The two conference rooms of the Hotel Urupema hold the Sunday meetings of the SJC church, along with a couple of rooms for Bible classes. The church here began in this hotel. Later, it went downtown for a time when it rented a second-floor area and opened a School of the Bible, where Alvaro had his office. We outgrew that facility, so after a period of research, decided to come back to the hotel. It has served us well, though we're in the middle of discussions about other possibilities.

Micah baptized Bruno Sunday night in the pool at Jose Roberto and Lea's home. They are also Christians who live near our house.

Micah, Bruno, Joel. The latter two are about the same age, and are good friends. Micah and Joel studied with Bruno, and Joel especially encouraged him along the way.

by Randal Matheny, in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil 1 July 2002

From the street, fireworks have sounded all month! And at home and in the church, there have been many reasons to celebrate as well.

Walk with me through the corridor of June, 2002, for an overview of what happened in the church in Sao Jose dos Campos (SJC), in our ministry, and around the country.

All in the Family

Last night I had a privilege nearly as great as baptizing my sons. Micah baptized Bruno into Christ, after he and Joel studied with him for a couple of months. It was a joy seeing my children being used by the Lord to bring others to salvation.

Bruno is the 15-year-old son of Peruvian parents, naturalized Brazilians. They live the next block down on our street. He is good friends with Micah and Joel. One of the good influences on his life has been the Christian camp sessions over the past couple of years, as well as his friendship with the boys and his participation in our home group studies.

Bruno's family may not react well to his decision, so please keep him in your prayers.

All in the Family II

Micah started working with me in the office the last week of the month. He's managed to "fit me in" for three half-days a week. He and Joel do stay busy with schoolwork, basketball, swimming, and church activities. (One more in August: youth group.)

Big Challenge

The Sao Jose church has been scheduled to plan the next National Christian Workers Encounter during Easter weekend, 2003. The men decided June 16 to accept the invitation of the Christian camp board to coordinate the event.

That will be a big responsibility for our small congregation, but we have good people to work with.

The SJC church

It seems it's taken the congregation the first semester of the year to adjust from Alvaro Pestana's leaving in January. Alvaro and Otavio Carvalho began the church in SJC, so his exit required some changes. He was supported by the congregation for full-time work, so now we have no one person to fill his shoes. During this time, Otavio and I have taught the brethren, as Alvaro also did, that the work belongs to us all and as members of the body, we all have our part to do.

Home Groups

In June we finished in our home study groups the thirteen-week series "People Jesus Praised." It was a fascinating effort, and at the end of each discussion we asked ourselves, "What must we do to hear the same compliment Jesus paid this person/group?"

I write the study outlines and questions for our three groups in SJC.

Bible School

June also concluded our second-quarter Bible school study on "Great Doctrines of the Bible," based on Walter Swain's work published by Star Bible. I translated the chapters as we went and administered the classes. The book was used for preacher training schools in India and summarizes well the various topics treated.

Next quarter, I continue teaching the adults Bible class with the subject "An Hour with God." We'll examine how to spend time alone with the Lord in Scripture and prayer.

World Cup Month

This past month all eyes were glued to the TV as Brazil worked its way through the competition to capture its fifth World Cup championship. The green and yellow colors of the flag flew everywhere, from banners, clothes, cars, windows. That affects one's work, but we enjoyed the festive atmosphere, and also enjoyed seeing the U.S. team go further than expected.

Publications

We printed a second edition of our seven-lesson evangelistic study, "Know God."

The Bible correspondence course, "Jesus Christ, the Simple Way," went through its fourth printing since we've been publishing it.

Birthdays

Joel turned sweet 16 on the 12th and Leila turned 10 on the 16th of June. Micah had his turn May 5 when he hit 19. Vicki refused to tell her new age May 1.

Around Brazil

The new mission team for Porto Alegre arrived at the end of June to add to the work already being done there by the two congregations. On the minus side, Rick and Monika Sandoval left the city of Vitoria to return permanently to the U.S.

Total Transformation

It's countdown for the Total Transformation course in São Paulo July 13.

This time will be different since we'll be holding the course in a hotel which Francisco Bezerra, editor of Edificacao Magazine, arranged for us. (Usually, the course is held in a church's building.)

We have invited all the area congregations to participate, but since we don't have a congregation that is promoting the course, it presents a special challenge. We hope it will work to our advantage, with the course being seen as not one congregation's event, but as a service to all. The downside of that could be that, since it's not any congregation's effort, none will feel the need to advertise it or encourage the brethren to participate.

So pray that the churches will support this effort and that the course will be a blessing to the Sao Paulo Christians.

Total Transformation II

We've invaded the year 2003 to begin scheduling the course. A brother from Sorocaba, to the west of São Paulo, requested a date for them, so since this year's slots were already filled, we nudged into next year and set it for January 10-11.

From Taguatinga, in the Federal District near Brasilia, where I'm set to teach the course in September, Joao sent this note: "Yesterday we talked about your coming in September. We're anxious and needing a lot of encouragement. I believe that God will use you that we might be transformed."

Newsletter Help

Cheryl Hissong, a friend from college days, is giving us a hand with our newsletter and websites. How about giving her a hand? Thanks, Cheryl!

Wrap-up

Please pray for these tidbits of news, that in each moment and situation, the Lord may be glorified by our work and lives.

Thanks for your prayers, support, and encouragement. Our Lord helps those who helps others.

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Randal & family You can read this newsletter and more on our website at bzeal.cjb.net E-mail: randalm@uol.com.br

Mailing Address: Caixa Postal 11 Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 1220-970 - Brazil

Tel.: (11-55-12) 3942-7753

Alvaro, together with Otavio and Valeria Carvalho, was sent in 1988 to begin the church in SJC by the Nove de Julho church in Sao Paulo. He worked here until the end of 2001.

Alvaro now directs the preacher training program in Campo Grande and serves as president of the National Bible Seminary, based in Sao Paulo, with several nuclei around the country.

He studied at the Institute of Biblical Studies, an early training program of the Sao Paulo mission team, and has his master's degree in Classical Languages (Koine Greek) from the University of Sao Paulo.

He has written several books and is a columnist for Edification Magazine.

On July 13, I'll be teaching, together with Francisco Bezerra, the Total Transformation course in São Paulo. This time will be different since we'll be holding the course in a hotel which Francisco arranged for us.

We have invited all the area congregations to participate, but since we don't have a congregation that is promoting the course, it presents a special challenge. We hope it will work to our advantage, with the course being seen as not one congregation's event, but as a service to all. The downside of that could be that, since it's not any congregation's effort, none will feel the need to advertise it or encourage the brethren to participate.

So pray that the churches will support this effort and that the course will be a blessing to the São Paulo Christians.

Francisco (at right) and I took advantage of the Corpus Christi holiday yesterday. He and his family came to the house, and we worked on plans for the next issue of Edification Magazine.

Francisco is our new editor and is really dedicating himself to the task. He is bringing new life and ideas to the magazine.

Just arrived in the mail! World Evangelism ministries directed by J. C. Choate has just released the first Brazil edition of The Voice of Truth International with volume 34. Brazil is one of 26 country or regional editions published.

The English-language edition differs from the others only in the information about the church in Brazil on the second page

Kenya and Papua New Guinea also had special editions with this volume.

I will serve as the distributor for the Brazil edition.

For more information, see the previous news item about the magazine.

Speaking of pictures, I found the site of the Hotel Urupema, where the SJC church has been meeting on Sundays for the last several years. Gives you an exterior shot, though nothing of the conference rooms where we actually meet. And a map, in case you want to visit us some Sunday.

We're getting pictures posted of individual Christians here in São José dos Campos. If you'd like to take a peek, click on the "igreja" file at our photo album site.

We're just getting started this week, so check back soon to see who else appears.

A few weeks ago, an old friend from college days found us on the web and we've been getting reacquainted. We came to Brazil on campaigns together, but after graduation lost touch.

Discovered also that she works with publications and websites, so we didn't take long to snap up her offer to give us a hand. So now we have a web and newsletter editor to keep our communications running smoothly.

You'll be seeing her around these parts a good bit from now on.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, from Batesville, Ark., Cheryl Smith Hissong.

This came through the Christian Quote for the Day; the thought is worthy of meditation.

Inscription for a Pulpit by Robert Hammond Adams (1883-1975)

"The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." The hungry sheep, that crave the living Bread, Grow few, and lean, and feeble as can be, When fed not Gospel, but philosophy; Not Love's eternal story, no, not this, But apt allusion, keen analysis. Discourse well framed -- forgot as soon as heard -- Man's thin dilution of the living Word.

O Preacher, leave the rhetorician's arts; Preach Christ, the Food of hungry human hearts; Hold fast to science, history, or creed, But preach the Answer to our human need, That in this place, at least, it may be said No hungry sheep looks up and is not fed.

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2002, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator CQOD Home Page: www.gospelcom.net Comments and problems: email to curator@gospelcom.net

I received this email today. If I were Ivan, I would appreciate many prayers.

Dear Christian friends,

Please, put on your prayer list our fellow worker and evangelist to the church in Zapresic, Ivan Tesic, who had a serious car collision, a couple of days ago. Brother Tesic is presently hospitalized in Zagreb, Croatia. His situation is stable, and doctors believe he will recover well. Brother Ivan Tesic and his wife Ruth have been long time workers for the Lord in Croatia.

You may contact by email Ivan and Ruth Tesic at: Ivan.Tesic@public.srce.hr

Yours in Him,

Mladen and Dragica Jovanovic

This year I put together a new course to teach wherever I'm invited to speak. With Alvaro Pestana leaving SJC back in January, my plate got even fuller. So I couldn't afford to go whenever a congregation invited me and speak on whatever interested them at the moment. I've always done that gladly in the past, but just can't take out the time to do new preparation with each trip. Hence the course.

It's entitled Total Transformation and seeks to help people make the significant changes they desire in conforming themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. The course comes out of seeing people struggle with being holy and dedicated and often frustrated at their failure to grow.

if you know a bit of Portuguese, you can read more about it here.

The first course was taught April 12-13 in Ribeirao Preto, in the northern region of Sao Paulo state. About 53 people were present and the reception was enthusiastic. Though we spent two hours Friday night and twelve on Saturday, people remained attentive and interested. If anybody nodded off, they hid it well!

This weekend I go to southern Brazil to teach the course in the city of Porto Alegre. My months are full already through the end of the year. Soon, I'll have to think about opening up dates for 2003, if there is a demand for it.

Church websites have gained notoriety. They're mostly awful. One evangelical critic says they lack a voice.

You won't agree with everything he says, but on one thing he's right. To put it in my own words, most churches put up a sign on the web instead of starting a conversation. In terms of the Internet, you're dead in the water if you do that.

So, get talking.

J. C. Choate of World Evangelism ministries in Winona, Miss., sent an email last week to say that the first Brazilian edition of The Voice of Truth International has been published. Though published in English, the inside front cover has information we provided about churches and ministries in Brazil.

I have written for TVOTI, the last being the poem "The Man I Want to Be" published in the front inside cover of vol. 32. More of my articles ought to be forthcoming.

TVOTI is published in 23 different editions throughout the world. Our cooperative edition is the latest in a long line of good material for Christians and non-Christians alike.

At the National Christian Worker's Conference during Easter weekend we released Alvaro Pestana's new book, The Body of Christ: The Use of Gifts in the Church (my translation from Portuguese). The 63-page book has 13 chapters for a quarterly study, as well as two apendices that include a questionaire to discover one's gifts and suggestions to eliminate "dubious practices."

You can take a peek at his book here. But be warned: the text is in Portuguese.

During the first three weeks of May our preacher will be Wagner Miranda, from here in Sao Jose dos Campos. Otavio and I have been alternating the pulpit and adult Bible class. This quarter he preaches, but with his trip to Europe, Wagner will be filling in for him.

Vicki and I taught the gospel to Wagner and his wife Katia a few years back (four, five?). So it is gratifying to see this new Christian preaching this next month.

Wagner led singing yesterday, in spite of a voice that nearly left him during the worship hour. He has also been teaching an evangelistic group study in his home on Thursday evenings, with Otavio giving him encouragement.

As Otavio mentioned in his sermon yesterday, the church will grow as it should only when every person sees it is his job to work in the field, rather than concentrating in one person or small group of people.

That's a difficult vision for many people to see, surrounded as we are by religious groups that put the power, decision, and work in a pastor or priest, as they call them. Such groups often have the language of the "priesthood of believers," but out there you can be sure it isn't practiced. So the church of God swims against the cultural tide, as well as natural, carnal tendency, to hand over responsibility to some one else.

So, Wagner, study hard for your sermons this month, and God bless your efforts.

As of 2002, the new editor of Edification Magazine is Francisco Bezerra, from São Paulo.

Francisco is Director of Events for the RioSul airline and travels extensively. He is an evangelist, preacher, writer, and teacher. He studies law at a local university.

He is married to Valdirene, with whom he has one daughter, Rebecca. They are expecting another.

This is an exciting phase for the magazine. Francisco will bring a dynamic faith to the publication and new life to the editorial process.

Keep him in your prayers as he settles into his new job.

Count Zinzendork said it well in the 1700s, "I have but one passion -- it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."

I'm trying to see if this little site/service can bring together a lot of my writings. But don't forget that, in terms of the work we do here in Brazil, there is a lot of good old stuff to be read on the first site.

Some things from there I may ... or I may not ... we'll see how it goes.

Among their usual studies, basketball, basketball, and basketball, Micah, 18, and Joel, 15, have been sharing new Christian lessons with Leo and Vinicius just up the hill from us. These two young men are from a Christian family, so my boys are meeting with them on Thursday afternoons to study and talk about the Christian walk.

Right after the National Christian Worker's Encounter, Micah and Joel were motivated by the speeches to finally get Bruno in a study. He had set up with us three times before, but never showed up. This time my two took things into the own hands and decided to do it themselves. Good for them!

New Additions