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Team Rute weeping over her dead father-in-law in a skit (that’s Asa in the center)
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Personal devotional time to contemplate, “Why am I here? What does God expect of me?”
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This was a team-building resistance test – how long can you remain in a squat position as a group? Ouch!
Por que estou aqui? (Why am I here?) is a question you have probably asked yourself at one time or another in your life. Our youth and young adults group at Igreja Batista Reviver wrestled with this question during a recent retreat. We split the group of 30 into four teams and each of them studied a Bible character to discover ways to answer the question. Team Rute (Ruth) summarized their study with: You need to stick close to God. Team Sansão (Samson) reminded us: You were set apart to serve God. God has a plan for your life – do everything you can to fulfill it. Team Ana (Hannah) asserted: Seek God in spite of the circumstances you are facing. Team Josué (Joshua) assured the group: The Lord your God is with you wherever you walk. Be bold and daring.
But what does it really mean to “walk with God?” How would you answer this question? As in all the really important questions of life, it is perilously easy to give the “right” answers using Christian-ese. However, putting our well worded theology into practice is a whole different matter. Our young adults responded with candor during a lively discussion. For them, to walk with God means:
• to give more than what is expected, to live a life of excellence
• to have God as a friend and be glued to God
• to walk beside God, and not in front or behind
• to not walk with other gods
• to have intimacy with God and to converse with God. Some people think that to walk with God means to have a few moments with God during your day, but it is deeper than that.
• to take on a pleasant – but sometimes heavy – responsibility that is good in and of itself.
Truly it is an honor to walk alongside these young Christians as they grow in their relationship with the Lord and find ways to put their faith into practice on a daily basis. Living as faithful followers of Jesus has never been easy, and it is especially challenging for young people who are questioned and sometimes even ridiculed for their faith.
Please pray with us:
• That God would guard each young person and give them the courage to be bold and daring when they put their faith into practice.
• That the Lord would continue to bless our Saturday evening youth worship services. (We also just started a month-long campaign of daily Bible reading in the book of Nehemiah).
• That the Lord would give us (Ann and Bruce) the grace and wisdom to lovingly mentor these young sisters and brothers. (They range in age from 15 to 31 years old.)
We also covet your prayer support for up-coming ministries in São Paulo (Brazil), Haiti, and India. Stay tuned for more on these ministries in our next prayer letter.
Thank you for walking with us on this journey!
Pela graça dEle (by His grace)
Ann, Bruce, and Asa
Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
p.s. We want to give a special thanks to those of you who pray for us regularly and to those who give toward our financial support. Thanks to you, we have made good progress, but still have a ways to go to meet our goal this year. International Ministries just notified us that it still has funds to match any new monthly pledges that begin during the rest of August and all of September. So your financial support commitment now will go farther. Additional details can be found on the IM website at: http://www.internationalministries.org/drives/2
If you attend an American Baptist church, please also remember the World Mission Offering in September, October, and November - 100% of your gifts go directly to ministry projects and missionary support.
But what does it really mean to “walk with God?” How would you answer this question? As in all the really important questions of life, it is perilously easy to give the “right” answers using Christian-ese. However, putting our well worded theology into practice is a whole different matter. Our young adults responded with candor during a lively discussion. For them, to walk with God means:
• to give more than what is expected, to live a life of excellence
• to have God as a friend and be glued to God
• to walk beside God, and not in front or behind
• to not walk with other gods
• to have intimacy with God and to converse with God. Some people think that to walk with God means to have a few moments with God during your day, but it is deeper than that.
• to take on a pleasant – but sometimes heavy – responsibility that is good in and of itself.
Truly it is an honor to walk alongside these young Christians as they grow in their relationship with the Lord and find ways to put their faith into practice on a daily basis. Living as faithful followers of Jesus has never been easy, and it is especially challenging for young people who are questioned and sometimes even ridiculed for their faith.
Please pray with us:
• That God would guard each young person and give them the courage to be bold and daring when they put their faith into practice.
• That the Lord would continue to bless our Saturday evening youth worship services. (We also just started a month-long campaign of daily Bible reading in the book of Nehemiah).
• That the Lord would give us (Ann and Bruce) the grace and wisdom to lovingly mentor these young sisters and brothers. (They range in age from 15 to 31 years old.)
We also covet your prayer support for up-coming ministries in São Paulo (Brazil), Haiti, and India. Stay tuned for more on these ministries in our next prayer letter.
Thank you for walking with us on this journey!
Pela graça dEle (by His grace)
Ann, Bruce, and Asa
Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
p.s. We want to give a special thanks to those of you who pray for us regularly and to those who give toward our financial support. Thanks to you, we have made good progress, but still have a ways to go to meet our goal this year. International Ministries just notified us that it still has funds to match any new monthly pledges that begin during the rest of August and all of September. So your financial support commitment now will go farther. Additional details can be found on the IM website at: http://www.internationalministries.org/drives/2
If you attend an American Baptist church, please also remember the World Mission Offering in September, October, and November - 100% of your gifts go directly to ministry projects and missionary support.