Praying for Salvation
August 16, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our hearts are touched by the news that some of your families are touched by death and illness. It underscores part of our text from the message to our congregation yesterday, “…now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” We are daily reminded that we live in a dark world, but need to live in the reality of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world and our Eternal life.
Yesterday, a young lady from our congregation sent a text just as service was beginning. “Sorry, I can’t be with you. I found out yesterday that I have Covid.” This eighteen-year-old is the only member of her family who has trusted Christ and she was to leave today to go to Lyon to begin university studies. She is the daughter of neighbors and began coming to Sunday School about the time she started grade school. As she entered her teens, she made a public profession of faith and followed the Lord in baptism.
Let me set the scene for another event yesterday. One of our members has a husband whose parents, professing atheists, died when he was quite young. He had no Christian background. Two children were born to this couple and he, along with his family, regularly came to church. Considering his refusal to place his faith in Christ, his attendance for eight years was unusual. He had a good relationship with the men of the church, and we all prayed for his salvation. About two years ago he posted a note on the church communication site letting everyone know that he would not be coming to church anymore and did not want anyone to approach him about it.
Yesterday, I about fell off my feet as I was greeting people and saw this “I’m not coming anymore…” man walking from his car to the house. Would you pray with us for …oan..’s salvation?
A week ago, Judy and I drove about a 1000 miles round trip to St. Malo to spend a couple of days with a couple, members of our congregation, who moved to Brittany a couple of years ago. They are nearly our age. We had a good visit and were happy to hear that they are considering starting a church in their home. Please pray for God to give Dennis and Marianne God’s wisdom about this.
Thank you for your interest and support. May our Lord’s blessings be evident to you today.
In His Grace,
Judy and John Hatcher
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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Two Profess Christ at Christmas Presentation
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
January 3, 2020
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! We were blessed by the Lord so much last year, but we are already excited about the new opportunities and blessings in store in 2020. We know that there is always the possibility that trials and loss may be awaiting us, but we also know that God will be with us in any struggle and that He has already promised that He is working all things together for our good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Our Christmas presentation at our church was very well attended and at least two individuals professed Christ as Lord of their lives at the invitation given at the end of the message. At least 30 of our church members were involved in the presentation in one capacity or another and they were very faithful for 3 months going to practices and putting together the stage and sound and lighting system. We are thankful that the Lord has blessed us with such dedicated servants.
Our traveling evangelistic team is taking a short break because Brazilian schools are on their summer break. Around the second week of January we will start our first missionary training seminar of the year. We will teach Missions strategy and theology for the first two weeks and follow that up with practical evangelism, both to crowds and one-on-one. We are expecting about 20 new students from four different states. At least two of these students will stay on to work with our teams for six months after the seminar and, possibly, for a year or more if God so leads them to do so.
Charlene and I have also given a break to our English students until the end of January since there are no regular school classes going on and most families travel on vacation anyway. We will start back up again in February and we are looking forward to how the Lord will use this ministry this year.
Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to carry the gospel to as many people as the Lord places before us.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]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
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher on Furlough from Brazil [April 2015]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
March 4, 2015
Dear Brethren and Friends:
We cannot say, “Greetings from Brazil” any longer since we are living in the States, but our hearts still beat with our love for the work and friends in Brazil. We do hear from some of them and the work is going, glowing and growing. Praise the Lord.
THE GROWTH OF OUR FIRST CHURCH PLANT IN BRAZIL
Our first church established in Brazil was in 1956. It was called the Chapada Baptist Church. It was begun with 24 members. It was located in the Boonies. It was difficult to get a taxi to take us. Manaus had about 70 to 80 thousands population. Today, the area is one of the principal business sections of Manaus, that now has a population of two million. The Church changed its name to Nova Igreja Batista. Here are a few facts to show God’s Blessings.
Last month they had three youth camps with a total of 1200 campers. Many were saved, along with other decisions. Seventy were baptized into the fellowship of the Church. The Sunday School had an average weekly attendance last month of five thousand eight hundred persons. There are about 550 people who work in the Sunday School. The first SS meets from 8:00-10:00 am; the second meets from 10:30-12:30.
AN EXCITING CONVERSION! Last week there was a young lady who David witnessed to after service. A week before she had been inducted into the Muslim religion. David showed her Paul’s counsel: “If anyone preach another Gospel than that you have received let him be accursed.” She heard, the Holy Spirit opened her heart and she was saved. As they were going down the aisle three persons were sitting on the next to the last pew. David asked, “Did you want to talk to me?” They replied, “No, we are friends to this lady and we have been praying for her Salvation.”
During the two night services the attendance is about 6,200. Praise God for His blessings on the Seed that is being sown! Keep praying and giving for His Work.
We love you in the Lord,
John and Alta Hatcher
John A. and Alta Hatcher
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont FL 34714
229-529-8497
jhatcher1925[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [January 2015]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. 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.
January 13, 2015
Dear Brethren,
December was one crazy month. Every year the program that the church provides at Christmas time keeps growing and getting more complex. We manage to keep all the other programs running right up close to time for the presentations. This year we had one more night – six in all. We put out 4,000 less printed invitations. We had rain on 5 of the 6 nights, but the building was packed out every night. There was much more media coverage this year. It has become a fixture in Cruzeiro do Sul.
We don’t permit our members to be in the auditorium. They have to watch on a big screen on the third floor terrace of the annex. Many visitors ended up on the terrace, too! We also have many, many visitors from other Baptist churches and from other denominations. It would be nice if these folks would stay home and leave more room for lost visitors. There are hundreds that cannot get in and turn around and go home. We urgently need to do something to remedy that. It is in the works, but not in reach just yet. Please pray that we will be able to expand.
There were over 350 of our members involved in the program. There are 2 choirs, adult and children’s. There are all the actors and all the huge team that is back stage. We have black light and shadow presentations that help tell the story.
Every year my daughter Crissy creates an original story that goes back and forth between present and past to tell the story of Christ’s birth, life, death, burial and resurrection. We have to build an extension to our stage, extra screens, more curtains, a motorized rotating section on one end of the stage, special lighting, sound and all the props. Practice starts in the middle of the year. It is a lot of hard work. The thing is that we get the gospel to hundreds of folks who have never really heard. Now some of these are very religious folks (priests and nuns) and know the story of Christ’s birth, but they have never really heard the gospel. One year the governor was even present.
This year there were 7 people saved. All of the work and dedication is worthwhile.
The first services of 2015 have been really good. The building has been full for every service. There were 5 saved the first Sunday and 2 more last Sunday.
We are still working through some disciplinary problems, but God is blessing our efforts to get things cleaned up. Besides the professions of faith of the past 2 weeks, we have had members confessing sin. Some more of the recently saved have requested baptism. We also have more folks joining by letter. In fact, whole families are coming our way. Pray with us that we will be able to get things cleaned up and running as He wants it to be run, soon. I have had many sleepless and tearful nights of late. There has been a lot more fasting and praying. I need your prayers, too.
I have made some more visits to our works in the interior, but more about that at another time.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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