Help Thiago go to college in the USA

The fall semester at Lancaster Bible College begins the end of August, and Thiago Naque needs $2,000 ASAP to get a Visa and move to Pennsylvania from Brazil. He has a $20,000 soccer scholarship and a part-time job waiting for him, but he will not be able to accept it without your help. The first soccer game is September 1^st.

Thiago remembers always moving around to different communities, his father being a church planter with WRB, and serving in Africa in 2005 and 2006. Thiago says the most important part about growing up in a missionary family was learning to do what God had called them to do. He was able to see firsthand how God was always there in hard times. 

Thiago spent a year at Word of Life Hungry after high school, and was then set up to play professional soccer in Germany. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get a Visa to stay. He returned to Brazil a bit disheartened, but for the past two years he has faithfully served the Lord with his family and individually, taking a strong lead in sports ministries, outreaches, and teaching English.

He loves ministering with sports because he finds it so easy to share the gospel in that setting. He works hard at playing soccer because he wants to use his work (soccer) as his mission. 

With his parents returning to Africa next year, there is no extra money. Thiago needs a total of $6,000 to be able to accomplish his dream of finishing his undergrad at Lancaster Bible college—and $2,000 of that is needed by this August. Please join us in assisting Thiago, as he furthers his education and his mission for the Lord.  

We have setup a gofundme at: gofund.me/4c8zzbbx4m
or donate straight through WRI

*To Donate please click Here. The donation will go to his father's account so that he can pay for the college.

Timbauba Impacto

World Renewal Brazil talks with Pastor Assuerio Naque and Carlos Augusto about the Timbauba Impacto. Don't know what an Impacto is? Watch the video below.

Gathering Place 2 (Glory Sports Complex)

We have broken ground on phase 1 of the new sports complex and things are speeding along.

There is a matching fund up to $20,000 until the end of 2014 please consider donating at: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=004F126CFDD5478

Day One Church: US Missions Team

We continue our series titled Day One Church, following the church plant in Desterro from the first day it started.

Living Stones & Church Planting:

For the past year, Living Stones has had an outreach in Belem, the name of one of the three communities that are along the two mile stretch of road called Desterro. It was logical that the Living Stones outreach would partner with the new church plant so close by. A short-term missions team from the Shelbyville Community Church provided a great opportunity to start the partnership.  The team provided the resources for a party with the Desterro church last week.

The Living Stones and the church plant had an interesting start together when they brought all the kids from Living Stones to the church only to discover that it was locked! The new Pastor Marco was running late from work and arrived 45 minutes late.

So, what should you do in this case? Throw a party in the street! So, what happens when you throw a party in the street? Well, it turns out a party in the street is a great way to attract attention! God seemed to ordain the lateness this time! By the time they moved into the church they had a very nice crowd that followed!

Near the end of the party Pastor Flavio (the Director of Living Stones) was testing kids to see if they could read, if they could then they were given an Action Bible and encouraged to read to a friend who couldn't read every day!

Day One Church

In the middle of a community of 3,000 people sat an abandoned church building empty, that is, until this last Friday (10/10/14). 

The church sits on a road called Desterro, just outside of Pauldalho. The area has three different names for each "neighborhood," even though the whole community barely spans a city block. 

There was no other active church in this community until World Renewal Brazil opened those dusty doors last week. The new Evangelical Friends church started in partnership with the Community church of Pauldalho and the Community Church of Lagoa de Itaenga.

On the WRI blog we are going to be following this church to give our US partner churches a unique look at how a church in Brazil reaches the community. Friday was the first launch service at the church. Christians came from three sister community churches to help out with the service. The band was a mixture of Pauldalho's and Acacias' community church. Pastor Marco Migarro gave short introductory message explaining why the church is there and what God says about reaching others for Christ. 

Praying for the Pastor

There was a special moment after the service where Caid Ferguson (a US missionary who along with his wife Rachel help raise awareness and fund for the social outreach / church planting program Living Stones) got up and started singing with the band because he recognized the song and knew the words in English.

The Evangelical Friends Church on Desterro road was purchased on faith. The second payment is due at the end of October. It is for $7,000. Please prayerful consider giving toward the payments of this Day One Church.

To support this Day One Church please go to: http://goo.gl/ss39gW

The total for the church is $26,000. We have $11,000 raised so far.

New Evangelical Friend's church near Paudalho

This is the road called Desterro. It is a small community outside of Paudalho.

This area has no evangelical church near it. The church building that World Renewal Brazil just purchased had been boarded up for 9 years. Now is the time to revitalize the area and show God's love once more to this gospel needy community.

The church building is under some general maintenance and upkeep right now. Pastors from WRB are helping in all sorts of ways, to get the church ready to start receiving people. It has been amazing to see everyone come together to help out this latest church plant. 

The building was purchased for R$65,000(USD$29,000) with the down payment of R$22,000(USD$10,000)  paid for from the Evangelical Friend's churches in the US.

Pastor Marco (Word of Life background) will be the pastor of this Evangelical Friend's church on Desterro road. The full name of the church is undecided.
Marco wanted to have a prayer and vision meeting inside the church this last weekend but while they were cleaning the roof tiles they found and killed 35 bats. It was not safe to hold the prayer meeting since bats carry lots of decease and even their poop causes allergies.

A few of the bats killed: 35 in all with one big ring leader bat.

Pastor Marco and his Family

Please be praying for this new church plant on Desterro's road. They will be having their first meeting very soon. World Renewal Brazil also needs to raise the rest of the money to finish paying for the building. This month we will need R$14,000 (USD$6,500) total more needed to pay off the church building is: R$43,000 (USD$19,000).

Glory Sports Complex (Gathering Place 2) is delayed

Tele Moraes (WRB President) went to what he thought was the last meeting with the architect, before breaking ground on the new sports complex. He received bad news. The Brazil government may or may not be taking more land from the property to put in a bypass.

There are three routes being considered for the bypass but near our property is the route that would cost the government the least amount of money. When will they decide? There is no way to tell how long that will take.

What does this mean for the sports complex?
We go back to the drawing board and come up with some new plans. We also pray, A LOT.

Below is a video of Tele explaining some of the new possibilities for the sports complex.

Please pray with us that we will be able to come up with a good plan and God is at work through this whole process.

20 Years of World Renewal Brazil

It was an amazing time of celebration and an outpouring of love to those that helped start the ministry.

Words of appreciation and plaques of recognition were given to those that have been involved since 1993.

Testimonies, worship and tears of joy all wrapped up with a message by the founder of the first community church in the US Dr. Charles Lake.

Praise God for 20 years of Brazil ministry!

October Tele Talk

The above video, Tele talks about the sports programs going on in the town of Lagoa de Itaenga

Donate to the church construction here

WRB Welcomes Casey Hlebovy for the Fall teaching team

It is always wonderful to see how God provides for the needs here in Brazil. The following is Casey's story about how she decided to come help in Brazil for 6 months.

You can donate to her at: http://www.wribrazil.com/supportlist.html

"My name is Cassandra Hlebovy (Casey, Cassie). I am currently getting ready to travel to Carpina, Pernambucco, Brazil and stay for five months. While I am in Carpina, I will be volunteering at the International School in Carpina teaching English as a second language to preschoolers and I will be volunteering with the Living Stones project. Living Stones works along with local churches to help the poorest of the poor by sharing the love of Jesus through education, modeling a Christ centered family and providing nourishment.

In the fall of 2012, Morning Star Friends Church in Chardon, Ohio was prompted by the Holy Spirit to send a group to Carpina, Brazil to see how or if they would partner with the work of the Evangelical Friends (World Renewal Brazil). To give a background on the Living Stones project, Rachel Winzeler a Living Stones missionary came and spoke to the church. After listening to Rachel speak, the nudges I had been getting from God to do a long term mission trip were confirmed. I wanted to drop everything and go back to Brazil with Rachel, but she advised me to come with the Morning Star mission group to investigate if I really was being drawn. I agreed, but in my heart I knew where I should be. This was confirmed by my pastor, when he suggested that I would be a good candidate for a long term mission trip, not knowing where I was being led.

In June, 2013 myself along with eleven others from our church went to Carpina, Brazil. While on that trip and interacting with the children from three different places (those living in the local trash dump, local churches, and the International School) I was being nudged again to spend an extended time in Brazil.  Originally, I was going to get my flight changed and stay for just a couple of more days to confirm the desire, but God had another plan. My flight was not able to be changed so my dad and I prayed and talked about other options. We thought that I would be able to come back in the fall and stay for a month or so, but once again God had another plan. When the offer was made for myself to come back for a few months in the fall, I was quickly asked if I would consider a five month term to teach English as a second language to pre-school children at the International School. I said a resounding YES!  They were elated, since that they had been praying for someone to teach this class.  

So I am on my way to Carpina, Brazil."

Thank you so much Casey and we look forward to having you serve with us in Brazil.

Shirts for a Roof

Custom designed T-shirts to raise money for the roof at Pastor Ricardo's church in Lagoa de Itaenga.

We have a unique opportunity to bring these T-shirts designed by Pastor Ricardo back to the US. We are selling them $15 each and the money will be going toward finishing the roof of the gymnasium.

Let us know now via e-mail at WRIBRAZIL@gmail.com

Cut off date is June 27th to order.

Town of Lagoa de Itaenga in need of Peace

There have been at least 6 murders in the small town of Lagoa de Itaenga in the last 2 weeks. All of the murders have been drug related or gang related. This is more violence than the big city of 4 million (Recife). Lagoa de Itaenga has around 40 thousand.

Yesterday (4/10/13) while the community church was having a youth outreach we got reports that a father had just shot and killed his son. This was also drug related.(Praise God this turned out NOT to be true) This city is crying out for help and the 6 or so police that patrol the city can not keep up.

Please pray with us for Peace in Lagoa de Itaenga.

Pastor Ricardo Silva along with the other churches in the town are organizing a "Walk for Peace" day. We are hoping to include every single church including the catholic church to participate. 

The community church is growing again with new construction starting this week to put the roof on the gymnasium. Once this is complete we will have neighborhood kids at the church every day involved in a youth outreach program similar to Living Stones and Athletes in Action. The church is trying to reach the youth in the community and keep them away from drugs and gangs.

Church Plant Outreach in Full Swing

The farthest interior church plant is underway, with a group of evangelists and sports personal working together to reach the town of Santa Cruz do Capibaribe.
View Larger Map

The impact is the 5th of January through the 13th. Everyday they will have sports outreaches morning and afternoon teaching basketball and soccer. For most of the kids this will be their first exposure to basketball. Rogerio Soares from Athlete's in Action is leader the sports ministry. Mike Westlake from the Community Church of Greenwood is also assisting with the basketball outreach.

The team settled in their new home at the local public school and then started walking around the area inviting people to that evenings program on Saturday the 5th. That evening saw a very dynamic speaker/singer who talked about the dangers of drugs and the saving grace of God. It was a very high energy night and a great way to start the weeks impact.
Full set of picture at: http://tinyurl.com/bk9r394

Please continue to pray for the town of Santa Cruz do Capibaribe as the team will be reaching that area for Jesus.

Tele Talk - Back to the Ministry

Tele is back in Brazil now and he talks about Augustinho's graduation and the future of the church planting ministry. Watch it now at:http://youtu.be/cB3PprHo3JQ

WORLD RENEWAL BRAZIL CHURCH SPOTLIGHT:

LAGOA DE ITAENGA

Pastor Ricardo Silva	View Community Churches in Brazil in a larger map

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Growth is everywhere. You can see it in your communities, you can see it in your country, and you can see it at this rural church run by Pastor Ricardo Silva as well.  Thanks to a donation from Greenwood Community Church this small community of worship was able to begin a sports ministry in the newly built open-air sanctuary. The children’s programs have also experienced growth thanks to two new classrooms located below the building.

What has the donation allowed us to do?

Soccer ministries every Friday night- More and more people are showing up each week to this event. The vast majority of them do not regularly attend the church.

More outdoor children’s programs – These have allowed us to fund VBS type events, like water balloon games, sack races, and ect.
Larger Sunday services – Now the space for our service is much more open and can fit more people. Additionally, there is a larger projection screen area for optimal viewing so everyone is guaranteed to see.

What is left to do?

Because of the rising costs of construction we still owe $4,000 for improvements on the facility. Most of this cost goes towards laying cement on the floors so that we could begin the soccer ministry right away. Other expenses include finishing the classrooms and putting up shelves.

How can you help?

Please consider making a donation to help this community of God pay off their remaining building expenses. Furthermore, as so many new people come to the sports ministries, pray that they will become more connected with the church and will receive Jesus Christ as their savior. And lastly, pray in general for the hand of God to be present in this church’s mission to reach out to the surrounding community.

World Renewal is a 501C not-for-profit organization and all donations will be receipted to you from the office. With everyone helping a little, the work of God in Brazil can get done. Everyone can do something. Thank you for your help.

Approved!

Pastor Ricardo Silva got the great news today that they were approved for a mortgage on their soon to be completed house. Their house sits next door to Jeff & Lindsay Turner's new home. They are looking forward to being neighbors.

Please join us as we raise funds for a healthy down payment for Ricardo's house and for Jeff & Lindsay to upgrade their current car to a seven passenger van.
 The dinner will be May Third (Thursday) at 6:30pm in the fireside chapel at Brookville Road Community Church. It is $15 per person or $25 per couple. Please make sure to RSVP to wribrazil@gmail.com.

Help us make this an Easter to remember at Living Stones!

For a $3 kit, you provide for an impoverished child in Northeast Brazil to receive:

1. Their first Easter egg hunt
2. An Easter basket
3. A presentation of the origins of Easter and the 1st Passover
4. A big dose of God’s love 

 With extra donations, we will purchase Easter baskets for the families—but instead of candy—will fill it with the basic food they need. To make your contribution, go to www.wribrazil.com/kitsforkids

Karine & Roberto have a baby

Edward Nicholas was born to Karine (Tele's daughter) and Roberto on January 9th. They are currently in England and will return to Brazil sometime in February.

Community Church Day at Word of Life Camp

Every year on the Brazilian holiday: Children's Day, all of the community churches in Brazil get together for one big camp day. This tradition started in 1999 and this year was the first year that Tele Moraes was not able to be there. He was in the US sharing about the ministry to all of our supporters. The camp day was an uplifting day of fellowship and games. The exciting new game that was added this year was paintball, and both young kids and older adults enjoyed shooting each other with paint at the sectioned off battlefield. For pictures please go to our facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Renewal-Brazil/58818349777

July Tele Talk: Summer trips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSlVVWFylgc

Back-to-Back Trips Educate Children about Christ

Joesph Hook helping kids with their projects

From July 6 through the 13, Brazil welcomed a group of 9 visitors from Greensburg, Indiana. During their stay, they conducted 3 different vacation Bible schools in Carpina, Guadalajara, and Lagoa de Itaenga and brought a total of 37 children to Christ. Through their Bible lessons, craft projects, and activities, these kids were able to laugh together and be educated about the undying love of Jesus. Joeseph Hook, visiting Brazil for the first time, described his time here as a "life-changing experience." He had the most fun communicated with children and building his Portuguese vocabulary.

Brookville Road Youth Group

But Brazil only had 1 day to rest before welcoming a group of approximately 30 teenagers on July 15. These teens will work together in an English camp preceding the first week of school and also host a youth conference. The English camp will not only help Brazilian kids with their pronunciation, but it will also further educate them about the universal love of God. Following the camp, the teens will lead a youth conference. The Community Churches of the area each chose teenagers whom they felt were qualified to be leaders in their congregation and the conference will serve as a learning period to equip the Brazilians with knowledge to lead younger believers.

Assuerio Naque prepares for Mission to Africa

Assuerio Naque, pastor of the Community Church of Ameixas, is getting the opportunity to live a dream that he's been shaping ever since he was seventeen years old. On July 3rd, Naque left Brazil to go to Mozambique, Africa. There, he will spend 32 days passing out leadership material that will help to prepare the pastors in Southern Mozambique for the challenge of planting more churches in the North. Then, in 2013, Naque will move his family across the ocean to begin his church planting mission.

The main focus of the mission, as Naque repeatedly stressed, was to "Train the leaders, plant a church." Although he set up his own time table of 5-7 years, Naque added that this was only his personal agenda; what God has in store cannot be known. Since that is the case, Naque is prepared to stay in Africa ten or twenty years, fully trusting in God's plan.

When asked what the biggest problem this mission might face would be, Naque said that the traditional religion of Mozambique would probably be an issue. Spiritualism is present everywhere, he said, even among the doctors. There has even been a history of violent situations from the spiritualists against missionaries in some cases.

Considering that Northern Mozambique has a high population of Muslims, Assuerio Naque commented that he didn't feel he would have any difficulty with them. In fact, Naque said that he felt a love for the Muslims because they are good people and family oriented, so they would not want to cause trouble.

Assuerio asks that everyone continue to pray for him and this ministry in Africa as well as for the power of Jesus Christ to be strong wherever he goes.

Tele Talk: Not something you want to miss!

If you weren't tuning in Thursday morning (June 30) at 10:00 a.m., then you missed out on a fantastic program. Tele sat down and gave an extensive update on the recent projects of World Renewal Brazil which include the Oasis Rehab Center and the implementation of Celebrate Recovery into the church program. Tele also mentioned some of the other groups visiting this summer who will organize activities such as English camps, youth conferences, vacation Bible schools, and basketball clinics during their individual stays.

Tele took this opportunity to express his excitement over the arrival of a new missionary family this July. Rogerio and Susan Soares, plus their five children, will be joining us in the effort to bring families to Christ in the Carpina area. Their home is conveniently located within walking distance to a major public school in the area which makes it an ideal spot to minister to the local youth.

Once the general updates were made, specific questions about the Oasis Rehab Center arose. Tele pointed out the great need in Brazil for a place for addicts to go and find hope. Not just recovery, but a pure, solid hope in life. He pointed out that even the Brazilian government has recognized that they are steadily losing their youth to drugs and have appealed to the churches for help. The Oasis Rehab Center, Tele professed, will hopefully be the first of many centers in Brazil where men can go and to find the recovery they need and the future God desires for them.

When it comes down to the needs of the ministry, Tele gave a few things to pray about. First is that the Lord will bring forth leaders. These leaders are the ones who will go out and help plant more churches and bring even more people into the ministry. The next prayer request is for more financial support. The Rehab center, along with other programs, will only grow if they can get a steady form of financial support.

For a chance to ask Tele your own questions about what the World Renewal Ministry is doing in Brazil, tune in to the next Tele Talk on Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 a.m.

You can listen to the June Tele Talk here.

Brazil Welcomes Group from Brandywine Community Church, Indiana

This past Wednesday, June 22, a group of four guests from Brandywine Community Church in Indiana kicked off what will be a short series of conferences that will help to start the Celebrate Recovery program here in Brazil. Celebrate Recovery puts a Biblical spin on the standard 12-step program that turns victims of addiction, abuse, and bad decisions into leaders for others to turn to. It offers hope and accountability, making it a widely successful program.

From left to right: Linda Ostewig, Jim Moreland, Nick Fiano, and Gina Colclazier

Prior to the conference at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night, the group went out to explore parts of the Carpina area. The first stop was in the town of Tracunhaém where they admired beautiful clay statues and figurines. Following that, they visited a school in Santo Antonio where Jim, Nick, Linda, and Gina introduced themselves to a class of students and encouraged them to keep studying while always looking to God for guidance.

This group from Brandywine Community church will not be the only team making a difference in Brazil. Over the course of the next month, two more groups will also join us to share the love of Christ through activities such as a Vacation Bible School, English camp, and a new Sports program for kids. World Renew Brazil looks forward the arrival of these different teams and can’t wait to see what God has in store for all of them during their stay.

English as Evangelism, Africa and More Come to Christ

English brings in over 70 people to the church of Acacias

This year the Community Church of Acacias has expanded its English classes and church services to two times a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Right after the English classes finish they have a church service in English with a translator, to bring the word of God to those that came to the class, but would normally never go to church. We have three churches right now that have English as an outreach and would love to have even more, if we had the staff.

Emily and Lindsay show how to play chubby bunny during an English event.

March for Jesus

The churches in Lagoa de Itaenga (Pastor Ricardo’s town) are gearing up to do a huge city wide prayer walk through the town. They have called all the churches from the community and the surrounding cities to participate. The event will take place in June.

Come to Christ

Flavio was thrilled and is excited to see what God is going to do in his life.

The Living Stones program in Cajueiro Claro has been going strong for several months now and out of that has sprung up church services on Friday nights. Pastor Flavio (who runs Living Stones) has been inviting the people from the community to come. He always makes sure to stop and talk with the town drunk to invite him and he always says he will try to come.
This last Friday he actually came and told Flavio he would like to come again. Flavio was thrilled and is excited to see what God is going to do in his life. At the same service a man from the community told Flavio he was very sad because he could not participate in the communion bread and drink yet. He told Flavio that he knows what he needs to do and wants to come to Christ soon.

Similarly, Pastor Asuério Naque in Ameixas has been inviting a man addicted to drugs to church for more than three years. A few months ago this man finally came to church and gave his life to Christ. He is currently in the discipleship program.

His heart has always been for the Portuguese speaking country of Mozambique

Pastor Asuério will be going to Mozambique Africa in July. His heart has always been for the Portuguese speaking country of Mozambique. This 20 day trip will be the preparation trip for his family to move to Africa. Their goal is to get to Africa in 2012. In July, Asuério will be starting in south Mozambique then move on to the middle of the country for a week long pastor's conference. He also plans on spending time in the mainly Muslim northern region of Mozambique, where he has a strong desire to plant community churches.

Please pray for this trip and please consider how you might be able to help Asuério financially.  For the July trip he needs R$2,500 ($1,560). He has raised R$600 ($375) from the community churches in Brazil, a difficult task because most of the churches are in poor communities.  You can donate online here.

February Tele Talk conference call

For those of you that were not able to attend, you can download the audio file for the last Tele Talk conference call.

Tele mainly talked about the Glory Sports ministry and the impact that the basketball team had.

Check it out at: http://wribrazil.com/Teleconferencefeb.mp3

ProPresenter Blessing

Thanks to generous donations the ministry was able to purchase a site license for propresenter, which is a powerpoint type program that you can use videos or live video as the backgrounds.

The church in Lagoa de Itaenga just had an open air evangelism night partnering with the other churches in the town. This was the first time we were able to test out propresenter at a service. The service was amazing and nobody in this region had every seen such a program. It helped to draw in the crowds.
Pastor Ricardo preached on the love of God in John 3:16 and we had a closing song. When the song started playing we showed a video background of the crucifixion. It was perfect timing and as you looked around several people were crying. It was so wonderful to see the churches in this community come together to bring the love of Christ to the people.

For those of you that missed the Dialog with Tele, we will put that online soon.

Dialog With The Director of WRB

Dear Friends,
On Thursday, February 24 we will hold a conference call for friends and partners of World Renewal Brazil (WRB) to share about the incredible work God is doing through Glory Sports Ministries.

Glory Sports Ministries exists to engage youth through sports activities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Recently, God has provided some unique opportunities through the public school system to expand and reach more youth.  We are receiving great favor among local principals who are excited about the work of Glory Sports Ministries because we provide an alternative to the drugs, prostitution and violence facing their students.
Join us as Tele Moraes, President of World Renewal Brazil, and Steve Turner, U. S. Operations Director for WRB, will be live in Brazil giving us the “play by play” of this and other exciting opportunities.
February 24, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. EST

If you would like to participate in the call, please email Jeff Turner at jeffroyturner@gmail.com and he will reply with the call-in number and passcode.
We welcome you to invite others who may be interested in hearing about what God is doing through Glory Sports Ministries.  Please forward them this email and request that they also contact Jeff for the call information.
We appreciate your ongoing prayers and support for the people of Northeast Brazil and the work of World Renewal.

Tele