Inspiring Quotes

"Lord send me anywhere, only go with me;
lay any burden on me, only sustain me;
sever any tie, but the one that binds me to You."
- David Livingstone, Missionary to Africa

This quote inspires me to fully surrender all I am and have and do to our Lord Jesus, and to be willing to go anywhere and do anything that He wants, as long as He is with me.



"Oh the fullness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth."
- Jim Elliot, Missionary to Ecuador


When I first read this quote in the early 90's I realized that when this man was alive he had something I did not have. I had accepted Christ in my heart and life in 1985, but I was inspired to go much deeper in my personal relationship with Jesus, and make Him the Source of fulfillment, joy, satisfaction,... This quote is about the abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10:10, and the satisfaction and joy and excitement that comes when you become a fully surrendered servant of the living God.

"Lost In Church" - Could This Be True ?

The following is a portion of an article on the Facing Forever webpage (click the link to read the entire article):

How would your approach to evangelism be different if you knew that up to one-half of the people attending your church were not Christians? As startling as this idea may appear, recent research indicates it is a hard reality for many churches in the United States. Researcher George Barna has discovered the disturbing fact that “half of all adults who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christian.” He also points out that people who call themselves Christians but are not born again are “a group that constitutes a majority of churchgoers.”

Barna’s findings are similar to those reported by Bill Bright, founder and fifty-year president of Campus Crusade for Christ. According to Bright, “Our surveys suggest that over 50% of the hundred million people in church here in the United States every Sunday are not sure of their salvation.” In addition to discovering that 50% of people in church are “lost churchgoers,” the Barna Research Group has also revealed that 44% of Americans are “notional Christians.” These 90 million notional Christians are people who describe themselves as Christians but do not believe that their hope for eternal life is based on a personal relationship with Jesus and the belief that He died and rose again from the dead. According to On Mission magazine, published by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, “notional Christians” do not know “whether they will experience eternal life, eternal damnation or some other outcome.”

When I first started to read this article a couple of years ago I could not believe that up to half of the people in US Protestant churches could be lost and without Christ, but as I continued to read about how Campus Crusade research showed the same I started to think that it could be true. It would certainly explain alot of things that are going on in the church in the US (the percentage of divorces in the church is the same as outside the church; a lack of evangelism in many churches; a lack of passion for Jesus; a lack of power to influence others in society;...). So what do you think ? Could this be true ?

Mid-Year Update

We are praising God for what He has done in the 1st half of this year, and we are looking forward to what He is going to do in the rest of the year. Right now things are fairly quiet and we get some time to rest and recharge, because schools are out for winter break in July and we do not have any seminars or other things scheduled in the churches. Here are some numbers showing what God has done so far this year; He is truly doing immeasurably more than we ask and imagine:

17,472- number of people that accepted Christ since early 2007
7,147- number of people that accepted Christ in 2008 (that we know of)
660+- number of adults that accepted Christ in schools (not counting teachers)
282- number of times we have spoken this year in a school
200- number of people trained in People Sharing Jesus seminars in churches
186- number of teachers that accepted Christ
13- number of schools we spoke in so far this year
10- number of times I have preached in churches
3- number of school coordenators that accepted Christ
2- number of directors (principals) that accepted Christ

Numbers are nice to look at, but the numbers do not nearly tell the story of what we have seen God do here. It is amazing how God is powerfully touching and saving many hearts & souls, for His glory. At times we see adults and even adolescents crying while we are sharing the message of Christ. Many times in a school, especially with adolescents, before we start speaking there is a fair amount of noise in the class, but by the time we get to the final part about the spiritual life and how to have peace & eternal life through Christ you can hear a pin drop and you can see that God has grabbed ahold of their hearts. When we speak to adults in a school, most of the time they pray out loud to receive Christ (the children always do this, and sometimes even the adolescents pray out loud too). And it's always great to see the look of joy and the smiles on the faces of the people who have accepted Christ, and they usually are very grateful and appreciative. It's awesome to watch and see God touching & convicting & changing hearts right before your eyes.

Abundant Life

" I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10

" I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." - Philemon 6

Jesus came so that we could have a reconciled relationship with God, so that we could have eternal life in heaven with Him, and also an abundant life here. The abundant life that God wants for us is a life full of joy and peace and power and victory and fruitfulness and satisfaction. This type of life brings much glory to Him. Why are there so many Christians who are not experiencing this type of life ? Churches are full of people who are missing out on the abundant life.

Two of the reasons why so many Christians are missing out on God's best for their lives and the abundant life are found in Matthew 6:33 - "Seek first for God's kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you." Quite simply their relationship with God and the building of God's kingdom are not the first or top priority in their lives. Look at Philemon 6 above, a very interesting verse. Actively sharing Christ with others (being a faithful witness for Christ) is vital if you want to experience all that God wants for you. You will never have the abundant, victorious, fruitful, joyful, satisfying life until you commit to actively and faithfully share Christ with others. Jesus says in Matthew 4:19 "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Unless you are a "fisher of men" (a person who actively & faithfully shares Christ with others) you are not truly following Jesus, The Source of abundant life. You must walk closely with Jesus, The Source, and truly follow and obey Him, or you will never experience abundant life.

Brazil Photo

Once or twice a month I will post a picture of something about Brazil. This photo is of an amazingly beautiful type of butterfly called the Blue Morpho butterfly, which is normally found in the tropical jungles like the Amazon. We have seen some here in the forest trail part of the Sao Paulo botanical garden. The top of their wings are blue and they reflect light, so that they appear to be neon blue. They almost do not look real.

Congratulations John & Renata

Our oldest son John just got engaged this past weekend to Renata, a wonderful Christian Brazilian young lady. Last night our family had a party with Renata's family to celebrate. Congratulations John and Renata. We love you both, we are proud of you, and we are very happy for both of you.

Downtown (Centro) Sao Paulo

Our son Anthony has been visiting us from Atlanta this past month, and we went to centro (downtown) Sao Paulo a couple of times. The following is a slide show of some photos we took there. There is a great view of the city from the Banespa Bank Building, from the 35th floor terrace. The size of the city of Sao Paulo is amazing, and it spreads as far as the eye can see in every direction.