Reuben Warren Keiper Junior Mid Acts Dispensational Charts / Gráficos Dispensacionais do Pastor Rubens

English and Portuguese versions of Grandpa's dispensational charts, student and teacher versions.

Versões em inglês e português dos gráficos dispensacionais desenvolvidos por meu avô materno, tanto a versão do aluno como a do professor:

Why this house?

I didn't know why it was so easy to find the perfect place for us to stay a couple of months while we figure out this new country...
But it looks like the Lord had my host/neighbor in mind.
Of all the people he's rented out the front part of his house (bedroom, bathroom, big kitchen/living room), we're the only ones he's invited three times to eat with them. In two weeks it's already been 3 invitations.
Please pray for his family, as I was able to share the gospel with them Saturday. They shared with me that the way I explained it was the way they believed it. Perhaps going into eternal security next will shed more light on that, but I've already been able to establish dispensationalism as the proper way to view all of Scripture. They agreed!
I look forward to what else the Lord has in mind for our contact with them, but so far it has been a blessing!

Frown. The South African visa we got didn't give us two full years, and we had to return in September. Then, when we arrived two weeks ago, our passports were all stamped correctly... Except Mariana's. The guy wrote the date wrong - only 3 months. Frown. But the Lord has promised to work all things together for good (Rm.8:28). So we go in for an attempt at correcting the date on her passport. The officials took mine and Mathias' also. Frown. We thought they were fine, so why did they have to take them? They go into the next room, and take too long...
We didn't have any more face wrinkles to frown.
They walk back out.
All three passports were altered.
Same date for all three.
October 31st, 2018!!!
Should we be surprised at our Awesome God?

Dilemmas

Visa Granted. Here we go, South Africa! But... What do I take? It's a move, and we're going for two years, so it's not permanent. What do I leave behind?
That's not the only dilemma we're facing. Just yesterday I got to talking to a couple at the mechanics, and an opportunity started to open up. I didn't get a chance to share the gospel with them yet, but the thought occurred to me: "But I'm leaving so soon... A little over a month and we'll be gone... I don't have the time to invest in this couple the way I usually do! Should I just leave it at the gospel and an invitation to come worship with our group? Or should I go full blast and get involved?"
And what about the saints here - do I start pulling away? Or do I step on it, and let the band-aid get ripped off on departure day?
What would you do?
I'll tell you what I'm doing: tomorrow I'm going to go see the couple at the mechanics and, Lord willing, speed through any door that opens. With God's help I'm going to take every chance to spend time with our group here, giving them all of my energy. And to Africa I'll take whatever fits in 6 suitcases that can be useful to a life of serving.
Our apostle mentions the virtue of loving the Lord's return (2Tm.4:8). I think we should live as if the Rapture were happening today, but we should plan our future as if God intends for ours to be a long life.
So with your prayers we desire to spend the next few weeks the same way we have lived so far, burning the candle on both ends and not fooling around with time. It's precious, and it should be used to the max (Cl.4:5-6,,"Behave wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of your time")!

A Bedridden Life - Now in Christ!

How would you feel if at age 20 an accident robbed you of all movement waist down? I want to ask you to pray for my newest friend Diego. I met him twice this week, and it was a joy to bring the Good News to his family. This past January he had a bike accident and now he lives in bed. From a life of intense activity, working four different jobs, Diego went to a state of immobility. He can use his hands well, though, and has taken up learning the guitar. That was my original open door, but now I'm invited there not only to teach him some guitar but also the Bible! My prayer is that Diego will not be bitter, but embrace his opportunities as they are opened to him, and make the most of every situation, including the fact that he has a high capacity for learning and using his mind. Could he be intensely useful for the propagation of the gospel of the grace of God? Let us pray together for his family, who have lovingly opened their doors for us. May the Word of God have free course in their lives!
Our sister Denise, one of our workers in training, accompanied me on my second visit with them, and connected well with Diego's parents. As our time in this region is short, we rejoice that the brethren here are taking steps of their own in the work of the ministry! Denise is part of our Ladies' Study. I am training my wife Mariana, Denise, and Deise in Hermeneutics and Public Speaking for their ministries with other women and youth. They're quite advanced!

It's been years since I've last slept a nine-hour night. But yesterday's events would have tired you out too. The day before yesterday I rode my bike to an errand and then to Wezel's house, which was over 30 km. I stayed overnight. Then we woke up to a beautiful day! For us, that is. The neighbors were fighting, and we could hear it loud and clear.

Wezel and I went to talk to them, and the man, whom I shall call William, politely said it was just a husband-wife argument, but they were okay. We insisted, wanting to help, praying for an open door for the gospel. William dismissed us, and we walked back home feeling terrible... I had an errand to run, so after lunch I rode to town. I'm about done when Wezel calls me back - William had lied. They weren't okay. The fighting had continued, escalated, and now they were fighting in the street, and other neighbors were getting involved. One neighbor lost it, grabbed a stick and was about to beat William when Wezel stopped him! William left, the neighbors dispersed, and Wezel tried to speak to the wife, Luciana. She was receptive to the Word of God, and invited him in to speak more of it to her. Moments later I arrive, and I was surprised at how open she was. Luciana accepted the gospel! She was saved! William arrived right at that, and his attitude was rather different. He heard the gospel clearly, but rejected it. He started speaking of the Santo Daime, a religion that mixes the use of a hallucinogen drink with Spiritist, Catholic, traditional South-American religions, and traditional African religions. He said our truth doesn't work for him, but his truth may not work for us, and that's okay because we're all following the same path of light... When we spoke of our source, and the authority of Scripture, he blatantly declared that the Bible isn't the only means God uses to speak to people, and that his religion is a more direct contact with the divine ones! When he takes the holy drink he meets the gods personally, speaks to them, and they to him... Wezel and I insisted upon a few other points, but it was clear to us that his heart was closed with pride, and he wouldn't listen. There was a weird round-about answer for everything, and it was all about his experience. His wife would chip in trying to help, which only made him more aggressive. After what felt like hours of nonsense we left, and Luciana came to open the gate for us. As we parted she said she would come study the Bible with us.

Later that evening we had our Wednesday night Bible study, but instead of the planned subject, we discussed relationships from God's perspective, starting with an account of the afternoon's adventures. Nothing like reality to drive home God's Word!

The Bible study was followed by a counselling session with one of the saints, who was having relationship issues with her husband. It was about 11:20 when I headed home via the highway, arriving 5 after midnight. Riding the bike in the dark is quite the adventure too! I was beat! What a day!

The fight scene was so sad. To see a couple yelling violence at each other hurts. Yet Luciana's salvation wasn't the only positive note. It brought Wezel and I into a closer contact with the neighbors, and we intend to share the gospel with them too because of it. Please pray for open doors in the neighborhood! Please pray for Luciana, not only that she would grow in Christ, but also in wisdom of how to reach her husband, like in 1 Peter 3:1-6. Also, please pray for the health of our group's relationships, that we may honor Christ in everything.

This world is dark. What a privilege to shine as lights in the world on Christ's behalf (Php.2:15)!

Musicians? Check.

 We have about 5 months to get a home Bible study to grow into an established church. Challenge? I'm sure for us it is. For God? No biggie. The evidence? In a few weeks we've seen amazing things. I've got a list of things to do, and one of them is to train musicians for the ministry. The Lord provided three, and two instruments!

Rafael and his sister Ana (green sleeveless shirt) are both Wezel and Deise's kids. Natalia (in pink) is Ana's friend from school, and has been with our group since the beginning. All three of them are learning to play both the guitar and the piano - that is, the basics. Natalia's hands are small, so I'm praying for an ukulele, which would be more suitable for her. Do I need to say it's been a blast training them? Our Lord is worthy of our best praise!

Discipleship on Wheels. Bike Wheels.

Okay, so you're riding your bike, the breeze playfully strikes your hair, a friend is riding with you, you're talking, having a good time... And that's work?? Today Wezel and I went for a bike ride together, and part of the time we were discussing relationships, family, and how it all relates to ministry. It has been an ongoing discipleship, but today I got to do it riding my bike! Don't you wish you had my job? Well... I did ride 25 km, though. Sore 'n' tired, but we made great progress! Hey, can someone help me get up?

And I didn't buy the car...

It was supposed to be a bed time story, but I just passed out. Sure, I told the story, but I was asleep faster than Mathias right after it. Two hours later, still sort of dreaming, I wake up and remember the highlight of the day, the reason I was beat: I didn't buy the car, but we have three more brethren in the Body of Christ! It was more than worth it.
You see, yesterday Wezel's wife Deise had seen a car for sale in their neighborhood. Deise was quick to mention it to me, as we've been looking for a car. Wezel and I had gone to see it, but no door opened up for the gospel. So we prayed. I liked the car enough to go check it out today in more detail. I took it to the mechanics with Ricardo, the owner, and so we spent some time together... Guess where that ended up? Later this afternoon, as we closed the deal, Ricardo and his brother Paulo trusted Christ!
So I'm on my way home with my new car, and... "Why am I so upset?" I had no peace about the car. After praying about it for a while, I knew the peace of Christ had made a ruling against it (Cl.3:15a), and it was because of something I had commended Ricardo about: wanting the best for his wife as far as a car goes. I just knew this wasn't the car for my wife either. So I call him up, and he's okay with taking the car back, "but can it be still today?" he asks.
The sun sets as I make my way over to his house. His wife is home, and I told them why I had not stuck with the decision to buy it. Before I know it we're talking about the gospel again, and a small Bible study develops, as they both had more questions. Now Ricardo and Sabrina are both saved! I was about to head back by bus, but Ricardo would have none of it. He insisted in bringing me back home himself, and his brother Paulo wanted to come along. We talked all the way, and they said Sunday they'll be at our new church group. I believe them, too.
Monday is usually my rest day, and instead of ministry I had in mind to care for the things of the world, how I may please my wife (1Co.7:33), but I failed: I'm still looking for a car...but I'm so glad I still am! Please pray for Ricardo and Sabrina, and Paulo, that they may continue to grow in Christ!

Back to normal...

Do you know those rare times when just about everything goes your way, and it seems the Lord is giving you extra blessings, way beyond normal? Our trip to the US was like that: six months of perfect! Until the day of our flight back, that is. My son's ticket had been cancelled, and for a couple of hours it was a struggle to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. Our travel agent ended up having us pay for a one-way single ticket right there at the airport, saying he'd pay us back... someday. It only cost 4 times more!
Then a couple of hours before landing my knee started hurting something fierce, and I had to ice it and have medical care upon arrival, messing up our ride arrangements. Mariana and Mathias had to take care of 6 huge suitcases (70 pounds!) and 6 carry-on bags all by themselves. Then, after loading up the stuff in our friend's van, Mariana left Mathias with him and came to find me at the medic's. So we headed back and then we couldn't find them for a couple of hours! I tell you, I felt right at home! Six months of smooth sailing isn't good for a body, softens him up too much, haha!
So things are back to normal. We have a place to stay, and...well, that's about it for now. We are still looking for a car, a motorcycle, a bike, and so far we're doing things on foot. Today we finally got SIM cards for our phones, so now at least we can make calls. Everything seems so difficult and slow, so that's how I know we're back to normal!
Training of the local leaders has already begun, and if you'll excuse me, I gotta go because in a few minutes there's another meeting/class with Wezel. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Church Planting Worldwide Through Big Cities

How do we look at church planting? What's our vision? 

From the basic premise that God wants all men to be saved (1Tm.2:4), and considering that the majority of Christ-naming groups in the world are preaching works for salvation, I have come to believe that for the world to be saved we need many more preachers of the gospel of the grace of God. We can't count on other Christian organizations. "Other gospels" (Gl.1) are being preached in the name of Christ, and they are false, so we need the grace message to spread, and that worldwide! 

How do we go about reaching the whole world? From God’s desire to save all we learn to value population, so we must seek to reach the most populated places first. From Paul’s travels we learn not to stay put in one place forever, but to expand, always looking to share the light in another city: all our churches must be senders. From Paul’s years in Ephesus and Rome we learn to take advantage of the great international cities. Today we can save time and resources by sending missionaries to such global metropolitan cities with the goal of working with people groups from around the world (different nationalities) – all in one place, and already speaking our language! Then there's no need for language school or huge cultural adaptation (which takes a lot of time)! Let’s take a look at some of the most populated urban areas in the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_by_population

Of the top twenty above, some (red arrow) have already been reached with the grace message, praise God! China and India both have three each of the top twenty, and with Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico, they hold the top ten most-needy-of-the-gospel-of-grace cities in the world. Personally, I'd like to see one church per million people in each such city. If 38 grace churches in Tokyo were to work together, could they start more churches in Japan and other surrounding countries?? Why, sure!!! 

We believe each church should have a plan for outreach locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. A church in the south side of NY, for example, should have a plan for reaching neighborhoods in the east side, north side, and west side. That same church should also have a plan for reaching other big cities in the northeast, like Boston or Philly. That's the regional plan. Then the church should have a plan to reach other places in the nation like Frisco (national plan), as well as foreign cities in great need, like Tokyo (international plan). Local outreach can be done by the church alone, though it may be a good option to do it in partnership with other local churches. Regional, national, and international outreach should obviously be done in partnership with as many other churches as possible.

This sums up the basics of our vision for church planting, which are further expounded and applied to specific target countries on the other tabs of this blog (Brazil and South Africa). Check out the other tabs!

Building Plans for the Land

Hi Dennis, I hope you can view the ideas in this format. Love,   Paul

Child Raising Course Concluded!

Howdy!

Our most recent news is that our child raising course which we held every wednesday night has ended. Here are some pictures of the couples who took part of that course. This first one shows them patiently waiting as I spoke about the importance of putting in practice what they learned...

This next one has them with their certificates! From left to right, Talita and Diego, Rose and Eduardo, Regina and Jay, my brother. Both Talita and Regina are pregnant - PTL!

After that we had a special number by my Dad and Mom, who were visiting our church that week. It sounded so beautiful!

Here are some of the sunday school kids.

And here are some of the youth doing a special song:

And here am I with Pipoka, our friendly dog! (This is for you dog lovers who know the pleasure of their companionship!) She's learning to hug...

Islam Growth

Thought I should add this to my blog, since it's worthy of our attention! Are we going to have to obey a different government constitution pretty soon?

Building Project - Foundational Phase

Our Building project is going rather well! Here are some pictures. This is the front of the church, and we're adding to the side:This is the view from a tree that can be seen in the picture above. Before we started working, our lot looked just like the one to the right.

Here are some of our youth, including Yuri, and newly saved boy, working on the foundation holes:

After a long day's work... From left to right we have Yuri, Danilo (our young evangelist), Claudinho (son of our elder Cláudio), Henrique, and Felipe.

And this last one is more recent. From above we can see the foundation for the outer wall and for the meeting place's floor. This last part measures 8 meters long by 7 wide, and it will be able to hold more people than the church itself, which measures 10 by 4m.

A final comment: none of this has been build by professionals. Eduardo is our main guy (his brother is a professional builder, so he just asks him how to do things). He, Diego and I (plus the help of some other men and the youth) have built everything so far. God has blessed their sacrifice offering, because it's coming through beautifully, and professionals couldn't have done it much differently. Praise the Lord for the zeal of these new church members!

Pictures of New Families

Brethren, it's taken me time, but I got some pictures of the new families in church!

Here's Diego and Talita, with their two kids Diego and Sarah. Oh, and she's expecting a child - that's another way for the church to grow!

Now a picture of Eduardo and Rose, with her father Antonio, and kids André, Junior, and Maria Eduarda (we call her Duda):

And here are Javert and Karen, who are also expecting a child!
And finally, João Batista and Carmen, with their son Pedro, with whom I have Bible studies every Tuesday:

These folks have helped to give new life to the church, especially because of their fire. Praise the Lord for these new families, and please help us as we pray for their growth in our wonderful Lord Jesus!

New Families in Church!

Howdy! We have excitting news! Check out our prayer letter bellow:

Greetings in our Lord, Brethren!

Wow, I ought to ask you more often to pray for specific needs! You people are awesome! Several of our requests have been granted us by our Graceful Father! Thank you, Brethren, for your labors in prayer with us!

The Lord has been answering our prayers and blessing our ministry. You see, for some time we’ve been praying that our presence here might be useful to help structure the church and to cause its edification both in maturity and numbers. We’ve prayed about Cláudio, asking the Lord to strengthen him to step up to his calling as leader; we’ve prayed asking for more men to get involved in the leadership; we’ve prayed that more families come to church; we’ve prayed that the existing families turn up the fire and make real commitments to the Lord and His work.

In wonderful ways the Lord has been answering all of these prayers. Cláudio had seemed to be distracted by some of his occupations, and now he’s seen his error and is more involved with the leadership than ever before. He’s even requested that he preach twice monthly in the main service on Sunday nights! You must know that this means that he would preach as much as the “official” pastor. But I don’t mind – actually I’m glad it is so! When we leave the church as we’re planning, he will be ready, and so will the church.

As for other men stepping up to the leadership, none have done so officially, but in practice I’ve had three who said it with all the words: “sometime in the near future I’d like to be an active leader.” Besides these three, two others have said the same things with their actions. In fact, the other day I was pulled aside during a visit to the new member Diego and he said: “About the conference coming up, do you need any help? Put me to work – I’ll set time apart for this.” Never before have I had people request to get involved like this! I sincerely hope that in the next year or two we can leave the church with a few more leaders and more on the way to become leaders!!!

Our prayer for new families began to be answered when Eduardo and Rose with their four kids started coming to church. We began a home Bible study with them on Thursdays, and at the same time began a home Bible study on Tuesdays with João and his family. Only João went to church at the time, his wife being Catholic and their son, torn between the two, went to neither… For several months now João has been coming to church with his whole family! So the Lord had given us two new families! Recently, Eduardo brought his old friend Diego to church – Diego and Talita (and two small kids) had been looking for a church in which to serve the Lord and learn His ways. On their first visit they decided to stay with us. At the time I was traveling down south. Imagine my surprise when I come back to a bigger church! Diego and Talita have been with us only a few weeks and already have managed to get involved with the cleaning ministry, steady financial support, a weekly home Bible study, a weekly child raising course (began March 4th), and also the organizational work for our conference on the 21st through 24th of February. Where do you find this kind of family??? Needless to say, we’re soooooooo blessed with the Lord’s answer to that prayer for new families. Oh, and back to João’s family, we’ve reached his sister through the Bible studies. She just joined our church!

Our prayer that the older families in church turn up the fire and commit has been answered too. Slowly but surely we’ve seen growth in commitment levels. Cláudio’s and Ricardo’s family have definitely grown, and they have been setting a good example as leaders. A pleasant surprise was Paulo and Nancy’s family – they had been somewhat distant and lukewarm, but recently they’ve become more involved, especially in the financial department – they’ve given several rows of the new chairs we decided to buy, and also new wall fans (and Paulo installed them too! It was funny to see him up in the roof/attic messing with all the wires and getting all dirty, hahaha). Besides, he’s made himself available to my call for anything I need, due to the special relationship we have. (Wow!)

New life has been breathed into our church, and we’re close to having seating problems. Our average attendance has gone from 15-20 to 25-30, and if everyone decides to come together we’ll be maxed out! I count over 45 members, and that’s our maximum possible seating. Talk of a new building has already started. Maybe to some of you 45 members isn’t much, but to us it’s a whole lot more than it was when we got here three years ago!!!

Our annual conference was so stirring! Our church hosted the Rio Claro church, and the interchurch fellowship was sweet. Folks are talking about how homey it felt, with that sweet intimate feeling of brotherly love. The messages were touching, the special music was beautiful, the youth were relatively spiritual (which is a victory), the fellowship was much better than in past years, and the food was pretty good too! It was amazing to see how many brothers voluntarily got busy with all the conference projects.

Speaking of projects, the brethren are so fired up that we have about three projects going on simultaneously. I’d like to ask for your prayers regarding these projects.The first and foremost is the Fellowship Area Project: we’re expanding our building! We need a decent place in which to come together for fellowship dinners or any other such activity, so we’re expanding the church building. I’d like to ask for prayers specially for Eduardo, the main fellow behind this project. He says this is important because it will help bring the brethren closer together (to which I whole-heartedly agree!).

The second project is the building of the Church Website: we’re building a site to reach out to our local community with the gospel of the grace of God, as well as a means of bringing edifying material to our brethren. Eduardo is also the primary brother working on this project. Can you tell he’s fired up? We’re praying that the youth will also get involved with the website ministry.

The third project is the purchase of a Volkswagen Van for church related transport. We use the services of school vans often, but they’re kind of pricey. My dad had one such van, and so we traded our car for his van. We’ll sell it to the church yet this year. In the meantime we already are saving quite a bit of money by using our van to transport the youth to church on Sunday mornings.

By the way, if some of you folks want to follow up on our work on the web, I’m working on a blog. Check it out, read our updates and look at the pictures! The address is www.paulbert.blogspot.com .

My email continues as paulemariana@yahoo.com.br, and I would like to request feedback on two things: my blog (how it can be better), and how to build a good church website. Those of you with experience please share your feedback because we need help setting goals and adding material (messages, special songs, written studies).

Thanks again to you all for your prayers. The Lord has been blessing them. Thanks for your support in every way!

Our love to you in Christ Jesus, Paul and Mariana Craesmeyer

Who We Are and What We Do!

Dear Saints in Christ Jesus,

My name is Paul Robert Craesmeyer, and I work as a missionary in Brazil. This Blog is to share what's going on in our ministry and lives. Through it I hope many people will stay connected to us, knowing what to pray for, as well as being able to rejoice with us with the joys and victories of God's wonderful work in mankind.

My wife Mariana and I live in the city of Araraquara, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. We work with Word of Grace Mission.

We came to Araraquara 3 years ago to finish my training as a missionary. Now I'm working as temporary pastor to equip the church to have a permanent stable leadership. I hope to leave in a few years with a complete church standing and growing in Araraquara.

Below is a picture of Mariana and I, now married for three sweet years.

And here's the picture of our bishop and his family: Cláudio, Gilmara, Claudinho, Débora, and Bárbara.

Below is the photo of one of our deacons, Ricardo and his wife Cristina, and daughters Carolina and Camila.

Here's what the group looks like after a Sunday night service:

...Typical Sunday morning service (youth group, sort of):

Our Sent Prayer Letters

Below I include the past Prayer Letters we sent out so that anyone who wishes to catch up on our history can start here and scroll down. This first prayer letter is from March, 2006:


Dear Brethren in Christ,

Time flies so fast! Last time we wrote we were about to get married! The Lord has been doing some amazing things in our lives here in Araraquara. We have more prayer requests, but before we share those things it’s only fair to let you know how the Lord answered our prayers, right?

Our wedding went wonderful. The Lord blessed us with a very sweet time and a beautiful ceremony. The great thing about it is that several of our unsaved friends and family heard the gospel clearly. We pray that the seed planted would grow to the glory of Christ!

As for our housing situation, we stayed two weeks with Aunt Klara and then found a house to rent. Our time with Klara went very well. We believe she is saved, based on her testimony, but unfortunately she has no interest in anything related to “church.” We pray that by our continued love she might see that she needs to be active in serving her Creator and God.

As for our home, it is the coziest place on earth! We rented a small one-bedroom house but now it is our home sweet home. I love the way my wife organizes and pretties the house. The Lord answered our prayers there too! I’m glad that our real home is heaven, though, and how we look forward to being there!

Our marriage is giving us plenty to think about. I’m glad we get opportunities to put in practice all the wonderful principles we see in God’s Word regarding love, communication, patience, and looking out for one another. It’s wonderful to see my wife growing everyday into a more submissive child of God. Meanwhile, I have a lot to learn about being the loving husband God wants me to be.

Work has suffered many changes too. The more the Lord directs us the more we realize how refined is His will. Recently the Lord has brought Pastor Cláudio and me closer together, which has helped in the ministry. More and more the Lord shows me where He wants me and how He wants things done. I am now working on an exciting project: working with the church members to reach unbelievers they know and to strengthen them in the process. Without this strengthening a church would only grow in numbers.

Speaking of contacts, allow me to share a couple of prayer requests. I’d like to pray for Édson, the owner of a local bike shop. He has accepted the gospel and shown unusual interest in the Bible. Every time I come by and share the Word he enjoys it and is very grateful. Please pray that we can start a Bible study at his home so that through his leadership his family can be saved as well.

The other prayer request is for Renato, a man I met in the supermarket. I had been there three times to see him, and the next time I went there he wasn’t there at all! He had been fired. But our conversations peaked his interest and he came looking for me. Now we have each other’s address, so I pray that we soon can start a Bible study with him. He is rather influential in a local Catholic church. Let’s see where the Lord is going with this.

We have recently come back from the conference of the grace churches down here. It was very edifying to all, especially to the leaders. Yet the Lord used some problems to open the eyes of some leaders to the need of strengthening the families through the leader at home, the man. A big prayer request of mine is that the men would be strengthened in the Word to effectively lead and teach their families.

Brethren, thank you so much for your love and support! Please pray with us.

To and through Christ, Paul and Mariana




This next one is from April through June, 2006:

Dear Brethren,

Greetings in Christ Jesus!

We were about to send out a prayer letter asking for prayer that we might be able to go to the USA when the Lord showed us His will and it was different than our plans. Some circumstances seemed to fit: some brethren close to the BBI had already offered us a place to stay and the BBI had already accepted Mariana as a student. The visa was the only major thing lacking. That is, besides God’s permission.

But now He has shown us He wants us to stay right where we are. What’s amazing is that He used these things to show us how much we were needed here. In my thoughts our presence wasn’t being that effective, but the brethren here assured us otherwise. It’s funny – we asked them to pray about our going to the States, just as we asked some of you already. But they prayed that we stay! If this were a battle of prayers, I would say they won! But in truth we know that Christ is the real winner and we all are winners in Him!

We love the ministry here. One of my favorite things to do is to teach a group of young men from church. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday nights, and go over the basics of God’s precious Word. They have tons of questions every time!

I also enjoy my meetings with Cláudio every week. It feels weird that I’m the one teaching him, an experienced pastor, but that’s how he wants it. In practice, though, he teaches me a lot while I teach him, so that I’m never sure who ends us teaching more… But does that matter? After the meeting we both feel full, fed with the precious Word, nurtured in the Fellowship of His Son.

Mariana is also pretty busy with her meetings with some women from church. She’s teaching them at the same time that I’m away teaching the boys, plus a couple of other times during the week. I’m not surprised at her personal growth neither at her growth in the ministry. Though she is somewhat young in the faith, it is the Lord who works through the life of a yielded servant. In other words, I’m not surprised because this growth is not from her but from Christ!

So while we teach we learn, while we love we’re loved back, while we sing we hear the choir of God singing in our hearts. I’m grateful to be in the Lord’s work. Though there are troubles, I would never choose anything else!

But we would never be here without your help in the Lord, Brethren! Thanks for being part of this ministry! Thank God that our labor in Him is never in vain, amen?

Please keep in prayer the above mentioned meetings, and also that we rest in the Lord for all of our other needs and requests. Let us join in prayer that we trust Him completely in all things!

In His Complete Love,

Paul and Mariana




This one covers July 2006 through May 2007:


Dear Brethren,

Greetings in Christ Jesus!

For some of you the last you heard of us was a few months ago, and we had postponed our trip to the U.S. Also, Pastor Cláudio was growing as a man of God, the church was growing too, and so were we. Well, we’re growing, the church is growing, and so is Cláudio, not to mention the men’s group, women’s group, girl’s group, and guys’ group. But some things have changed very much in the last few months.

The church here in Araraquara has been shedding the Light of Christ for some 30 years, yet all this time they haven’t had a full-time pastor. Knowing God’s will, we began to pray for this aspect of the ministry here. Though unexpected to many, and seemingly strange to some, the way in which God has begun to answer this prayer is beautiful. Pastor Cláudio felt the Lord’s hand directing him to leave the position he occupied as pastor. So he stepped down from the pastorate. He knew that in practical terms he wasn’t caring for the church the way a pastor does. He was only teaching them on the weekends. During the week he struggled to balance his duties at home and work, plus time for preparing his messages. Thus, as long as he held the title of “Pastor” there would be no room for a real pastor to develop.

Now there is. And as you can tell, our ministry here changed a bit. I still help with the preaching, but now the other leaders picked up the slack. Perhaps the Lord is using this to sharpen their spiritual leadership for what is to come. Though we can’t say there is a prospect, we are confident that this time is God’s way of preparing the church to live in trusting dependence of its Head, Jesus Christ. As long as a church depends on men, it never becomes the living organism the Body of Christ is meant to be.

As for us, we continue ministering to the church, but not as a substitute pastor. Besides the small group studies we have with the ladies, men, and youth, we have also begun a parenting course with two families. Strong families help strengthen the Family of God.
Our hope to go to the U.S. is still alive, waiting for God’s timing.

The annual conference is coming up in February. This time it will be in Araraquara, and we’re expecting a wonderful dive into the refreshing Word of God, not to mention the fellowship in Him. Folks here are always asking about the progress of the Conference Center down in Tijucas, eager for the days in which we can meet in our own grounds.

Many thanks for those who have continued in prayerful support. Thanks also for those who’ve kept in touch. By the way, those characters on the top of the page are for your use. Did you know that email is the one of the easiest ways for long-distance encouragement? We’d love to hear from more of you.

January – May 2007 Update

Folks, I am sorry about the delay of the above letter. I have had trouble sending out the prayer letter. Now that I’m back at it, there’s no sense in sending old news only. I will send an update because though the events before mentioned are important, they’ve had repercussions worthy of mention.

One of such outcomes is the presence of our new “son.” In answer to prayer, the Lord has brought up a young man who desires to prepare for the ministry. He wants to be a pastor! Much joy has come to our hearts along with this young fellow. Juliano is a childhood friend from Tijucas, and now he has moved in with us to train in a more intense way. Not all disciples get to move in with their masters, but for us it has worked out this way.

The beauty of it is that it all happened at the annual conference we had in February. He was so fired up for Christ during the conference that he made his life decision right there. He left father, mother, and little sister behind, as well as all his extended family, friends, and brethren at the churches down south, and came 900 kilometers north to live with Mariana and I.

Consequently, we’ve had to move into a larger house, and the Lord was so present during our house shifting! He provided a great house for a relatively small rent, and we were able to move almost everything from one house to the other in one weekend! [Not that we have that much… ha, ha] Now we are better equipped to open our house to others, and we hope to have many visitors soon.

Please pray for Juliano. He’s 16, spends his mornings at school and his afternoons in training, and his life has changed quite a bit. The adjustment is tough, and the temptation to give up the Lord’s will is constant.

Please also pray for a young man named Felipe. He has shown interest in the things of the Lord but is not sure where God wants him. Felipe is also 16 and has a high level of maturity and commitment to the Lord. Felipe and Juliano are the two young men I’m training with more intensity, while continuing to prepare the church for a full-time pastor.

We thank God for all of you who care, who pray, and who give of yourselves to the Lord and His work. Thanks to Him and to you, our lives are cared for so that we have freedom to minister. I wish to recognize before God and you all that our financial needs have all been met from the beginning until now. We know that God is faithful. The real pleasure is being able to be used by Him in His faithfulness with other fellow warriors of the faith. I trust all of you could confirm that God has also cared for all your real needs. That’s just Who He is!

Another joy we are sharing is seen the women bloom with growth as they study together. Mariana has been teaching through the book of Esther with the women’s group as well as developing special studies with individual ladies who are open to and needy of more instruction.
Oh, I almost forgot. Can you believe I talked the men into some homiletics (preaching) classes? My own preaching has bettered since we began. It’s a joy to receive spiritual food, but the joy is much bigger when it is “well cooked,” so to speak.

Speaking of preaching, one more thing: as we were thinking of something in which the growing young ladies could get involved to serve Christ, and upon hearing their laughter at the idea of preaching (thank God they don’t make the mistake of deeming “cultural” God’s commands in 1Tim.2:9-15), the idea of works of charity came up. With it came a project, so please pray for these young hearts as they work to bring some good to the world, and with it, the saving gospel.
Farewell and keep in touch! The Lord Jesus is always with us. May we always be with Him in obedience and dedication.
In His Complete Love, Paul and Mariana



This Prayer Letter is from June - December 2007:



Dear Brethren, fellow warriors for the cause of Christ,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus!

In our last newsletter we reported the addition to our family of Juliano, the young man from Tijucas, who came to live with us and train for the ministry. While accompanying us in the work and helping in many areas, including guitar help in church, Juliano began to question whether this was really the Lord’s will for his life. His desire to serve the Lord has not faded, but he’s not sure God is calling him to the pastorate. Thus, he decided to try another way, leaving us in mid December. We’d like to thank you all for your prayers regarding him, because his time with us was extremely profitable for us all. The more I learn about training leaders, the better, because upon our obedience to 2Tm.2:2 depends the future of the work: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

The leadership of the church, on the other hand, has been strengthening itself in union. As we unite, each one of us is becoming more involved with the brethren, helping to care for the spiritual health of the church. One of the things we’re working on lately is to develop a family attitude toward each other, just like in good families each member cares for and protects each other member of the family. When a local church lives this sense of belonging, who wouldn’t want to be a part of it? It’s easy to sense the presence of the Father when all the brethren live as one.

We took some time off to rest between November and December, which was very refreshing. Only after periods of rest do we understand why the Lord didn’t suggest the Sabbath to Israel, but commanded it. It is such a necessity that God wisely commanded them to rest. We came back to find work much more pleasant and joyful, the brethren more willing to work with us.

Prayer warriors, I’d like to invite you to pray with us this year about the completion of our work in Araraquara. We don’t know how long the Lord wishes us to stay, but there are more cities to go to, more churches to help, more churches to start. Judging by what man sees, we’d have to stay a few more years here to structure the church to the point where it can stand strong, dependent upon the Lord only. But we don’t change hearts – God does. And since we don’t know what exactly He has planned, we pray. Please pray with us that if it pleases Him, we’ll be able to draw our work here to a close.

The church is looking at a few changes in the months ahead. We’re considering the question, “Why doesn’t the church grow more?” As we look at the possible answers, we’re going to take action; we might move the church close to downtown, increase outreach activities and charity, spreading the gospel where we go. Throughout all our activities, I pray that we can grow more into that true fellowship that goes with true relationships, something that penetrates the crust of superficial Christianity and goes deeper into the heart of God. It’s so easy to make small talk and pretend that we know what our brother is going through. But to help each other grow in Christ, we need to have real relationships, real love, and real fellowship. Only then will the brethren be united in Christ and united with Him.

So please pray with us, brothers and sisters! We are part of God’s warfare against the powers of darkness, and as such, warriors for the victory which has already been conquered by Christ. Let us fight for each other, knowing that we do not battle in vain, because we know that we’re on the victorious side! It has been said that we are most powerful when we are on our knees – let’s pray and watch the Almighty do His wonders! And to those who have been praying, THANK YOU!!! Thank you for all your prayerful support!

Oh, and if you’re reading this, it’s because you care. Praise the Lord for you. I’d like to ask you to consider one more thing: life is about relationships – first with God, than with our fellow men. I know God, and am growing in that relationship. So are you. But do you know me? Do I know you? It would be a pleasure for us to get to know you better. Please email us! Or write! Our contact info is on the top. We would be honored to answer any questions you might have, and even more honored to receive your answers to our questions. It would be so refreshing to have more true friends in Christ, even if we are so far away right now.

In Christ’s eternal love, Paul and Mariana



And this one covers almost all of 2008 (January through October):


Greetings in our Lord Jesus to our dear fellow believers!

We have good news! One of my most repeated prayers has been that the church in Araraquara take on the leadership structure we see in the churches established by Paul, with Bishops and Deacons, like in Philippians 1:1. I realized we needed to do as in Acts 14:23: “So when they had appointed elders in every church…” Bishops (elders) and deacons were never clearly set in our church – we just had “leaders”. But God is orderly, and He has reasons for giving us an example of a good leadership structure. The saints here have slowly and finally embraced the idea, and this past month we ordained the deacons and bishops! Wow, I’m so grateful for this step of faith! I’ve waited patiently for this to happen for more than two years, while encouraging each one of the leaders to follow the Lord’s calling and to make a commitment to His local church.

It took me months to figure out that the church wasn’t solid because the leadership hadn’t been firmly established. In a recent leader’s meeting, I brought up the subject, decided to make some changes. I wanted to set specific goals for the leadership to be established: these goals included putting the existing leaders into two categories: bishops and deacons. The way it is right now nobody knows who does what, so nothing gets done, and I’m sure you all know what I mean. All the goals are related to forming a solid leadership structure, which I understand to be the foremost need of the church (all its other problems stem from the current absent/inefficient leadership). There are four of us leaders, and all of us were involved in preaching to some extent, but pastoral work (visitation, personal confrontation or encouragement) was almost zero, except for what I had been doing.

As a result of not having clear leadership and much less a pastor, the church never learned how to support a pastor financially. Also, it developed discipline problems which have caused the church to have a bad testimony before the world and weak believers.

So we leaders got together to discuss how we could resolve this old problem, and they asked me to be their pastor, thus helping to restore the church’s health and giving them an opportunity to learn how to give towards the Lord’s work. They said I was already doing the pastor’s work, so why not recognize it publicly and teach the congregation how to support a pastor and how to work with him? As a result of my work, the church has grown some, so why not make it official? These things were in my heart already, so I decided to ask counsel with the brethren in the mission.

A week ago I told the church leaders here that I had decided to continue as a missionary while doing the pastor’s work and training new leaders. I agreed to be the official full-time pastor, even though temporarily, but I also wanted to ordain deacons and elders. We agreed, and when it was announced in church, many of the brethren came to tell us this was an answer to prayer. Some who weren’t there called in the days after to let us know how glad they were.

I believe all of this is part of the missionary’s job, being the last phase of the evangelist’s work. Until there is a permanent pastor, the missionary pastors the church while training new leaders to replace him so he can go start new churches. So in accepting the title “Pastor” I’m not changing so much what I’m doing, but it changes what the saints will be doing. It’s a big change in commitment levels!

This brings me to another victory: the church is now taking the step of faith of supporting a pastor! Never before had they taken on that responsibility. This had caused the members to get used to not giving much money towards the work. Thus, they always had the excuse that “we can’t afford to support a full-time pastor”. Meanwhile, the lack of an organized leadership structure and the lack of a real pastor allowed the church to grow weaker and smaller as the years went by… Little did the brethren know that not supporting a pastor is what kept them from affording one!

I view this opportunity as a test. I wouldn’t want to leave Araraquara without finishing what I came here to do. If I left now, things would go back to how they were. By the time I leave, I hope to have established the leadership more solidly, with even more deacons and elders than now, allowing for a smooth transition between me and the permanent pastor. I think that if I’m useful to help structure the church here I may well be used of God to help structure some of our other churches and draw a close to the missionary’s part in each church, allowing them to begin building other new churches.

Our finances have been according to God’s promise to supply all our needs. I’m wondering how much will change with the church learning to support our material needs. I presume some of you who support us financially might think there’s no more need to do such since the church here will start to give. The truth is that I don’t really know if the church will fulfill our needs or not, especially in the beginning. So I ask you to continue to follow the Lord in this matter – He led you to give, and He will lead you to stop or give to someone else according to His best. I trust the Lord to know our needs, and that’s all I need to know. As for you, it’s fair and good that you know what’s going on, and what victories the church is having.

In conclusion I’d like to say that my plan is to stay another year or two here, four at max. The victories we’re having with the church structure and with some new families, as well as with the youth have been such a reward! I feel the fire of God burning in me! Christ’s distinctive message given to the Apostle Paul continues to go forth boldly, and it’s always a joy to see people’s eyes light up when they finally understand a doctrine that had been confusing for so long!

So please pray for the leadership of the church in Araraquara, for their growth toward financial responsibility, for the church discipline to be done in love, for the new families to grow faithful, for new families to join the church, and for us to continue laboring with hope! Please join with us in grateful thanks to God for these victories, for the new families, and for always providing us all our needs through faithful supporters of His work through us! Here’s a few names to pray for: Danilo, a young evangelist in development; Yuri, a newly saved neighbor boy – may his family come to Christ too; Claudinho (15 – son of the bishop Cláudio), who is becoming more involved in the church; the new families of Eduardo and Rosemara (4 children!), and of João and Carmen – that their faith may bear fruit.

Thank you, brethren, for your constant support in prayer and in finances!

Much love to you all, Paul and Mariana