It was great to have everyone at home for the holidays. It was the first time we were all together since July. Joshua, 27, finished his Masters in Biblical Interpretation at Lubbock Christian University last month. Most of it he did from Brazil online. However, he did have to go back in August to finish up and graduate. He is back in Recife serving with the Boa Vista (downtown congregation) and working with his uncle. Justin, 25, finished his Bachelors in Business Administration at the University of Pernambuco (the State of Recife) and is working with a company building a petroleum refinery just outside of the city. Jonathan, 21, is in the middle of his junior year at Abilene Christian University where he is studying a double major of Criminal Justice and Psychology. He’s not made up his mind as to what he’ll do when he graduates, but he says he loves his studies. He’s working part-time as a tour guide for the college so if you go there be sure to have him show you around.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” — Col. 2^:6-7

Jerry stayed over to teach our Servants meeting on “How to fight safely” (discovering your style of confrontation). His lesson helped us to learn how to have “healthy” arguments. Not that he advocates fighting, but when problems have to be resolved, we need to know how to express deep felt emotion without leaving “scars”. Sixty-five participated representing a dozen congregations.

Have you noticed that most of the people to whom you’re closest don’t have the same temperament as you? This month, Jerry Heiderich, longtime missionary and counselor serving the Lord in the south of Brazil made the trek up here to teach a seminar for men. Fifty church leaders came from fourteen congregations to learn how to work with one another better. He helped us discover which “temperament” we each have, including their weaknesses and virtues. And, more importantly, how to cope with others to whom God has given a different temperament.

Also last month was our annual Day of the Family of God. On this Lord’s Day most of the congregations in Greater Recife don’t congregate in their regular meeting places but come together for one big worship assembly. It was held at the Police Academy in the center of town. Antonio Silva, evangelist with the Pexinhos congregation (Olinda), coordinated this year’s event. There were 720 brethren from most of the 25 congregations in the metropolitan area. It was a faith building moment of fellowship and celebration of the Family to which God has made us a member.

The following week we had our biggest couples’ meeting of 2011. Forty-two couples from half a dozen nearby congregations (plus several visitors) came. David and Adriana McKinney, who work with the church in the city of Joao Pessoa (two hours North), came down to teach the classes. They taught on problem resolution in the relationship. The key is keeping God at the center of all of our relationships and commitments.

Immediately afterwards was the first “Elder-Link” in Northeast Brazil. This four-day event saw seventy-two church leaders (most of them couples) come from twenty-two congregations. Some drove 1,400 miles (roundtrip) to participate.

The stats that were announced at the event are that there are now 135 congregations in the Northeast (this is up from zero 31 years ago), but only three of these have elderships. That works out to a disconcerting 2.2%. Surely God wants us to do better. The good news is that more and more of the congregations are becoming aware of this need and taking steps towards this goal. This goal is the purpose of the event—to help equip church leaders to train and install elders. Of the 72 present, five were elders (three from Recife, one from Fortaleza and one from the U.S.). The event was an encouragement to everyone who participated. One of Boa Vista’s elders, Antonio Neto, did a great job organizing it. We now plan to make this an annual event.

Last month veteran missionary Alan Nalley came with his family from Curitiba in the far south of Brazil to teach a seminar on small group evangelism. Fifty-two church leaders came from fourteen different congregations to gleam from his experience on how to more effectively reach the lost in the time God has given us here.

Aureni and I had a good return trip to Recife on the fourth. We found everything in order except Zelda (our ten-year-old dachshund), who took what seemed like an unreasonably long time (several seconds) to remember who we are.

In the two months we were stateside we were able to report to nine congregations and several individuals in between. We thank God for His providential care with all our concerns and the safety He gave us in the 9,500 miles by plane and 7,000 miles by car that we traveled. A journey this long would have been wearisome except for the refreshing reception we received at the hands of so many loved ones.

Joshua, 27 and Jonathan, 21, were able to accompany us on this trip until being dropped off at college when we got to Texas. Justin, 25, couldn’t come due to his work and school responsibilities here. Thankfully, they got to visit with my mother and father one more time. My dad is now institutionalized due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Since we’ve returned I’ve preached at three congregations in the Recife area and am back to my regular duties of teaching and shepherding at the downtown congregation. Aureni is back to caring for her mother and her ministries at church. Upcoming in November are a training seminar in small group evangelism for the church leaders of Greater Recife and ElderLink, which helps congregations move toward a more mature and biblical model of leadership. Also this month is Day of the Family of God, when all the congregations come today in one big assembly of praise and fellowship.

Though it’s good to be back in our regular routines, we miss our dear friends, family and brethren who God has given us to make the passage in this life enjoyable. We thank God for you and pray He blesses you with all good things!

Galego and Andrea are a nice couple who have spent the last several years of their lives busily raising their four handsome boys. Life has been good but it has keep them too busy to think about much else than the immediate needs for their family. As the boys entered adolescence it became apparent that their children needed more than what they were supplying.

Galego and Andrea were raised in the religion of their parents but didn’t have a real relationship with God. Something was missing from their lives. They’ve seen a change come over Galego’s brother Junior, ever since he became a Christian three years ago. Junior has been after them to study the Bible and come to church. They decided to go to church and began to study the Bible. Because Junior’s work keeps him on the road a lot, he introduces them to Ricardo, a longtime member and able teacher. A few months later they made the decision to turn their life over to the Lord and were born again from a watery grave.

They have found what was missing — a relationship with the life-giving Jesus. They want this for their family. So along with involvement in the Body of Christ, Ricardo and I began a small group Bible study in their home. Every week we discuss a parable of Jesus. Besides Galego, Andrea and their four boys (ages 17 to 11), Galego’s aunt and mother come as well.

Please pray with us that God’s call is answered in the lives of all the members of their family as it was in Galego’s and Andrea’s.

We come to Jesus to fill a need, but we find much, much more!

What do decisions, addiction, self-esteem, pornography, doubts, and the Sermon on the Mount have in common? They are all topics that we frequently discuss in our spiritual small group for guys.

As a congregation grows and reaches a certain size, we rejoice that many are hearing and receiving the Good News, but we also begin to struggle with a few things. One of these things is intimacy and openness between our brothers and sisters in Christ. We sometimes struggle to be completely honest about our faith walk.

One of the ways that we found to help overcome this, was by starting a small group for guys with a strong spiritual focus. We call it “HODOS” – which in Greek means “the way”. The Way was the term used in the first century to describe the Christians’ different lifestyle, which is based on Jesus’ teachings. Our focus is to live differently in a world that has so many temptations to offer – especially to young guys.

This group meets every two weeks for prayer and discussion on a passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Sometimes we make a special retreat for a whole weekend. Every week each of us meets with another member of the group to share our struggles and victories. We are all committed to living out spiritual disciplines such as fasting one day of the week, reading the Sermon on the Mount twice a week, and spending 15 minutes in silent prayer every day.

Everyone in the group is being edified and challenged. The strong sense of community and spiritual disciplines are useful tools for God to create change in our lives. We want to keep the group small (12 members) for the sake of intimacy. This past weekend we welcomed one more member into the group. He is eager to share in this spiritual journey.

We hope to start more groups like this one. In this age of technology where anonymity is highly valued and our social life is on Facebook, our society thirsts for a new deeper sense of community, which can only be truly found in the Way of Jesus.