February 3, 2013

Happy New Year (...bear with me here)

Still playing "catch up" with long overdue posts. Here are a few pics from the New Years event the Ebenezer congregation held at the farm of one of our members.

The ladies, gathering at the kitchen.

Abreu and Rickson

Delcy showing the piglet to the kids.

Mikey and the piglet, who I affectionately called "bacon".

This little guy had the right idea.

Who needs expensive playground equipment when you have trees?

May courageous foray onto the zip line.

Challenging the congregation for the new year.

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February 2, 2013

Merry Christmas (That's right...I said Christmas)

Going back through my photo archives, I realized I never posted updates of a couple key events in the life of the Ebenezer congregation--the first of these being the Christmas program. Our congregation really pulled out the stops to make this presentation a success, as can be seen from the pictures below.

We had a full house, with people in attendance from the community, from our congregation, and from the two other Regular Baptist Churches in town.

We began the evening with a children's presentation. All the kids you see in the picture regularly attend our kids club on Sunday morning.

Itacyara led the group, and they were accompanied on the guitar by yours truly.

In another first (but not last) for our group, an adult choir sang "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful".

Francivaldo, who has been teaching a group of young people how to play guitar, presented a special number.

We were blessed with the participation of folks from our mother church, the Good News Baptist Church. Here, Lays and Lilian lead the worship...

...while Nilton Jr. accompanies on the keyboard.

At the end of the service, Pastor Samuel brought an evangelistic message based on the Christmas story.

We were very proud of our young congregation and the effort they expended to put forth this organized, Christ-honoring program.

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January 1, 2013

Men of Iron (or Iron Men, if you prefer)

One of my great desires in our ministry at the Ebenézer congregation is that God would raise up a group of godly men who will form a core of masculine leadership for the church. In this endeavor we face the obstacles of an increasingly matriarchal society, an inherently effeminate dominant religion, and the surging tide of the feminist and homosexual agendas. Training men to be...well...men has never been more difficult, nor has it been ever been more necessary.

For these reasons I am very encouraged with the group of men God has brought to our congregation. It has been a joy to see them grow in the Lord, and in their commitment to fulfill the role God gave them as men. We have banded together in a group that we call Men of Iron (or Iron Men...not to be confused with the superhero of the same name)--based on Proverbs 27:17.

The weekend before Christmas we got together for our first "Homens de Ferro" event--a camp-out at a farm owned by one of the men. Below are some pictures:

We set up a couple tents...a novelty for some of our guys. Others put up hammocks...one of them in the top branches of a tree!

The menu was BBQ...what else!

Our intrepid band of adventurers. I think my mouth was full...

Eine kleine Nachtmusik...

The sítio features a home-made zip line. A rope ladder leads to the top of a telephone pole, where one encounters a wooden bench attached by a pulley to a cable. Safety inspectors in the US would have a coronary....

...but there's no denying, it's great fun.

Also, there's horseback riding.

This is our intrepid band of "Iron Men". Remember to pray for us.

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Mikey's Manger

One of the more rewarding aspects of our time here in São Luís has been our participation in the Brazilian Boy Scout movement. Among other things, it has provided incentive for some great father-son projects.

Mikey is well on his way to getting his "Bible-knowledge" badge, and one of the options for completion is the construction of a manger scene. As Christmas was approaching, we decided this would be a great project to tackle together.

Here Mikey poses with some of the raw materials we used. Fortunately for us, this is the time of year when people throw out a lot of pasteboard furniture to make room for their new purchases, so free wood for the stable was in abundance.

He came, he sawed, he conquered.

Mikey applying elbow grease.

The finished project, on display at the Christmas program for the Ebenezer congregation. It was such a hit that the Boas Novas church asked that it be displayed during their program the next day.

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Happy New Year, and Stay Tuned...

There are a lot of things on my plate today, including (drum roll please) updating this blog.

But first, a video of the New Years' fireworks being launched from ships just off the coast of São Luís. The footage was shot from the upper veranda of our house.

Since we last reported, there have been a lot of exciting things to report...so stay tuned throughout the day...

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