Category Archives: Ministry

Recent Trip to Campo Belo

A few weeks ago, John and I took a trip up to Campo Belo, Minas Gerais. There we met with the three pastors in the last photo below, Jim King, Cleber Rodarte Neves, and Anderson Dantas. The trip was not stressful at all for us being most of the time we were sitting in our hotel room working and doing research on the projects we were talking about. However, I do believe the trip was of great benefit to all of us. Not only did it help us build a stronger relationship with some national pastors, but it also proved fruitful to the ministry of Editora Maranata.

We arrived on Tuesday and left Thursday giving us a few days to talk and work together. On Tuesday we met with these pastors and talked for a while about the future of the ministry. The Lord blessed in the conversation. We pointed out some basic needs the ministry had in order to survive and then began acting upon those things.

On Wednesday, we began by visiting a couple banks to inquire about any regulations they might have regarding online businesses and money transfers. We quickly found out that nobody had ever dealt with this before and they had absolutely no idea how things worked.

In the afternoon we drove over to Pastor Anderson’s city of Boticão. He showed us his church, future home, and some of the beautiful scenery around that city. The trip became a little more eventful when he took us around in his little VW Bug. Though we were aware of the fact that the car was not in perfect condition, we were quite surprised by the large piece of the floorboard began scraping and soon fell of. I could easily feel the road by just allowing my feet to rest on the floor mat.

Later in the afternoon we drove back to Campo Belo in the pouring down rain. As you can see in the pictures below, we were slowed down by traffic. Several of the bridges around the area were closed and we were forced to take the only road open. This road is the one you see in the pictures. When a car would muster up the courage to go through the muddy trenches, the crowd that had gathered around the area would cheer. As the car would go through it would slide around and throw mud and water up in the air making it quite an entertaining scene.

We made it back in town in time to get part of the midweek service at Pastor Cleber’s church. It was refreshing and enjoyable to spend a little time in a church that seemed to be enjoying the Christian life.

Below you will find pictures from all these different events on our trip. To view the entire album, please click visit THIS PAGE.

–Jeremy

 


Pastors - Editora Maranata

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Church in Boticão

Church in Boticão

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Back in Brazil!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are back in Brazil. We arrived safely last Friday. The trip was very smooth other than the two lugnut studs on the car that broke off on the way to the airport. The other three were loose and about to come off when the car started shaking. The Lord lead us to a mechanic who had the car fixed in less than 45 minutes and we were on our way to the airport with no further incidents.

Our flights went very well. On the long flight from Detroit to São Paulo, we had a row of seats for each of us. There were only 30 people on the entire flight.

Since our arrival we have found out that our car needs a little work done to it, but the mechanic that I use has left for the holidays. We are waiting a few days to see if he returns, but we might have to take the car elsewhere if he delays.

We knew our arrival would not mean settling down. Next week we will be gone for 3-4 days. I will be preaching and helping in a conference in Limeira. The week after that I will be gone for 3 days travelling to Campo Belo to meet with a missionary friend and several pastors from the area to discuss Christian literature and our involvement with their ministry.

Please pray for us as we are starting to make preperations for our move northwest. Very soon we will be making plans and looking for transportation. Pray for the Lord’s timing in everything we do over the next 6 months. There are dozens of events that must fall into place at the right time. We are thankful for those who have prayed for us and continue to pray for us.

— Jeremy

Cambodian Ministry

The Lord has opened a great door for us to reach Cambodians all over the world. We are excited about this. It will be a little work, but this may help reach people who will never hear the Gospel any other way. Please pray that this ministry would help those serving in Cambodia, those with Cambodian ministries in the US and other parts of the world, and that it would help us get the Gospel to Cambodians who have never heard the Gospel.

Cambodian Flag

Cambodian Flag

Quick Furlough Update

We have been in two conferences in the last two weeks. Both conferences have been very good. I believe God did a work in many hearts in these conferences. 

The first conference was in our home church, the Temple Baptist Church in Powell, TN with Dr. Clarence Sexton. Pastor Sexton has been a great encouragement and help to us. We are sent directly out of Temple Baptist, so it was a joy to be home again and see so many people we had not seen in a long time.

The second conference was in Santa Clara, CA with Dr. Jack Trieber. The staff and members of North Valley Baptist Church and the students of Golden State Baptist College were a great encouragement to us. We enjoyed spending the time with other missionaries in this conference also.

Please keep praying as we will be travelling to PA and then back to IL by next Monday.

–Jeremy>

Tyler September Travels

I can hardly believe we have been in the US for over a month now. Here is a short log of our travels…

  1. Illinois – When we arrived at the end of August we spent about a week with Amanda’s parents. It was a great time to spend together because it was Labor Day weekend and that gave the boys a little more time to spend with their grandparents. The boys have enjoyed learning about corn, soy beans, tractor pulls, and many other fun things around Flora, Illinois. While around Flora we visited friends in the following churches:* Calvary Baptist Church – Flora, IL – Pastor Mike Evans

    * Calvary Baptist Church – Olney, IL – Pastor Chris Jennette

  2. California – After about a week in Illinois, we flew to California. This was an exciting two week trip because we were able to visit several supporting churches we had never been in before. During this time, we also spent some time with my uncle, Larry Tyler and his family. They were a great blessing to us in many ways. The time spent with them was very refreshing and relaxing.During this trip I preached or gave a testimony in several of the churches. We really enjoyed getting to meet people who have prayed for us and kept in touch with us though we have never personally met before. It was also refreshing to meet a few Brazilians in these churches.

    * First Baptist Church of Long Beach – Long Beach, CA – Pastor John Wilkerson

    * Coastline Baptist Church – Oceanside, CA – Pastor Stephen Chappell

    * Horizon Baptist Church – Camarillo, CA – Pastor Brian Leversee

  3. Missouri – On our return from California, we flew to Kansas City to pick up a van from BMTM (Baptist Missionary Transportation Ministry). This is a great ministry that provides vehicles to missionaries while they are traveling. For a considerably small monthly charge, they provide the vehicle, maintenance, and even insurance for us. We will have the van for about three months.After driving about to see family and a few friends, we had a meeting in Ozark. The pastor and his wife were very kind to us. He wanted to take the boys fishing, but it did not work out this time. I talked about our ministry in Sunday School and preached in the afternoon.

    *Ozark Baptist Temple – Ozark, MO – Pastor John England

Now we are back in Illinois again with Amanda’s family. We are excited about getting back to Tennessee very soon. We will be in the Temple Baptist Church in Powell, TN – our sending church. It will be great to see family and friends there also! Please pray for our safety as we travel at least 8,000 miles over the next few months.

— Jeremy

Last Night At Parque Bristol

We just had our last Sunday at the Primeira Igreja Batista de Parque Bristol where Bryan Johnson is the pastor. The people in the church have become great friends and we look forward to keeping in touch with them and working with them through future years. Many of them have been a great blessing and help to us in the ministry already.We had a great time of fellowship yesterday evening as we said good-bye. We are sad to leave, but glad to be moving forward in the ministry God has given us. Later I will post some pictures of the last few weeks at the church.

One older lady in the church called me outside. She handed me a little homemade envelope (as she has done before) and said through her tears, “I cannot read and I cannot write, but I like to do what I can for the Lord.” She gave me a big hug and told me she would miss us. When I opened the envelope later there was good sum of money in there.

We are very thankful that the Lord has given us these friends. We were showered with kindness as many people gave us notes and told us they were praying for us.

— Jeremy

10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 -3 – 2 – 1- Blastoff!!!

We will be leaving for the US in TEN days! We are anxious, excited, and somewhat still unprepared.

Today we are moving out of our temporary housing and into my parents house. We still have much left to do before we leave. Though a good part of the ministry we can attend to from a distance, there are still many things we must care for personally before our departure.

Here are a few things we would like for you to pray for…

  1. The finalization of the second issue of the publication. It has been in its final stages for a couple weeks, but because of busy schedules, it has not yet been sent out.
  2. Meeting with a young man developing a very resourceful tool for churches here in Brazil. This meeting has been postponed several times, so please pray I can meet with him this next week.
  3. Preparations for meetings in the US. We want to put together a small presentation of where we are and where the Lord is taking us in the near future. We also need to put together an new prayer card and have it printed within a few weeks.
  4. Planning and scheduling meetings for our trip to the US. The Lord has opened a few doors and we are excited about sharing what God is doing here in Brazil.
  5. Safety traveling. We will be traveling thousands of miles by airplane and on highways in the next six months.

Thank you again for your faithfulness in praying for us.

— Jeremy

Lack of Communication

Just this last weekend we were away from home and I was not able to keep up with my regular e-mails. I had planned on that and was ready to answer the 30 or more e-mails that were in my inbox when I returned. However, I was not expecting the recent trouble we had.

On Monday when we returned home we were able to get online and catch up on a little communication. In the afternoon, the phone company had some men working on the lines and our phone and internet were cut off. A few hours later everything was back on, at least that is what we thought.

The phones came back on, but we were never able to connect to the internet. While I was out at a prayer meeting on Monday night, my mother called and said she was not able to call our house. We soon found out that the lines were crossed and we now had a new number.

On Tuesday morning I called the phone company and asked them if they could come fix the problem. All day long I kept answering phone calls of people who wanted to reach a certain business. All day long that business received phone calls from people who wanted to reach us. We even communicated back and forth a few times checking to see if the numbers were working yet.

Tuesday evening I decided to go to my parents house and check my e-mail there. When we arrived we found their phone and internet were both off also. Just as we were leaving the internet came on and allowed Amanda an opportunity to call her parents to let them know we were ok even though we were not able to communicate easily.

On Wednesday, I called the phone company again and they said a technician was on the way. Later in the day I called them again. They told me the issue had been fixed! HAHA! I still had no internet and could not receive calls at my own number. They told me I would have to wait up to 72 hours to get another technician.

Welcome to Brazil! Not everywhere can you get service like this. I had devoted this week to finishing our second issue of our publication. I finished editing three articles, but I could not access the other nine articles. This was very frustrating! So, I must remember that the Lord has a purpose. He is working in our lives and is in control of everything.

Thursday went by and we heard nothing about the phones. I called the company again on Friday and I called the company again on Saturday.

On Sunday, when we arrived home after church in the morning, there was a note on our gate. The phones had been fixed!!! We were excited we walked in the house and tested the lines just to find out that nothing had been accomplished.

Then the Lord gave me an idea. I got in the car and looked all over the subdivision for one of the phone company cars. After about 10 minutes I found one. I took the note with me and showed the technician the other mans name. He did not know him, but after hearing the issue, he said he would stop by after lunch and check out the problem.
Though he had said otherwise, he stopped by immediately before he went to lunch. I stood there with him and helped him repair the lines by throwing up the pliers, wires, etc… that he asked for. Within ten minutes we had our phones and internet back on.

Some people may think that as a missionary we should not count on communication such as internet and phones. Well, I try my best to communicate, because part of our ministry is communication.

Yes, we complain and gripe, but I will give you four good reasons we are thankful the Lord allowed the lines to be repaired…
  1. I was doing my best to communicate with people in Portugal about a lady who had recently received Christ through the internet! She has now received a visit and has promised a visit to church this coming week.
  2. We had contact with two men in Pakistan about the Gospel! Both registered on our Gospel website.
  3. A man had sent me his testimony of salvation. Unfortunately, he recounted his salvation as being a vision he had seen. I had to make sure he received a clear Gospel presentation.
  4. A lady that has been writing to me periodically for over a year had questions about her salvation. Pray that God gives her peace!
The Lord has given us an opportunity to communicate with people who need the Gospel. We want to do our best to show these people that Jesus is salvation and He is the solution of every problem we have.
— Jeremy

On the Other Side of the Boat

In John 21:6 Jesus told His disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Here in Brazil the Lord has also told us to cast our net on the other side of the boat with praying that we will catch a great many fish.

Though the details of the story are not the same we are pressing for the same results because here we are fishing for men.

This is good news from the northern side of Brazil. Many of you have prayed and some have given financially to Isaías, a Brazilian missionary up in a remote area of the Amazon River

He has been given a great opportunity to reach an Indian tribe that, as of yet, does not even have a written language. However, for him to reach this tribe he needed his own boat. It was vital to the ministry for him to enter by means of his own transportation.

During the first week of July he was able to purchase the boat! What a blessing. Most of the money from the boat came from churches here in Brazil. This is exciting because it shows that the Lord is able to accomplish many great things here in Brazil through the nationals themselves.

Please keep praying for Isaías and his wife Rachel. Though they still need to purchase the motor and transport the boat over a stretch of over 700 kilometers, the Lord has already provided most if not all of the money for this. However, they stand in need of more support to be able to pay the expensive fuel charges to get them in and out of the tribe. In order to go and come back from the tribe, it will probably cost them nearly $2000 in fuel and other expenses.

We are excited about this work. There are many challenges, but we want to do our best to encourage Isaías, provide some needed supplies, and help this tribe receive their first Bible in their own language. More than anything we want to see many of them come to Christ. What a wonderful day it will be when we get to Heaven and meet some of these precious souls!

This tribe is the key to entering even back into the most remote and uncontacted tribes on the face of the earth.

Please help us pray for Isaías!

— Jeremy

One more member in the Family of God

This past Sunday we were in Limeira. We had a wonderful time with the people and were excited about what God has done in their lives. The work there needs much prayer as people halt between two opinions. Yet, the Lord is working in the hearts of many people there.

We arrived on Friday evening just before the women met at one of the members houses to discuss modesty in dress. Meanwhile, the men gathered at another house for a good time of fellowship and eating (those may be considered synonyms).

On Saturday a few people stopped by to spend just a bit of time with us. It was a great joy to see some of my friends from my days as a child. Though many of them have strayed from the Lord, He is still doing a great work in their lives and drawing them to His side.

Saturday evening I was asked to speak to the young people about music. We had a good time with them in the service. Several seemed sensitive to what God was doing in their lives. I tried to bring them to the place where they would desire to do the correct thing. Many times we beat people over the head with right and wrongs, and they never understand why things are wrong. I used the passage in Matthew which speaks of the Pharisees and their “whited sepulchres” hoping they would see the importance of being clean in their innermost being.

On Sunday morning, I preached about knowing the Scriptures and how a lack of knowing the Scriptures caused doubt and even discouragement. This I got from several passages after the resurrection where Jesus opened their understanding because they knew not the Scriptures.

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During the invitation several people came to the front. Also, one young boy raised his hand acknowledging the fact that he had never been saved. After the service I spoke to his father, who was a very close friend of mine years ago. He said that his son, Ramon, was coming close to salvation, but was not sure how much he understood.

In the evening service I preached on the passage in I Kings 18 where Elijah prayed and fire came down from Heaven. Especially here in Brazil people tend to abuse this passage. The influence from the Pentecostal churches has changed the way many people look at the Bible. This lead me to preach on this passage. Everyone wants the power of God, but few people want the power of God for the right reason.

At the end of the message once again I extended an invitation for people to come forward. Several people came forward again in the evening service. I also asked again about salvation. Once again, Ramon raised his hand and said he was not saved. As the invitation progressed, he walked back to his dad, whispered something to him, then returned to his seat.

A few seconds later he walked right up to the front and said, “I want to trust Jesus as my Savior.” I called one of the men near the front to help and asked him to take him back with his father. Shortly afterward, his father lead him to the Lord in a back room. After the service ended I had an opportunity to pray with him, ask him some questions, and find out what had happened. Ramon told me he was sure he was saved. Jesus had forgiven his sin and he was going to Heaven. AMEN!

This was very exciting. Nothing is more exciting than to see the Lord work in the lives of sinners to bring them to repentance and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Praise the Lord for a wonderful weekend with people who are growing in the Lord and seeking His guidance in the establishment of this new church. Please pray for the people of the Igreja Batista Emanuel in Limeira.

— Jeremy

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