An Afternoon with Galo

Clube Atlético Minero is one of the soccer teams in our city, somehow Abbey and I chose to cheer for them. They are not that good, they've won 1 Brazilian National Title/Brasilierão in the history of the club and that was back in 1950. The mascot of the team is the galo or rooster, but roosters here are a little more intimidating as rooster fights were very popular here in the past.  This year Galo has done fairly well, currently they are in 3rd place in the league standings. They also have a guy named Ronaldinho Gaucho who played for Barcelona and A.C. Milan earlier in his career, he is two time FIFA player of the year, which means at the height of his career he was voted the best soccer player in the world. Ronaldinho is past his prime yet is still one of the best players on the field.

Galo fans exiting the metrô

Proof we actually attended the game

Estádio Independencia

These people want Ronaldinho to stay with the team, rumor is he will leave Galo for another team.

Galo!!!! This section was the craziest of all.

This is soccer in S.America. Security is a must.

The stadium was nice, Galo is playing here while they renovate the Minerão for the World Cup.

Ronaldinho!!!

Galo fans love R49.

Is that Ronaldinho?....nope just some cheap mask.


 Galo tied that day 2-2 but almost on command Ronaldinho scored the game-tying goal as the game was nearing the end. We actually didn't see it, we just heard the noise of the crowd as we left early to make our way home.

Shout out....

I want to give a big shout out to Mary-Frances Bowley and give a plug for her new book The White Umbrella. Not only is Mrs. Bowley an amazing woman of Christ, and a supporter of us, she is the founder of an organization in Atlanta, GA called Wellspring Living. Several websites have been reviewing her new book and I wanted to make sure the three people who subscribe to this blog know about it and what the Lord is doing through her and her organization.

Check out the book here: The White Umbrella and here

White Umbrella campaign: here

Check out the organization here: Wellspring Living

Looking Ahead

The last month I (Brian) took part in four separate meetings/retreats/conferences per say. The first was a church retreat we had at the beginning of September, the second was our annual Staff Stimulus in the middle, the third was Campus Outreach Campus Directors Training in Birmingham, Al and the last and most recent was the Catalyst Conference in Duluth, GA. Not only did I take part in all of these but Alan Andrioni, (Campus Director at UFMG) did as well. It was a avalanche of ideas, practical ideas on how we can do our jobs better and large abstract ideas on how we can move the ministry forward.  Here are some of the big take aways: (none of these are my original ideas)

• If we feel bad or get down when things are not going well/growing, we will take the credit when things are going well/growing. 
• Tradition is not the mission.
• Don't worry about resistance, worry when there is no resistance.
• Focus, focus, focus.
• God has given us bigger responsibilities than our work. 

Alan and I have been meeting once a week to discuss in detail more of what we learned and what we are learning. We are excited at where God is moving us and are excited for the future.

Abraço & Thanks 4 Reading.

-brian

Spiderman, The Joker, Roberto Justus and Santa Claus

What do Spiderman, The Joker, Roberto Justus and Santa Claus have in common? They were all present at a costume party in the Spring here in Belo Horizonte. All these stars are involved in some Bible study or Discipleship group of some sort. A couple are believers and one is studying the Bible specifically the life of Jesus.

Spider-Man = Paulino. He recently graduated from PUC-Minas and is going through the new members class at our church. When I met him a year ago he was not a believer but full of questions.
The Joker = Caio. Caio and I are studying the book along with Marco Túlio. We just finished chapter 15 today and his questions are more focused and direct. When I met him, he had many doubts and questions.

Roberto Justus = Me. Roberto Justus is the Brazilian Donald Trump. He has a lot of money, fires people but also host several different shows here in Brazil. Just like me or not.
Santa Claus = Marco Túlio. MT became a believer a couple of years ago and is studying John with Caio and I. He has great insight and helps me a ton understand Portuguese and does a great job explaining things.

Here is another picture of Caio and Marco Túlio. Minus the face paint and red suit.


Thank you for reading the blog. Supporting us financially and praying for us. Thank you!

Books in Brazil

Brazil lacks Gospel-Centered books. I could expound upon this but the reason I am posting this is to draw attention to what the Gospel Coalition and Editora Feil is doing. They are trying to raise money to translate a book by D.A. Carson into Portuguese. Trust me, it is hard to find solid books in bookstores here and when you do they are expensive. If you like to donate go to the website or click on this link.  Gospel Coalition  Thanks for reading.

Here is a little information I copied from the Gospel Coalition website:

Portuguese Translation Project

The God Who is There by D. A. Carson

Goal: $14,200 - PRIORITY PROJECT

78% Raised, $3,155 to go

 

 

 Resource

In February 2009, Don Carson presented a 14-part seminar entitled “The God Who Is There” at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. This series will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelizes non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way. It’s one thing to know the Bible’s storyline, but it’s another to know one’s role in God’s ongoing story of redemption. “The God Who Is There” engages people at the worldview-level.

 

Language

The Portuguese language spread during the colonial era, most prominently to Brazil, Mozambique, Angola and Portugal. Worldwide, there are approximately 178 million first language Portuguese speakers. Brazil constitutes the largest, where nearly 100% speak the language. It is a nation that has made great progress, but still finds itself facing challenges of corruption, poverty, crime, and racial strife. Brazil is predominantly Catholic. But the Church is hemorrhaging at the seams, losing scores of followers to Evangelical Christianity and Spiritism. One of the great needs of Brazilian Christians today is for solid, biblical literature for evangelism and discipling Christians. The most widely sold and read books in Brazil have to do with magic, the occult, and communicating with the dead, thus materials are needed, together with the Bible, to oppose falsehood and expose the truth. (Operation World)

Geography of the Language
The primary countries with Portuguese-speaking populations are Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Cape Verde, Sao Tome & Principe.

Brazil Demographics
Population: 203,429,773
88.6% Literacy Rate
Internet users 75.9M; 37.4% of the population
16.34% Protestant

 

Publishing Partner

This project is in collaboration with Editora FIEL. Their mission is to spread among Portuguese-speaking peoples worldwide the truths of biblical Christianity, the contours of which have been shaped by the doctrines of sovereign grace, which gave birth to the Reformation and center upon the glorious redeeming work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the only Mediator between God and man.

Esmeraldas

Welcome to Esmeraldas!

One week ago we had our final retreat with the CCP outside of a city called Esmeraldas. We visit these little hotel like places(although they are nothing like hotels, think summer camp facilities with a Brazilian twist) to get outside the city and to encourage students to look at Christ and what He says about the big questions of life. This year we used chapters from More Than a Carpenter, Basic Christianity and The Reason for God. We read a chapter from each book and then divided into smaller groups and had discussion groups. Some of the questions discussed were:

Is it possible to separate the teachings of Jesus from the deity of Jesus?
Do you find it offensive that Jesus claimed to be God?
If the resurrection is real and historically accurate how does that change the way we look at Jesus?

The questions and the groups themselves are set up to get people thinking and talking about things they normally don't think about or feel comfortable talking about. This is one of my favorite weekends of the year because you can see the wheels turning in people's heads. For the first time many people understand the Gospel during this weekend and also understand the implications of what it means to believe the Gospel. And the implication is that your life will change. Pray for the students at PUC-Minas, pray for God to reveal Himself.

Discussion Group from the weekend.

Douglas, Bruno & Brian

Cross Cultural Project 2012

Photos from this years Cross Cultural Project.

Thursday Lunch

Johnny & Karel

The Kitchen during Thursday Lunch.

Happy people @ Lunch

Festa Junina

Cindi, Abbey, Paula

 

 

Festa Junina

Thank you for all your support and prayers.