Today was amazing!
Antonio, who is one of the leaders of YFC (Youth For Christ, here it is known as Mocidade Para Cristo or MPC), is also a Presbyterian pastor and a teacher at a Baptist private school. The school is open to all students, so many of the students are also Catholic or are unbelievers. He teaches the religion class for the school and he asked me to teach all three of his periods today.
I stayed up late last night writing an outline for the class since I would be teaching three 50-minute classes, but I ended up not speaking on what I had prepared at all. I was completely surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit and in all three classes I shared completely different messages. In general, I would introduce myself and let them ask me whatever questions they may have about American culture, politics, or economics. Then I would sing my song “Holy Sacrifice” in English and after the song God’s presence was always so tangible that I would just go with what the Spirit was leading me to say that very moment. Each class seemed to be deeply impacted. I asked all of them very penetrating questions and they gave me very honest, real answers. It was amazing. I really think I want to be a teacher for my tent-making job.
Moraes, a rapper from YFC, met me at the school at 12:30 and Antonio took us both to the YFC base in downtown. There we met up with Welson, the leader of the YFC chapter in Goiania, and we went out to an awesome restaurant to eat. Our conversation was all about the state of the church in Goiania and in Brazil. I was surprised to hear that the fastest growing denomination in Brazil right now is one where all the women have to wear veils. I asked them why that is and they said that one main reason is because the church never takes up offerings, never preaches about money, is very united, and doesn’t have any paid pastors. All the church leaders are voluntary. It was a very interesting conversation.
Then Moraes and I went together to Projeto Amar (Project Love) by bus. The bus was so crowded that during the entire one-hour bus ride we stayed standing. During the entire ride Moraes respectfully told me why he loves the American people, but does not like and is even fearful of the American government because of their use of violence in order to complete their missions in the world. He explained to me why he knows that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were all about oil and control and how he deeply disagreed with the war policies of America. He praised Fidel Castro for providing free education and the best health care in the world for the Cuban people. He also praise Lula for all that he did for Brazil and the doors he has opened for the nation. He expressed that he was scared of the U.S. because he knows that Brazil is a nation that is growing in influence and power and he fears that one day in the distant future the U.S. might use force to use Brazil’s resources since Brazil has the largest water supply, river, forest, and swamp in the world.
Also, later on in our conversation Moraes calmly stated that he was a socialist
and that he loves socialist philosophy. This is something hard for an American to grasp. How can someone be a Christian and a socialist at the same time? However, here in Brazil it’s actually quite normal to meet radical, on fire Christian who have a socialist philosophy. For Brazilian Christians it is hard to grasp that there are American Christians who passionately support war, own guns, are antagonistic towards illegal immigrants, and believe in free-market capitalism with little to no limitations. It’s funny to me we Americans view the word “socialist” as virtually demonic and atheistic because that is what the American experience with socialism has encountered, yet many Christians in Brazil view the word “capitalist” as being synonymous with worldliness, exploitation, and injustice.
Once we arrived at Projeto Amar I interviewed Cidinha, the leader of Projeto Amar, and I filmed the entire facility, the kids, and the activities of the ministry. It was amazing! This ministry is based in the most violent neighborhood of Goiania where murders happen almost daily. I think I might make a mini-documentary film with the footage I got of the ministry.
I fell in love with the kids there even though I only spent a short amount of time with them. We got there pretty late because of the long bus ride. They invited me to a camp they’re going to have next weekend, so I’m going to go for sure. Also, they reminded me that YFC is going to have their national convention in Brasilia this weekend and I decided that I want to go to that also.
Lastly, I met four Germans at Projeto Amar. It was super awesome and super random! They have been living in Goiania for a whole year serving with Projeto Amar and Videira and now they all speak fluent Portuguese. It turns out that Germany requires their youth to either serve in the military or spend one year doing community service in another nation before entering college. I think that is the coolest requirement ever! So they decided to come here. We talked for a long while and became good friends. They were so happy to speak English with someone again.
After our one hour bus ride back where I was so dizzy, dehydrated, and felt like I was going to vomit, I finally arrived at home.
Also, today was officially the first day of winter in Brazil and in Goiania it was in the upper 80’s.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Healthy at Last!
06/20/11
Today was the first day of my trip in Brazil that I was actually healthy. I still have the sniffles and my throat is only slightly irritated, but I am doing great. I felt God directing me to fast today, so I did and I spent a great amount of time in His presence. I prayed a lot for India today through Operation World.
After prayer I was going to go to Recanto das Minas Gerais again to visit my nine guys from the YFC camp. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t able to reach any of them except Betinho and Alexander. Alexander is on vacation and is with his aunt in another city for a week and Betinho was very sick. So my plan to meet with them again today fell through. On Sunday, I had talked to the leader of Projeto Amar (Project Love) and she had said that she was going to pick me up this morning to take me to their ministry site. However, she never showed up today, so I gave her a call in the afternoon. We scheduled for me to come to the project tomorrow afternoon.
Thus, I decided to hit the streets and preach the Gospel. I ended up leaving around 3:30 or so and I preached almost until 8 p.m. I went to the Praca Universitaria (University Plaza) because there are several universities there and many youth who hang out there.
Once I arrived there I was somewhat intimidated because there was a good amount of young people there, but all of them were in groups. I always like to approach one or two people at a time when I evangelize, especially when I am first starting out in the day. I prayed and listened to some worship music on my IPOD to gain some strength and then I went up to a group of four college guys. I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation, but God gave me the words and it went really well. They were extremely open and honest with me.
They were all nominal Catholics and they all claimed to be saved, pray daily, and live good lives. However, when I asked them if they followed Jesus with all of their hearts they all admitted that they don’t follow Him at all. One of them started preaching to the rest that it isn’t right for them to just believe in God, but not follow Jesus. It was great! I asked them why Jesus died on the cross and three of them had no clue. One of them gave a surprisingly good response. He said, “He died to set us free. So that we could be forgiven of our sins and be free.”
I shared the full Gospel message with them and challenged them to truly love and follow God not just with their lips, but with their lives. They were extremely convicted and listened reverently to everything I said. They weren’t ready to give their lives to Jesus on the spot, but they did allow me to pray for them. I passionately prayed for them and then let them go. It was awesome!
Also, the fact that I’m American and was born and raised in the United States really fascinated them and they asked me a bunch of questions about the U.S. It was a great ice breaker. In fact, the opening line I used today was, “Hey what’s up you guys! How you guys doing? My name is Joshua. I’m from the United States and I’m just visiting Goiania and I’m talking with the people here encouraging them to have a deeper relationship with God.” I found that when I introduce myself in this manner people are immediately fascinated with me being from the U.S., they like my accent, and they listen with a lot more respect. Also, they’re always impressed with my Portuguese until I tell them that my parents are Brazilian. Yet it’s good to tell them I am American because then they have a lot more patience with my slower pace of talking, grammatical errors, and accent.
Afterwards, I went up to two guys a Pitch-dog. A pitch-dog is a Goianian phenomenon. They’re essentially outdoor hamburger joints, but they’re super amazing. They sell burgers with filet mignon meat and you could order crazy things like eggs, corn, potato chips, sausage, ham, etc. to go inside your burger. They also have the best smoothies ever!!!
So I met Eliezer and another guys who had a really difficult name to remember. That’s another thing about Brazil. They names here are so different and hard to pronounce, so it’s really hard to remember people’s names. So I preached the Gospel to them and it turned out that Eliezer had just been radically saved about a month ago at Videira. He was in love with Jesus, faithfully attending a cell group, and soon to go to an encounter. He told me all about his life and his walk with the Lord now. He seemed like he had been a Christian for at least a year because of his maturity. The other guy goes to an Assemblies of God church with his mom, but he is not as committed.
Then a girl overheard our conversation and she joined us. She is also from Videira and has been saved for four months now. She was on fire for the Lord and was about to start school of leaders in order to open up her own cell group and she started encouraging Eliezer to go through School of Leaders. She told us her testimony of how she grew up in an orphanage all of her life and just two years ago her biological mother decided to take her back because the government was going to take her stipend away for having a daughter.
We talked for at least an hour and by the time we ended it was already getting dark. There was one big group left of about 18 young people hanging out together at a bench. I was going to go up to them, but I hesitated because I was somewhat intimidated. I prayed some to gain strength, but once I was going to approach them a drumline from one of the colleges arrived at the plaza and began playing. They were super amazing, but they were so loud that it was difficult to have a conversation just with one person let alone 18 people. Also, most of the young people left once the drum line started.
So I decided to just enjoy the drumline for a bit because it was definitely a worthwhile cultural experience. I enjoyed hearing them for about thirty minutes and eventually people started sitting on benches close by to listen to the group. Evantually, there were two drumline groups from different colleges playing completely different songs at the same time and they were only about 100 feet apart from each other. It was pretty impressive.
I sat next to a cool looking young guy who was nearby and we started talking. Wt chit chatted at first and then I brought in Jesus to the conversation. From then on we began our conversation about God, Jesus, and eternal life, but he a humanist who didn’t believe in religion. He only believed in humanity and saving the planet. He expressed to me his anger with the church for exploiting people for their money and for their sound pollution. It was an interesting conversation, but it didn’t really go anywhere because every time I said something about God he would say something against the church and for the environment and also it was very loud being in between to drumlins.
Around 7:30 p.m. I decided to go home and I arrived at home around 7:50 p.m. I was going to go to the Gideons meeting with Vovo, but then Andre told me that tonight was the follow up YFC (Youth for Christ) meeting for the camp we had two weekends ago. So I went with Andre to the YFC meeting.
The meeting was really great. We read several of the letters that the kids wrote back to the YFC staff and it was really funny because more than half of the letters mentioned how awesome I was as a camp leader. It became the joke of the meeting that I was the most liked person of the camp. We talked about following up with the students and gave suggestions with how we can make the camp better for next time. Then we had some bangin’ food to break my fast.
Today was the first day of my trip in Brazil that I was actually healthy. I still have the sniffles and my throat is only slightly irritated, but I am doing great. I felt God directing me to fast today, so I did and I spent a great amount of time in His presence. I prayed a lot for India today through Operation World.
After prayer I was going to go to Recanto das Minas Gerais again to visit my nine guys from the YFC camp. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t able to reach any of them except Betinho and Alexander. Alexander is on vacation and is with his aunt in another city for a week and Betinho was very sick. So my plan to meet with them again today fell through. On Sunday, I had talked to the leader of Projeto Amar (Project Love) and she had said that she was going to pick me up this morning to take me to their ministry site. However, she never showed up today, so I gave her a call in the afternoon. We scheduled for me to come to the project tomorrow afternoon.
Thus, I decided to hit the streets and preach the Gospel. I ended up leaving around 3:30 or so and I preached almost until 8 p.m. I went to the Praca Universitaria (University Plaza) because there are several universities there and many youth who hang out there.
Once I arrived there I was somewhat intimidated because there was a good amount of young people there, but all of them were in groups. I always like to approach one or two people at a time when I evangelize, especially when I am first starting out in the day. I prayed and listened to some worship music on my IPOD to gain some strength and then I went up to a group of four college guys. I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation, but God gave me the words and it went really well. They were extremely open and honest with me.
They were all nominal Catholics and they all claimed to be saved, pray daily, and live good lives. However, when I asked them if they followed Jesus with all of their hearts they all admitted that they don’t follow Him at all. One of them started preaching to the rest that it isn’t right for them to just believe in God, but not follow Jesus. It was great! I asked them why Jesus died on the cross and three of them had no clue. One of them gave a surprisingly good response. He said, “He died to set us free. So that we could be forgiven of our sins and be free.”
I shared the full Gospel message with them and challenged them to truly love and follow God not just with their lips, but with their lives. They were extremely convicted and listened reverently to everything I said. They weren’t ready to give their lives to Jesus on the spot, but they did allow me to pray for them. I passionately prayed for them and then let them go. It was awesome!
Also, the fact that I’m American and was born and raised in the United States really fascinated them and they asked me a bunch of questions about the U.S. It was a great ice breaker. In fact, the opening line I used today was, “Hey what’s up you guys! How you guys doing? My name is Joshua. I’m from the United States and I’m just visiting Goiania and I’m talking with the people here encouraging them to have a deeper relationship with God.” I found that when I introduce myself in this manner people are immediately fascinated with me being from the U.S., they like my accent, and they listen with a lot more respect. Also, they’re always impressed with my Portuguese until I tell them that my parents are Brazilian. Yet it’s good to tell them I am American because then they have a lot more patience with my slower pace of talking, grammatical errors, and accent.
Afterwards, I went up to two guys a Pitch-dog. A pitch-dog is a Goianian phenomenon. They’re essentially outdoor hamburger joints, but they’re super amazing. They sell burgers with filet mignon meat and you could order crazy things like eggs, corn, potato chips, sausage, ham, etc. to go inside your burger. They also have the best smoothies ever!!!
So I met Eliezer and another guys who had a really difficult name to remember. That’s another thing about Brazil. They names here are so different and hard to pronounce, so it’s really hard to remember people’s names. So I preached the Gospel to them and it turned out that Eliezer had just been radically saved about a month ago at Videira. He was in love with Jesus, faithfully attending a cell group, and soon to go to an encounter. He told me all about his life and his walk with the Lord now. He seemed like he had been a Christian for at least a year because of his maturity. The other guy goes to an Assemblies of God church with his mom, but he is not as committed.
Then a girl overheard our conversation and she joined us. She is also from Videira and has been saved for four months now. She was on fire for the Lord and was about to start school of leaders in order to open up her own cell group and she started encouraging Eliezer to go through School of Leaders. She told us her testimony of how she grew up in an orphanage all of her life and just two years ago her biological mother decided to take her back because the government was going to take her stipend away for having a daughter.
We talked for at least an hour and by the time we ended it was already getting dark. There was one big group left of about 18 young people hanging out together at a bench. I was going to go up to them, but I hesitated because I was somewhat intimidated. I prayed some to gain strength, but once I was going to approach them a drumline from one of the colleges arrived at the plaza and began playing. They were super amazing, but they were so loud that it was difficult to have a conversation just with one person let alone 18 people. Also, most of the young people left once the drum line started.
So I decided to just enjoy the drumline for a bit because it was definitely a worthwhile cultural experience. I enjoyed hearing them for about thirty minutes and eventually people started sitting on benches close by to listen to the group. Evantually, there were two drumline groups from different colleges playing completely different songs at the same time and they were only about 100 feet apart from each other. It was pretty impressive.
I sat next to a cool looking young guy who was nearby and we started talking. Wt chit chatted at first and then I brought in Jesus to the conversation. From then on we began our conversation about God, Jesus, and eternal life, but he a humanist who didn’t believe in religion. He only believed in humanity and saving the planet. He expressed to me his anger with the church for exploiting people for their money and for their sound pollution. It was an interesting conversation, but it didn’t really go anywhere because every time I said something about God he would say something against the church and for the environment and also it was very loud being in between to drumlins.
Around 7:30 p.m. I decided to go home and I arrived at home around 7:50 p.m. I was going to go to the Gideons meeting with Vovo, but then Andre told me that tonight was the follow up YFC (Youth for Christ) meeting for the camp we had two weekends ago. So I went with Andre to the YFC meeting.
The meeting was really great. We read several of the letters that the kids wrote back to the YFC staff and it was really funny because more than half of the letters mentioned how awesome I was as a camp leader. It became the joke of the meeting that I was the most liked person of the camp. We talked about following up with the students and gave suggestions with how we can make the camp better for next time. Then we had some bangin’ food to break my fast.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
My First Cell Group Meeting in Brazil
Today I had my first cell group meeting with the guys from the camp. It was awesome! After lunch my uncle Adolfinho took me to the neighborhood of the guys, but we couldn’t find any of their homes. They gave me their addresses, but we were lost for nearly an hour. Finally, Adolfinho gave up and said we should go back home. About 10 seconds after he made that statement one of the camp counselors walked by our car. I yelled out at him and it turned out that he was in the neighborhood to visit the kids too. So I got out of the car and followed him to the guys’ high school. God is faithful. He came through at the last minute.
We weren’t able to enter the high school because the students were practicing their dances for the Festa Juninha, a harvest celebration dedicated to St. John. It’s only celebrated in country areas with traditional country music called fojo, somewhat like bluegrass or Cajun music.
Somehow Alexander and Betinho found out that I was here and they showed up on their bicycles. They get out of school at 12, so they were free, but the other guys get out of school at 5:30. I have to explain this glorious reality. You see, Brazil is a student’s paradise. Every day school starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m., so that everyone could go home and have lunch with their families since lunch is the main meal of the day in Brazil. Once the morning session is maxed out, the rest of the students have to come to school from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. No students attend both sessions. You either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. Also, they have half-days just like we do in the U.S. and on those days they get out at 10:30 a.m.
That is why Alexander and Betinho were out of school while the other guys were still in school. Once the other guys got out of school some of them came to hang out with us, but the rest had to go to work or home. In all, I got to hang out with seven guys, two of which were not at the camp. We all went over to Alexander’s house and hung out. We talked about God, life, soccer, and many other things.
Finally, I asked the guys if they would be up for reading the Bible together for a little bit. They all agreed, so we went to Alexander’s room and had our first cell group meeting. We talked a lot about girls and sex because that is the main vice that plagues these guys even though they all say they love Jesus. One of them just got a girl pregnant. Some of them have girlfriends, but they still flirt with and holler at any pretty girl regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not.
We then read the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I emphasized Elijah’s statement when he said “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then worship him.” I urged them to choose who they were going to worship, Jesus or the world. We had a great time together and they interacted quite a bit. I prayed over them and we ended the meeting.
Then I met Alexander’s parents and they thanked me for what I was doing even though they are not Christians. They were grateful for any wise guidance given to their kids.
The guys put on some music and asked me to do “the worm” because I had done it at the camp. I did it for them and then they tried to learn it for a while. It was fun.
It was already dark, so they walked me to the nearest bus stop. I bought a bus pass and a filet mignon “spetinho” (i.e. shish kabob) for one dollar and then hopped on the bus.
On the bus I talked with a man who was a Christian, but wasn’t going to church because his work hours overlapped with all the church services. Then I met Lincoln, who is a member of Videira, the largest church in Goiania and the church I want to work together with. He works recycling trash. We talked for a while and he told me that they have cell groups in the neighborhood where my guys live. So I’m going to meet some of the cell leaders from there and connect my guys with them. Praise God! He is faithful.
Finally, I reached Maranatha Presbyterian Church where I met up with my cousins and a bunch of young guys to play indoor soccer. It was awesome! I actually scored a goal! Playing soccer with these guys is like playing basketball with some big black guys in the hood. In other words, these guys were soooo good.
The championship game for the Copa Libertadores was tonight, so right after playing soccer we went over to Andre’s friends’ house to watch the game. It was Santos, a Brazilian team, versus a Uruguayan team. The final score was 0-0. It was a good game though. We had pasta and caldo de frango (chicken soup, only better) while watching the game. The game ended at midnight and we went home. What a day!
We weren’t able to enter the high school because the students were practicing their dances for the Festa Juninha, a harvest celebration dedicated to St. John. It’s only celebrated in country areas with traditional country music called fojo, somewhat like bluegrass or Cajun music.
Somehow Alexander and Betinho found out that I was here and they showed up on their bicycles. They get out of school at 12, so they were free, but the other guys get out of school at 5:30. I have to explain this glorious reality. You see, Brazil is a student’s paradise. Every day school starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m., so that everyone could go home and have lunch with their families since lunch is the main meal of the day in Brazil. Once the morning session is maxed out, the rest of the students have to come to school from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. No students attend both sessions. You either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. Also, they have half-days just like we do in the U.S. and on those days they get out at 10:30 a.m.
That is why Alexander and Betinho were out of school while the other guys were still in school. Once the other guys got out of school some of them came to hang out with us, but the rest had to go to work or home. In all, I got to hang out with seven guys, two of which were not at the camp. We all went over to Alexander’s house and hung out. We talked about God, life, soccer, and many other things.
Finally, I asked the guys if they would be up for reading the Bible together for a little bit. They all agreed, so we went to Alexander’s room and had our first cell group meeting. We talked a lot about girls and sex because that is the main vice that plagues these guys even though they all say they love Jesus. One of them just got a girl pregnant. Some of them have girlfriends, but they still flirt with and holler at any pretty girl regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not.
We then read the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I emphasized Elijah’s statement when he said “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then worship him.” I urged them to choose who they were going to worship, Jesus or the world. We had a great time together and they interacted quite a bit. I prayed over them and we ended the meeting.
Then I met Alexander’s parents and they thanked me for what I was doing even though they are not Christians. They were grateful for any wise guidance given to their kids.
The guys put on some music and asked me to do “the worm” because I had done it at the camp. I did it for them and then they tried to learn it for a while. It was fun.
It was already dark, so they walked me to the nearest bus stop. I bought a bus pass and a filet mignon “spetinho” (i.e. shish kabob) for one dollar and then hopped on the bus.
On the bus I talked with a man who was a Christian, but wasn’t going to church because his work hours overlapped with all the church services. Then I met Lincoln, who is a member of Videira, the largest church in Goiania and the church I want to work together with. He works recycling trash. We talked for a while and he told me that they have cell groups in the neighborhood where my guys live. So I’m going to meet some of the cell leaders from there and connect my guys with them. Praise God! He is faithful.
Finally, I reached Maranatha Presbyterian Church where I met up with my cousins and a bunch of young guys to play indoor soccer. It was awesome! I actually scored a goal! Playing soccer with these guys is like playing basketball with some big black guys in the hood. In other words, these guys were soooo good.
The championship game for the Copa Libertadores was tonight, so right after playing soccer we went over to Andre’s friends’ house to watch the game. It was Santos, a Brazilian team, versus a Uruguayan team. The final score was 0-0. It was a good game though. We had pasta and caldo de frango (chicken soup, only better) while watching the game. The game ended at midnight and we went home. What a day!
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Our New Website!
We just finished building our website for GGM! Check it out eveybody!
www.globalgospelmovement.org
Friday, October 9, 2009
Please Pray for the Guys
Please keep all the guys in your prayers. They are on the front lines fighting for the souls of our generation. Let's cover them in deep intercession.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Ready for War!
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for war!
We just had a great victory f0r the glory of God! We finally held our first official training for Global Gospel Movement! It was absolutely glorious!
We trained five young men in a five week boot camp evangelism training. We had 18 different teachers train them in many forms of evangelism and in how to evangelize to people of different religions and cultures. We also gave them solid biblical teaching and lessons on having the character of Christ. They all grew immensely in these five weeks both spiritually and in their character and I can confidently say that they are ready to go to the front lines of war for the Kingdom of God.
We anointed them and launched them out on Sept. 1, 2009 and now they are preaching the Gospel across America. The first group is currently in Las Vegas and the second group is in Phoenix. We encourage you to read their blog and fervently pray for them as you follow them along in their journey across America. Both groups have video cameras, so they will be making videos regularly and posting them up on their blog and we hope to create a documentary out of it at the end of their trips.
Here are their blogs:
Group 1:
sergegustave.blogspot.com (Serge Gustave)
preachaman247.blogspot.com (Andy Peredo)
Group 2:
bonafidechristian.blogpost.com (Peterson Jean-Baptiste)
guyjulien.blogspot.com (Guy Julien)
mpierre-toussaint.blogspot.com (Mike Pierre-Toussaint)
Ways to Get Involved:
1. Our next training will start on January 5, 2010, so we are already beginning to prepare for that and we are praying for God to raise up more laborers to go out as itinerant preachers into the American harvest field. If you feel called to be an itinerant preacher and desire to come to our training in January or to the training following that in June please contact us as soon as possible.
2. If you would like to open up your home for these itinerant preachers and/or future itinerant preachers to stay in whenever they come to your city to preach the Gospel please sign up with our ministry as a host home.
3. We urgently need intercessors to intercede for each individual itinerant preacher for God to use them, protect them, and provide for them every step of the way.
4. If you feel led by the Lord to give financially to our ministry it would be our honor receive them and sow them into the Kingdom of God. We have many needs and need much support in order to start this movement from scratch.
5. Lastly, if you are in a place of leadership in your congregation and feel from the Lord to have your church partner with our ministry in order to disciple the souls that come to Christ when an itinerant preacher comes to your city please sign up to become a lighthouse church.
Unfortunately, our website is still under construction, so if you would like more information or if you would like to sign up with our ministry to become an itinerant preacher, host home, intercessor, or lighthouse church you can contact us at ggmovement@yahoo.com or call me at 714-341-2049.
Ready for War,
Joshua Carvalho
We just had a great victory f0r the glory of God! We finally held our first official training for Global Gospel Movement! It was absolutely glorious!
We trained five young men in a five week boot camp evangelism training. We had 18 different teachers train them in many forms of evangelism and in how to evangelize to people of different religions and cultures. We also gave them solid biblical teaching and lessons on having the character of Christ. They all grew immensely in these five weeks both spiritually and in their character and I can confidently say that they are ready to go to the front lines of war for the Kingdom of God.
We anointed them and launched them out on Sept. 1, 2009 and now they are preaching the Gospel across America. The first group is currently in Las Vegas and the second group is in Phoenix. We encourage you to read their blog and fervently pray for them as you follow them along in their journey across America. Both groups have video cameras, so they will be making videos regularly and posting them up on their blog and we hope to create a documentary out of it at the end of their trips.
Here are their blogs:
Group 1:
sergegustave.blogspot.com (Serge Gustave)
preachaman247.blogspot.com (Andy Peredo)
Group 2:
bonafidechristian.blogpost.com (Peterson Jean-Baptiste)
guyjulien.blogspot.com (Guy Julien)
mpierre-toussaint.blogspot.com (Mike Pierre-Toussaint)
Ways to Get Involved:
1. Our next training will start on January 5, 2010, so we are already beginning to prepare for that and we are praying for God to raise up more laborers to go out as itinerant preachers into the American harvest field. If you feel called to be an itinerant preacher and desire to come to our training in January or to the training following that in June please contact us as soon as possible.
2. If you would like to open up your home for these itinerant preachers and/or future itinerant preachers to stay in whenever they come to your city to preach the Gospel please sign up with our ministry as a host home.
3. We urgently need intercessors to intercede for each individual itinerant preacher for God to use them, protect them, and provide for them every step of the way.
4. If you feel led by the Lord to give financially to our ministry it would be our honor receive them and sow them into the Kingdom of God. We have many needs and need much support in order to start this movement from scratch.
5. Lastly, if you are in a place of leadership in your congregation and feel from the Lord to have your church partner with our ministry in order to disciple the souls that come to Christ when an itinerant preacher comes to your city please sign up to become a lighthouse church.
Unfortunately, our website is still under construction, so if you would like more information or if you would like to sign up with our ministry to become an itinerant preacher, host home, intercessor, or lighthouse church you can contact us at ggmovement@yahoo.com or call me at 714-341-2049.
Ready for War,
Joshua Carvalho
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