In 2015 I was out running at the break of dawn, far from traffic or people, when a motorbike drove up and stopped in front of me. A couple jumped off the bike, and the man started violently beating his wife. Long story short, I started a Discovery Group with them and we quickly became friends. When I first met them they had a two-month-old baby girl, Ana Yssis. Tiago had a very nice side to him but he didn’t know how to work through frustrations well, and he had developed some bad habits, like armed robbery. In spite of this I heard that he was the most beloved and youngest son in his family. Tiago was shot and killed about a month ago, leaving behind three children and two broken relationships.

Tiago’s sister-in-law and family attended the first couple of Discovery Groups with Tiago, but then they quit. When I asked them why Geice told me it was because Tiago was involved in bad stuff and if the police came she did not want to be in the room.

Last night Geice, Fabio, and I went together to a Baptist Church that has helped over 100 couples get married this year. I signed as the testimony to their marriage. This has been a process of many months. In our conversations Geice told me that she had opened a bible and started reading, and it was the same text as that first Discovery Group. She remembered the story and the Discovery Group atmosphere over two years later “where you can just say whatever you want, because I’m not good at keeping my mouth shut”. Sometimes seeds lie dormant for a long time. Please pray with me that God will bless Geice and Fabio and their family like never before, and that they will start Discovery Groups with their friends.

Baby John. Fabio and Geice have four daughters between the two of them. All daughters. The first three ultrasounds all indicated they were having another daughter. And out came John.

Hannah, in the background, has a super sweet spirit. May God bless her and protect her, and fulfill His plans for her.

Ana Yssis is Geice and Fabio’s beloved niece, one of the children that Tiago left behind. She was two months old when I first met them. There are so many unfair things in this world, so I am praying for an unfair amount of blessings to protect and raise up Ana Yssis. We know that God specializes in this sort of thing.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5

Bárbara, Fabio, Geice, João, Mabely, and Hannah. They are a lively crew with rarely a quiet moment, unless they are all sleeping.

When you think of people who do not know Jesus, what do you feel?

i) Hopeless, like you are losing a cultural war
ii) Anger at their activities
iii) Envious of their freedom
iv) Frustrated at their unhealthy choices
v) Nothing. They are non-people
vi) Compassion because of their lostness
vii) Other ?

Awhile back I was doing a Discovery Group in a dimly lit house. They had one 20 watt light bulb. I read the Bible I brought with the light from my cell phone. Some of the reasons for their poverty was because of their unhealthy choices. During our second meeting one lady said, “I am so tired of this life. I am tired of the drinking, the smoking, the drugs, all of it.” I was encouraged. But the next week this lady and her husband did not come to the meeting. Nor the next week. Finally I asked them what had happened. “Thiago (her brother-in-law) who is leading this group is into some bad stuff. If the cops come we will all be implicated. We don’t want to be around him anymore.” While this reason is logical, this couple did not want to start their own group either. So I let it go, but I still stop in to say hi occasionally. During one of these visits my friends told me more of their story. Her husband loved to smoke pot. He used up all his wages so her and their three small children often went hungry. After that Discovery Group meeting her husband never smoked pot again. He was standing right there. “I never wanted to again.” Six months later, it’s all still true. They don’t want a Discovery Group, and the husband still doesn’t like pot. A few things changed though. They got legally married, and asked me to be the testimony / best man. And she is giving birth to their fourth child this month.

The original group, with the violent brother-in-law, continued for awhile before disbanding because they moved back to his mom’s house. The environment there was not conducive to a group so they asked me to wait until they were in their own place again. In the meantime I did an Immanuel Prayer session with him. Thiago easily found Jesus in a positive memory. They were in the back of a 5-ton flatbed truck coming in from a village when the truck his a huge bump. His cousin flew over the side so Tiago grabbed him in such a way that he lost his balance, so his mom pulled them both back into the back of the big truck. Jesus was in the back of the truck with them, laughing. He could describe Jesus, and see the expression on His face. “So what was good about that memory?” His response was immediate. “The adventure.”

I told him, “Tiago, you have no idea of the many adventures God has planned for you.”

Still, we never could get a Discovery Group going again. We continued to meet every few months. We were always going to start just a little in the future. Tiago’s dad left their family when he was three. His mom never did forgive the dad, who lives with someone else in a neighboring town. Tiago was affected by this, for sure. It shaped who he became, though he is still responsible for his choices as an adult. This week-end I am travelling. I just got word that Tiago was shot and killed. I am really sad. I think God is sad too. It seemed to me like Tiago was so close to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus instructs us in Luke 10 to let go of the people and groups that are not ready, so that we have more time to find and help people who are ready to receive Jesus. This is difficult, because as we get to know people’s stories, we realize they are so close to a much better life. Jesus Himself was motivated by compassion for lost people. I realize that many people are not suffering quite to the extent of Tiago and his family, but that is even more difficult for these people to recognize their need for God. Jesus says the gospel improves our life in this age and in the age to come (Luke 18:29-30). What need can God possibly meet in your friend’s lives? Everyone is poor in some ways. It might be financial, social, mental, physical, or spiritual. When we look for People of Peace with the intent of preparing them to receive Jesus’ in their home we are 1) obeying Jesus, 2) helping people meet their needs, and 3) lining up with our purpose in life. It is satisfying. To do this in the most efficient way possible, we spend the most time with the people who are the most ready.

When I think of people who do not know Jesus I feel like I am asking the question, “Would you rather be poor and sick, or rich and healthy.” Or “would you like to suffer for nothing, or would you prefer to suffer for a boss who pays huge and eternal rewards for suffering?” I can see my friends thoughtfully pondering these questions like they are real puzzlers.

What is your attitude towards non-Christians?

In May (2017) Clenildo and I spent several days in São Paulo because of our Yellow Fever cards. Clenildo made use of this time to renew acquaintances with a friend from his childhood. Basilio and his wife Tatianne drove us around and helped us get our documents in order.

In September 2017, Deanna and I spent an evening with Basilio, Tatianne, and some church leaders, to introduce the ideas of Discovery Groups, Disciple Making Movements and Immanuel Prayer.

The 25 prisoners in the cell we got to are from many different states. Some have committed crimes years ago. Many do not have anyone who comes to visit them, to encourage them, to bring them new sandals, or clothes, or basic hygiene supplies.

When I realized I would be away for several weeks and no one from our church would visit them, I prepared an 8 week plan with the 3-column Bible studies and offered a hygiene kit to those who completed all the lessons. When I got back from Africa seven guys had completed the studies. But there was quite a turnover too. Several men were transferred in or out. Eliel suggested that because it felt like those who completed the studies did them out of a hunger for God, we give everyone hygiene kits. Tuesday we went to the grocery store. Two bars of personal soap, two bars of laundry soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and two disposable razors. We also bought a few chocolates and 7 cans of aerosol deodorant as extras for the guys who completed the studies. Thursday we gave them to the prison director. We discovered the aerosol deodorant we bought was in metal canisters. This in not allowed because the guys might use these metal cans to commit suicide. We gave the aerosol spray to the guards. The director said that after we were gone he would call the guys out and hand out the kits one by one to avoid mass confusion. He is a Christian and sympathetic to our cause. He later WhatsApped me and said that was a really good day for those prisoners. They were very happy. Staying as clean as possible is one way these guys try to preserve their eroded dignity.

Thank you to those who pray and give to make this possible.

If God captures the hearts of these guys, and if they catch on to the idea of Discovery Groups, they will go from here to all over Brazil with the gospel.

Then there will be next steps, like forming these groups into gatherings or churches.

I am ready to get to the next steps.

“It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me” (John 6:45 NIV).

“As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people'” (2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV).

Four ways I am learning to help people to learn from God.

1. Discovery Groups and Disciple Making Movements – helps create environments where people can discover how God reveals Himself through His Word.

2. Immanuel Prayer – helps people personally discover Jesus. Since Jesus said He would never leave us or forsake us, where was He during those good and bad times in our lives?

3. Centering Prayer / Spiritual Formation – helps people learn to slow down and to spend personal, intimate time with God. God is polite. He waits until we have time for Him.

4. Coaching – helps people to gain traction with what they feel God is saying to them. When people act on what they feel God is calling them to do, they are more committed to producing the desired results.

I have also discovered the value of two related principles.

5. Lead through relationship, friendship, and influence more than positional authority.

6. Give as much authority as possible to the people who will have to live with the decisions. Organizations have similarities to people. For example, organizations have personalities, and they have cultures. These group personalities and cultures may change when just one person joins or leaves, or when something in the local community changes. It is important that groups learn to hear from God for themselves, and to take ownership of the results of their choices. “Organizational change without ownership is treacherous” (Clinton, R., 2012, A Ministry Philosophy, para. 7).  Giving groups as much freedom as possible helps them to work hard to produce desired results.

We are starting church-planting movements, or disciple-making movements. As people and groups gain an inner certainty that they are connected to God Himself, this is incredibly motivating.

Clinton, R., 2012, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development. NavPress. Kindle Edition.

“Pastor Ricardo, I need to talk to you.”

A young man in our church really wanted to be a leader. He was coming to the 6 a.m. prayer meeting. He was pressing in. Six months into the process he got an underage girl pregnant. Previous relationships were extremely complex. “What should I do?”

How could I possibly know good council for my friend? Then I had an idea. “Read the book of Ephesians, and let’s meet back here next week. Then you can tell me what God is teaching you.”

The next week he did not show up at my house for more council.

The next week after that he did not show up either.

Three weeks later we had a group training at the church. About 20 young leaders showed up. In the group discussion my friend shared a spontaneous testimony. “Several weeks ago I didn’t know what to do. Pastor Ricardo told me read Ephesians. I learned so much stuff. I learned answers to questions I didn’t even have.” We still have not talked about the specifics about what he learned but he is moving on in God. Today this man is a rising leader in the church. He married the girl and they have a beautiful one-year-old girl.

For me, this is an example of God teaching His people.

Here are a few photos from the backyard of the hotel in São Paulo.

Things felt agitated at the prison this week. There seemed to be an undercurrent of a fight brewing. Eliel felt apprehensive but we carried on as usual. Seven of the guys completed the three-column bible studies.

1) Copy the text out from the bible onto a page.

2) Re-write the story in your own words.

3) Write down what you are going to change in your life because of the story.

They handed us a thick stack of papers that were fully hand-written, all complete pages, of these studies they have done while I was travelling.

It is a miserable existance for the 25 guys in that clammy, sweaty, damp cell but they told me again that if they go to the bigger cell they will get killed. They are accused of crimes the other prisoners don’t accept. Either that, or they are not in factions. If they refuse to join factions, they are vulnerable. If they join, it is kind of a life-time commitment from what I understand. The men get coffee in the morning, and they let me try some. It is horrible. It doesn’t taste like coffee, and they say it is full of medicine to keep them calm. It tastes like bad medicine, and the bad aftertaste lasted the whole time I was there. Disgusting. And when they describe the food they start with “may God forgive me but . . . ” They don’t want to be ungrateful, but it is the same food, cooked the same way, year in and year out. It can feel nauseating. One guy told me, “I used to weigh 110 kilos. Now I am down to 57. One year and 4 months. Look how I can lift my foot up above my other knee. I could never do that before.” I asked him if he planned to keep the weight off. “Oh no. When I get out, in two weeks I’ll be right back to where I was.” I really hope these guys can get in touch with God in a way that really catches their passions so that when they get out it affects their behavior. We need transformations.

We formed two smaller groups, and about 12 of the 25 guys participated. One guy, Cesar, confided in me with our group listening. “Most people believe in God, they just don’t believe that He cares about our daily activities or prayers. They don’t think He interacts personally with us.”

This is a good spiritual observation, and I wonder if Cesar is a Person of Peace.

He hit the nail on the head. He defined a our work. We need to set up situations where interested people can connect with God in a way that feels true to them, where they sense God connecting back.

Think about it. Who wants to sign up for a religious system just because your friends are doing this, or because it is a healthy lifestyle, or out of desperation? But we long for what is real and true.

If there was a clear and easy difference between praying to God and praying to an idol, how would idol worship prosper in the old days? How would good luck charms, witchcraft, the love of money, and false religions prosper today?

On that day of judgment they will abandon the gold and silver idols they made for themselves to worship. They will leave their gods to the rodents and bats (Isaiah 2:20).

What these prisoners need is to truly sense an interaction with a living God who cares and who wants relationship.

Prayer is really important.

All the people we talked to who are having success with Discovery Groups say that prayer is really important. We need God’s Kingdom to break into our normal zones.

Please pray that the Kingdom of God will break into this jail cell in Marabá, in power.

Pray for Cesar. And for Wolverine. And António Marcos, Rodrigo, and João. These guys are from all over Brazil. They have the potential to bring the gospel to some dark places. Let’s pray they really sense God’s presence this week.

May Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done, on this earth as it is in heaven.