Joy in Presenting the Gospel
December 7, 2024
Dear Friends,
We love having a part in what the Lord is doing among the crowds in public presentations, church services, and school auditoriums through our ministries. It is a joy to see the gospel presented to large numbers and know that God’s glory is being spread abundantly, but an equal joy comes when we hear from individuals how the love of Jesus has transformed their lives. Our missionary partners share that same joy with us. Wyne Carolina is one of our volunteers and she told me how, after an evangelistic skit in front of a school crowd of 900 students, a confused teenaged girl sought her out to ask her to explain more clearly the gospel. Wyne, using the Scriptures, shared with her about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for the salvation of sinners, of which she was one. In that one-on-one encounter, that young lady was enabled by the Holy Spirit to understand her need for Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. When asked what she was going to do with Christ, she confessed her sin and accepted His pardon by surrendering her life to God. Wyne Carolina loved making God known on the stage before that crowd, but her joy was even greater to be used to introduce a new daughter to the Father and Savior. Each member of our evangelism team, Projeto Vida, shares the same sentiments. We count it a privilege to partner with them.
Pastor Cledson and the Nova Igreja Batista de Curitiba put together a large gospel dramatic production last month. There were over 70 volunteer members of the church involved in the preparation, production, and presentation to over 400 in attendance. At the conclusion, 14 people professed Christ as their Savior and Lord. This type of outreach may not be ideal for every church, but we have discovered at least four main benefits for ours: 1) The level of quality of the production teaches our members to present to God their best efforts and gifts, 2) The number of people who come to a dramatic gospel presentation exposes some people, who wouldn’t ordinarily go to a church service, to the Word of God, 3) Our church members learn to serve, often very strenuously and costly to themselves, but joyfully for God’s glory, and 4) Several of our members discover ways to use their gifts and talents for the growth of God’s kingdom and are challenged to remain engaged in serving, even after the big events.
On a personal note, Charlene and I are presently being housed in a hotel while we await the restoration of our house that was damaged by the floodwater of Hurricane Milton. We have been here for over a month while our insurance companies seek to use loopholes to escape responsibility for the damages. We are grateful, though, because we know that there are so many others that were much more negatively affected. The Lord has been gracious to us through it all and we know that He will see us through this for our good and His glory. Thank you for your faithful prayers for us and kind support of our ministry.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside ministering to 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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Ordinations, Outgrowing Space, & Couples Being Used in Ministry
October 20, 2021
Dear Friends,
I can’t use the word ‘proud’, because it would assume that some credit goes to us, but we are very grateful and thankful to the Lord for our couple’s ministry leaders, Edinei and Debora. The husband, Edinei was an eight-year-old boy when we met him 35 years ago. His dad was an alcoholic and his family had no interest in the things of the Lord. Charlene and I started a children’s Bible club in the garage behind our house and Edinei was one of the first kids from our neighborhood to accept an invitation to come. He started attending weekly and eventually brought several other members of his family. Edinei came to know Jesus as his Savior and Lord and has been faithful in Christian service for all these many years. His wife, Debora, was 11 when we met her. Her father and brother were doing some remodeling work for us on our house. We became friends with their entire family back in 1995 and since then, she, her mother, sister, brother, and several other family members have surrendered to Christ. Both Edinei and Debora volunteer many hours each month in ministering to the married couples in our church and in evangelistic events to married couples. This weekend they are holding a retreat where we will work together to evangelize and teach 30 couples for three days. Charlene and I feel like the two are practically our children, but more than that they are God’s children and our co-laborers in His service. We are thankful for them.
This next Sunday we’ll have the privilege of ordaining two young men to Gospel ministry, Cledson and Adriel. Cledson is our youth minister and has been doing a fantastic job together with his wife, Fabiane. Our youth group has grown from 8 to 35 under their leadership in the last year.
Adriel and his wife, Lorena, are our traveling evangelistic team leaders. That ministry is made up of 12 volunteers who travel by a 15 passenger van throughout Brazil and South America taking the gospel to public schools and parks. Adriel has proven to be a wise leader to his team and a very effective evangelist to students and adults. It will be a joy and blessing to ordain these two men as dedicated servants of the Lord in spreading the gospel and discipling converts.
October 12th is a national holiday in Brazil (a patron saint’s day). Informally it has become “Children’s Day” for more commercial reasons. For whatever reason the day is celebrated, we took advantage of the long weekend to do a special event to attract families with their kids to our ‘Children’s Day’ gospel play. Our drama team worked for many weeks in rehearsals and stage preparations to perform the play in two services. The team did an outstanding job, working with a great attitude and sweet spirit despite the long hours and the personal cost of travel back and forth to practice for several weeks. The Lord blessed and we did have one 11-year-old boy make a public profession of faith in the Lord. The folks who were on the team were also greatly motivated by their participation in the event and the great reviews from those who watched. In fact, someone who saw a video of the presentation who attends a different church has asked our drama team if they would give the presentation at their church as well.
The Children’s Day presentation also helped us to come to a huge decision. We must move to a larger building. For the event we just held, we asked the church members to divide into two groups in order have a smaller congregation at each presentation, allowing the people who would come as guests to have a seat in our crowded auditorium. It helped some, but our last service was stilled packed to the max. This with only half of our regular congregation in each service and more than 30 workers behind the curtains engaged in the presentation. We are presently in the process of signing papers on a larger building. We pray the Lord will guide and provide as we seek to grow this church and as we train leaders to go out to begin new works as well.
We are super excited with all that the Lord is doing through and in us.
Thank you for your prayers and concern for us.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
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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