"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" -- Romans 8:28
The dream for the Brazilian Northeast region came to me as a great call, because I was born in Maranhão, one of the nine northeastern states, and lived there until I was 18 years old. It was in São Paulo, in 1989, where I met God and had the honor to become his son and since then, with the help of my beloved wife Lee, have increasingly pursued to dream the dreams of God. After much advice, prayers and fasting, my family and I decided to respond to the great mission that God was giving us: be used to help evangelize the Northeast region in Brazil.
We arrived in Salvador - Bahia in 2009 and we knew it would not be easy to spread the word of God in a wonderful and vibrant city, but also a city full of idols and various religions of African origin. However, despite all the challenges that we might face, this scripture in Romans 8:28 gives us the assurance that God is always working and that he loves us above all. It was this promise that I and my family saw be fulfilled as we encounter a church of 68 disciples, incredibly welcoming, lively, happy and, most of all, God-fearing. The International Church of Christ arrived in Bahia in 1997 implanted by a group of nine missionaries disciples from Rio de Janeiro, led by Anderson and Viviane Rodrigues.
Since then it has been a pleasure to be part of the history of the Salvador Church of Christ for almost six years living with the disciples, growing in friendship and fellowshipping with them. To these brothers who have given their lives to the gospel, we dedicate our love and gratitude. So, let me share with you how many wonderful things God has done among us in the last two years in order to encourage you to persevere despite the difficulties and hardships, because one thing is certain: God is working for the good of those who love him!
Many lives are being changed in our city and we are all very grateful for how God is using us so special mode. We know that we are all part of a body and that body has many people, each exerting his gift in what God has enabled him to do.
I am filled with joy at the thought of amazing brothers who served in the Kid's Kingdom for many years under the leadership of Jilson and Luciana, forming a team of 18 teachers, who had training with Patricia Sigl from the São Paulo church. They did a great job teaching our more than 30 children the word of God with much love and dedication. I see God working in this ministry also recently where we had a renovation of this team and it was amazing to see so many brothers and sisters willing to serve God.
With this renewal of our team, Williams and Cassia, along with Luciana, began to lead the new group and this is an inspiring story since this couple, who was baptized in São Paulo and who has moved to Alagoas, left it's capital Maceió last year in search of a deeper relationship with God and decided to come live in Salvador to be near to the church and the disciples. God blessed them so much with this decision that today his son Wiklan, 17, also decided to make Jesus his Lord and was baptized eight months ago.
God has saved families here as Ricardo and Elaine who were the result of much prayer of our sister Nadia, Elaine's blood sister. As well the family of Marcelo and Tais Wanderley because they have been restored to the body of Christ and were also blessed by God with the baptism of their oldest son, Matheus.
Another great blessing of God has been our campus ministry that began to be idealized in 2012 with the dream of Anderson and Janaina of wanting to reach the universities. We decided to start our ministry officially in 2013 when Fabio Moura and Cayo Cesar Carneiro, my son, became campus students. In these two years has been amazing to see our son, who is now leading the ministry along with Janaina, and some other brothers and sisters singles, deciding to be used by God to reach young people in and out of the federal university. It is therefore with great joy that we now have 18 students wanting to attend the next national campus in Belo Horizonte this year, 14 of them as baptized disciples.
I could not fail to mention the dating, engagement and marriage of a very special sister who was a single mother. Marilson and Sinai's wedding was a great joy for us because it was the result of much prayer and trust in God and served as an example for many other couples.
Another inspiring thing that we had recently were our events, parties, vigils and especially our last year's family retreat with the theme "With all my heart" where we had three baptisms. It was an amazing time because we gather together brothers from different parts of Northeast, many visitors, which encouraged us a lot, and also we had the inspiring visit of John and Barbara Porter, leaders of the Miami-FL Church, which teach us for five days wonderful things about the kingdom of God! It was truly a privilege to have with us special friends willing to serve and to give their lives, with all their heart, for our God.
Thinking about the visits we had, we thank each brother and sister who visited us over these past years and contributed to give us the good news of their regions of Brazil and the world, as well as sharing their lives and experiences with God. Visits like Ettore and Sandra in our married retreat in fellowship with the Church of Recife -PE, Galileo and Michele of Atlanta, and several other disciples from US, the Caribbean, Latin America and even a small island in the middle of Southeast Asia called Singapore.
We had the opportunity to participate in Brazil's Leaders retreat, some conferences such as the Summit in San Antonio - Texas (On the Mountain of the Lord); Panama Conference (El Señor es mi fuerza); ICMC - FL (Bent on Conquest); International Leadership Conference - Singapore (Build!); Conferência Internacional de Líderes - Cingapura (Build!); and the privilege of participating in the Miami School of Mission, which we had the support of the New Orleans church who helped so much to make this teachable moment possible. In this perspective, we would also like to thank the churches of São Paulo, Brasilia and Miami, all very special to us, for all your zeal, love, financial support, partnership and spiritual help.
To all these experiences, learnings and fellowship, we are very grateful. Despite the problems or difficulties, surely God's blessings greatly outweigh the adversities that we have found. Alongside several brothers and sisters, it is with great joy that I now can dream even more for Bahia, which currently has about 123 disciples, for Pernambuco, with his faithful 68 disciples, and by all Christians around the Northeast region as Sergipe, Alagoas , Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Maranhão! I have no doubt that God wants to use you and me to be able to make the difference, so we can be the light of the world. So let's not let this dream of God does not take place, but on the contrary, let's fight for it to be fulfilled and I'm sure that all things work for good for those who love Him!