Building the Body and the Church

I’m praising God for this past week and all that was accomplished in His name!  Last week I posted about the retreat I was about to go on as well as the church construction team that I was about to join.

The Encounter with God retreat was great!  There was really a two fold reason for me to go.  These retreats are an essential part of the church’s ministry to new believers.  It essentially functions as a “boot camp” experience for them to have a time away from life where they can really dig in and examine their lives in light of the word.  It was spiritually uplifting to partake in this event with a group of 60 guys that are new and on fire for the Lord!  Also, there were many sessions of preaching and teaching and skits, so I got lots of Portuguese listening. Please pray with me to these men (and women, but they attend their own retreat at the same camp, but totally separated) who are beginning their lives with the Lord, for protections from the enemy and sanctification in the name of Christ Jesus!

I returned home from the retreat, cleaned up, and then got up Monday  morning at 4:30 AM to go meet up with a team of Canadians heading out to the community of Puraquê to help with their church building.  We headed out of town in three vehicles and made the 70 km drive to the Curua-una lake.  This lake was formed by the damming of the Curua-una River for hydro-electric power.  When they did this, they left many standing trees, so the lake is filled with dead trees sticking out of the water. This lake has 14 communities on it, 6 of them with PAZ churches present.  This particular village is comprised of about 80 families.

When we arrived the church had walls and the floor was rough graded for pouring concrete.  We immediately began building trusses and painting the front of the church.  By the end of the day, all the trusses were installed, the front primed, and we were ready to start roofing the next day.  That night we hosted a service for the community where several team members shared their testimonies.  It’s always great to hear how the Lord works in the lives of men!

On the second day, the purlins went up on the roof and the floor got fine graded in preparation for the big pour on the last day.  We went ahead and poured the stage area at the end of the day.  The team was able to  once again share with the community as the local pastor had the Tuesday service.  We spent the evening in praise and worship of our Lord and Savior!  All the team was getting pretty tired by now, especially considering the lovely roosters that find 4 AM to be a good time to get up and start singing.

On Wednesday, the final day, we hit the ground running.  Some of the Brazilians got up on the roof and started installing the fiber panels so that we could get some shade.  The rest of the team began the pour and by 2 PM were were wrapping it up and getting ready to head home!  Whenever we do a pour, it is always a nonstop day and take a lot of energy to mix all the concrete and get it in the church.  And this rainy season has been especially not rainy and hot, so in the morning at devotions we prayed for some clouds for the sake of the men working outside mixing.  In the morning, they had the shade of a tree to protect them and about the time the shade ran out, in came the clouds!  Praise God for his provision!

Join me in affirming this church and the work of the kingdom that will pour out of it!  I like to think of these jungle churches as Gospel Outposts!  The DNA of PAZ churches is grounded in evangelism and outreach.  There is no doubt in my mind that this will be a flourishing church in no time!  Pray for the strength of the local pastor and community working who are responsible for leading this church.  Where the Gospel goes forth, the enemy is working double time so we need to combat that with prayer!

So that night we headed back to Santarém for a great dinner and some rest.  I headed back in to my language study yesterday and the team is now off again on the Amazon River.  Pray for their safety and protection on this trip.

With the Love of Christ,
JAE