Just Started!

Yesterday we have our first meeting to plant a new church in North Side of Sao Paulo. We could count on nine adults, four kids and trhee babies for this first meeting. We could talk about our thoughs and emotions on planting a church and meditate on our needs of relationship rather than our cronogram on planting a new community here.
I am happy to see this start up, we know we are beggining a journey, and not a small one. On this journey we will surely have more people gathered to us as well as some people leaving us on the way. But though we are far yet from effectivily planting this church, we had a hard way to get to this point, and I am so thankfull to see this dream of a new community comming true.
Counting on your prayers! We are just beggining. Our next meeting will be on March 3rd.

Equipper Blogs

On February, Kairos L.A. is lauching Equipper Blogs, I could saw JR Woodward project regarding those blogs and I found a very good plan that should cover most of what our churches need to be relevant today. Today those blogs are integrated to Woodward church, but he has plans also to cover a broader range of churches in this network.
I am participating on Dream Awakener blogs and the post below was my first participation on that. I would encourage you to follow what is going on these blogs:
Dream Awakener (Apostles)
Heart Revealer (Prophets)
Story Teller (Evangelists)
Soul Healer (Pastors)
Light Giver (Teachers)

Should we be indignated too?

Apprenticing Jesus, The Big Picture

It was not difficult to be impressioned on those reactions to Mohammad cartoon crisis, as with many things in Muslim lives, Islam showed a great zealously in their faith. Besides every controversy regarding press liberty or free attack to faith, in those times we are not free from comparisions, should we also react with such indignation? To what?
Should we indignate to people that deny God or mistreat Jesus as the son of God? Should we indignate to films that cheat on people that follow Jesus? Should we defend Jesus to defend our faith?
Considering the example from Jesus, his counter-reaction was not so alike, he sttoped Peter when he tried to defend him, He even healed the soldier that was arresting him (Mt 26:47-56), also, He cried to God to forgive people because they were not knowing what were doing (Lk 23:26-43).
But Jesus reaction was far from doing nothing, he reacted with Love. As told in Mt 25:31-46 He directed our indignation to unfair situations and our reaction to service.
If we wanted to defend him, we should see him as the hungry people, or as the thirsty people, or as the homeless, or as the shivering, of as the sicks or as the prisioners we see everyday, and react to this situation with service and love.
Yes, we should also be indignated! Instead of getting flags, lets get ourselves and react!

Starting up

Friday will be the day we will meet people invited to join us to church planting. I had very good responses and it is good to know that people invited were praying about it and are seeing this gathering a prayer answer!
I expect to joing nine adults, three children and three babies for this first meeting. We are walking with prayer and after this first meeting, we might have a better idea of how things will go on.
I have already found a good place to start meeting for our outreach programs, it is a hotel facility that would rent at a very good price to a small group like us.
Also, we have a very good responses from people that is following this church planting with prayers and it is the most important, I am counting also with yours!

Understanding the Bible

I have just read Understanding the Bible, from John Stott. In a midst of very good relaunches, one of our great editors launched this one.
I thought this book simplier than I would thing regarding Stott's books, he gave a very good summary of Old and New Testaments, summaries with nice details and edited by a way that would give the reader a very good understanding of what he is reading, specially when reading the Kings and prophets stories. I usually like to read Bible from Genesis to Revelations, and this kind of summary help me even more.
He gave us some reasons to trust Bible and the people that wrote Bible. Also, gave us some good tips about understanding and applying Bible truths by a very honest way.
We have a surge of lots of evangelical churches based on prosperity which sell truths very different that what was purposed from Bible, or purposed to a very different people by a different way. This is why I see Bible study as vital for our communities today, we need to search even more the Bible to get deep wisdom to help us and to reach people that are starving for it.

We are there too!

Though I saw snow just once in my life when I was in Chicago, five years ago. I love to see those winter sports and I am also glad when Winter Olympic games starts also. We might rarely have snow in all our territory but our staff in Turim is a very nice group.
Go Brazil!!!

Close to decision

Once I was dreaming of planting a church, but I had plenty of dreams a friend to talk about it and a great wish to fullfill them but so far to be fullfilled, that I could only pray about them. I felt there was like a lost link between the dreams I had and the condition I was.
As I told in previous post, a pastor friend of mine could move close to my town and joined us to these dreams, but also got his church assistance and after that we started not only to pray and dream but also to pray and plan.
We have talked about planting a church in north side of Sao Paulo, we have plenty of churches here in my region, some presbiterian churches in north side of my city, but it is hard to find one that dare to have a better communication to reach souls and to dare to implement agressive vision.
And now we are planning to plant a good alternative here. In Mandaqui, a neighborhood in north side of São Paulo. Our region have few commercial and business centers but we have plenty of houses here. People live here and works in other places of our city.
After previous conversations we are foreseeing the date of February 17 to make our first meeting, we are planning to congregate in this first meeting families that once had a very close commitment to some churches but, after some sad experiences are not so like now.
Until February 17 we have 3 concerns:
- Our group: We are counting with three families for our kick off: seven adults, three children and three babies. We are also inviting more three families to attend first meetings. We are looking forward to consolidate our group from 10 to 20 people and starting some outreach events for unchurched.
- A place: Here in Brazil it is not as common to find cafes that should receive our meetings, even more when we have families with children and babies, for our first two meetings we are planning to make in my appartment and later we are searching for meeting rooms at hotels of our region.
- Our children: We have now four children with 6 years average, and the families we are inviting are also in their beggining too. For first meetings we will search for help in order to entertain our children while we consolidate our group. After, when we start outreach events we ourselves must be prepared not to entertain but to reach children also.

Well it have been very exciting days, but days which I feel so dependend on God, we need Him to be the first in all process, and for this case I ask for your prayers.
As soon as we walk ahead, I will share our news.

A good quote to start up 2006!

With this new year I started to read "Leadership wisdom from unlikely voices", a very nice book for emergent leaders, so far I have liked very much. Dave Flemming have collected many good quotes and I would like to share one here:

"It is far easier, though not very easy, to develop and preserve a spiritual outlook on life, than it is to make our everyday actions harmonise with that spiritual outlook. That means trying to see things, persons and choices from the angle of eternity; and dealing with tem as part of the material in which the spirit works" (Evelyn Underhill)

Actually I don't think to develop a spiritual outlook on life easy, for me, seeing things from the angle of eternity is a real challenge to me. I believe that our great spiritual conquests have this condition behind.
Anyway that is a great challenge for me this year.

The World Cup thrills have begun!

Yesterday I could see the final draw of World Cup 2006 in Germany, for this time, the zone of Brazil is not as easy as it was in Korea, because of it, our team should be very prepared prior to First stage with groups, but a 5 time champion should not choose this adversaries. Croatia was a good team in 1998, but I don't know though they are now; Australia can surprise, but Japan has Zico as their coach, a former brazilian player that knows our team a lot, and this is my biggest concern.
Apart from it, it was fun to see Argentina with a though group again (sorry my Argentinean friends, but you know our rivalry).
Next 6 months will be full of expectations and preparations for this very big event.
US friends, I am not sure if USA will make it this time as you did in Japan, Italy and Czech Republic are big teams! And, if you make it, you will find Brazil ahead, remember 1994!

The blessing of being father

DSC00290
Originally uploaded by Lufe Batista.

As we have been atending a baptist church, I had to make our own baptism for Pedro Henrique, I could invite a friend who is a presbiterian pastor to baptize my child, not for a matter to make him baptized, but mostly for a witness of how important is our commitment of being fathers recognizing the Fathership of our God.
We made a very simple event, but it was also very touching.
We were very well reminded by Roberto, that prior to anything, Pedro is a being very loved by God, and God trusted to me and my wife the care for this little life. It is, we are caring first for being a God creature.
We could invite lots of friends, not all could came but at least lots of conversations started from this event, which were what I was willing for this kind of opportunity.
May God bless us, not only for our witness to others as a family but for the witness we will give to Pedro as his fathers.