Clenildo sent me this photo of a group of locals from Porto de Moz heading out to visit villages hours away. They want to help people. They want to spread the Good News of God’s Kingdom. Clenildo motivated several local missionary teams in Porto de Moz to reach the surrounding villages.
These people were all just children, or maybe not even born, when Clenildo and Angelita moved to Porto de Moz as missionaries in 1994. In 1995 Clenildo and Angelita moved 10 hours upstream to Altamira to work with Deanna and me. However, they are still important and well-respected in many circles in the Lower Xingu Region.
Our goal/dream is to help people connect to God in such a way that they naturally want to tell everyone they meet.
Spontaneous, Sustainable, Church-planting.
Someone might think, “They probably have nothing else to do.” While these outings are fun, they are also expensive and time-consuming. These people choose this way to spend their time rather than fixing up their houses, working, or resting. On the one hand, I am amazed. These people are my heroes. On the other hand, I wish this was so common it was happening everywhere in the Amazon Basin.
Valdinho sent me this photo of a Discovery Group in Porto de Moz. Valdinho is at the far right, back row. He is one of the first people I met in Porto de Moz in 1995.
Let’s 1) Study the end of the Bible, then 2) Go back to Jesus’ first sermon, and then 3) Farther back yet to the book of Psalms 4) To learn a critically important idea.
1. The Last Page of the Bible
Revelation 22 has some strange advice.
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
(NASB, Rev. 22:10-12).
Do not try to change others. Work on your own stuff.
You only have a few years. Make them count.
You will be significantly rewarded for getting it right.
2. Jesus’ First Sermon
Jesus packages the first part of His speech with a repeating phrase. This was a common writing style
If you do the first part, you can expect the second part.
Your people will resist change. That’s ok. That is normal.
Keep learning to be the right person and win big time.
Expect a counter-intuitive bubbling joy at the strangest times. This, too, is the new normal.
I am looking for resilient servant leaders through whom I can bless the world.
3. Psalms
“The book of Psalms is a collection of poems that are intentionally arranged to tell God’s story.” Tim Mackie.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. (NASB, Psalm 1:2-3).
Psalm 1 starts with a Garden of Eden story.
The person who ponders the scriptures day and night become a Tree of Life to those around them.
Psalm 149 saw God’s people in the Kingdom of God.
Thrill at God’s presence.
Talk about God’s excellence.
Your attitude is important.
4. Practically Speaking…
Are you tracking with me so far?
A. Rev. 22 – We change systems by changing ourselves. B. Matt. 5 – The meek will inherit the earth? C. Psalms 1 – We are like Trees of Life? Psalm 149 – We win by Delighting in God in all circumstances? D. How does this work?
Some Ideas
Anxiety is a great thing because it helps us know where to start working on our issues. Note: For anxious people who feel overpowered, I advise professional help.
For the rest of us, I advise paying attention to what you do when you feel anxious. Then wait for the next time and act differently. Do not tell people around you what you are doing. Just react differently. It will feel so strange. It will take courage. It will take the Holy Spirit’s help. Change is almost impossibly hard. Sometimes it takes pain to motivate us. Change is so awkward and uncomfortable. Persist. It gets easier. God is cheering you on! Like a parent watching their child take their first steps.
Your people, on the other hand, will wonder what is wrong. It’s predictable. “You can’t do that.” “If you do that, you can’t be us.” Keep prayerfully persisting, humbly, courageously, and obediently. You will sense God’s presence radiating from you. Finally, your people may say, “I am so glad you persisted. This new us is way better.”
And this is God. He is with you and He is at the finish line with a significant reward.
The above chart contains examples of an opposite response to anxious coping. It is not a formula because humans are way too complex for formulas. God is on your side! He wants you to pass, and will patiently give you more chances. Spend enough time with God each morning to get ideas about how to proceed. You might think, “I could never do or say that to so-and-so.” Or maybe you need to sit calmly, listen to another perspective, and truly hear someone. The Christian life, when you are fully engaged, gets exciting. Jesus calls it “An Abundant Life.”
We have a family of peregrine falcons that keep down frogs, snakes, lizards, and songbirds.
Southern Lapwings live in our field. They have cool haircuts.
“God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth’” (Gen. 1: 21-22).
Encontro Events are weekends that are dedicated to a life reset.
Last weekend a church from across town used the mission property to host an Encontro Event for their people.
About half the people are helpers and half the people are participants.
The participants are new believers or those who sense their lives need a reset.
From Friday night to Sunday morning, the participants give up their phones and take a vow of silence.
The idea is that they will give 48 uninterrupted hours to attend to their spiritual lives.
The helpers make sure there is plenty of coffee, cold water, and good food, and do everything possible to make the participants feel loved and undistracted.
The teaching includes how to repent, give and receive forgiveness, how to celebrate, how to pray, and how to bless others.
The weekend ends with a great celebration at their church, with worship, testimonies, and reuniting with families.
Our Experience
The idea of separating time to seek God with friends is a good idea.
The Old Testament rhythms of church life included many annual feasts, and some were a week long. Every year.
I wonder if the next season of revival/renewal will include something like this.
The Encontros started in Brazil with the G12 cell group movement, which included a top-down system of government and was difficult for many. The strong hierarchical system didn’t work for me, for example.
There are many challenges to gathering with Christian friends for days on end to seek God.
a) If you are poor, how can you leave work, and how can you afford to go?
b) If you are wealthy, do you want to use your discretional time this way?
Maybe the only way to do this is to prioritize your whole life around your spiritual values. Your thoughts?
Thank you to everyone who helped us build and maintain these facilities so people can reset their lives here.
In light of eternity, Seasons of getting away With friends to seek God Is a good idea And worth Serious Consideration. Your thoughts?
One of the first things Jesus did when he started His public ministry was to clarify the meaning of the rules in the Old Testament (Matt. 5-7).
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell (Mt. 5:21-22). “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28). Five times in Mattew 5, Jesus says, “This is how you understand the law, but our requirements are much higher…”.
The Bible begins with the revolutionary thought that everyone is created in God’s image. Their neighbors in Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria often thought that their kings were the image of their gods, but only the Israelites believed that all people were created in God’s image.
Remembering that all people are created in God’s image makes it easier to obey Jesus’ commands.
But how do we genuinely love God and people?
Assume for a minute that many extreme feelings are caused by unexplored anxiety. The Challenge of Anxiety Take Cain, for instance. What made him murderously angry at Abel?
Or what about Joseph’s brothers? What made them mad enough at their brother to sell him into slavery?
Does their anger at their brother seem reasonable from our perspective today?
How could they have dealt with anxious feelings, if they had our perspective? Options There are four common ways that people deal with anxiety (Bowen, 1978).
1. Anger 2. Distance (emotional, geographical, or both) 3. Adapting (over or under-functioning) 4. Triangling (gossip).
While the four options above are all useful in small doses, over time people often develop a favorite. People get triggered and overuse their favorite response, and they end up in big trouble. Imagine a Fifth Option. What if you could safely explore your anxiety with God? Rather than pretend your anxiety doesn’t exist, what if you brought it to the light? Sometimes this works better with a trusted friend.
The emotional distance sometimes helps others have a better perspective of the way forward.
For example, what if Cain or Joseph’s brothers had a trusted advisor? Maybe Cain could have realized he was actually mad at God. Maybe Joseph’s brothers could have realized they were upset about their father’s favoritism and talked to him about it.
But what if the brothers talked to their dad about his irresponsible favoritism, and he got mad?
This is the circle of life for Godly people.
In an ideal world, Jacob could have reflected on conversations with his sons and considered the consequences of his favoritism. Jacob could have made some changes. And the brothers could have each learned to deal with their own issues by watching their dad. Even without their dad’s good example, they could have examined their anxiety and made better choices. Systems Thinking We cannot change others, but we can change ourselves.
When we change, our people have to change to accommodate the new us.
Imagine if you could learn to sit with your emotions to identify your favorite response.
Maybe God could show you your triggers, and how to stop responding with anger, distance, adapting, or triangling.
People around you will get uncomfortable.
They will wonder what is wrong.
They will react.
Eventually, the system will improve.
Then God will give you a bigger challenge.
This is the circle of the Christian life.
Leaders who get triggered cause pain.
God is looking for trustworthy, untriggered people who He can trust with true authority.
PS: Please don’t hear me say to keep trying even harder. I have gotten into trouble by trying my hardest. Relaxing, enjoying life, and slowing down to examine personal anxiety in God’s presence is a good starting place. From that place, God will give you the next step. God wants to bless the world through you, and the way forward often passes through unexpected territory. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it (Rev. 21:23-24).ReferencesBowen, M. (1978). Family therapy and clinical practice. Jason Aaronson.
This is my artistic interpretation of the cloud in front of our house. Have you ever thought about how nice it is that God gave us continually shifting skies? Clouds add a nice touch to our playground where we interact and make choices with our people.
I don’t know the story behind these boots in front of a neighbor’s house, but they reminded me of many friends who are closer than they used to be to this stage of life.
Oh Yeah!!! We can have some fun with this food! This is Kawue, who Deanna took care of for the first 12 days of his life.
a) a sense of wonder combined with b) gratefulness at this awesome world God has created for us, and c)the awesome group of people he placed around us.
If parents can do that, their children are set up to obey the two greatest commandments, to love God with all their heart and their neighbors as themselves (Matt. 22:36-40).
Of course, most lessons are caught more than taught.
Living a life of wonder and gratefulness is a gift to yourself and others. Our girls posted this series of photos in our group chat.
While I do not remember the actual event, I remember our family culture.
We didn’t have much money, and we never felt poor. Not once. I cannot remember one time.
We got some boards from the lumberyard and placed them over bricks. That served as cupboards for seven years.
I bought Deanna two wooden chairs for our kitchen table for her birthday. The girls sat on a homemade bench. For years.
And we never felt poor. Life was rich and filled with wonder.
In the first photo, Olivia got a new flavor of toothpaste. We all knew she would share it, but how cool! A new flavor to enjoy for many days.
How To Achieve More Enjoyment in Life 1. Start with the simplest thing you take for granted. Your breath. Each breath is a gift from God. With the gift stops, your avatar, your body, will quit working. But for now, it’s working. Take time to appreciate it, and to appreciate God for each breath. You can do this several times a day, like whenever you get tempted to be stressed or overwhelmed. God is right there, still giving you the gift of breath.
Have you ever given someone a gift and over time they become ungrateful, demanding more and more like it is their right when you meant for it to be a gift? You might even try harder than ever until you are at your wit’s end because nothing seems to delight them anymore. *** Don’t be that person for God. *** Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Gen. 2:7). 2. When you are quiet for a while, enjoying your breath and thanking God for it, ask God to increase your sense of wonder and gratefulness.
Some people think that foodies have a gift, and they only enjoy the very best cuts of meat and the best cooking. I disagree. I think I’m a foodie because I love almost everything. It’s a gift.
3. Ask God to bless others through you. God wants to manage this earth through people. God wants to bless people through you! He wants you to bless your people for Him. Pray to learn how His system works.
a). Write out a list of all your people. This takes a while. Maybe several days. You might start with family, and then friends, neighbors, church people, school people, work people, enemies, government people in all the countries you can think of, etc., etc. Then seek to bless those people as you get opportunities.
b). God created all people in His image. Find the image of God in your people. Talk good about them. If you can’t think of anything, ask God. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Gen. 1:27). What if all Christians lived lives full of wonder and gratefulness? We would be happier, for one thing, and so our their people.
Deanna and Anni Graduated In 1993 Deanna and I, Moved to The Amazon With our One-year-old daughter, Anni. In 2023 Deanna and Anni Completed Graduate Degrees at Regent University In Virginia Beach, Virginia.
