters like you.!!
Thanks to all for your help financially and prayerfully. Sometimes just saying “THANKS” does not seem like enough— however, for now THANKS.
Come on down and see your mission dollars at work. The temperature is getting warmer and the water is getting just the right temperature so come see us and we will treat you so many ways you will have to like one of them.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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