Categoria: News

I have just got home after preaching on this Pentecost Sunday. The service was really blessed. Last Sunday was also really blessed too when I also preached the Word as well. God is good and has really been blessing. 


On the Saturday we preached at Itaporanga and that was a blessing too, but getting there was a headache owing to a priest, in a town you have to go through to get to Itaporanga, blocking all the through-traffic in homage of his Saint Anthony! It is unbelievable that this medieval way of carrying on is still strong in these parts. He was throwing “holy water” on all the vehicles bringing everything to a standstill! We arrived late at the service in Itaporanga but we made it and we preached Christ!


We have been dealing with a complicated leadership problem this week too between 2 of our church leaders a long way from Patos. I can’t give details but ask for your prayers. So there is always so much to do in the work but God is our strength!

Our eldest grandson Felipe is on an anti-rabies drip in the outpatients department of Patos General Hospital right now having been bitten by a bat. It is obligatory to have such a drip as vampire bats are transmitters of rabies. Of course many species of bats are not vampire bats, feeding on fruit or insects, but as defining which species of bat is involved is not simple this precaution is always taken. We value your prayers.

I will be leaving in a couple of hour’s time for Itaporanga to preach at the EAB/ACEV church’s 74th anniversary service. I’ll watch some of the Champion’s League Football final before leaving.


This week has been busy. Liz and I visited Capim Grosso where Albert Mundy and Frank Dyer started a work for God back in the 50’s. That eventually ended with people moving away with the droughts, but now it has revived! “His Word will not return to Him void”! The seed was planted and has reemerged! PTL!


We also visited Vazante where the church in that small village has reached 60 strong and is the only Gospel witness in the place. We had a lovely meal with Pastor Nezinho and his wife Sonia and their daughter Nielma who travels every day to Patos to study biology at the university here. Pity Liz can’t eat fish but I had lots whilst there they had caught in the lake nearby. Delicious!


We also went to Barra de Oitis where we visited homes where another 8 toilet/shower units had been built. We also spoke in the thanksgiving service which started late afternoon and went into the evening. All was really beautiful. We thank those who support and have given to this project. You can’t imagine the difference it is making in unbelievably poor people’s lives!

I have spoken to my cousin Peter via Messenger following the death of his brother Andy, aged 78, who went to be with the Lord in New Zealand this week. Our prayers and thoughts are with cousin Peter (Weston Super Mare) and his sister Faith (Ledbury). All three are the children of my Mum’s sister Gladys and their Father Fred who were a wonderful Christian Aunt and Uncle whom I remember fondly from my childhood and youth. 

Liz and I are just about to leave for Barra de Oitis where we are to officially hand over 8 toilet/shower kits and hold a community thanksgiving service where we will preach the Gospel. Please pray for us. 


On the way, in a round about way, we will be visiting Vazante where we also have a church.

We now have 88 churches (up 5) including large, medium and small. Christians in our churches total 3,171 (up 151). We have 36 of these people doing theology courses by distance or presential Colleges. Our annual Leadership Conference will be from September 13th to 15th this year at Green Pastures. The annual Youth Conference will also be there next month.


We plan to construct new church buildings at Barra de Oitis and Travessia. We decided to improve our monitoring methods so as to keep in touch better with the growing number of churches. The Annual General Conference next year will be at Princesa Isabel. At Princesa Isabel their church plant in the borough of Maia was moved up in status to be recognised as a fully established church.


It was decided to tighten our safety measures with the transportation of people at our annual 10-day outreaches and any other Mission activities. Whilst it is good fun with a big crowd of young people on top of a lorry singing praises to God along the way – such travelling is both dangerous and illegal. 


This year’s theme for all our churches is: “My Goal is Christ” (i.e. His full stature as stated in Efesians 4:11-16).


We have 5 regular radio programmes continuing from radio stations at Imaculada, São Vicente do Seridó, Campina Grande, Juru and Teixeira. 


We heard special reports on church plants at Pocinhos, Belem, Jurema, Travessia, Campina Grande Novo Horizonte, Lagoa de São João and Bahia. Of special concern for prayer was the awful persecution our family of workers at Belem are suffering with their 6 year old son even being subjected to considerable bullying at primary school because he is an evangelical Christian!


It was decided to create an online distance theology and practical Christianity course in Integral Mission. 

The EAB/ACEV Annual General Conference is always in the month of May and this year was held at our second church in Campina Grande in the borough of Presidente Médici. Liz and I left Patos at 9 am and drove the two and a half hour journey going straight to the church for the 12 noon fellowship lunch together which started the event. Philip travelled separately with some young folk.


Straight after lunch we got into our first General Assembly at 2 pm and this ended at gone 6 pm. We then had our evening meal all together and were off again into our second general assembly by 7.30 pm. For the Conference our leaders gather from all our churches in the 5 north-eastern States we have work in: Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Bahia. Liz and I got to bed on the Friday night at gone midnight!


We restarted with the third general assembly which lasted from 9 am to 1 pm and then all had lunch together. Everyone had another meal together at 6 pm and at 7.30 pm we commenced our final celebration service which ended 2 hours later. The whole event was very tiring of course, but very good and really blessed by the Lord. The general assemblies saw, as usual, all our decisions taken unanimously and the celebration, at which I preached and ordained one new minister, was beautiful. We got to bed at midnight and drove back to Patos on Sunday morning so as to be back in good time to lead the evening service. Thank you for praying.

I have long prayed for a greater opening in São Mamede County where Green Pastures is. It is true that some years back I was given the ‘Freedom of the County’ title but, though this was good, it was a formal one-off thing. However as the Green Pastures Christian Camp, Conference Centre and Nature Reserve has become increasingly well known so the County Council finally decided for the first time to appoint a Secretary for the Environment. He has been to Green Pastures twice, has asked me for my thoughts on a number of issues and today invited me to speak at 2 schools on International Biodiversity Day. I really feel we are seeing a breakthrough for God’s Kingdom in the County as a whole at last. The talks I gave went particularly well. PTL!


In São Mamede County EAB has its church and school at Green Pastures plus other smaller works including the one at the ex-landless community there. God is moving by His Spirit! God is speaking to people through our concern and pratical care of His creation. God’s creation has always been a means of glorifying the Lord!

At EAB’s Action Schools for poor kids the children are naturally taught to say grace before meals. Today in one little boy’s regular school he was horrified when snack time came and the teacher wasn’t going to pray first! So he caused such a scene that the teacher had to halt everything prior to praying and he only calmed down and would let everyone eat after a proper prayer was said and the teacher promised to do this everyday from now on! It just goes to show the importance of teaching children simple things concerning the ways of the Lord.


Over the weekend the Christians in Action group were really blessed in Onça community in Patos County and the youth and deaf fellowship groups went well too. In Recife 14 from our João Pessoa main church travelled to help do evangelism in the area where the church plant is. This is just getting going and will take a long time but the Recife folk are sticking to the task and we value your prayers for this.


We had another half an inch of rain at Green Pastures as the rains dwindle to an end. This takes us up to 35.5 inches so just 4.5 inches to go to out target for this year we’ve been praying for. At Green Pastures we identified another species of Lizard about half a meter in length called ‘Ameiva ameiva’. It is particularly beautiful and takes the number of Lizard species identified there to 15. We have also identified 13 species of snakes and 18 species of frogs and toads.


We travel to Campina Grande on Friday for the annual EAB/ACEV Churches Conference and value your prayers. We plan to be back in Patos for Sunday’s evening service. 

EAB’s UK Board of Trustees met at West
Wellow in Hampshire today and I took part via Skype. It was a very good meeting
which heard an up-to-date report on the work in northeast Brazil and the
importance of increasing support for the Mission from individuals, churches and
special events.

In the early hours of today a good rain started to fall which was not forecast and totally unexpected, but MOST welcome! We had 2 inches of rain at Green Pastures and the dam started overflowing again. This takes us up to 35 inches for the year and so leaves just 5 inches that we need to reach our target of 40 inches. (A good rainy season in the first half of the year needs to be around 40 inches) It doesn’t rain here in the second half of the year so it is good when we receive water enough to get us through till the following year. It needs to be remembered that it also gets increasingly hot as the year goes on and that accelerates the evaporation of water in the reservoirs. 


So thank you for praying and please don’t stop!

My sister Jean is one of the best music teachers around and this year had total success with all of her pupils passing their exams. Every year she organizes a charity concert at her church, to raise funds for EAB, in which her pupils perform. We are very grateful to Jean and all the young musicians who always make the afternoon a very enjoyable one. We also thank the parents who bake cakes or savoury pastries for the interval and which makes the concert even more enjoyable!


This year’s concert will be held on Saturday, July 6th at 3 pm and all money raised for tickets and refreshments will be to support EAB’s projects in northeast Brazil. The address to go to is:


Christ Church, Reading Road, Chineham, Basingstoke, RG24 8LT. 


Please do support this event if you live in Hampshire and may God bless all who perform and go to the event.

EAB’s Patos church is a hospital church! By that I mean that we are a church which cares with God’s love for the broken hearted and for those who are needy in all sorts of ways. We receive people in the Name of Jesus and seek to love them like God loves us – and no – we don’t push aside Biblical principals in the process.


I say this because we have just held a Patos church leadership meeting in which we have decided unanimously to accept 2 new people into fellowship as it is a joy to see how God is blessing them and ministering to them in their needs. I cannot give any details here about the cases – nor would I – but it is wonderful to see the Gospel of God’s healing love working in people’s lives and healing deep wounds and scars. Thank you Jesus!

Mother’s Day in Brazil is on the second Sunday in May – yesterday. We had a good special service in which I preached on the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). It was a lovely service in which we also dedicated two children and received another 2 new members into fellowship. The church was really full.


On Saturday the Patos church band travelled to Juazeirinho for the service there and this was really blessed too. The youth held a Bible study at the Jatobá church plant, where our school is in Patos. The Christians in Action group held a service in São Mamede County after a service on the Friday at Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte State.


We have been distributing more goats as part of EAB’s 4 Legs Project. The Gospel is being preached in so many places and it’s being practiced in so many ways for the glory of God.

Veteran EAB supporter Ivy Yoakley reached her century last week at Ledbury in England. Well done Ivy! I must confess that I find it difficult to call her ‘Ivy’ as she was always ‘Mrs Yoakley’ – and woe betide anyone that called people by their first name in those old days at Peniel Chapel which was my first church in Notting Hill when I was a child! Her husband went to glory years ago but she has never lost contact with us. We praise God for her faithfulness to the Mission. I was glad to hear that her son Richard was over from New Zealand for her birthday. He was who gave me the ‘Blue Grass’ monkey when I was a teenager which he smuggled into the country as he was in the Merchant Navy and brought it back from Africa! But that’s another long eventful story! Another interesting link with Ivy is the fact that Liz’s parents stayed at her house just off Ladbroke Grove for their honeymoon in 1948! Exotic honeymoon locations were the order of the day then!

12 in the Men’s Fellowship group tonight which is not bad for a Tuesday evening. Tomorrow is the Women’s Fellowship group. Small groups are an important part of church life for fellowship, edification and evangelism.


I have had talks with a number of our church leaders today. Contact is always important sharing about different issues that affect each one. 


Liz visited a young woman called Jane who has had a hysterectomy and is recovering well. She told Liz how blessed she was watching the Sunday night service via Internet. We prayed for her recovery in the service and she was particularly thrilled because when I congratulated those who had had birthdays last week, as we do every week, I looked to where she sits as it had been her birthday. Just the fact that I knew where she always sits made her so happy! It just goes to show how details in church life can be so important.

I have just read the book by David Bennett called ‘A War of Loves: The Unexpected Story of a Gay Activist Discovering Jesus’ with the foreword written by N.T.Wright. It is an excellent book which was a blessing to read. Very well written, a wonderful and moving story which expresses the same Christian position on the field as I share. 


Yesterday in Patos I preached on ‘The Presence of Jesus changes everything’ based on John 21:1-14. To God be the glory for the great impact the sermon had on so many people.


On Saturday we had a 7-hour leadership meeting preparing for our national conference later this month to be held at Campina Grande. The 10-person leadership team gathered in Patos on Saturday from Manaira, Itaporanga, Imaculada, Patos, Campina Grande and João Pessoa. The meeting was excellent and took some important unanimous decisions.


Yesterday Kira Taylor ran the Southampton Half Marathon to raise over 500 pounds for EAB’s work and projects. We thank Kira and all who sponsored her. It is encouraging to see a young person getting involved with the Mission in this way.


A decision for Christ has been reported in Teixeira and another in the rural area of Juazeirinho. PTL!


We’ll be inaugurating a number of new toilet/shower facilities at Barra de Oitis later this month.

My virus symptoms are diminishing. Thanks for your prayers. Our eldest daughter Deborah has been in hospital today on a drip, owing to dehydration, but is on the mend and should be back at her home to sleep.


We had another school visit to Green Pastures today for an environmental education tour but I didn’t feel up to being their guide so our son-in-law Hutan did it as he knows the routes and all my stories that I tell kids about encounters with foxes, raccoons, snakes etc. as he always goes with me for school visits to take the photos.


Moving things always happen at the Care Centre and this week was no exception with three lovely children coming to our dentist for the first time in their lives at 7, 8 and 11 years of age. They were thrilled with their treatment and with their tooth brushes and paste too. The deaf fellowship also always has its meetings there of course. In fact the deaf consider the Care Centre as “the place to go” on a Saturday night. I really don’t know where so many deaf folk appear from!


It was lovely to see 4 baptized at Mandacaru at the weekend. That’s the place where the leader nearly died about a year ago with a terrible hemorrhage. He’s now fine. PTL!


It was great seeing the youth, led by Philip, doing door to door evangelism in Jatobá borough where our school is on Saturday. They do this in the afternoon and hold an open-air evangelistic service at night in front of the school. Philip has a real gift for personal evangelism and it was wonderful to see him taking his son Lucas and his neice Alice (both only 11) and training them on the job to do door to door evangelism with him, which isn’t easy.


The month of April draws to a close with some further small rains taking us up to 31 inches total for the year – so just 9 inches needed in May/June to reach our target. 


Please pray for our Mission EAB which goes through a difficult time in terms of finance. When I ask you to pray some might say it is a way of asking people to give – which it is – but it isn’t just that. Prayer does change things, as we have proved over the years, and at this “rock bottom” time with zero contingency fund (a fund the mission seeks to maintain as a buffer for low income periods) we look to God who does intervene and can touch people’s hearts to give or to act to raise funds. We praise God for Cadnam Methodist Church which raised money for the Mission last weekend with a concert and for Kira Taylor who is running a half marathon this weekend for EAB. We also praise God for those who regularly support the work here – both churches and individuals. Please do join us in special prayer for the work …

Liz and I have a flu type virus. Liz is just getting over it and I am just getting going with it. However today we received such an insistent plea from a couple in the church who were desperate for us to visit them and talk to them that we adorned masks and went and had a blessed time of chatting, counselling and prayer with them.


I managed to give the Bible study last night but I don’t think I would have managed it had it been today. Liz and I have had a church trouble shooting issue to work on too. Your prayers are valued but I can’t give details.


The World Bank’s latest report shows that poverty increased in Brazil in the period from 2014 to 2017, now affecting 21% of the population which is 43.5 million people! This is an increase of 3%, adding 7.3 million people to the list of those who live off up to just U$5.5 per day which is just over 4 pounds sterling. 

We had a lovely Easter. PTL! The services on Sunday were electric. On Good Friday 23 took part in the personal evangelism and tract distribution in the morning followed by prayer and meditation in church. Sunday morning saw the fellowship church breakfast followed by praise and a reflection on God’s Word and at night the ressurrection celebration was outstanding with the choreography group inspired as was our leading actress Dilma in an amazing presentation of the Easter message. Philip baptized one young man and I preached on John 18-20 after which 5 made commitments to Christ.


Earlier in the week we had our usual break from Wednesday to Saturday at Green Pastures. It was a lovely relaxing time and I walked over 20 km in the midst of nature. The highlight was to photograph well a killer snake ‘Bothrops erytromelas’ which crossed my pathway about 3 feet in front of me. The presence of such predators is an excellent sign for the scientists of the excellent level of preservation at Green Pastures , although it also highlights our need for caution and the wearing of boots and jeans etc. to avoid problems.


On the Wednesday Philip and Gylmara travelled to Barra de Oitis ex-slave community with food for the hungry. Their visit there was greatly blessed.


Around the EAB/ACEV churches there were all sorts of special services and events over Easter. News is flowing in from far and wide for which we praise God. His truth is marching on! Jesus is alive literally and in His people!

I prepared this Sunday’s sermon covering John chapters 15 to 17 which is an endeavour to show folk that Jesus’ teaching and unity prayer etc. is set on the eve of His arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Many overlook this taking Scripture as isolated bits. This panoramic view of three chapters, with their application to us today, will prepare us for Easter the following week.


I have done lots of counselling and pastoral visits this week too. Maria Prata was 84 on Thursday and she was already a faithful member here when I arrived 47 years ago.


We also counselled a teenager being purturbed by Roman Catholic attacks of a doctrinal nature. We also have worked on the Patos School’s extension team for the Saturdays which is passing through turbulence. We will be having lunch and a meeting with the whole team today to try and sort the problems out. During the week we had meetings with the head teacher and the team separately.


We also had a meeting with a projects leader and social worker about a new project proposed by Tearfund that we feel is too much for us to take on on top of everything else.


We travelled to Campina Grande (2 and a half hours drive east) on Thursday and had cardiologist routine check-ups. We held excellent meetings whilst there with Pastor Wostenes and his wife Gleydice and with Pastor Hamilton. Both their churches are going very well. PTL! We discussed a wide range of subjects.


In next week’s Easter period we will endeavour to have our annual family break at Green Pastures and be back in church for Easter Sunday for which I need to prepare my sermon covering John chapters 18 to 20. Help! Please pray!


A Happy Easter to one and all!

We travelled up the Teixeira mountain last night to conduct the induction service of the new pastor Maésio there and all went well. The trip is dodgy at the moment because the heaviest rains in the mountains for 10 years are dislodging rocks and bolders which cascade down to the road. We are back safe and sound to tell the story!


Please pray for the church as it adapts to a new pastor and pray too for Conceição where Maésio used to be pastor – that we will be able to find a replacement.


Tonight I will be conducting the communion service in Patos as well as dedicating a baby boy. Earlier this week Liz and I visited a couple who also have just been blessed with a baby boy.


We also had meetings this week with the youth leadership teams and with the leaders of the mens and womens fellowships. All these meetings went very well. I gave the Bible study on Thursday too speaking on “What is the church”?


The rains have been good this week and at Green Pastures we are up to a total of 27.3 inches of rain this year – thus moving towards our target of 40 inches. Please keep praying.

Saturday night brought us the sort of rain we were waiting for! Heavy, intense and prolonged. At Green Pastures it rained 2 inches and the river dam overflowed and the lake took in quite a lot of water. PTL! In Patos it rained twice as much and up in the mountains at Teixeira 3 times as much. We rejoice with all this of course. We are now up to a total of 23 and a half inches of rain for this year at Green Pastures with 40 inches being our target. We pray for a few more rains like Saturday’s during April because in May the rains always start dwindling.


This Saturday night’s evangelism by the youth in the area of town where our school is was different! The door to door evangelism went normally in the afternoon and then the team debated whether to set the sound equipment and chair outdoors or not as it might rain? The base player Mailson, who is a bit of an amateur weather forecaster, decided the matter telling the team they could set up in the street as no way it was going to rain! They had just started putting things into position when… bang… down came torrential rain! So everything was set up inside the school and still a few people came to the indoor service from the borough joining our team and supporters. The Lord blessed and the work was done for God’s glory. So rain did not stop pray!


Sunday I preached on John 14 and that went well though there were less in church for fear of more rain which didn’t fall.


Yesterday Liz and I had a good meeting with the new pastor who will be inducted at the Teixeira church this Saturday. This morning we are visiting a couple who have just had the arrival of a little baby boy. Tonight we have another meeting… and so it goes on.


On top of all this I have constant meetings with leaders via WhatsApp audios. This is a great help as we are able to have good discussions and sort lots of things out without travelling miles. Hence yesterday I had long discussions with various leaders concerning stage 2 of our Recife church plant which was launched on Sunday. Please pray. I also had discussions regarding difficulties at our Conceição church and further varied discussions with the general leadership team.

Thankfully the rains have continued this week, and with the further inch last night we have now passed the 21 inch mark, which means we are just over half way to our target of 40 inches. The problem still remains that we are not accumulating rain in the reservoirs and lakes as the rains are all night fine rains and what we now need are some big fast heavy downpours. We pray on. 


Yesterday we visited our very faithful veteran couple of leaders: Elder Pedro Guedes (aged 87) and his wife and Deaconess Beatriz (aged 82). They have just lost a grandson who commited suicide and are naturally devastated. He was a Christian who was a member of an AOG church and had a history of depression and the likes. Please pray for this family.


I gave the Bible study on Thursday in the latter part of Philipians 3, and into 4, and it went well with 20 present.


I did all my routine blood tests this week and my cholesterol is perfect, glucose under control etc. so well pleased. 


In the general oversight of EAB/ACEV’s 86 churches the work is busy and Pastor Maésio and family moved to Teixeira from Conceição yesterday and their induction service is next Saturday. Please pray for these churches in times of transition which is never easy. 


Tomorrow, Sunday, I’ll be preaching in Patos again so must get on with my preparation. We value your prayers always.

After a long period with little rain we had a good rain at Green Pastures last night of around 2 inches, taking us up to 18 inches overall this year out of the 40 inches needed in the rainy season to see us through to 2020. We hope and pray that it will continue in the coming days and weeks.


Last night’s service in Patos was lovely. It really was a blessing.


On the Saturday we travelled to Juazeirinho to induct the new pastor there and the service went very well. Please pray for this young pastor Rafael.


There have been lots of time consuming challenges around the churches in recent weeks. Please pray. Slowly we are dealing with one thing after another. We have started investing in a church plant in Recife in a bigger way so there has been a lot of sorting to do with this. We had made a timid start but now we have rented a house in a good location in the borough of Cordeiro in Recife and have 3 families in the city. Please pray. Our strategic plan has long been to establish churches in the capital of Pernambuco State, which is Recife, to be able from there to expand inland in this the neighbouring state to the south of our headquarters State of Paraíba – and to then establish a church in Natal which is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte State to the north, and expand from there inland. The latter is yet to start. Please pray for all this. May God provide the resources and open doors of service and ministry.

This Sunday’s evangelistic “bring a friend” service was fantastic. To start with the church members brought lots of friends which nearly had the church at bursting point. The service was electric, the praise and worship beautiful, and Philip’s sermon was superb. It was the straightest frankest evangelistic sermon I’ve heard in a long time full of Scripture, very clear on sin and then wonderfully presenting Jesus as the solution to it. There were 12 decisions for Christ at the end.


The well inauguration last Thursday was wonderful too. I think all the community showed up and it was great to preach the Gospel to them. The road there was rough and in the area they had rain the night before and all around the well location during the service. We got away as soon as possible after the inauguration because we knew we had a river to cross which could be complicated with rain falling up river. And so it was! When we reached the river we met a lot of school buses stopped and unable to cross but I just switched in to 4-wheel drive and went for it and I’m here to tell the story!


I have a radio interview on Friday to do and then induct the new pastor at Juazerinho on Saturday and preach on Sunday in Patos. Your prayers and support are valued.

I will be leaving in an hour’s time going to inaugurate a new well in Manaíra County. We will hold the normal thanksgiving service around the well or near it. It is always a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with the community. Please pray.


I gave a lecture at a university last night on sustainable development. Another great opportunity to share Biblical principals and show a church which cares about God’s creation.

I have been spending hours every week for a long time now, trying to sort out some leadership issues. The challenges are very complex involving a permanent leader for the new church at Juazeirinho plus leaders for Teixeira and Conceição. It’s the domino effect of moving one pastor somewhere else and then who fills his place etc. Please pray. 


These are the nitty gritty time consuming challenges of being in the leadership of 86 churches of all shapes and sizes but who all need the Gospel and pastoral care and teaching. We have a leadership team of 10 but I need to discuss with one and then with the other potential leaders to be switched and all that, and then take it all to the leadership team for discussion and approval or not. There is also the challenge of supporting different leaders as some churches stand on their own feet but some not yet. 


I dispatched the EAB monthly Diary Update yesterday which is an email copy of this blog’s texts. All is set for the Communion service later too. I am also working on In Touch photos and EAB UK groups to visit the work here in the last quarter of 2019. We value your prayers and support in all this. 

EAB’s 40th Carnival Camp was outstanding. As Getiane Mota, our Matureia Church pastor’s wife posted on my Facebook page: “The Green Pastures Camps are always marvellous… but this one was unexplainable… amazing”! It truly was a blessed time together in God’s presence and went extremely well for the 220 participants.


The theme was “Connected to Christ”, based on John 15, and sought to work through, in the 7 services and sermons, what makes us in this day and age disconnect from Christ and what helps us connect. Thus on the opening Saturday night (March 2nd) young pastor Rafael from Teixeira spoke on ‘desconnecting so that you can connect’. He focussed on the dangers of thinking being hyper active in church can replace one’s devotional life; becoming accustomed to sin and being egoistical in church life.


In the build up to this Camp I felt the Lord guiding me to bring in young people to minister and this I feel was the key to the Camp’s extraordainary success. Thus in the preparatory meetings which I organized I asked the youth leaders what they felt disconnected the youth from Christ and they said ‘Digital Media’ by which they meant not just social media but also series on Netflix which I had never heard of etc.


So I took the plunge and handed the Sunday over to the youth and two young men, Ray (journalist) and Mailson (Radio sound operator), spoke in the morning, and two young women who are both law students, Louisa (our granddaughter) and Rayla, in the evening. Oh boy – it was fantastic! Mind blowing. Ray did the positive side of how digital media can be used for good and for God. Then the others launched into very tough stuff like Satanist and witchcraft series on Netflix and the lasses launched into the sending of nude photos, cheating on one’s wife or husband virtually, gossip, pornography & bullying. They combatted all this with Scripture and it was all an education for most of the older generation and a graphic insight into the world in which our youth is involved. We certainly all need to be connected to Christ and full of His Spirit!


On the Monday a pastor, woman bank worker and woman social worker presented the vitamins B & P as the only solutions for all heard the previous day. B (Bible) + P (Prayer) were shown to be essential for spiritual survival in this evil world. The devotional life with Christ was a major focus point of the whole camp.


Then on the Tuesday (March 5th) morning I spoke on being connected to Christ in our relationships and covered such subjects as feminism, male chauvanism, homosexuality, marriage, courtship etc. At night Philip preached on being connected to Christ in Mission which was really good too.


I should also mention and praise God for the tremendous visit of the Holy Spirit in a beautiful way in the worship time on the Tuesday morning. It was quite extraordainary. 


So …

Kira Taylor is to run the Southampton Half Marathon in May for EAB! This is wonderful news in difficult days for EAB financially with giving and the pound down. Please do support her with a contribution. Everything helps. Please do so at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/eab-taylor 

Last week I spent hours talking to one leader and then talking to another to try and sort out some leadership changes that need to be made. It became a real headache basically because one of our pastors dug his heels in in an unreasonable fashion and by Friday I was despairing with no clear way forward. I prayed a lot that day and asked God to show us His way forward as it was beyond me. However, early on Saturday the brother in question contacted me, asked forgiveness, had completely changed his position and now we can see a way to sorting it all out. PTL! Tears came to my eyes when he contacted me on the Saturday. When there is no way forward God makes a way!


Sunday night’s main service of the week was excellent with a packed house again. The worship and sermon went very well. I preached on John 12:12-36. We even had a nun there who is doing post-graduate research and asked me if she could come to our church to do it by coming to the services. Of course I agreed. 


We’ve had some more rain and have now passed the 14 inch mark at Green Pastures on our way to our 40 inch goal. What we need now are one or two big all night rains as it’s these that fill up the lake and the river.


We continue very busy indeed preparing for the Carnival Camp which starts on Saturday, March 2nd and ends on the 6th. Please pray.


Liz has had a heavy cold but is much better today. PTL!


I have done quite a bit of work with Marian Rashleigh for the next edition of the EAB magazine In Touch – edition 91. The new edition should be out in April.

We had a good weekend with a lovely service last night despite numbers down a bit. 


I conducted a 5.5 km guided walk round Green Pastures at the weekend with 46 people coming from 4 counties in 2 States. It really was good. A great opportunity to get people to care about God’s creation and look after it.


We are flat out preparing for the Carnival Camp. I am also busy trying to figure out how to make some changes around the churches with some leaders because this is necessary. We value your prayers.


Rain was good over the weekend and we are up to 13 inches of rain at Green Pastures for the year so 27 inches to go to reach the ideal target quantity for the year. This will essentially need to fall by the end of May as only dribs and drabs come in June and then that’s it till the following year with increasing temperatures and evaporation as the year goes by. Please praise and pray with us. 


The grandmother of our grandsons Felipe and Arthur died yesterday of a heart attack. We were in the wake till late last night. These are our eldest daughter Deborah’s sons from her marriage to Cleytson which ended some years ago. Please pray for all the family. Cleytson’s mother was 69 and headteacher of a school.

Thursday night’s Bible study saw Philip continuing his very good series in Romans and advanced in chapter 5. There were 21 present and it was good to see many asking questions in a very participative and blessed evening.


I went for a walk at Green Pastures this morning and sorted out a number of matters in the build up to the Carnival Camp just 2 weeks away. One interesting thing is that we are being given a 52,000 litre rain water harvester by a Roman Catholic NGO which is quite a turn up for the books and most welcome. The harvester is a water cistern to which water from the roofs of two dormitories is channelled so as to guarantee good quality drinking water during long periods of drought.


I am in the process of sorting out with the senior general churches leadership team a number of crunch issues, so value your prayers. My sermon for Sunday on Philippians 2:1-11 is ready to roll too.

We are happy because we had another inch of rain yesterday taking us up to not far off 10 inches for this year. Our goal always is 40 inches or there abouts. As we always say this needs to fall in the first 5 or 6 months of the year as it doesn’t rain here in the second half of the year. Thank you for praying.


Once again this week the men’s fellowship group on the Tuesday and the women’s on the Wednesday both went really well. PTL! Tonight it’s Philip who gives the Bible study and he presses on in Romans.

The 10-day Special Evangelistic Outreach was held at Curral Velho last month with a 100+ team but now is the time for the long follow up being carried out by the local team. There are 15 who made decisions for Christ to be cared for plus 3 who came back to God. There are also quite a number of people who asked for home Bible studies expressing interest in the Gospel.


This week 4 women in the latter category had a home Bible study with great interest, under the leadership of local leaders Tica and Ramos. We praise God that one of them commited her life to Christ.


Please pray for the massive amount of work to be done in the vital follow up over the coming weeks and months.

The service went well yesterday with pastor Lucena, retired Congregational pastor who joined us last year, preaching and me leading. He worked alongside me at the Patos Bible College for 18 years and we always got on well together – so he is a blessing and a help. He could be more expositional but he does alright. He’s a lovely brother.


On the coast at João Pessoa at the weekend 12 were baptized. PTL! 5 were from the number one church (of 3 in the capital that we have) and 7 were from the Mata Redonda church plant 25 miles south of João Pessoa on the way to Recife. Please pray for the EAB churches in that area.

As usual it’s been a busy week. I had my periodical eye test on Monday and ordered a reserve pair of glasses as one pair disintegrated whilst I was in England. 


We’ve handled quite a few church problems this week – that is people with all sorts of problems. These things seem to come in waves in church work. One person is not walking straight and giving us a lot of headaches. Please pray.


Then there have been various issues to sort out with the leadership at general level but we thank God for a good team. 


I had a good meeting with pastor Luis Carlos, the deaf pastor. He is such a lovely brother. We had good discussions about this year’s deaf conference which brings in the deaf from all over the State of Paraíba and will be held at Green Pastures this year. 


We had building problems at the Patos school as the rains brought a bit of the ceiling down but that has been fixed. We had a problem with a cracked wall at the church projects centre but that too has been repaired.


The Bible study last night had 25 present which is an improvement for mid week. We’ve been working in preparation for the Carnival Camp too.


Please keep praying for rain for our region. We’ve had just over 8½ inches to date in 2019 so have started well but we need this to keep going over the next 3 months to reach somewhere around the 40 inches mark in the rainy season of the first 5 months of the year. 


Please pray too for our girls’ English school which is their means of income and which gives work to others from the church. Please pray for Philip too as he takes some important decisions regarding his work, life and ministry.

Last night’s Communion service was lovely. I preached on Isaiah 53 digging out the interpretation of “By his stripes we are healed” from the context of the book of Isaiah as from chapter 1 onwards and not taking the phrase out of context in a vacuum as some do. Hence clearly Isaiah is referring to spiritually healing and not physical and this is above all the great need of our era. This does not mean that physical healing is not to be prayed for as Jesus did it all the time! However it is not what Isaiah 53:5 is referring to. Such an intepretation avoids the absurd aberations of prosperity theology guaranteeing in the atonement physical healing for everyone always, which, if it were true, would mean nobody who adheres to such an idea would ever die! One such theologian said he hadn’t had a headache for 45 years! I myself read this! He is now dead by the way.


Thus yesterday the Lord really blessed as we focused on the wonderful truth of the possibilty in Christ of spiritual healing from the wounds and scars of sin. Praise Jesus for this!


The service also was taken over by the church at one point to celebrate my birthday, give me presents, say generous things and then everyone eat cake! It was a lovely time of celebration and fellowship. God is good!

We had a wonderful planning meeting yesterday for the 2019 Carnival Camp which will start exactly in a month’s time. 12 gathered on a Saturday evening for a meeting which lasted a bit over 2 hours. By the end we had worked out a complete schedule for the camp and divided responsibilities between different people/groups.


The theme this year will be “Connected to Christ”, based on John 15:4-5, seeking to emphasize the need for living out true christianity in everyday life and not just in church!


Pastor Rafael (Teixeira) will bring the opening general introductory message in the opening service on the Saturday night (March 2nd). 


On the Sunday the youth (Louisa, Rayla, Brenda, Ray & Mailson) will take the day discussing how to remain connected to Christ in a world of Digital Media (Netflix, TV, Music, Books, Social Media).


On the Monday Pastor Rafael, Andreia & Marah Danielle will lead the day talking about the importance of the Bible and Prayer, so as to remain connected to Christ.


On the Tuesday Philip will speak on remaining connected to Christ whilst evangelizing your own family and in the other service I will speak on relationships, male chauvinism, feminism and the likes and remaining connected to Christ amidst all this.


Liz will as usual coordinate the logistics of the whole event, expected to attract hundreds, and I will lead the overall spiritual and sporting programme. Please pray.


If anyone can contribute to helping poorer families not miss the camp it would be appreciated. To feed people and maintain everything clean, and other running costs, people pay 30 pounds, for the 4-day camp, which is pretty cheap – but many don’t have this money. Please send duly earmarked donations to the EAB treasurer and let us know you have sent please so that we can allow for this help coming. Thank you. 

Thank you for praying for the rain. Please keep praying. In January we had 183 mm (7.625 inches) at Green Pastures so it was a good start to the year and to our rainy season. We need 40 inches of rain to be a good year as the second half of the year doesn’t rain and the rising heat as the year goes on causes massive evaporation of water reserves. 


I walked 68.34 km in January – up from 60.72 km in December – so my daily rate was up from 1.95 to 2.20 km. Physical exercise is such an important thing to everything so I always endeavour to make time for it. The important thing is to find some form of exercise you enjoy. I tell everyone this. My eldest daughter Deborah likes cycling and cycles for miles doing her the world of good physically and psychologically. I like walking at Green Pastures. It is excellent to shake off the stress involved in the work of EAB at times. I walked 5.7 km today.


I have prepared my sermon for Sunday on “By his stripes we are healed”. It is the monthly communion service. 


I have done a lot of work with the leaders all week. There are times when problems in the local church arise and in the wider work too. There is a lot to work on, think on and pray on at the moment. We value your prayers. The WhatsApp means of communication is such a help for us in the work though. Quite wonderful. I have had discussions at length with so many this week. I’ve lost count with so many leaders around the more than 80 churches. It’s a lot of work and responsibility. We always value your prayers and support.


Yesterday we had a lovely chicken curry (my choice) with all the family at our house celebrating my birthday. It was a really nice relaxed time together. I got a new shirt and jeans out of it too! In the evening Liz and I went and relaxed and slept at Green Pastures and were up before 5 am today for walking. Thanks to all who sent me e-cards, real cards etc.


Tomorrow we have a leaders meeting in Patos in preparation for the Carnival Camp which starts on March 1st. 

You can access the new short 2-minute EAB video, made by Philip Medcraft, about the recent 10-day Evangelistic Outreach via the link below. May we suggest that you show it in your church and/or your church house fellowship.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZRe8PBIdzPOQwdqq9n2nK9yPK000KJRq

My sermon for tomorrow night’s final rally in the 10-day Evangelistic Outreach is ready to roll at Curral Velho as is my sermon ready for Patos on the Sunday. There have been a good few decisions at the Outreach and I will get the full picture there tomorrow.


I have had quite a bit of counselling to do as well this week together with meetings with various pastors and some trouble shooting in the Patos church. Easy life!


We had an inch of rain at Green Pastures yesterday so that’s good, taking us up to 5 inches with 35 to go. It’s rained again tonight in the area but will find out tomorrow if it rained at Green Pastures.

Please especially pray for the 10-day Special Evangelistic Outreach at Curral Velho with a team of over a hundred taking part which is facing stiff opposition from many in this village where medieval catholicism reigns and where many have clearly been prepared to not receive the team with the traditional Brazilian friendliness and are slamming doors in our team’s faces! Powercuts two nights in a row have also hindered the evening street services a lot. 


I spent today preparing my evangelistic sermon for the closing evangelistic rally on Saturday of this year’s outreach as I do every year. 


I have had a meeting with one of our pastors and his wife today which went well. Tomorrow I have a meeting with a group from the Patos church. 

Mosquitoes are a part of life here of course. Initially they drive you nuts as visitors here discover! However slowly the body builds up resistance and you ending up taking them in your stride. But in the last month or so our house is under attack from mosquitoes in an unprecedented way and I don’t know how to explain it. To sleep at night Liz and I only have our noses out above the sheet in order to survive!


I am fired up ready to preach on Psalm 40 tonight. It’s always good when one can’t wait for the time to preach! Philip is away at the 10-day Special Evangelistic Outreach at Curral Velho which is going well. It started on Friday (11th) and runs to next Sunday (20th). I will be preaching at the main closing evangelistic rally on the Saturday night. Please pray for this Outreach which involves a team of 100 plus.


Yesterday was our granddaughter Bia’s 9th birthday and we had a lovely family day at Green Pastures. 

The first Sunday in the year went well in Patos although the numbers were down somewhat, as this is the main holiday month in Brazil like August is in the UK. Nevertheless the sermon on Psalm 98 went particularly well. PTL!


Please pray for the annual special 10-day evangelistic outreach which starts this Friday (11th) and will run through to the 20th. Philip will be taking a group from Patos for the 10 days and folk will gather from most of our churches making up a 100 strong team. The outreach will be held at Curral Velho this year together with other villages and farmsteads in the region. I will be preaching in the closing street service as I always do.

On Friday night (4th) we rejoiced to receive nearly an inch (21 mm) of rain at Green Pastures constituting the first rain of 2019 and we sure need it. As always our prayer and goal is in the vicinity of 40 inches of rain during the year. Last year the total rainfall at Green Pastures was 36 inches which was fine.


It was a sudden electrical storm last night and electricity is knocked out at Green Pastures which is a pity for the Sunday School kids going there for an outing today. In Patos the wind was frighteningly strong ripping off roofs partially, knocking down walls, ripping off gates from houses and breaking some windows.


I am working on completing my sermon preparation for the first Sunday of the year today.

Our watchnight service starts in a bit less than 2 hours time and I’m all ready to preach again and conduct communion. Philip will baptize 3.

Last night’s third Christmas service was great. The Lord really blessed and some decisions were made for Christ at the end. The dance group was excellent and the Patos church band brought a fantastic song of challenge. All was a real blessing.


So a very happy New Year to one and all. Please pray for EAB’s funding which is very tight indeed as we go into 2019. We look to the Lord and ask for special prayer please. Thanks very much to all who supported and prayed for the work throughout 2018.