Yes I go to Origins!

This story began May last year when I had mileage expiring and this mileage made me eliegeable to issue an air ticket to United States, from everything I could think about what could I do in US, I chose to go to Los Angeles to attend Origins conference.
Though everything went wrong with my mileage (the air company were close to a bankruptcy), I kept my "A" plan and, with the Grace of God, I will be in Los Angeles from April 29th on to be at Origins, from Mosaic.
I was previously in United States on march 2001, when I went to Chicago to attend a conference at Willow Creek, and after to Miami to be with my ent. But now I will go with my wife, and will be great to be in LA with her. We might go to San Francisco on the follow Saturday to spend some days before return to Sao Paulo.
I think this as a great opportunity to learn a lot and to expand my ideas on our church planting in Sao Paulo. I count on your prayers. I might also, take advantadge to meet some people I have knew in blogosphere, and some churches I have been followed through internet.
If you have some hints also, it will be very appreciated.

Tag - Origins; Mosaic

Emerging Sampa

As I told on my 2006 restrospectives, we started to gather some people interested in emerging churches and in readings of Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller etc. After some meetings we decided that we should spread this conversation in order to not let people interested in those matters thinking they are alone in our country, as some people we found recently.
So we are planning a conversation next March 31st at Projeto 242, the first emerging church I know here in São Paulo. We stated a theme as "Does we need a new kind of church?", and we are spreading the message. I hope to reach more people with this event. So far it has been so good to join so good people interested in Kingdom.
Also, we started a discussion of "The Secret Message of Jesus Christ" from Brian McLaren, which was translated to portuguese, our people are so excited on join this conversation, buying books and write.

Tag - Emerging Church

Church made in Brazil

Visiting Church Marketing Sucks, I've found a familiar ad, it's from Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, a church that have gotten the higher growth rates in Brazil due prosperity theology, confronting afro-brazilian cults with tools imported from them to a Christian environment. Many teologists are discussing if this church is Christian or not, but this kind of model had also spread in hundreds of other independent churches in my country. I can find at list 10 churches like that in my 40 minuntes way to my job.
They spreaded not only with buildings but also at TV (Universal has two TV stations) and radio, mostly pirates. Due this growth with buildings and at media, people in Brazil are starting to relate overall evangelical church with this kind of church. This kind of idea has become a great obstacle to plant a new church here in Brazil.
I kid in my brazilian blog that many people complain that we are importing churching models from US and we have a brazilian model exported! By this time, unfortunately!
See how Church Marketing Sucks saw this.
Tag - Igreja Universal; church marketing

What I will take from 2006

I took this afternoon to translate some retrospective that I've done at my brazilian blog, this is the objective of this blog, but I have not done so much as I would like, but this is the moment to share it again! This year I have plant so many things that it is difficult to think 2006 as a year, because as you will see I have lots of things to be developed with basis build this year:

Hospital - I stayed a weekend at hospital because of a kidney stone, but it was not so complicated as the pneumonia my doughter got. She spent 16 days at hospital, I think my life stopped completely, it is hard to move on things while your thinks are on people you love. But it was a time when we could know better God's mercy and grace, mainly with the reaction of our friends and friends of my kid.

Projeto Mandaqui- This year we could really move on this church planting project. Though we are few yet, we spent the year preparing ourselves and dreaming for our mission. Even with serious problems that happened to each family of our project, we could end this year with weekly regular meetings, and I thought it as a great conquer! Next year will be the time to spread our project and to leverage our base group. I expect also that being on Mosaic conference, Origins at May, will be very important to return Brazil motivated a lot and also better prepared to build an innovative community that should spread a vivid message to North Zone of São Paulo.

Emergent Conversation- I should also highlight how good was to start meeting with other folks in São Paulo that are well interested to Emergent Church. We started with Sandro Baggio that have a great emergent community called Projeto 242, we started to meet, to learn and discuss what we have found at websites, at books and at our current evangelical context. We had just five meetings but those was very deep when I learned a lot. Next year we are preparing to promote some events to all people in order to have emergent church issues better known, our first event will be in March, I will let you know how it will be.

Nooma - At those meetings, I was presented to those DVDs, I have got very enthusiastic with this very rich material, not only for how spirituality is dealt but also for seeing a kind of communication that could talk to everyone whithout focusing just evangelical people. I could import all collection and apply to some meetings at Mandaqui Project, I am planning also to reach a larger people on January with some sessions at my home.

Tag - retrospective; 2006

My reading in 2006

As I have already done at my brazilian blog, I would like to highlight five books from all I read this year, due to Mandaqui Project I have been directed my reading to prepare myself for this mission, here you have:

The Emerging Church, Eddie Gibbs e Ryan Bolger - I thought it a very well prepared book about paradigm shift with post-modernity and how some communities are dealing with that, I could even dedicate some posts in my brazilian blog to describe the ten factors present to most emergent churches once this book is not translated to portuguese, and I doubt it will. As I have seen in other blogs and after reading it, I thought it a great book to understand Emergent Church.

The Shaping of things to come, Michael Frost e Alan Hirsch - despite the fact I've been reading this book since October and not finished yet, I thought it another great book to understand the emergent church, I thought content very rich and very well based.

Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell - I started to know Nooma, this year and I have got very well impressed with the way Rob Bell deals with spirituality, I saw this book as basis for the theology purposed at Nooma.

Everybody is Normal Till you get to know them, John Ortberg - I think community matters so much, community issues are so important to be discussed and so complicated to live! Author discusses the main matters to be shared and facilitates understanding of this issue, I think John Ortberg simplicity and good mood helps a lot to translate concepts to overall people in community, I think of his books as very good to work at church.

Leadership from Unlikely voices, Dave Flemming - nothing as a leadership book with christian basis without all the business things that most pastors love to apply at church!.

Tag - books; 2006

Unbeatable!

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Originally uploaded by Lufe Batista.

Yesterday we had our second round of Monopoly (Disney edition), and my doughter did it again! By first time I thought it was due her posessions of companies, but yesterday my wife got all companies and even with those got very close to bankruptcy, but I couldn't avoid it!
Once again we set midnight to close everything, but I went bankruptcy prior to that.
Though Maria Ester is not at all very used to change and to the rents table, she showed to be very lucky, some times the best strategy is not to have one!


Tags - monopoly

Close to Christmas!

Christmas dinner is next Sunday! Wow! If were not the Christmas songs last service I would not figure out we were on Christmas time! As I spent last week in Bogota at work, my December got very shorter, Saturday was my only free time to buy gifts for family.
Last Friday we did our last meeting at Projeto Mandaqui, we remember of the kings` gifts for Jesus and changed gifts between one another. We might spent the new year day together, and after, we will have January out, just returning on February, I will spend a week out on this month as my other folks too.
I believe we have got a good improvement when we started to meet weekly after October, we haven`t many people joining us as I wished, but I have a great hope that people will come on the dynamics of our relationships, as far as we have a weekly meeting, we will have allways this opportunity to bring new people here.
We are planing a small camping retreat at Carnaval, a particular retreat for people like us, young couples with little children, this might be another opportunity to have new people with us, and an opportunity to get focus on our project.
My hope is on God that things will happen in 2007 for Projeto Mandaqui!

Tags - Church planting

As you passed here

To tell that life has been such crazy is not so new, I've weaked up today likelly to post anything, so I would like to tell you some news: we are moving ahead our church planting in Mandaqui, we are very conscious of our condition, we are two christian families with small children dreaming to plant a church here in São Paulo, after meeting sometimes at Sundays to be pastored we have started yesterday to meet at a weekly basis open to friends to come, we know that as we have kids and babies, our meetings will be often interrupted by babies demands but that is who we are! We don't have other christian families to join us, now that's us facing outside our families with a very good support from a pastor friend of mine, he is also planting a church in his city 60 kilometers from here.
I feel that I have written a lot here about this church planting, but now is the moment to act more than to ramble, to act more on relationships, to know what to do, how to do, how to invite our friends and how to be friend regardless of this church planting.
We are very eager to have new people to join us, and in its sense I ask for your prayers.
I will keep you informed

Tags - Church planting, São Paulo

Poor guys!

They are allways the last here in my home!

Tags - Milkybar, Nestlé

Very blocked

Well, very long time with no post, everytime when I open my blog to access others that pendency comes to my mind!
Since the only time to post and to visit other blogs were reduced to my nights and weekends I have been very challenged to do it without been so away from my kids, it is I have to organize myself to have a good time with my kids and to have fun here.
I am not thinking about closing this blog, I have met amazing guys through it, but unless I get to be very organized here I will still be slower than I desire to.
Our church planting in Mandaqui have also been at slow pace, but we have been at least kept our focus, on next weeks we might define our help and I hope to have faster steps from this month on.
Today is my baby birthday, so I have to go to fill up some balloons.
See you later!

Tags - church planting, blogging