A Cloud of Witnesses

BCP Banquet

I love how Hebrews 12 begins: “Seeing then that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” In the context the author is urging his readers to live in faith, following the example of the many men and women of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.

As I begin my church planting internship and anticipate many years of church planting ministry in the years to come, I love every opportunity I have to interact with the church planters who have gone before me. Read Full Post

Day 50: The End of the Journey

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The plane began its descent on American soil, and shortly before 6am EST we were on the ground in Atlanta.

A new day, a new month, a new city…and a new perspective.

My ministry trip to Brasil is over, but life continues on. I could not just come back the same person that I was when I went there. But I’ll talk about that later. Read Full Post

Day 43: Eureka! Treasure Island!

Noe II

Today’s a day I have been anticipating for a long time…Treasure Island! I ate a quick breakfast of egg casserole and coconut bread and packed everything I would need for three days on the island. With the exception of my hammock, I managed to get it all in a small suitcase.


We left Petrolina in late morning and drove back to Sobradinho. Uncle Doug took me, D
Right after passing over the Sobradinho Dam, we turned off the road. There, tucked back in a tiny little canal is Noe II, the boat that would take us across the lake to Treasure Island. Uncle Doug dropped us off there with all our stuff and then drove into Sobradinho to start picking up the campers.anae, Joy Baxter, and Neto, the latter two having been picked up in Petrolina. Aunt Renate took Destiny and picked up Tatiane and Chelsea, a couple other girls who were going to be counselors with us. Read Full Post

Day 38: Sad Day

Today was a sad day for a couple reasons. First of all, it was sad because we left Crato today, my home for the last five weeks. It only took five weeks for me to become fairly involved in several ministries and begin to develop many friendships with both Americans and Brazilians. But the next phase of our ministry requires us to move to Petrolina, so we started in that direction today. Read Full Post

Brazil, Day 30: Adolescent Retreat

So today’s the big day. We had scheduled the adolescent camp-out for two weeks earlier, but because of some circumstances we had to reschedule it for this weekend. But now all the plans were in place and it was go time!

After a breakfast of French toast, papaya, and hot milk, we spent the morning cleaning the house, clearing the porches, and getting everything else ready. For lunch we had rice, beans, fried fish, and bananas for dessert, and the next couple hours I was able to relax a little, do my devotions in Acts 16, and finish preparing the devotional I was going to give around the campfire in the evening. Read Full Post