Joy in Ordaining One Who Came to Christ through Soccer Ministry
July 30, 2024
Dear Friends,
Through the years of our lives and ministry, the good Lord has blessed us with varied and numerous blessings. Among them I can’t think of a single one that brought us more joy and satisfaction than the one we experienced last Sunday. I was invited to preach the challenge at the ordination to the Gospel Ministry of Valter Correa, a true man of God and a servant-leader. I came to know Valter first when he was a 12-year-old kid through a soccer school that my church offered to the neighborhood. He had no father and didn’t attend any church. Through the influence of our soccer coach, a friend of his who also attended our church, Valter started attending our Sunday School program. In the course of a year or two, he came know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. It has always been evident that he had a strong desire to serve the Lord who saved him. Valter has served in many different capacities in the church and also on our travel mission team. When it came time to marry, he sought the Lord’s guidance and found a godly and gracious wife, Evelize. Together they continue to teach and serve faithfully. The Lord blessed them with a wonderful little girl (now nine years old) who has surrendered to Christ as well. To see how the Lord has blessed and used Valter and his family, my cup of joy overflows! And to participate in his ordination to ministry was an honor and a privilege. May the Lord use him greatly and grant that we get to see many others follow his example.
Charlene and I are in Curitiba, Brazil, awaiting the arrival of our friends and Christian brothers and sisters from the Hope Valley Church in Virginia. There are 18 members of youth and their leaders coming to minister with us and our Projeto Vida evangelistic team in the public schools and parks here. During the course of a week, we will have the opportunity to share the gospel to over 3000 people. This will be with many who have never stepped inside of a church building. Some will be hearing the gospel for the first time in their lives. It is our hope and prayer that many of those who hear the message will be convicted and surrender their lives to Christ. We also hope that those youths who come to serve will be touched by the Lord to commit themselves more fully even upon their return to their homes in the USA.
We are grateful to you who graciously pray for and give to our ministry.
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
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Sarah Returns from Mission Trip + A Look at Steward Leadership
August 20, 2022
Dear friends,
Thank you for your faithful financial support & prayer. Please, pray for me as I will undergo several surgical procedures in the coming weeks. 1) The removal of the port catheter from my chest (cancer-free & no longer needed). 2) Surgery on my hands/wrists due to severe carpal tunnel (I am looking forward to the pain relief). Also, pray for 3) Laura as she continues her cochlear implant hearing therapy. 4) Our return to São Paulo at the end of this year. 5) The church ministries conference at Nova Baptist Church in Manaus, where several pastors and leaders from across the country are flying in for the occasion.
Sarah returned from her two-month mission trip in the Amazon. The Lord used her mightily, and she learned so much while there. Our four children started back to school this week. In September, Raquel will attend a foster care/orphan care conference in Georgia. She is looking forward to this special event.
I have trained leaders with the “servant leadership” framework for the longest time. Within the last year, conviction has grown in my heart for the “steward leadership” framework instead. Let me share a little about “steward leadership.” One of the most outstanding steward leaders in Scripture is Joseph. What a leader and administrator! According to author Kent Wilson (2016), “A steward is someone who manages resources belonging to another person in order to achieve the owner’s objectives.” Wilson discusses the role and responsibilities of the steward. Particularly important for the steward are work ethic, personal virtues, absence of personal vices, training and experience, loyalty to the accountability structure and relationships, wise use of resources, and practical management skills.
In his book, Rodin (2010), addresses the age-old debate “nature-versus-nurture” and posits that leaders are “freed to lead”. As his primary thesis, this freedom fosters holistic transformation and renders an obedient response from born-again believers. This obedient response establishes the person’s work effectiveness. He continues, “Our call to be stewards is based on our acceptance of each as a gracious gift and our rejection of the lure to play the owner.” We are freed from self, equipped by God according to each calling. In addition, “We were created as caretakers of creation, and in Christ, we have been restored to that high and holy calling.”
Steward Leadership is a worldview mindset where a called individual is a learner who leads as a proctor administrator, free of second intentions, where with high integrity and character serves another and is responsible for resources (or an organization) with full-fledged decision-making authority and is accountable for those responsibilities, the use of power and the strategies implemented (Rodin, 2010; Simmons, 2019; and Wilson, 2016).
The steward leader is a servant at heart, but not every servant is a steward leader. This leadership lifestyle involves self-denial but not lacking confidence to influence people and outcomes. A steward leader is deeply accountable, trustworthy, and empowered to mobilize and delegate to successfully lead within all levels of an organization, selflessly empowering and encouraging people within his sphere (Simmons, 2019).
If you love to read and acquire new insights. Check out these resources:
* Rodin, S. (2010). The Steward Leader. Downer’s Grove, Intervarsity Press.
* Simmons, B. (2019). LDR 9610 Unit 1 Lecture HD. Online Studies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOv8eyIeKSg&list=PLHAVnCRu3fmg6wLpFmZFrP80dOhf04GEs&index=12
* Wilson, K. R. (2016). Steward Leadership in the Nonprofit Organization. Intervarsity Press.
Thank you for your love!
Jud Hatcher
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
(872) 400-6522
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
