When you get a minute and need a good laugh, call this FAA office located somewhere in GA. You’ll need to wait until after 5:00pm Eastern because you need to get the voice mail. What you want to listen for is the internet url that is given to access their website.
404.305.7200
Without a doubt, one of the most exciting, passionate-for-the-kingdom churches I have ever attended is First Baptist Church of Campo Grande, Brazil. Located in the western state of Mato Grasso du Sol (South Mato Grosso, which borders both Paraguay and Bolivia), Campo Grande is a bustling city of 7-800,000. Near the city center is the campus of FBC, led by Senior Pastor, Gilson Breder.
Breder, pastor for the past 16 years, is a 54 year old with enough energy to power most of the city. He has both vision and passion to reach the lost in their city (primarily through cell groups), to plant churches and to send out missionaries, all of which they have done and are doing. My primary reason for going was to learn about their cell group ministry, but I received so much more.
Eight years ago, one of the pastoral staff, Pastor Leo, was burdened that the church could do a more effective job of evangelism and ministry if it moved to a cell group model. Beginning with a single cell group of leaders the church now fields 160 groups each week with a goal to begin 95 or so new groups within the next year. If there is one word that pervades the cell ministry it is multiplication-everyone talks about it. They truly understand that expanding the number of groups gives the most people ministry opportunities and creates more relational opportunities for evangelism. From 42 year old mission pastor Djalma Alberquerque to 29 year old cell leader Andrea to 23 year old leadership supervisor Yuri Breder to 18 year old cell leader Marissa, everyone knows that multiplying their group is the best opportunity to reach the teeming masses of Campo Grande.
Another thing that I learned is that at least one Brazilian church has learned to implement leadership principles while many American Christians are still debating whether business principles have any place in church. FBC Campo Grande is a leadership training machine. The leadership conference that was part of the weekend was attended (on average) by more than 10% of the normal attendance. Each of their 160 cell groups has an assistant leader that is being prepared to lead a group.
In the music ministry, multiplication is also a core value. Of the 5 or so sessions of the leadership conference, they never had the same praise team singers or band members twice. Not twice in a row, but twice! And, though the majority of attendees and participants are young and single, the entirety of the conference was attended by one particular lady who appeared to be in her 60’s along with her mother who was 92.
Prayer times both in cell groups and in the normal “worship service” are marked by passionate beseeching with tears flowing easily and pervasively across the room or auditorium. When I compare the many rote prayers of North American believers (often my own), I can see why God is so busy south of the equator. If you ever get a chance to visit FBC, I would encourage you to spend your annual convention money to go.
One story: The first time on the campus, I noticed a hippie-looking guy sitting outside the door selling trinkets (bracelets and anklets) that he had made. I thought, “That’s pretty cool that they allow him to do that and don’t run him off or call security on him.”
The next day we drove by and Pastor Gilson excitedly exclaimed over his shoulder, “Did you see the hippie?!” “Yes,” we responded. “He’s a believer in Jesus and a member of our church!” Sure enough, I was able to locate him in the crowd each session for the rest of the weekend. Later, they enlarged on the story. When “the hippie” got saved, the members of the church tried to get him job training and help him move up the ladder of social and economic productivity. His response was, “I could do that. But, if I do I will lose contact with my people. If I don’t reach them, who will?” His goal now is to go back and finish high school, then go to seminary and prepare to be a missionary in his culture.
Yes, Todd and I bought a bunch of stuff from him!
I thank God for the opportunity for this trip and for making provision for me to be able to go. I trust that our church will be able to implement some of the principles that were passed along and gain the passion for the lost that so many people at FBC Campo Grande have in their lives.
Safely home, thank you, Lord.
A couple of corrections from the previous post which, obviously, was written in haste: The TAM flight that crashed last Tuesday killing all aboard and some on the ground had landed at a domestic airport in Sao Paulo. My flight, Delta 105, landed at the international airport a few miles away. Indeed, our connecting flight to Campo Grande was on a Fokker 100 both ways, not an Airbus as I originally thought. The Minister of Defense (whose responsibility it is to oversee commercial aviation) was sacked in the middle of the week for failure to address the inherent dangers in having a full airport in the middle of a residential area as Congonhas is. I hope that those issues will be addressed quickly for the sake of all air travelers in Brazil.
Our return was a tension of late flights and a missed connection. Following the fatal accident, the domestic airport was closed during rains, while flights were being canceled and diverted and a few instances of pilot refusal to land at the domestic airport while rain was falling. Add to the mix that there are no strong competing airlines for domestic Brazilian air traffic and you get delay, delays and more delays. We were not even close to making our 10:55 pm flight to Atlanta on Tuesday night; we had to stay an entire day. Our return flight was completely uneventful, however, and we were happy to hit the ground at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at 8:10 or so yesterday morning.
My purpose for this trip was to assist a friend of mine, Todd Wright, who was doing a leadership conference at the FBC in Campo Grande, which is about an hour and 40 minutes northwest of Sao Paulo (by air; we don’t want to talk about the bus trip that others had to take), as well as for me to learn more about the cell groups that are a vital part of the church’s ministry. Todd and I were hosted wonderfully (pampered would be a more accurate term) in the home of youthful and energetic Senior Pastor, Gilson Breder, his beautiful wife, Vasti, and his gifted 23 year old son, Yuri. They live on the 15th floor of a downtown condo providing an astounding view of the city, especially at night.
It did not take me long to find out two things about Brazilians: they have great personalities with humor that is much like ours and that they like to eat meat-heavy meals late at night. We never even made an effort to eat the evening meal before 10:00 pm and usually it was around 11:00 pm. We left one restaurant at 11:45 and passed several open air eateries that were still packed with customers. And speaking of meat…
If you are a carnivore, you probably ought to try Brazil at least once. On multiple visits to a style of restaurant that we affectionately called a “bar-b-que” it went something like this: Warm greeting, seating at an appropriate table, order a drink (always, always, Guarana Antartica–anything else would be a sin), a plate(s) of steamed rice, a plate(s) of yucca, a plate(s) of fried bananas and then the meat. Long skewers of prime rib, filet mignon, pork ribs, sausage, chicken, other pork, cupine (sp? anyway the Brahma bull hump) and a few more. Servers just return to the table over and over until you finally put up the stop sign. It was about the equivalent of $12 plus drink. All the meat is cooked over open flame, salted pretty heavily, but, oh, so good.
I was quite surprised upon arrival to find that the Pan American Games were taking place in Rio de Janeiro at the same time. Americans, by and large, don’t even know what those are, much less pay attention to who is participating (it’s like the Olympics of the Americas, instead of the entire world). While Brazilians were watching in restaurants and bars, ESPN.com did not even have a link to the results or the medal count which America is leading with Brazil a strong, but distant, second.
Soccer, or futbol as it is known in the rest of the world, is the national sport. Most men play 2-3 nights a week at indoor or outdoor fields, though the average person has no access to the large world cup size fields and is not really prepared to play on fields that size. The indoor game is like arena footall–fast and exciting. I was drafted to play goalie for 4 or 5 games lasting ten minutes each. I was shown for what I am: an old, slow, white guy who had never played soccer before. Or, at least, not since elementary school. It would not have been so bad if the same 13 year old had not scored on me 5 times, turning around each time to mutter, “Sorry.”  We played so long that we were late to the evening session of the conference; Pastor Gilson just laughed and nobody else seemed to notice.
Next Up: The spiritual side of Campo Grande
In case anyone was curious, we were not on the TAM flight that overshot the runway and crashed killing all on board. We did, however, land at the same airport and, upon our return, will be flying TAM into the same airport on the same kind of plane.
All prayer next Tuesday will be greatly appreciated.
Apparently a very well respected preacher from the southern part of Brazil was on the flight; please pray for his family when you get a moment.
This week, I’ll be gone for several days on a mission to Brazil. Along with a friend from west Georgia, I’ll be traveling to the city of Campo Grande to participate in a leadership conference for pastors in the area. The exact topic of my sessions has not been determined (or, at least, passed on to me) but I’m sure I’ll scare them all to death whatever my assignment. Another reason for my attending is that the host church has a very evangelistic cell group ministry and I hope to learn from them and be reminded, yet again, that the West doesn’t have all the answers.
God has been very gracious to have allowed me to go around the globe on various trips. With this trip, I will have been on every inhabited continent at least once; most people start in South America, but it will be my last one on the list. I’ve learned from the Brockley Baptist Church in a London suburb, the Wynnum Baptist Church in Brisbane, OZ (with pastor Peter van Donge), a bunch of Maasi evangelists in Kenya, M’s in a closed Asian country, the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary in Cochrane, Alberta, and more. It was easy to figure out that not everyone saw things the way that I did and that there were many, many believers who did things differently than me. I was challenged at each step of the way and I am more well rounded as a result of their input.
Next month, a vision team from our church will be exploring options about the engagement of an unreached people group (UPG) in Asia, something about which I am extremely excited. As far as we have been able to learn there is no church that is reflective of that people’s culture and since they are an oral culture translating scripture into their language might not be the best first step. In conjunction with other groups we hope to find some opps as to how to get the gospel to this people.
Our partnership in Europe has expanded in great ways–God has used us to involve about five other churches in that ministry effort. (More on this at a later date.) I’m beginning to wonder if God isn’t using New Bethany to go through some doors to instigate ministry, involve others and then move through another door and do the same. I realize that every person and church does not have the same giftedness, that’s why it takes all of us to be fulfilling the Great Commission.
While on vacation this week, my son, Timothy, and I decided to go on a hike. Actually, the hike was pre-planned, but we adjusted it from two nights to one so that he could get back and do some mission stuff with our Student Ministry.
Continuing my section hiking of the Appalachian Trail, we put in at Unicoi Gap on Monday at around 1:20 to begin a 5.5 mile section that would take us to the Tray Mountain Shelter where we would spend the first night. Upon beginning, the heat and humidity was murderous and we were chugging Power-Aid about as fast as we could get it down. About 4 miles in, it began to cloud over as the weather forecast had predicted–60% chance of scattered thunderstorms.
A few minutes later it began to sprinkle. We were in a heavily wooded part of the trail, each side completely lined with Mountain Laurels and a reasonably thick canopy overhead. The rain began to intensify so we found an area that appeared to provide some protection and waited. No such luck.
As we waited, the rain turned in to a deluge of Noahic proportions. After 7 or 8 minutes of waiting under our “protective canopy” we were drenched. Timothy said, “Well, we might as well go ahead and head up the mountain.” Captain Obvious. We started up the hill, hiking up a trail that had already become a stream that engulfed his shoes and my boots, filling them up. We looked like a couple of drowned rats within five more minutes. Our backpacks were soaked as was every single layer of our clothing.
The higher we ascended, the harder the rain became. Thunder was steady and lightening flashed to the left and to the right. I felt not unlike John Muir.
IT WAS GREAT!!
We got to the shelter (thank God we didn’t have to use the tent), found that the clothes inside our packs had not gotten soaked and thus changed into the driest ones we could find, ate and settled into our sleeping bags for the night…at 6:30 pm.
Since we had removed our second night of camping, today (Tuesday) turned into a 10.5 mile hike to our pick up point, Dick’s Creek Gap and GA Hwy 76. We headed out just before 7:45 am for a several hour trek over another pretty tall peak (Kelly’s Knob) which would be the third of the hike. Most of the rest was steadily downhill. For a non-hiker, this sounds like a dream, but if you’ve ever done it you know it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Downhill hiking, after the first hour or so, feels like being chased down a mountain by the 35 pound back on your back. The constant downhill motion pushes the toes into the front of your shoes/boots continuously and can cause your toenails to actually cut the next toes, and this is also what causes blisters on the heels of your feet. Timothy and I took turns leading and I quickly realized that he had reached the point that he could outpace me if he desired; he’s 16 and I’m 43. At some point in the last 18 months that young cat developed a climbing gear that this old lion doesn’t have.
At the point where we had three miles left it was about 11:30 am. We had just finished a 15 or so minute break of Clif Bars and Gatorade when I said, “Why don’t you go ahead and set your own pace. See how fast you can get to the end and don’t stop to wait for me.” Famous last words.
Within 3 minutes, he was out of sight. Uphill, downhill, uphill and then two miles of downhill. Brutal stuff after walking 7.5 miles already. For me, it was some of the hardest hiking I’ve done. At 2:00 I finally stepped off the trail, weary and ready for some real food. As I crossed the street, he jumped of the tailgate of the truck and said, “I got here at 1:09.” No stinkin’ way. “How do you know,” I asked. I already knew he’d forgotten his watch. “As soon as I walked over here a lady came off the trail on this side and I asked her.” He’d blistered the last three miles of a 10.5 mile hike in 1:39 and beaten me by 51 minutes. I’m a dead man.
It was wonderful to spend that time with him. But I’m not trying to prove myself against his stamina anymore. That’s too embarrassing.
Not by accident, I snapped this photo this morning of the atomic clock (www.time.gov) at exactly 07.07.07 on 07.07.07. Coincidentally, today happens to be my wife’s __th birthday and she had a great one.
Here is my beloved, with daughter Abigail, at the World War II Memorial in DC in April of this year.
New Bethany is blessed to have two amazing men who have the opportunity to lead in worship through music. One is our Pastor of Worship and Administration, Dan Brothers, and the other is the Pastor to Students, Joey Jernigan. Each of them are skilled musicians and vocalists, but what sets them apart is their consistent ability to choose songs that resonate with their particular “constituency.”
Recently, we have been singing three songs that you should check out if you have not heard them already or if they are not part of the current rotation in your services. The first is called Sweetly Broken, by Jeremy Riddle and can be found on his project Full Attention.
Verse:
To the cross I look, to the cross I cling
Of its suffering I do drink
Of its work I do sing.
For on it my Savior both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just.Chorus:
At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered.Verse:
What a priceless gift, undeserved life
Have I been given
Through Christ crucifiedYou’ve called me out of death
You’ve called me into life
And I was under Your wrath
Now through the cross I’m reconciledChorus
Bridge:
In awe of the cross I must confess
How wondrous Your redeeming love and
How great is Your faithfulnessChorus
In addition there are two songs recently released on the newest Hillsong Live project called, Mighty to Save. The first is the title song and the second is called From the Inside Out.
Verse:
Everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations.Chorus:
Savior-
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save.
Forever-
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave.Verse:
So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender.Chorus
Bridge
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King…JesusChorus
From the Inside Out
Verse:
A thousand times I’ve failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I’m caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fameBridge:
In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside outVerse:
Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fameChorus:
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades.
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame.
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out.Bridge
Chorus
All songs are available on iTunes. Buy’em and turn up the volume.
I recently received an email from a friend who is leading his church into the deep spiritual darkness of a heavily Muslim African country. This is an edited version:
I work with the [target area] regional leadership team, in seeking to penetrate people groups and to help churches go deeper in [this] region. We hope to help them understand what church engagement in an Unreached People Group is all about and how to do it beyond just money.
Our Problem: [Our target] is mainly Muslim and is a level 3 security area. It is difficult to get churches to actually engage this region and the people groups there beyond just CP giving. Most will give to the CP, cheer the missionaries onward, and sometimes take a trip there, but…getting them to engage for the long haul and take on the task to reach a people group is very difficult. That is our goal–long term engagement.
One solution to help bridge the gap: We are hosting a summit in September in Florida where we are seeking to engage churches to develop partnerships in [the target] region. The summit we did in Atlanta 2 years ago was great and had some good numbers (1000 people) had some good training, and some good outcomes, BUT things are changing and I am truly not sure we are on the right track for this summit. We desire it to be valuable for churches.
My Request: Would you be willing to give me some feedback (and thus it also goes to the Regional leaders), on what you think a church, who is not currently engaged, needs to take away from such a conference? Vision? Mainly networking? Information? Relationships? Training? I have spoken to them about this and they would love to hear your thoughts .
We sometimes can get so deep in our stuff that we fail to be able to see clearly what is truly needed from such a meeting. You hear a lot of what pastors are thinking out there. We need a fresh voice to give feedback as to what are some of the take aways needed for churches.
My ideas: First, network churches with similar goals but with differing strengths. This can be done by doing a survey of attendees to be taken up and compared by the leaders. Those pastors or lay leaders can then meet together while still at the summit. By doing this, you get more bang for your buck trip wise and in long term benefit. While one church may be teacher heavy, another might be medical personnel heavy. A combination of both provides for more to be accomplished on a single trip.
Second, encourage churches to make a long term commitment, even if they don’t know what that means in the beginning. Discourage churches that are simply looking to go to a place they have never been. This accomplishes little. Encourage them instead to make a prayer covered commitment in advance to a relationship, not a trip or project. Members with various talents can put them to ministry use on repeat trips to the same area rather than scatter-shot trips all over the globe.
Small churches will have to be encouraged to have faith that God will provide the needed funds to establish that kind of partnership, and that He who has called them is faithful. While a long term commitment requires the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars, it doesn’t require millions. It may also be at this point that smaller churches can provide people (who have raised their own support) to partner with larger churches who have resources for materials, while the smaller churches work into a position of increasing their own financial resources.
Third, don’t fear networking churches from different parts of the states (or even different countries). The ease of telecommunication will overcome distance to allow churches to plan together and pray together so that twice weekly night meetings are not necessary. Prayer meetings can even take place over conference calls between the team members from different churches, with needs being shared via email when needed.
Fourth, at the Summit have at least one combined session on the Biblical basis for mission and at least one combined session led by a small-medium church pastor whose church is getting it done. Pastors and lay people are woefully ignorant of an accurate theology of mission, so much so that the ignorance in many times is absolute. A survey on the aspect of the character of God will be beneficial. On the second point, since small and medium churches face hurdles that do not exist in mega-churches, those leaders will be better challenged by one of their own rather than facing the “Well, if we were that big we could do something” temptation.
Fifth, give very concrete action steps that a church can take to begin moving toward direct involvement. Part of the hesitancy is uncertainty and many people operate better with clear instructions. Who do I contact? How quickly could we go? How do I get more information? Can someone come to my church and speak to my leadership? How do I sort through all this information to get to the UPG that we might adopt? A systematic, step by step action list might be of assistance to many.
Those are some of my ideas, now is the time for your best ideas–especially you whose churches are getting it done internationally and those of you who are wanting your churches to be involved. My friend will take the best of these ideas to the Regional leaders for their evaluation and potential inclusion in the September Summit. Remember what is being sought: What a church, which is not currently engaged, needs to take away from such a conference? Vision? Mainly networking? Information? Relationships? Training?
I guess offering a free 30GB Video iPod for the best idea would help…but I’m not offering one :^)
Welcome to ie:missional, my new blog. I hope to be a part of the growing community of those who are attempting to influence the entire world for the gospel. You can link to here from either www.iemissional.com or www.martyduren.com.
A couple of things: First, on this blog you can choose your own background. Under the title on the header bar are a series of thumbnails. By clicking on one of these, you can change the wallpaper as often as you see fit, thereby getting a personalized feel for this blog when you visit. Some photo files take a little longer than others to load; that is caused by the size of the photo as uploaded to the server. Some will take only 3-4 seconds to change, while others may take up to 20 seconds. I think this is a pretty cool feature.
Second, this is a discussion blog, so feel free to discuss. Lots of topics will be on the floor and it will be fun learning from each other. You need not be a follower of Christ to participate
Third, we will not always be attempting to reach a consensus, but rather to be exposed to various ideas that will help us get closer to both a biblical world view and a biblical lifestyle. Any billigerent commenter will be banned, but I’m not going to stop vigorous, on point debate simply because someone cannot hold their own.
Fourth, play nice! Nobody likes a bully. If you cannot defend your thoughts using words as something besides a club, then you probably need to head over to Rush Limbaugh’s place.
Last, I’ll be taking a couple of weeks off so that I can finish the blogroll and some other things, but mostly to rest and re-create. I’ll see you officially on Monday, July 2.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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