Thoughts on my first week in Brasil

Brasil…a nation in need of God. Brasil…a nation saturated with the Gospel and a vibrant, multiplying church. Brasil…a nation that has more fun than any country in the world, always finding a reason to party and be joyful. Brasil…the most sensual nation of all. Brasil…a people who know how to live in community and truly love one another. Brasil…a nation raging with crime amongst the poor and corruption amongst the rich.
Brasil is a nation of polar opposites. The rich are very rich, the poor are very poor, yet there is a growing middle class. The church here is booming and the Christians are full of zeal for God and evangelism and live holy lives, but those who are not Christians are extremely sinful. Crime is a daily reality amongst citizens of all classes and murder and kidnapping are normal events whether you live in the rich part of town or in the ghetto. Just this weekend, I heard statistics that 80% of murders in Brasil are unresolved and just in the city of Goiania 500 cars are stolen every month. Furthermore, spiritism and witchcraft are so normal here that it’s frightening. They have spiritist mega-churches here and the witchcraft forms of Macumba, Umbanda, and Kandomble are practiced in the open with no shame.
No nation parties more than Brasil. This is both a blessing and a curse. The righteous here are the most joyful, festive Christians you could ever imagine who know how to worship incessantly, while the unbelievers here are known around the world for having the “best” (i.e. most immoral and excessive) parties in the world.
Community is amazing here. People here don’t even seem to understand how it would be possible for any human being to live an individualistic life. Independence, individualism, rebellion, and being “different” than everyone else is shunned upon by almost everyone I meet. The only people I know who value the latter traits are people who’s lives revolve around American music, movies, and culture. Family and friends come before everything. Work, errands, responsibilities, and completing tasks never are more important than spending time with a family member or friend.
What shocks me the most every time I come to Brazil and especially during my time here in this trip is the rampant sexual immorality here. I once thought that the United States and Europe were the most sexually immoral nations in the world, that is, until I came to Brasil. The women here dress more sensual than in any nation I have ever seen. The men act like savage dogs whenever they see a beautiful girl walk by and what shocks me the most is that the girls love it and they lasciviously encourage the men in their savage behavior. The t.v. shows, soap operas, commercials, and billboards are so graphic here that it is practically pornography.
This brings me to my experience here in the last three days. I arrived here on Thursday night and on Friday afternoon I was off to a Youth For Christ Camp. The camp had 90 young people, all of which were in high school and none of which were Christians. YFC of Goiania has been visiting two public high schools for the past two years and teaching them biblical principles and ethics. They are not allowed to talk about Jesus, the Bible, or the Gospel, but they are allowed to teach morals and ethics to the students. However, the schools allow them to have one day at the end of each semester where they can have a rally at the school and openly preach the Gospel with an altar call. They did this in two high schools and then invited the young people to this camp. Thus, 90 students showed up for the camp and this is where I fell into the picture.
My cousin Andre and his friend from church were leading worship for the camp and they asked if I could come and be a part of it. They appointed me as one of the cabin leaders where I was put in charge of 9 young guys. Their names were Alexander, Thiago, Louanderson, Betinho, Lucas, Aliff, Marcos, Israel, and Romario and they were some cool cats. They all loved me and had great respect for me. They loved the fact that I was from California and they never stopped asking me questions about America and how to say things in English. For them, English is the coolest language in the world and it’s the language you use to romanticize women.
Alexander and Thiago were naturally the leaders of the group since Alexander was the funniest and most charismatic and Thiago was the tallest and the best looking. By God’s grace, they were also the ones who loved and respected me more than any of the others, so the others naturally loved and respected me too. We had lots of fun hiking, swimming, playing soccer, wrestling, and square dancing, yet we still had several great chapel services, small group devotionals, and Bible studies. All of my nine guys gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the camp and virtually all, if not all, of the youth in the camp gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the weekend. It was truly an amazing weekend.
However, I was greatly frustrated at the end of the camp because although the youth gave their lives to Jesus in tears and seemed to be completely genuine their behavior afterwards was still as sinful and worldly as when they first arrived. The guys were still acting like wild animals whenever they were near the girls and the girls were still dressing and acting like seductive Jezebel’s when they were near the guys. Both guys and girls were equally flirtatious, seductive, and sexually-driven. Even though the entire camp revolved around God and we were constantly engaged in fun activities, what absolutely dominated the thoughts and desires of the young people of both genders was the opposite sex.
Thus, I have concluded that for a Brazilian to come to Christ is not a difficult task, but for a Brazilian to be a strong Christian is truly a miracle. Evangelism is absolutely necessary here, but what is needed much more is discipleship because the people easily get “saved”, but they still live very sinful lifestyles. In fact, I think that Brazilians are some of the easiest people to bring to Christ.
At the end of the camp I got the phone number and address of all nine of my guys and I have now committed to discipling them during my time here in Goiania. I am going to visit their homes, meet their families, and witness to people in their neighborhoods. My hope is to form a cell group out of this group of 9 and many of their friends and family members. Then I would give them over to a local church with a local leader to take charge of the cell group. Thus, in a few weeks time I would have planted a house church in Goiania.
Please pray for me concerning this mission because we all know that “it’s not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit” that souls will be saved and discipled and a house church planted in a few weeks.