July 10, 2006

60th Anniversary of the Seminary

This last week the Cariri Baptist Seminary celebrated it's 60th anniversary. It was a tremendous event, with much glory being given to God for the things He has done here in Brazil over the past six decades.

As I mentioned earlier, my main job during the conference was to produce four videos about the history of the seminary. This I did, and the videos were very well recieved (even though I included a guy in the "dearly departed" section who is actually alive and well and living in Brasilia), and several people have requested copies.

On Saturday evening I was putting the finishing touches on the last of the videos, when we got word that Tom and Evelyn Willson, pioneer missionaries here at the seminary, had recoreded a video greeting from the states. Many of the pastors and missionaries present sat under Tom's tutelage at the seminary. Was there a way we could include the video in the presentation?

Mark Willson (Tom's son and one of the professors here at the seminary) and I began to wrack our brains trying to figure out how to get the video here. We were able to get it on Google Video, but unable to download it. Our seminary is not yet technologically advanced to the point where we could hook up to the internet and have the video shown online.

Finally I hit on the solution of having the people in the US upload it to my Hipcast account, from whence I downloaded it. I then clipped it into the video, and recorded the DVD.

At this point time was becoming a factor. The DVD started recording at 6:45. The final session was set to begin at 7, and it takes about 15 minutes for me to get from my house to the seminary. Fortunately, "Brazilian time" worked in my favor. I left the house at 7:20, and pulled on to campus just as the congregation was singing their first hymn. I ran to the sound booth (located on the stage, next to the orchestra) and inserted the DVD.

A few minutes later, as Tom and Evelyn's video greeting was playing on the big screen, I noticed that most eyes in the audience were moist, and a few were openly crying. When it was done, the crowd burst into applause--not for the video presentation, but for the blood, sweat and tears that this dear couple had invested in the lives of those present.

I have been given permission to share the video with you. It is in Portuguese, but the emotion and love of this couple for Brazil is evident.

If you have trouble seeing this, you can try here or here.

Posted by Andrew on July 10, 2006 9:57 AM.

Comments

Posted by: Phyllis Burroughs at July 30, 2006 3:27 PM