Check list for a Jesus Christ disciple in Brazil

Running as a spiritual Practice

2009-08-19T21:59:00.004-03:00

Here my reflection about a spiritual practice that has been relevant for me lately:

I have always tried to keep a serious training program, some years ago I started to wake up earlier to walk, I couldn’t run because I at that time, I were too heavy to do it, by these times I got two friends who were willing to go walk with me every Saturday so we did it for a year. When came the idea to participate on a race, we did our best to accomplish the 5 km of the course, but better than finishing the race, it was such an amazing experience, we were among 8000 people enjoying a beautiful morning to run, walk and to exercise, the view prior to the launch line was so nice with all those people running those blue skirts with some other colors. Everybody on a good mood, some people so better prepared for running, but also some people very like me at that time: running a little, walking some time and running again, but everybody happy and in a good will, besides feeling so happy on being there, I was happy I could finish all course prior to 40 minutes and I was willing to repeat this kind of experience more times in this year.

So I started a deeper contact with a friend of mine who offered himself to prepare some weekly training spreadsheets to better my physical conditions and to get better performance. We started a kind of discipleship where he listed what kind of activities I should do (running, muscle exercises) and I would return to him my performance, doubts and some consequences, it is ironic how I started to have a good taste of discipleship here. It was good to learn how to run, the effects of food, exercises, heart controlling etc. Our friendship got so better so it is good to learn as it is good to teach too, so both of us are having fun with these experiences, we have not only time of sharing knowledge but also sharing victories as long as I have increased my performance through the races I have participated. Because of these new kinds of concerns, I started to be careful about the quality and quantity of what I eat, how much I should rest and how to run and then, I started to lose weight, to sleep better, and now I am able to even more.

It is interesting to think how many friends I started to make when I started these kind of activities, besides the folks who are running with me, there’s so many people willing to treat their selves better and as it is certified that this is a very good way to do so, when people note that you are losing weight without needing to get drugs, they want to know more how I did it, so we start to share our lives more frequently.

Thinking in all these matters, I realize how spiritual all those things are as long as when you see your body working better, and also your heart and even your brain started to work better when you move, you think that your whole body is now working as it is supposed to be. You think your body is not supposed to stay seated all your life between a cubicle and after office in a couch, your body is supposed to move and to challenge you to even more adventure. That is why you see so many people happy and with a good mood to share smiles, water and to cheer you up in those 5 or 10 km of race. I use to tell that I participate in these races instead of competing in them, when I am in a race, I belong to a people willing to live more as to live better, I can feel it in all course. I also feel as participating in my city, as I can run in some streets where prior I could run just by car. When I see so many good people thinking they are closer to God when they exercise and they feel so healthy and see their bodies responding so well, I think how am I needed there to participate also in their victories and also to help them to complete this journey to God with Jesus Christ.

Please find more spiritual practices at Christine Sine blog

What is a spiritual practice?

2009-08-18T21:35:00.005-03:00

I have grown up in a Presbiterian tradition, what I mean here in Brazil is that I am supposed to have a very good biblical knowledge background and also very good leadership and administrative skills, though when I started to research about emerging churches phenomenon, I started to think how I lacked spiritual practices in my formation, that is why I have been learning a lot with a group of people in their missional blogs, specially from Mustard Seed Associates who have repeteadly make very good challenges to our faith.
Latelly Christine Sine started an amazing series with reflections from a wide variety of people telling about what they mean about Spiritual Practices. As I told you I lack a lot in this area so I have been learning a lot on this, but Christine also asked me regarding this issue, as challenging as it got to be, I chose to tell about how my running activities are meant by spiritual for me.
I hope to post it tomorrow.
I have seen such amazing reflections about seeing many activities as spiritual practies, so you will have and updated list in this post, and I recomend you to follow on.

My good news day

2009-05-17T08:47:00.004-03:00

Since Easter, JR Woodward has made an excelent job on gathering so good people to post daily on good news for their city, since then we have been had very good articles with very good insights from different perspectives.
Today is my Good News day (besides my birthday also), so you can read it and comment.
These series will bring more people to post until Pentecost.

No panic nor ignorance

2009-05-01T20:41:00.003-03:00

As a father, I have got very concern about this swine flu and tried to read everything I could about this virus propagation and its coming to Brazil, I could read two very interesting posts, the first from Tall Skinny Kiwi "Swine flu and a calm, reasonable, rational Church" and the second from Eugene Cho "our church’s response to the H1N1 - swine flu", though I am very sorry for all that are mourning for their loved ones died or are so concerned by their sons with flu, it seems there are a panic that spread in a higher pace than the virus.

Thinking about panic, I remembered a very wierd day here in Sao Paulo it happened last year, in an earlier day, a mob organization attacked some police stations in our city and around, I remember that we started this day shocked by the news, but listening that this organization would do even more at this day, so at my office we started to receive some news from friends that mobsters attacked train stations and shot buses, so we started to think that things got out of control and we heard that police advised to get home early and not to stay out after eight at night, with those spreading news we got very concerned with friends out at office to, my company dismissed all employes to go home early, I could return home at 2:00PM with a 6 o'clock traffic. at 7PM, downtown was empty.

Nothing happened! I thought it was the weirdest situation I experienced at my city, a one of the biggest cities of the world was emptied because of panic, and I could see how panic is powerfull to change behaviour of a hole population!

And that is what I could reflect on these two posts, as long as all media is spreading information about H1N1, people get concern and searches for more information for H1N1, in the middle of all moviment, we should have voices of reason to makes people think about what is really happening and to make the best behavior to stay healthy.

No panic with no irresponsability.

Best witness for a post-christian world

2009-04-15T21:08:00.002-03:00

I have just readed "Peppermint-Filled Piñatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love" from Eric Bryant.
I liked the book very much, Eric did a very good job on discussing this very sensitive issue about "Love Apologetics", he shared so nice stories on his life and ministry with great honesty and good humour, what I could sense after his stories is that church has been so confident in programs and strategies to reach the unchurched that we underestimated the best that Jesus gave to us that is His love and acceptance to others.
There is some issues such as racism and polarity between democrat and republic parties that is not so problematic here in Brazil, but our church also need a lot to know what means to be community, churches multiply a lot here because we also have many splits due to desagreement or ego fights.
It was so good to read such experiences that I could simpathyze so much with him, he writes very simply and his purposes are reachable to everyone, I recommend this book as a good moment to think about how we as church have done things and how we could best spread this gospel loving and being really present to others as Jesus did.

The Twilight of Atheism

2008-12-20T17:33:00.007-02:00

I took advantadge of one of my first calm saturday to finish a book I have long been reading, I have got interested to read a book about atheism when I could saw some atheist books very well marketed here, but I rather choose a more general book instead of a response from McGrath to Dawkins book, already translated to Portuguese but not marketed as well.
I thought Twilight of Atheism: the rise and fall of disbelief in the modern world a very well organized book and also very well researched, I could found a well done chronology of atheism related to what was happening in Christianity and history at those time.
Besides the very good historical chronology of religion I could saw a very interesting point of view on which faith (and absent of it) is very related to imaginary, when we steal the imaginary from the faith it will not nourish.
Also, McGrath purposes that atheism grows when religion is closely related to power. He made think frequently on Bush era and those atheist books released:

"Where religion is seen to oppress, confine, deprive, and limit, atheism may well be seen as offering humanity a larger vision of freedom. But where religion manages to anchor itself in the hearts and minds of ordinary people, is sensitive to their needs and concerns, and offers them a better future, the less credible the atheist critique will appear. Believers need to realize that, strange though it may seem, it is they who will have the greatest impact on atheism's future."

Besides the historic chronogram of atheism, faith and religion I recommend two chapters very closely related to emerging church issues: "Disconnection from the Sacred: Protestantism and Atheism" where McGrath ties Protestantism ascetism of liturgy to lack of immagination to atheism and "Postmodernity: Atheism and Radical Cultural Change" where he describes very well modernism and postmodernism.

Questions we make to our pillow

2008-12-20T11:16:00.010-02:00

In July, I thought about making some gatherings of friends not related to my church network to start some espiritual conversations and get to work all the stuff I have been learned so far, also, it was a matter of gathering friends that I have not seen so frequently, as we live in a very big city, when we loose regular contact through business, school or even church, we have to be very intentional to maintain friendship, there's people that is hard to meet once a year even if he lives in São Paulo too.
I got a meeting room at a hotel located in a business neighborhood in Sao Paulo. A friend help me with a very beautiful invitation which, besides the theme "Questions we make to our pillow", raised a lot of couriosity.
As I am yet a kind of unchurched, I do not count with a team to help me, so I asked help for Sandro Baggio who made available so good and talented people from Projeto 242 to give me a very generous help with music, paintings, drama and films. That is why also I called some friends trhough Facebook to help me through prayers for those gatherings.
We planned to talk about some deep questions that assalt us frequently, like, how much money is enough, how to do so many things in a so little time, if there is a purpose in life and how to be happy. The purpose was not to answer those questions (we are not crazy to it) but to questions how those matters are relevant to us and how. We did it reflecting about what Solomon wrote in Eclesiates and also with some teachings of Jesus. It was a very good time to talk and refect about our rithym of life, about our current consumist system of values and to find again how deeply was Jesus teachings to address those matters, life is so simple and good life is so at hand! Sometimes it seems so far!
As we live in a very crazy city, there was many friends who wanted to come but was unable to, we scheduled our gatherings to four Wednesday nights from August to October, but our city reserves surprises that usually blocks people from going from one side to another.

We tried to test new ways to talk about spirituality, though it is not so easy when you are raised from a church when you are trained to talk about this in a very closed point of view, but I thing we did make good gatherings though there wasn't as many friends as I planned. But for the couriosity raised and for the matter of perseverance I would like to work on these gatherings again next year.
Thank you for your prayers and help.

David Pierce at CheckList today!

2008-05-31T08:34:00.003-03:00

Well, as antecipated, David Pierce blog tour happens today here, please find below some prior questions I have sent him, feel free to post more questions to him at comments, remember though that New Zeland hour is the opposite time now

Luis Fernando - As you have been here in Brazil, even recently at Tribal Generation, what kind of idea you have of the overall church here and some efforts to build a relevant witness to our generation?

David Pierce - First of all, I want thank you for having me on your blog, Luis. It would be great to see you when I am in Sao Paulo next October.

From my limited experience in Brazil, I have the impression that there are a lot of great churches reaching into the emergent generation. In fact, I think Brazil is a leader in that area in many ways.

It was great for me to be at Tribal Generation (along with Sandro Baggio and Aaron) and to see all the different ministries that are happening in Brazil and South America.

Luis Fernando - With this kind of itinerant ministry around the world, I imagine you might go to places you will never have the opportunity to return again, how can you assure the fruit of your witness are having the proper follow up on evangelism or discipleship?

David Pierce - It’s my desire that everyone we reach as a result of our evangelistic efforts are equipped to become mature enduring mature members of the Body of Christ. That is why we are extremely committed to working with local churches and ministry partners to ensure that new believers receive proper follow up and ongoing discipleship. When necessary, we work to develop new churches because it is common for us to ministry in areas where they are very few or no churches at all.

However, I disagree with the idea out there that unless you can ensure that direct follow up will occur, that you shouldn’t proclaim Jesus. All day long, people are constantly hearing lies, through the media, newspapers or where ever they go. So if I have the opportunity to proclaim the truth, I not only should, I have the responsibility to do so.

For example, one day I was listening to the radio, and a well-known Christian band was being interviewed on a popular station. This band had achieved considerable success in the secular music scene. The interviewer asked the singer of the band where he got his inspiration. It was as though he was setting him up to talk about his faith in God. The singer in the band responded by saying, “I know some people would say we’re a Christian band, but we’re not.” Then he said he got his inspiration from different social issues and life experiences. And as he spoke, it was as if I heard a voice saying, “If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father in heaven” (Matthew 10:33).

Luis Fernando - When training other people to build similar ministries around the world, what factors do you have in mind to pass them that will be important to nurture in their home places?

David Pierce - Over the years, I have learned many principles (often the hard way!) about how to effectively reach the emergent youth culture, but I think one of the most important principles is the idea that you can not be impressed with the “scene” God is calling you to.

The “scene” devastates people. Jesus wasn’t afraid to confront human culture, because he knew how often it was sick and destructive. He healed on the Sabbath, he talked to a Samaritan woman in a public place, he invited tax collectors to join him, he ate with immoral people, he offended Jews by not following their laws, he said that he did not belong to the world’s system but came to bring another Kingdom, and he told his followers that they did not belong to this world. Jesus spoke in the languages of the cultures he was trying to reach, but he did not identify with cultural stupidity, confusion, pride, selfishness, injustice, or immorality. Jesus ate with people, loved them, healed them, fed them, used their symbols to communicate who God is, but he didn’t refrain from telling them the truth.

So don’t think you have to compromise with the scene. Be like Jesus, and confront it. This is why I refuse to say, for example, that I am a Christian punk, even though I have spent years in the middle of punk culture. How unbelievable is it to link Jesus with anything like that—a man-made scene that destroys people? I am a follower of Jesus, not a Christian punk. NO LONGER MUSIC has also played in some of the most famous gothic clubs in South America, but that hasn’t made me a Christian goth. I am a follower of Jesus, and that is all. I influence the scene, not vice versa. You need to get out of the scene. Jesus is the one you need to follow.
It seems that sometimes we think that being part of the scene makes us radical. But that just buys into the idea that the scene is more powerful than Jesus. Jesus is the true radical.

At Steiger, our vision is to train, equip and release people around the world to reach out to secular youth culture in urban areas and to raise up evangelistic artists who would impact the trend setters in the fields of art and media with the message of the Cross.

We have a 3-month school in New Zealand every year to give training for those interested in reaching the emergent youth and in our last school we had seven people from Brazil. We also have an Association of Evangelistic Artists that is intended to challenge and equip artists and musicians to boldly take the gospel message outside of the church.

Check out our website – www.steiger.org – for more information about Steiger or check out - http://timetoact.steiger.org - for more information about No Longer Music.

I would like to post here a question posted by TallSkinnyKiwi where you can know better what happens at No Longer Music Presentation:

Andrew Jones - How do you describe No Longer Music?

David Pierce - In our show, we start the concert with a lot of craziness that has no real point to it; there are just a lot of bizarre things happening on stage, along with video projections, fire and other special effects. For example, during one song, our base player is strung up by his feet and plays a song upside down.

We do this to develop a relationship with the audience; it shows them that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and gives them a chance to dance and go crazy.

But in the second half, it gets serious. We start the second section by portraying a girl being raped behind a shadowbox in order to convey a sense of the world’s injustice. We use such an intense symbol, because the reality is that people are raped by the world. We do not do anything obscene, but the portrayal of what happens is still very strong, because we want to show people what the world really is like. After that, I pick the girl up and carry her forward, toward the audience. The audience does not know yet that I represent Jesus in the concert. Then I start saying, “I can’t protect you when you’re not by my side… I can’t keep you safe… Don’t hate your life!”

The whole point of this section is to show how passionate God is and how upset he is about our pain and suffering. The concert goes on to show how I die for the girl. Many people still do not realize what is going on, perhaps because I have not used the words “God” or “Jesus,” even forty minutes into the show. We had the crazy part in the beginning, and then it slowly turned into a serious story, but not one time have we said anything blatantly Christian. The reason is that we gear the show toward secular people, so I need to explain to them who Jesus is before I start using Christian words. If I say, “God” or “Jesus” at the beginning of the concert, they will say to themselves, “Oh, I know what this is all about, and I’m not interested.”

Typical Christian words will turn people away immediately, because they have a false idea of Jesus in their head, and the Jesus they reject, you would reject also. As our show progresses and I am killed on stage in place of this girl, I end up covered in stage blood and am put in a clear coffin. Then two people blow fire over the coffin, and, amidst a lot of smoke and light effects, I come up out of it. A lot of people in the audience finally start to get it at this point. Up until then, most just think that it is a crazy concert. But now, the different aspects of the second half start to come together in their minds.

So finally, it clicks in people’s minds that we are talking about Jesus. That is when they start to react. People frequently get really worked up in the audience, especially when I come out of the coffin, because that is typically when God’s power shows up. He comes in such a real way that people feel it. They often say that they feel something like energy, light, heat, electricity, or a life force, because they do not know how else to describe the Holy Spirit.

By this point, the show has lasted almost an hour, and I still haven’t said, “God” or “Jesus.” And I still don’t. Instead, I walk over to the girl and say, “You don’t have to listen to lies anymore.” Then I say it again, “You don’t have to listen to lies anymore! I died in your place. We can be together again.” We embrace, and I say, “You can find your life again.” Then I turn to the audience and tell them, too, “You can find your life again!”

I say, “The world wants to put you in a cage like a rat. Like a rat on a wheel. I don’t want to live in a rat cage. I don’t want to die in a rat cage. I’m so sick of the rat cage. Sick of the rat cage lies. Sick of the rat cage jokes. It’s time to change the road you’re on. It’s time to meet the ultimate life force.”

I don’t use religious words. I don’t even say, “God.” I say, “It’s time to meet the ultimate life force—the one who loved us all along, the one who breaks all the chains. And his name is Jesus.” We have just done an hour show, and the last word I say is, “Jesus.” Because of the way we design the show, many people are thinking, I’m not supposed to like Jesus, but I like him, and I don’t know what to do. I see the truth in this message, and I’m touched, but I’m supposed to be against Jesus. It is confusing and powerful, because people finally get a true picture of who Jesus really is. And thousands of people have come to Jesus at our concerts, because they have seen a true picture of God.

If you want to see a video of what I’m talking about, you can watch this video.

Luís Fernando - David, I am extremely honored to receive you at my blog here, surely I am looking forward to meet you personally here in October. The very nature of your answers show how you are commited to mission and this makes me learn a lot with you. I am posting part of our interview in my Portuguese blog, and I will transfer comments from there to here.

Tag - David Pierce; Steiger; No Longer Music

David Pierce at CheckList!

2008-05-28T20:58:00.003-03:00

David Pierce started a blog tour today with a very interesting interview at TallSkinnyKiwi, so I was honored to recieve him at my blog next Saturday, May 31st.
David is director of Steiger International and leader of No Longer Music, I could see their performance some years ago at Projeto 242 in São Paulo and it was really amazing!
They have been in lot of countries and even countries with a very small Christian witness, this year they will be presenting on Poland, Lebanon, Turkey, Croatia, Finland and Iceland.

He will be here at my blog next Saturday, bring on your questions and feel free to comment.

Great conversations with Spencer Burke in São Paulo!

2008-05-24T17:45:00.005-03:00

As shared in last post, we had great moments when we received the visitation of Spencer Burke here in São Paulo. It all started with an interview we made with him on March and after, we started to talk about a possibility of doing Soularize here in São Paulo, so we received him from May 15th until 18th when he could take good pictures, and have a good idea of the emergent conversation in Brazil, also we could foster great conversations with friends and could promote a gathering last Saturday on Projeto 242.

If you would like to know how it was, we have streamed mostly of the Saturday gathering and we have them recorded, our session was both in English and in Portuguese, so you might listen and see what happened on video:

Morning Sessions

Afternoon Sessions

Also, we have it recorded on Renovatio Cafe's Podcast:

Morning Session

Afternoon Session

I hope this might help to open brazilian doors for more conversation with great guys abroad we have been known and read in this emergent world.

Spencer Burke in Sao Paulo

2008-05-14T22:46:00.004-03:00

We are looking forward to receive Spencer Burke and spent the next days with him, this idea begun with his interview made for Renovatio Cafe and from tomorrow until Sunday we have a quick time to learn from each other and let brazilian people know about him.
As I am not so used for these kind of things I have spent very rushed days, but I am very excited to have him with us. I believe his energy and good spirit will contagiate many people will be there.
I hope to stream our gathering with him in the main page of Renovatio Café on Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00 (Brazilia time), feel free to check it out!

Projeto Mandaqui is over

2008-05-14T22:29:00.000-03:00

I had posted this week a final post for Projeto Mandaqui blog, we have met for two years and, after we found so difficult to gather more people to be with us, we also started to have some difficulties to syncronize our rythm and priorities.
Though it is frustrating I can't be sad for trying, we had wonderfull meetings and each one were a gift from God.
We stopped meeting and now, I am wondering and praying for another way to start our church planting seed.
We need your prayers!

Renovatio café - Now you can read it!

2008-03-30T21:00:00.004-03:00

As promised, we opened last week a section of English articles for you friends abroad! We have opened it with two objectives in mind:

To let you know what is going here, we will have brazilian bloggers posting in English to let you know our context, how we found the books we have read, it is, the think I try to do here

To let friends participate in our efforts in Brazil posting their messages to encourage our work on brazilian emerging church

We have already an Article from Gustavo K-fe about Brazilian context of the emerging church. You can visit at this link http://www.renovatiocafe.com/index.php/English/, or visiting Renovatio Cafe and choosing "English Content" menu, RSSs files for English Content are also available.

With Lights off for Earth!

2008-03-30T20:14:00.006-03:00

Yeah! Yesterday, we also took our lights off for Earth Hour!
We turned our lights off, eat our dinner while I could explain my doughter why we were doing such thing. After, I told her a story about the little light that went out searching for darkness and were not able to find it, I could relate it to Jesus teaching about being the Light of the world and we all prayed to be such a light to spread peace, love and happiness everywhere we were.
Earth Hour were not so spreaded here in Brazil, but it was a beggining, and was a great opportunity to reflect about our use of resources and our responsibility as christians to take care of this world.

Tag - Earth Hour; light of the world

Earth Hour, March 29th, 8PM

2008-03-07T22:59:00.003-03:00

I love this idea!

Will you be in?

I believe that even if your city is not on this list, it would be awsome to gather people at candles lights to reflect about our use of earth resources. Check at WWF Website

Renovatio Cafe

2008-02-26T20:51:00.004-03:00

I am so glad to break this long silence to share a very good news! We have just launched Renovatio Cafe website!
We had long ago planned to launch a site to gather the emergent community here in Brazil, to inspirate emergent brazilians to create good national content and to promote emergent gatherings in our country.
We have lots of blogs talking about emergent and missional churches, discussing about their delusion on modern church, but unfortunately, we have so rare emergent communities here! I believe this site could be a good tool to empower people to plant new communities here.
Until then, we will gather people to write brazilan content, but we will also work to translate good contents available abroad, also, we are working to have some good talks with emergent leaders abroad as a matter to inspirate others leaders here, if you are interest to help us in those matters we would appreciate a lot!
For a while, most of our articles are portuguese written, we have also some files available in English though, further, we plan to have also English content available to our friends abroad, I think it would be awsome to let you know what's going on here!
I count on your prayers!

*A revolução já começou - Revolution has already begun!

Children at streets

2007-09-11T21:42:00.000-03:00

Miséria S/A by Flipe SO
When I ever talk with someone abroad and they are interested to know how Brazil is like, they use to ask me regarding Homeless Children, when I was in LA and San Francisco where I could find homeless people, but no one children with them, I could realize how different it is outside Brazil.
Yesterday, I found at newspaper that our city had finished the first serious research about Homeless children, I could find some facts regarding this very sad situation in São Paulo:

There are 1842 children living at streets, 1040 live outside their home to get some money

55.9% sell candies at street crossings, 21.6% perform some kind of service like washing windscreen, polishing shoes or juggling at traffic lights and 15,6% begging

As people pity situation of very small children at streets, most of the beggers are smaller children

Work at streets and begging, at general, generates US$ 12 Million dollars a year, 4 out of 10 cars use to give some kind of tip. Social work people associates directly success at working and begging on streets to perpetuate this kind of situation here.

Children leave home because of violence and abuse, they don't like also public shelters because those places do not provide many things to do

Questions from Netherlands

2007-08-27T21:15:00.000-03:00

In a meme played by Paul Abspoel, I asked him to interview me too, here are his questions:
1. The Church in Europe and North America is going through difficult times. What about the Church in South America in general and Brazil in particular?
In fact, church in South America is growing. In Brazil, churches that have the highest growing rates are the ones that started from last 20 years through a massive use of media, practicing a charismatic kind of lithurgy and comitted to signs, healings and prosperity. Though, leadership has been compromised by unethical behaviour and also because their assets have been growing besides their churches. Because of this, evangelical church have been lacking credibility. Due to this very quick movement, we are presenting a sourge of a pos-evangelical generation in Brazil too, a great challenge to people who are attaining to a more conservative theology here.
2. What do you like most about kids and why? Is this a quality that we can still have or strive for as grown-ups?
I love my children and the possibility of living with them, I have a doutgher of 7 and a son of 2, being their dad has been a wonderfull oportunity to learn and to see life so differently. What I like them most are their quality of being happy as long as they are awaked, they don't wait so much to have fun from a situation and I believe this is the think we have dislearned in our growing up, our concerns has taken our happiness away from us. When being with my children I learn again I should laught and smile much more.
3. Did you ever hear God or Jesus speaking to you in an audible voice? If so, please tell us about this experience. If not – how do you understand God’s will for your life?
There was once, in the middle of night I waked up to go to bathroom and a verse of the Bible came to my head "As a father have mercy on his child our Lord have mercy on the people that fear Him", it cames from nothing! This kind of thing happened also once before and I think I was remembered by God that He was with me in all my concerns mainly related to church planting and personal career.
As this not happens everyday, I try to move myself on the will of God asking him a lot what to do and guiding myself through the common sense that is feeded by Bible and prayer.
4. If you could suddenly have a talent / gift that you don’t have right now, what talent or gift would that be and how would you use it?
I recognize there is some people that are extra-sensitive, they feel through Holy Spirit some needs of people and tell things from God that fit very well to people situation, they are called prophets and though we have bunches of people acting as prophets without having such gifts we have to recognize that this gift exists but are not so common. I would like to have such gifts to help people directly in their needs.

5. Why on earth did God make mosquitoes?
Great question! It might be to have frogs feeded.

Thank you Paul for your very wise questions.
If you would like to be interviewed by me, find below the rules of this meme:

1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

An Image worth more...

2007-08-13T17:18:00.000-03:00

I have found on Emerging Grace blog, some posters that I have been found in some emerging church blogs due to their missional church definitions. Messages are very rich and gets richer when besides so interesting pictures like those were taken, the one that I think reflect my moment now is stated below:

My personal DNA

2007-08-02T22:09:00.000-03:00

After 11 pages of tests from a Facebook add in I found myself as a Faithfull Leader. From all tests I have done, this seems to be a very comprehensive test. The good thing of this test also, is that your personality can be tested by your partners, this facility can improve a lot your self image!

If you wanna know what this means, follow the link.

Tag - personality test; personal DNA

8 Ramdom facts about me

2007-07-18T22:12:00.000-03:00

I was tagged by Len Evans to tell you 8 Random facts about me, the rules are:

1. players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Here you have:

1. I learned to play keyboard when I was at my twenties, I even bought an Yamaha PSR and played in an audition in a restaurant; I don't remember how I get rid off this keyboard;

2. I could see Miami Heats defeating Chicago Bulls when I was in Miami, that is why I got their uniform when I had to chose an esportive Christmas gift two years ago.

3.I had some loyal penpals when I was a teenager, Georgia Sarla, from Greece; Lisa ###, from Norway; Helena de Fátima Bento da Conceição, from Portugal and Isabelle ### from France.

4.Yesterday was my second time running karts and, for this time again, I finished a position ahead from the last

5. My preferred superhero were Daredevil

6. We did three contests between folks in my office to loose weight, I won all three, but now I am well above my last goal that gave me close to US$ 200.

7. I received from Ken McCord a hole 2 pounds 8 oz of Skippy Peanut Butter when I was in San Francisco, the bottle is getting empty and I don't know what to do after that!

8. I have four e-mail accounts, I use to read them at least five times a day, great sign of anxiety

Unfortunatelly all my international folks have already answer to this meme, I might invite my eight friends when I import this to my Brazilian Blog.

Day to be champions

2007-07-15T22:10:00.000-03:00

Today was a great day to sports in Brazil, first at Volleyball World League, we beated Russia (3 v 1) and we won the World League for our seventh time (fifith year in a row). It is amazing to see that we have been producing generations and generations of very good volleyball players, just to remember, we have been won the World League for the last five years, and we won also the last World cup and the golden medal at Athens Olympic champeonship.

But we had another championship final to watch, it was the Copa America final against Argentina (our biggest sport rival), our team made bad matches in this cup, our best players preferred to be on their vacations (Kaka, Ronaldinho Gaucho and Ronaldo), we started Copa America with a desasterous match when we were defeated by Mexico, but we were keeping a somewhat regular results until we got to final, but Argentina won all their matches, they sent their best players to won this cup. So I thought Argentina would won Brazil easily, but the unexpected happened, Júlio Baptista could score a first goal between the first 5 minutes, we got another goal at first half and another in second half. It is the second Copa America we won Argentina at final in a row! Though I love the Argentinean people and I have very good Argentinean friends, it is just delicious to beat Argentina and even in this kind of situation!
Tag - copa america; Volleyball World League

Great encouragement

2007-07-13T21:42:00.000-03:00

I had a good surprise this week finding a very good post on Emergent Village written by Andrew Hamilton "6 reasons not to quit", it is interesting to see how it repercussioned, this post collected so far 25 comments (one from me), it might seem how church planters are thirsty of this kind of encouragement.
Andrew shares a little of his experience ahead a ministry in Perth, where they have been ministried for already 4 years, without a single person signing up to follow Jesus. His feelings about seeing himself as a failure was echoed by many people who commented.
As I have been tried to share here, we have been gathering to plant a church in a North Zone neighborhood in São Paulo, we have been gathering weekly since the beggining of this year with expectations to gather more people around us, we have not succeeded so far, even with all invitations that I have been made, we were unable to bring a friend here yet. My obsession on reaching friends has lots of times turned out to frustration of being unable to gather unchurched friends with us. By the other side, I have been also unable to give up, many frustrated nights has followed some mornings with hope when I weak up expecting a new way to impact some friends with our witness. I have been encouraged thinking that we are just closer to the day we will make it.
It has been difficult, but we reather stick with a small group strategy than appeal to an impersonal one like a stablished church, I think if we are not able to develop a small group right now, we won't do it in the future, so we have to learn now but it takes patience.
This is not to raise pity to me, but to share how Andrew's words gave more power to the hope that have been attached me to this dream.

Tag - church planting; hope

5 things I dig about Jesus

2007-07-10T17:34:00.000-03:00

I was tagged by Paul Abspoel from Netherlands to tell you Five things I Dig about Jesus, I was very honored by this invitation. Yesterday I read in Exiles, from Michael Frost that we, in our churchy culture, have seen Jesus as a man to be worshiped instead a man to be followed; it is wierd when you get so block as to ennumerate what dig you about Jesus, makes me thing how far I put him in my life just to be worshiped and not think he was a man like me too:

1. Availability - He was so available, even when he knew that he became a very public person, so demanded and even when he knew that some people searched him because of food and because of status, he attended all.

2.Focus - Though he was very demanded, he never lost his focus, even when we forsaw his death, when he knew that what would happen to him, would happen due his mission here, he accepted.

3. No prejudice - He knew everything about the people who he was talking with, he knew the kind of life everybody was used to live, but he received all that was sincere to present their fragmented life and rejected all important people that pretended was close to God and wanted to promote themselves over him

4.Balanced - He knew when it was time to act, but knew also when was time to retire and rest, or pray. He didn't get overworked even with all demmand he had

5. Great Teacher - He didn't explained all his purpose and all his doctrines, instead, he let people find it for themselves, his teachings was never long talks explaining everything, he liked to use questions and stories to make us think and realize for ourselves.

I will tag all my international buddies that, I thing, would do that: Rick Stilwell, Len Evans, Steve Knight,JR Woodward and Ken McCord

Here are the rules:
(a) Those tagged will share “Five Things They Dig About Jesus”.
(b) Those tagged will tag 5 people.
(c) Those tagged will leave a link to their meme in the comments section of this post so everyone can keep track of what's being posted.

Dreaming to pray

2007-06-27T09:18:00.000-03:00

Today, between an snooze in my radio watch and other I was dreaming that I was praying for some folks in my office. It was a kind of weird, my time with God has been so irregular that I thought that, should I pray when I am sleeping because I have been so unable to set up a time to pray? I know I need a lot to pray, today I dismissed my internet in my breakfast to be with God.
From that time on, I have been dreaming awaked, and now I am dreaming and praying a lot for a Summer Biblical School in my neighboorhood, I couldn't do that in my apartment because it is too small, I would need a house, so I need some prayer partners to be with me in that. I have some time in my holidays in July to do that, a house would help me a lot to start some plans.
Tag - devotional; pray time

Like a Lion

2007-06-25T21:38:00.000-03:00

Don't ask me how they got to it:

They started as a great worship ministry of a baptist church in Minas Gerais, their first two CDs were so beautifull, many churches in Brazil used to sing their songs while they shared profits of CDs sold with children mission in India. It was like 10 years ago.
Today they turned out to be a huge worship ministry, they use to fill parks with hundreds of thousands on their shows at streets, and the scene was from one of their latest shows.
Tag - worship ministry; Lion

The Shape of things to come (resuming)

2007-06-23T22:08:00.000-03:00

I had to go to my doughter musical presentation and, I was wondering that, though my last post was very long, it was incomplete yet. I took so long to identify our reality by the church described by Hirsch and Frost, but I didn't discussed anything on their solutions. The kind of things we had a lot these days, people talking fast about what is wrong with the church without working for their renewal.
The opportunities of planting churches with encarnatonal, messianic and apostolic approach would not be so far here, we are not so formal in our relationships, but the dualistic culture is very deep in people hearts yet. Our poverty give us plenty of opportunities to engage, though, our approach to social matters is very opportunistic in most of efforts, the act of promoting social justice for a matter of love itself is a thing that we are to learn.
I liked very much the figure the authors used about a centered set church, against a bondered set church: it is exciting to imagine a church that relationships are not ruled by memberships or culture. Though churches always have a set of relationships that links some folks to them, the idea that these folks will be also church just when they baptise are to be beated. I also liked the explanation of how some churches promote a centered set, presenting very bold non negotiable truths and presenting other doctrines in a way that people theirself would be able to choose by studying the Bible, I liked the idea of teaching people how to build their truth on Bible. I told this to a pastor friend of mine and he admitted how many non negotiable doctrines he had as setting very tigh bondered church to his fellowers.
I have got a live example of an apostolic leadership since I have know Kairos LA, they also promote leadership as presented by authors with Apostles, Pastors, Prophets, Teachers and Evangelists. In Brazil, our churches are also ruled by Pastors and Teachers. Our Evangelists are resumed to missionary people. We have plenty of prophets also, even more in a country when you live beside such poverty, we have many people daring to preach to serve them; unfortunately, as their voice were silented years ago, their emergence in church made many of them auto sufficient and many times their action is at service to left side political parties agenda, and, with the lack of an apostle leadership, they will remain discoursing against poverty with no actions. The word of apostleship have been related to an apostleship ministry promoted by some neo-pentecostals church, it has been used to give a few, a very high hierarchy at church, because of this, we have to use this word with caution. Indeed we lack a lot apostleship as an entrepreuneur that would plant more churches and set real goals to this planting.
Might God help us to be bold in action to see real examples like those here in Brazil.

Tag - brazilian church; emerging church; the shape of things to come; Alan Hirsch; Michael Frost

The Shape of things to come

2007-06-23T14:30:00.000-03:00

This is my 2nd post I should have posted earlier, but I had not. I finished "The Shape of things to come" reading in January and published a detailed revision in my Brazilian Blog (it took 4 posts to publish an overall idea of the book and a revision of the writers purposes of an Incarnational, Missianic and Apostolic church). I think it would be useless to have such a detailed approach of this book here, once this book was well accepted in international emerging church community and you will find better reviews like mine in blogosphere. Though, I would like to share what those ideas means in our brazilian field.
The importance of this book besides, Emerging Church, is that it paves a good way of what our churches should seek when emerge. After reading both, I think Emerging Church as a very good report of how churches have been emerged in US an UK while, this book describe the basis below Emerging Churches practices.
Actually I am starting Michael Frost's "Exiles" reading, after read all Alan Hirsch's "The Forgotten Ways". It is clear to note that all three book's ideas are constructed on a thesis that while the Christendom mode of society is shadowing, our mode of church is shadowing by the same way, thus we need a new kind of church out of the dominance box that started when Constantine declared Christianism as the official religion of all Rome. I think that is important to have clear that church has not started from these ideas on, I had already saw some early brazilian criticism to Emerging Church that they considered Christian Church as lost from Constantine until now, off course based on misread emerging church books and purposes.
I think that the Christendom mode detailed by Hircsh and Frost applies very much to evangelical church in Brazil, it has been very Attrational, reflected, for instance, by use of media with preching all day in christian Radio and TVs as a way to invite people to attend services and being blessed, all strategies you see is related to have people coming to the church bounds to be part of them; our church has been very dualistic, when they build a kind of paralell christian world where the label "gospel" tells what would be good for christian people to use and has been also very hierachic when the first thing that all churches do, is to establish who owns the power and a very well career plan of how to get it. With our evangelical growth we started to have a kind or post-evangelical people frustrated by evangelical church promises not fullfilled.
We have a great challenge to break this kind of religion culture, though people are very free to express their spirituality here, their have been more exposed to express that through spiritualism. They have been exposed nightly to those ideas on TV Soap Operas besides post modernism ideas. But when they go search for spirituality out of spiritualism and budhism they will appeal to a church closed to Catholic culture (a church even more attrational, dualistic and hierarchic), where most of people got the idea of religion when growing up. Yes, they will remain frustrated as long as they find another way of doing church.
Hirsch and Frost ideas are indeed great solutions to our day, church as it is now will remain just beside our culture, we will need just good people dare enough to have this kind of thinking outside the box and starting making difference. The fact is that we have seen lots of discussions about emerging churches in Brazil, but we have not seen any practical idea because we have seen only discussions. We need concrete examples of emerging communities to foster other examples, so far we have few ones and not enough to establish a good idea of what an emerging church should be in Brazil.
I think this book should be a good source to give us a way to begin.

Tag - brazilian church; emerging church; the shape of things to come; Alan Hirsch; Michael Frost

March for Jesus in Brazil

2007-06-19T17:23:00.000-03:00

I were out of it!
The first edition of March for Jesus in Brazil were set up the same day of March for Jesus in US (The Jesus day), but as this march required a lot of work in our already chaotic transit, this event were transferred to our holliday of Corpus Christi. Actually, Corpus Christi is a Catholic holliday, but March for Jesus is very evangelical and were transferred to this day just for a matter of convenience. But the funny think is that, this holliday in Sao Paulo hosted two huge movements in city, March for Jesus on Thursday and the Gay Pride Parade on the follow Sunday.
We have this kind of schedule from last four to five years, and this my first doubt about March for Jesus movement when they face it like a competition against the Parade to be made on the follow Sunday. You evangelicals abroad know what I mean! The organizers were yelling that March for Jesus would take 6 million people to streets when they knew that Gay Pride Parade would take 3 million. Actually March for Jesus took 3,5 million people to streets while Gay Pride took the same 3 million.
As you might noted I am very skeptic about this movement, above all criticism we have about this movement is to think that if you take 3,5 million sincere people to streets in the name of Jesus, you wold expect also a very different kind of society and city here in the day by day after the march. Unfortunately this is not the case, worse, the junk that is accumulated after this movement is as huge, that is not a good witness to people that lives around.
Latelly I have seen this movement as a kind of purified Carnaval that people cannot play because of Carnaval sinful nature. But I have know a fact that made this even worse and I wrote about in my Brazilian Blog.
The couple that used to lead this movement (an apostle and a bishop) are arrested in Miami because of money smuggling and false witness, they entered US with US$ 56000 and declared US$ 10000 (US Police were already with an eye on them). But all followers of their church are convicted they are innocent and this march was used to claim for their inocence. That was not right for me, that was some reason that I am completely out of this kind of think.
I think that every movement for Jesus should have a greater impact on city and on society, a day by day with sincere followers of Jesus will have great impact, and we still need this a lot here.

Tag - March for Jesus; Jesus day

Not Abandoned

2007-06-19T17:02:00.000-03:00

I took a look earlier today at this blog and got ashamed because I could almost see a year of postings here! I have postings about World Cup Yet! Wow! Time really goes very fast!
I would not like to ramble again how lazy I have been at this blog, but whenever I think about some folks that have been followed my so little posts here, I forget all my thoughts about closing this blog. I ever get so happy when I recieve your thoughts about my posts.
My Portuguese blog has been nice, I have just completed 500 posts there, people are liking discussions and I think my blog have been a good reference in our beggining emerging church community.
I think it would be useless to just link my site with a translator, a mere translation would not do all you need to know, there somethings in my blog that need to be explained to people abroad, that is why this blog exists.
Well, in my effort to not let this blog abandoned, I think I am indebted with you to post about three items that I though about sharing here in this year:

My findings about "The shape of things to come"

March for Jesus in Brazil

My trip to California last month

I hope to post them all until the end of this week.

Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T08:45:00.000-03:00

Through internet I could follow what happened yesterday at Virginia Tech and while I started to ask why, how, I could follow also how this horrible fact impacted some folks in US, not only as a whole people but also as partners in ministry at that University. At this time, blogs are making us nearer to americans sufferings. My simpatys and prayers are with you right now:

From JR Woodward:
- From Virginia Tech: The In-between day
- In Regard to Virginia Tech Tragedy

Rob Williams: Praying for Hokies

Rick Stillwell: Virginia Tech

Popups eliminated?

2007-04-12T09:15:00.000-03:00

After a user friend of mine did the same, with a great sadness, I did take out Nedstat (Now Motigo)counter of this blog and it seems undesired Popups desapeared!
It's a pity because Motigo is a very promptly counter, it showed visits with a great fastness though with not detailed information as Extreme Tracking has done. My sadness on taking Motigo out is also for my ego interests, as I have been with Motigo very long ago, it was about to show almost 4000 visits. But I can surely live without it.
My dutch friend Paul has advised me about those inconveniences, and I thank him for his comments about those popups.
Please, if popups comes out again, feel free to tell me that Motigo is not guilty of that. Thanks

Tag - Counters; Motigo

Yes I go to Origins!

2007-03-17T09:56:00.000-03:00

This story began May last year when I had mileage expiring and this mileage made me eliegeable to issue an air ticket to United States, from everything I could think about what could I do in US, I chose to go to Los Angeles to attend Origins conference.
Though everything went wrong with my mileage (the air company were close to a bankruptcy), I kept my "A" plan and, with the Grace of God, I will be in Los Angeles from April 29th on to be at Origins, from Mosaic.
I was previously in United States on march 2001, when I went to Chicago to attend a conference at Willow Creek, and after to Miami to be with my ent. But now I will go with my wife, and will be great to be in LA with her. We might go to San Francisco on the follow Saturday to spend some days before return to Sao Paulo.
I think this as a great opportunity to learn a lot and to expand my ideas on our church planting in Sao Paulo. I count on your prayers. I might also, take advantadge to meet some people I have knew in blogosphere, and some churches I have been followed through internet.
If you have some hints also, it will be very appreciated.

Tag - Origins; Mosaic

Emerging Sampa

2007-03-13T20:49:00.000-03:00

As I told on my 2006 restrospectives, we started to gather some people interested in emerging churches and in readings of Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller etc. After some meetings we decided that we should spread this conversation in order to not let people interested in those matters thinking they are alone in our country, as some people we found recently.
So we are planning a conversation next March 31st at Projeto 242, the first emerging church I know here in São Paulo. We stated a theme as "Does we need a new kind of church?", and we are spreading the message. I hope to reach more people with this event. So far it has been so good to join so good people interested in Kingdom.
Also, we started a discussion of "The Secret Message of Jesus Christ" from Brian McLaren, which was translated to portuguese, our people are so excited on join this conversation, buying books and write.

Tag - Emerging Church

Church made in Brazil

2007-01-04T21:10:00.000-02:00

Visiting Church Marketing Sucks, I've found a familiar ad, it's from Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, a church that have gotten the higher growth rates in Brazil due prosperity theology, confronting afro-brazilian cults with tools imported from them to a Christian environment. Many teologists are discussing if this church is Christian or not, but this kind of model had also spread in hundreds of other independent churches in my country. I can find at list 10 churches like that in my 40 minuntes way to my job.
They spreaded not only with buildings but also at TV (Universal has two TV stations) and radio, mostly pirates. Due this growth with buildings and at media, people in Brazil are starting to relate overall evangelical church with this kind of church. This kind of idea has become a great obstacle to plant a new church here in Brazil.
I kid in my brazilian blog that many people complain that we are importing churching models from US and we have a brazilian model exported! By this time, unfortunately!
See how Church Marketing Sucks saw this.
Tag - Igreja Universal; church marketing

What I will take from 2006

2006-12-31T15:45:00.001-02:00

I took this afternoon to translate some retrospective that I've done at my brazilian blog, this is the objective of this blog, but I have not done so much as I would like, but this is the moment to share it again! This year I have plant so many things that it is difficult to think 2006 as a year, because as you will see I have lots of things to be developed with basis build this year:

Hospital - I stayed a weekend at hospital because of a kidney stone, but it was not so complicated as the pneumonia my doughter got. She spent 16 days at hospital, I think my life stopped completely, it is hard to move on things while your thinks are on people you love. But it was a time when we could know better God's mercy and grace, mainly with the reaction of our friends and friends of my kid.

Projeto Mandaqui- This year we could really move on this church planting project. Though we are few yet, we spent the year preparing ourselves and dreaming for our mission. Even with serious problems that happened to each family of our project, we could end this year with weekly regular meetings, and I thought it as a great conquer! Next year will be the time to spread our project and to leverage our base group. I expect also that being on Mosaic conference, Origins at May, will be very important to return Brazil motivated a lot and also better prepared to build an innovative community that should spread a vivid message to North Zone of São Paulo.

Emergent Conversation- I should also highlight how good was to start meeting with other folks in São Paulo that are well interested to Emergent Church. We started with Sandro Baggio that have a great emergent community called Projeto 242, we started to meet, to learn and discuss what we have found at websites, at books and at our current evangelical context. We had just five meetings but those was very deep when I learned a lot. Next year we are preparing to promote some events to all people in order to have emergent church issues better known, our first event will be in March, I will let you know how it will be.

Nooma - At those meetings, I was presented to those DVDs, I have got very enthusiastic with this very rich material, not only for how spirituality is dealt but also for seeing a kind of communication that could talk to everyone whithout focusing just evangelical people. I could import all collection and apply to some meetings at Mandaqui Project, I am planning also to reach a larger people on January with some sessions at my home.

Tag - retrospective; 2006

My reading in 2006

2006-12-31T15:23:00.000-02:00

As I have already done at my brazilian blog, I would like to highlight five books from all I read this year, due to Mandaqui Project I have been directed my reading to prepare myself for this mission, here you have:

The Emerging Church, Eddie Gibbs e Ryan Bolger - I thought it a very well prepared book about paradigm shift with post-modernity and how some communities are dealing with that, I could even dedicate some posts in my brazilian blog to describe the ten factors present to most emergent churches once this book is not translated to portuguese, and I doubt it will. As I have seen in other blogs and after reading it, I thought it a great book to understand Emergent Church.

The Shaping of things to come, Michael Frost e Alan Hirsch - despite the fact I've been reading this book since October and not finished yet, I thought it another great book to understand the emergent church, I thought content very rich and very well based.

Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell - I started to know Nooma, this year and I have got very well impressed with the way Rob Bell deals with spirituality, I saw this book as basis for the theology purposed at Nooma.

Everybody is Normal Till you get to know them, John Ortberg - I think community matters so much, community issues are so important to be discussed and so complicated to live! Author discusses the main matters to be shared and facilitates understanding of this issue, I think John Ortberg simplicity and good mood helps a lot to translate concepts to overall people in community, I think of his books as very good to work at church.

Leadership from Unlikely voices, Dave Flemming - nothing as a leadership book with christian basis without all the business things that most pastors love to apply at church!.

Tag - books; 2006

Unbeatable!

2006-12-31T11:25:00.000-02:00

DSC02111
Originally uploaded by Lufe Batista.

Yesterday we had our second round of Monopoly (Disney edition), and my doughter did it again! By first time I thought it was due her posessions of companies, but yesterday my wife got all companies and even with those got very close to bankruptcy, but I couldn't avoid it!
Once again we set midnight to close everything, but I went bankruptcy prior to that.
Though Maria Ester is not at all very used to change and to the rents table, she showed to be very lucky, some times the best strategy is not to have one!

Tags - monopoly

Close to Christmas!

2006-12-19T19:00:00.000-02:00

Christmas dinner is next Sunday! Wow! If were not the Christmas songs last service I would not figure out we were on Christmas time! As I spent last week in Bogota at work, my December got very shorter, Saturday was my only free time to buy gifts for family.
Last Friday we did our last meeting at Projeto Mandaqui, we remember of the kings` gifts for Jesus and changed gifts between one another. We might spent the new year day together, and after, we will have January out, just returning on February, I will spend a week out on this month as my other folks too.
I believe we have got a good improvement when we started to meet weekly after October, we haven`t many people joining us as I wished, but I have a great hope that people will come on the dynamics of our relationships, as far as we have a weekly meeting, we will have allways this opportunity to bring new people here.
We are planing a small camping retreat at Carnaval, a particular retreat for people like us, young couples with little children, this might be another opportunity to have new people with us, and an opportunity to get focus on our project.
My hope is on God that things will happen in 2007 for Projeto Mandaqui!

Tags - Church planting

As you passed here

2006-10-07T19:54:00.000-03:00

To tell that life has been such crazy is not so new, I've weaked up today likelly to post anything, so I would like to tell you some news: we are moving ahead our church planting in Mandaqui, we are very conscious of our condition, we are two christian families with small children dreaming to plant a church here in São Paulo, after meeting sometimes at Sundays to be pastored we have started yesterday to meet at a weekly basis open to friends to come, we know that as we have kids and babies, our meetings will be often interrupted by babies demands but that is who we are! We don't have other christian families to join us, now that's us facing outside our families with a very good support from a pastor friend of mine, he is also planting a church in his city 60 kilometers from here.
I feel that I have written a lot here about this church planting, but now is the moment to act more than to ramble, to act more on relationships, to know what to do, how to do, how to invite our friends and how to be friend regardless of this church planting.
We are very eager to have new people to join us, and in its sense I ask for your prayers.
I will keep you informed

Tags - Church planting, São Paulo

Poor guys!

2006-09-20T20:00:00.000-03:00

They are allways the last here in my home!

Tags - Milkybar, Nestlé

Very blocked

2006-09-02T11:33:00.000-03:00

Well, very long time with no post, everytime when I open my blog to access others that pendency comes to my mind!
Since the only time to post and to visit other blogs were reduced to my nights and weekends I have been very challenged to do it without been so away from my kids, it is I have to organize myself to have a good time with my kids and to have fun here.
I am not thinking about closing this blog, I have met amazing guys through it, but unless I get to be very organized here I will still be slower than I desire to.
Our church planting in Mandaqui have also been at slow pace, but we have been at least kept our focus, on next weeks we might define our help and I hope to have faster steps from this month on.
Today is my baby birthday, so I have to go to fill up some balloons.
See you later!

Tags - church planting, blogging

Again?!!!!

2006-07-01T18:18:00.000-03:00

As game was set to Saturday there was no great arrengement for this game, I spent my morning with my baby seeing Portugal vs. England, and we could see Brazil vs. France at my home, quietly with my wife.
Again, there was no great game and even with Ronaldinho more forward we could do nothing, our team was so apaethic and it seems the team went to see France play, again we saw the team exchanging ball between the defense players until the goal keeper, a kind of playing that got me nervous lots of times this World Cup, and France scored and we could see no great reaction.
Our country will be back to life and we will see our team coming back to our continent together with Argentina.
C'est la vie! As we tell in Brazil, we are France's customers now!
Tags - world cup, Brazil vs. France

It was bad but it is good yet!

2006-06-27T21:53:00.000-03:00

As game today was scheduled at 12:00, we were not able be dismissed to go home, we had to see the game at office with our collegies, our people set up the projector and we could see a very good image of game, I took a quick visit at McDonald's and ordered my meal to be eaten at beggining of the game.
Seeing Brazil vs Ghana at office was fun, but I had to keep my mood to myself, all leaders was there too, it was fun to listen a lots of tips to the players, complains to our uncreative midfield, to our coach and to the unhappy comments of Galvão Bueno.
Fortunately we won the game, Ronaldo scored again and became the greater scorer of World Cup, our team scored the 200th goal in World Cups and we are at quarterfinals. I was very concern with the phisical advantadge of Ghana, but the match went almost fina, 3 goals is very much at football, but it was not good seeing our team playing directly at defense wating for counter attack, lucklly, very lucklly Ghana scorers was so unhappy to make goals, they got plenty of opportunities but were unable to score one, people are talking against our defense, but I think our defense is playing very fine! They at least made the conditions to kick very difficult!
I got nervous until 80' and just later I could be sure we would make another step away.
It's good the match will be against France, it will be a good opportunity for revenge for 1986 (Yeah, I remember) and 1998!
Here a Photo I liked very much with the 15 goals of the fat one of our team:

Tags - world cup, Brazil vs. Ghana

We are very kind too!

2006-06-25T16:36:00.000-03:00

There was an experience made by Reader's Digest to find where you will find most cortesy, New York got the first place, but São Paulo got the 4th!!!
Check it here
By the way, thank you for reading my blog!

Tags - Reader's Digest, São Paulo

Now it's just 16!!!

2006-06-23T22:50:00.000-03:00

The First stage has just finished with very few surprises, this stage was almost boring, this because most of the groups were already defined before third round.
May be Ecuador and Australia had a very great first stage, I expected also that South Korea could go ahead instead of France, but they deserved it. My great disappointment was with Serbia and Ivory Coast, none of them could take Argentina out on the first stage like happened last year!

Tags - world cup

Well done!

2006-06-22T21:06:00.000-03:00

Brazil 4 x 1 Japan
I didn't have a great expectation about this game becasuse, after Japan's game against Australia, they was not showing a very competitive soccer and losing for Japan for me simply was not an option. I believe not being arrogant with this, but though last games were not so fabulous for Brazil, we still have a great team.
That is why I have got angry with the first goal against Brazil, and it went a long time without suffering any goal, when I was thinking our defense were doing so well! And there came the goals from Ronaldo (for the happiness of Galvão Bueno, comentator of TV Globo that is leading a campain supporting him), Gilberto, Juninho Pernambucano (who I thought would play against Australia and scores a goal in every match for Brazil) and Ronaldo again. Now he is the top scorer tied to Miller (though Argentinean commentators likes to remember that Miller scored the 14 goals in World cups in fewer matchs). I could not have a great fun with that because for me those goals were like an obligation.
Now it is serious, against Ghana we will not meet a so fragile defense and we should not commit those mistakes again.
Tags - world cup, Brazil v Japan

Ufa!!!

2006-06-18T17:22:00.000-03:00

I'm back from my friends home where we could see Brazil x Australia, our brazilian team was not as terrible as the team list shows but we could make it!
First goal was my preferred because the ball started from Ronaldinho Gaucho and went to Ronaldo and after to Adriano, they're terrible players, we are expecting more from them and if you give them space to play that is what happens.
I know Gus Hiddnik is a very good coach and if I were him I would do the same, the think is to close all space to stop the ball. And we, Brazil, need more creativity to get along with it.
Tags - world cup, Brazil v Australia

Mandaqui Project - Challenge and Prayers

2006-06-15T21:56:00.000-03:00

Last saturday we could resume to our biweekly meetings, we have arose some challenges that need prayers:

We need a church to send us, we need a visionary church with a mind open think in order to not suffocate us, but a church that could help us and could send us, because we cannot send ourselves; in this matter we will recognize God's approvement on our project

We need a solution to our children, our wives efforts to ministry to children have been tremendous but they are very needed when we are defining our group without let children without ministry, we need in this matter a very creative solution.

We count on your prayers

Tags - church planting

Culture piracy

2006-06-15T16:14:00.000-03:00

Copia Originale, by Torephoto
Weeks ago I was talking with a group of friends about issues regarding emerging church and church culture. One of the guys was complaining about how church most of the times goes after culture and ends copying what culture presents instead of setting new patterns for culture, he explained mostly with musical examples.
That made me think: How to spread the gospel and become really relevant to cuture?
Beggining with Paul, (at I Co 9:19-23 NIV , but more conclusive at The Message) we started to think about strategies to reach people of other cultures, and in order to be relevant to their cultures, we started to state a kind of missionary approach:

go to places where we can assess culture,

get what are relevant to them,

apply message to culture elements risen

and launch the efforts to present Gospel with the culture elements of people in order to make them understand our message,

isn't that right?

Sometimes not so much! Those items can become too summarized when we insert lens to the process. Things are not so simple. The thing is how we get cultural elements to become relevant to the culture?
And my answer came when I could recognize the difference between copying cultural elements and diving into culture.
Long ago a pastor was planning to preach at a kind of neighbor and told me that we should learn how to play samba as they liked, the thing was that we didn't like samba as the neighbors liked (not allbody in Brazil likes samba), if we rehearsed some samba music or compose some samba the results should be a disaster, mostly because it would lack authenticity.
And this is the big ingredient that makes the difference when thinking about relevance, we have screwed up lots of thinks when we went to people thinking about spreading the gospel to them but thinking about them as targets, going to them with second thoughts. This is the danger of friendship evangelism, because you think first about evangelize and thinking about being friend in order to get very well impressed and to make them accept Jesus as saviour. Authenticity lacks here, if your friend does not accept your message, would you abandon him and go after another target?
Unfortunately, these kind of urgency approach made us pirates with piracy music, piracy friendship and piracy culture. The music is not so real, its our music in another style, the art is not real, it's message without core.
In this talk, a pastor quoted Francis Shaeffer when told that unfortunataly, church has been had a very utilitarian use of art, which has made them lack this so need authenticity. Art is expression, not strategy.
I have learned that diving into culture requires a though job harder than just copying elements of culture. A more authentic approach makes you walk among people, learn with them, getting interest about them and present the difference of Jesus Chirst that applies to any culture.

Originally posted at Dream Awakener

Tags - culture, church planting, missions

I highlited in the morning

2006-06-14T21:59:00.000-03:00

"When I hear the voices accusing me, or accusing someone else in my thoughts, and I can't see who it is in the darkness, I need to remember who is really on the mat with me. It isn't my roomate or coworker or wife. I need to remember it is Satan face. My enemy is the same one who tempted Adam and Eve in the garden - and Jesus in another garder." Paul Thorson, Paiting in the dark

Tags - guilt, revenge

It's Show Time!!! Brazil starts today!!!

2006-06-13T16:53:00.000-03:00

World Cup excitement begun here two weeks ago and since them it's all that have been talked so.
Mc Donald's started to sell special sandwiches based on the seven winners of the cup (Italy, Germany, French, England, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina). At TV most of the commercial it's about World Cup.
In the previous week people started to decorate streets with Brazil's flags and green and yellow colors, as I live at an apartment I decorated our office at Tuesday with balloons, ribons and our Brazilian flag.
We have a great expectation for this cup as we have won the last and at this cup we have an even better team with four of the best forward players of the world.
Today, the day of our debut, we could see lots of people dressed with yellow or green shirts and lots of cars with brazilian flags, the world cup excitement is at the air. We could leave office at 3 in order to see the Brazil and Croatia, all offices closed to it and almost nothing works during game time.
First half has ended and it's already 1x0 to Brazil, go Brazil!!! Let's get our sixth!!!

Two more books finished

2006-05-27T23:26:00.000-03:00

This week, I was able to finish reading two books:
Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon Mackenzie - This book was strongly recommended to me by Pastor Sandro Baggio, this is a book mostly about creativity, not with techniques, but with lots of stories and reflections about how the contemporary thinking, very standarlized by our industrial and economic system, is eroding our capacity to create and to be original. He compared most of our business systems like a Hairball, you have an idea and start make money with that and you have a hair, in order to have more control of your new company you starts a culture, and attaches policies, procedures, benchmarks, each of that is another hair unit that is tied to your idea and origin a hairball, but once you are at the hairball, you cannot think anything new outside the hairball, you can only get anything new when you start to orbitate the hairball in the space of ideas, but not far enough to loose touch with the hairball and starts to be etereal and your ideas loose reality.
That's it! There are 24 very funny stories about Mckenzie experience at Hallmark, which I also compared with my experiences at Market Place but mainly with Presbiterian church, where I have a great interest to give something new in this kind of environment.
Finding Faith, Brian McLaren, I felt very interested about this book when McLaren himself recommended at his another book "More Ready than you realize" as one of the rare postmodern apologetic books. I was told this book as very like Mere Christianity, from C.S. Lewis, and I found a very good book about spirituality search. I liked the honest way McLaren discussed and walked on the spirituality way. It would be a book I would recommend to a friend with a search for God, but it would be after Mere Chrisitanity. I liked very much how McLaren defined faith and how he recommended a church, as long as I am very concerned about the kind of church I would like to plant here in São Paulo, those chapters helped me in a lots of issues that I should value to reach people today at my city. I planned to read this book aside with Mere Christianity, but after the pastor of our planting group lended me The Contemporary Christian, I will set a chance for rereading Mere Christianity later.

There is a third book, The Contemporary Christian, from John Stott that left two chapters to finish, great book also!

Tags - creativity, Finding Faith , Brian McLaren, books

Posts now... just out of office

2006-05-27T13:02:00.000-03:00

This week my explorer at office was unable to access most of the blogs that doesn't have own address, weblogs derivates sites also are unavailable at office like Technorati, Blogger, Flickr etc.
Posts now, just at nights and weekends at home.

Tags - security, IT , blogging

For a matter of being cosmopolitan

2006-04-20T10:13:00.000-03:00

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere.
And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

Tags - Europe, London

Tagging

2006-04-20T09:18:00.000-03:00

I have seen in some blogs this kind of tool and seen as a matter of tendency in the blogosphere, I don't know if I understood this enough, but I am trying now for a matter of easy search and to deep the issues.
If my tagging is not good enough I appreciate your help

Tags - Tags, Blogs

Growing Faith, are you ready?

2006-04-09T20:22:00.000-03:00

my first sunflower, Sabrina Stash

On beggining of his book "Finding Faith" Brian McLaren starts to define how faith does grow:
1st stage - Simplicity - at the beggining things are right or wrong, black or white and the follower see things in a very dualistic view, following the authority will make him be in the good side while others would be at the bad side, identifiying who's the enemies is the great deal;
2nd Stage - Complextity - faith gains complexity and the follower try to be effective in his faith and to get independance on getting trained by his authorities, he identifies other alternatives to do things and looks for the best way, he tries to be more pragmatic at this stage;
3rd stage - Perplexity - Here he makes more judgements and tries to find autenticity at relationships, the follower recognizes that he does not own the Truth when accepting other point of views, he tries to be fully honest with others and with himself and allows himself to question about his faith. Though, he run of being controlled as it was at previous stages.
4th stage - Humility - He recognizes other stages, recognizes weakenesses of others at previous stages of faith, but try take advantadge of his journey to help others and to fullfill all his potential.
Beside to think about what stage am I, I was wondering about how the churches close to me deal with this kind of faith growth. Here in Sao Paulo you can find lots of churches in all paths you choose, but I believe the great majority (about 80%) are more likely to recieve people from the first stage of faith and works to their followers stay at this level, they like to works with fear, to set enemies and to disencouraging questioning when tell that questioning might be the tool of devil to start new heresies; also, I can see most of the traditional churches working with stage 2 of faith, stimulating a more pragmatic view , training followers to be more effective but not as far as to free stimulating ideas. Some people will get accomodated, but some will have their faith growing, and when it happens, they will look for another place if their church does not receive their growth with genuine interest.
This kind of evolution is also reflection of our history, once we were very well prepared studying Evangelism Explosion or taking with us the booklet Four Spiritual Laws to evangelize, but today many people will not accept these tools as much as they accepted before.
As long as we are preparing for the starting of a church I wonder: Are we prepared to receive people from 3rd stages on? Will we be prepared to foster and encourage this kind of growth of faith?

In this present Darkness

2006-03-23T09:55:00.000-03:00

WebMuseum Paris - Bosh Hieronimus: The Temptation of St. Anthony

Years ago, I was presented to “This Present Darkness” from Frank Peretti, it was my first 200 pages book that I could read in a week. Thanks to this book it was a time when we started to talk a lot about Spiritual Battles and the importance of prayer. Frank’s very good narrative gave us a view like movie scenes of what Temptation could be and how we could succeed in this kind of war.
However, people here in Brazil started to go away from the message of importance of prayer and readiness. People started to develop a kind of mystical theology where they could draw maps of the city with regions where certain devils would operate, very detailed hierarchies for angels and devils, tools to defeat devils etc... This kind of influence developed a kind of church that is steady until now.
Latelly I have finished a book older than “The Present Darkness”, it was “Screwtape letters” from C.S. Lewis. I though it a somewhat humourus book where we can taste another close description about how we get tempted. But the idea is not close to the conspiration showed at TPD, temptation at SL is much more subtle, danger is not an heresy or a new kind of order that would take place, but danger is inside ourselves: our pride, our perfectionism, our agenda, our kind of spirituality, our own matters. I believe temptation in this book is also more lethal. Devil is not so interested about how world is going on, but only if it can help him take lives away from God.
But my point here is: if this book came earlier, why did this book not have the same impact that TPD had? Would people rather hunt devils and save his neighborhood than to realize how their ego is jeopardizing their marriage? Might it became more interesting to defeat new age heresy than to defeat their kind of spirituality that is taking them away from the care of people close to them?
I believe this situation arises the fact of how we run for confronting ourselves and for admiting our falts. Raw Material of temptation at Screwtape Letters are located inside ourselves, we are just stimulated, and our evil desire makes all work. But when we pretend to exercise our heroism, evil is located outside us and we could fade our weakeness and our dependance on the grace of God.
I remember of Rm 12:3 when we are exhorted to have a real figure of ourselves. I believe this is the origin of evil defeatness, when we are aware of ourselves, of our weakeness, of our evil nature and start to depend on God to win His battles.

Two Questions for you abroad

2006-03-05T16:46:00.000-03:00

- I had not seen the first season of Lost, if I start to see from the second season on, will I understand what is being happen?
- I was looking for Christian Children resourses at Internet, do you have a good one to me?

Thanks for your help!

Lent Challenge

2006-03-01T11:04:00.000-03:00

Last years I have been learning about taking seriously Lent period, in Brazil Lent is not observed by any of the evangelical churches, Lent is seen just as Catholic issue, but I have learned how important is to observe and reflect about Easter and Life and Death of Jesus for us.
What to do on Lent?
- There is populating in blogosphere OrangeJack Lent Challenge, he purposes reading all gospels in this period. I'm in! And it begins today, of course.
- I also found at "ship of fools" 40 ideas for Lent, very interesting.

Carnaval: License to sin

2006-02-27T11:26:00.000-03:00

Carnaval in Rio, by VideoVik
It's Carnaval in Brazil, today Carnaval is all that TV is showing about. There is beautifull parades in great cities and, all night parties at street and at some clubs.
This is our biggest holliday closing our summer,(it's ever on Tuesday, and people back to work after Wednesday ashes) as it usually stays at the beggining of the year, most people (and even business) uses to take the year seriously just after Carnaval, it is because people uses to set up their vacations until Carnaval and after that, most people are back to work. Even churches have slow attendances in January and waits for this holliday to make some camps and after that, to start their seasons.
Carnaval was a ancient party tolerated by church where people used to have a more free behavour before observing lent, this is the spirit of the party here (except for the observation of lent), people go to party very ready for casual sex. We have lots of parties at TV showing very liberal behaviour.
It is ironic the origin of this party, it implies a very religious concern but in a legalistic context. It is, you are free to sin now, because when lent starts you will be santificating yourselves and you will not have this opportunity. In this context, sin is a need to be avoided instead of a bad thing that brings bad consequences to ourselves and to our relationships with God.
I believe this all happens because the way churches and religious people has preached about sanctification. Preaching against sin requires you mostly that you know how to persuade based on what you have learned, but showing a santificated life requires you integral practice of what you have learned. We know the way of God is allways the best, but how have we proved it? And how have we shown it? (James 1:22-25)
If you are thinking if you already read it last year, you did. I rewrited this text to be posted at Dream Awakener

Bono's Prophetic Vox

2006-02-21T09:36:00.000-03:00

Yesterday we had a terrific show of U2 for 70.000 people here in São Paulo, today we will have another one, but I could see the show at TV, unfortunately tickets was very difficult to get and was beyond what we could afford to (phisically and financially).
Today I have found at J.R.Woodward part from an enterview with Eugene Peterson talking about U2 and their prophetic voice.
Worth to read!

Just Started!

2006-02-18T17:08:00.000-02:00

Yesterday we have our first meeting to plant a new church in North Side of Sao Paulo. We could count on nine adults, four kids and trhee babies for this first meeting. We could talk about our thoughs and emotions on planting a church and meditate on our needs of relationship rather than our cronogram on planting a new community here.
I am happy to see this start up, we know we are beggining a journey, and not a small one. On this journey we will surely have more people gathered to us as well as some people leaving us on the way. But though we are far yet from effectivily planting this church, we had a hard way to get to this point, and I am so thankfull to see this dream of a new community comming true.
Counting on your prayers! We are just beggining. Our next meeting will be on March 3rd.

Equipper Blogs

2006-02-18T16:58:00.000-02:00

On February, Kairos L.A. is lauching Equipper Blogs, I could saw JR Woodward project regarding those blogs and I found a very good plan that should cover most of what our churches need to be relevant today. Today those blogs are integrated to Woodward church, but he has plans also to cover a broader range of churches in this network.
I am participating on Dream Awakener blogs and the post below was my first participation on that. I would encourage you to follow what is going on these blogs:
Dream Awakener (Apostles)
Heart Revealer (Prophets)
Story Teller (Evangelists)
Soul Healer (Pastors)
Light Giver (Teachers)

Should we be indignated too?

2006-02-18T16:55:00.000-02:00

It was not difficult to be impressioned on those reactions to Mohammad cartoon crisis, as with many things in Muslim lives, Islam showed a great zealously in their faith. Besides every controversy regarding press liberty or free attack to faith, in those times we are not free from comparisions, should we also react with such indignation? To what?
Should we indignate to people that deny God or mistreat Jesus as the son of God? Should we indignate to films that cheat on people that follow Jesus? Should we defend Jesus to defend our faith?
Considering the example from Jesus, his counter-reaction was not so alike, he sttoped Peter when he tried to defend him, He even healed the soldier that was arresting him (Mt 26:47-56), also, He cried to God to forgive people because they were not knowing what were doing (Lk 23:26-43).
But Jesus reaction was far from doing nothing, he reacted with Love. As told in Mt 25:31-46 He directed our indignation to unfair situations and our reaction to service.
If we wanted to defend him, we should see him as the hungry people, or as the thirsty people, or as the homeless, or as the shivering, of as the sicks or as the prisioners we see everyday, and react to this situation with service and love.
Yes, we should also be indignated! Instead of getting flags, lets get ourselves and react!

Starting up

2006-02-15T19:08:00.000-02:00

Friday will be the day we will meet people invited to join us to church planting. I had very good responses and it is good to know that people invited were praying about it and are seeing this gathering a prayer answer!
I expect to joing nine adults, three children and three babies for this first meeting. We are walking with prayer and after this first meeting, we might have a better idea of how things will go on.
I have already found a good place to start meeting for our outreach programs, it is a hotel facility that would rent at a very good price to a small group like us.
Also, we have a very good responses from people that is following this church planting with prayers and it is the most important, I am counting also with yours!

Understanding the Bible

2006-02-15T18:56:00.000-02:00

I have just read Understanding the Bible, from John Stott. In a midst of very good relaunches, one of our great editors launched this one.
I thought this book simplier than I would thing regarding Stott's books, he gave a very good summary of Old and New Testaments, summaries with nice details and edited by a way that would give the reader a very good understanding of what he is reading, specially when reading the Kings and prophets stories. I usually like to read Bible from Genesis to Revelations, and this kind of summary help me even more.
He gave us some reasons to trust Bible and the people that wrote Bible. Also, gave us some good tips about understanding and applying Bible truths by a very honest way.
We have a surge of lots of evangelical churches based on prosperity which sell truths very different that what was purposed from Bible, or purposed to a very different people by a different way. This is why I see Bible study as vital for our communities today, we need to search even more the Bible to get deep wisdom to help us and to reach people that are starving for it.

We are there too!

2006-02-10T22:01:00.000-02:00

Though I saw snow just once in my life when I was in Chicago, five years ago. I love to see those winter sports and I am also glad when Winter Olympic games starts also. We might rarely have snow in all our territory but our staff in Turim is a very nice group.
Go Brazil!!!

Close to decision

2006-01-26T18:46:00.000-02:00

Once I was dreaming of planting a church, but I had plenty of dreams a friend to talk about it and a great wish to fullfill them but so far to be fullfilled, that I could only pray about them. I felt there was like a lost link between the dreams I had and the condition I was.
As I told in previous post, a pastor friend of mine could move close to my town and joined us to these dreams, but also got his church assistance and after that we started not only to pray and dream but also to pray and plan.
We have talked about planting a church in north side of Sao Paulo, we have plenty of churches here in my region, some presbiterian churches in north side of my city, but it is hard to find one that dare to have a better communication to reach souls and to dare to implement agressive vision.
And now we are planning to plant a good alternative here. In Mandaqui, a neighborhood in north side of São Paulo. Our region have few commercial and business centers but we have plenty of houses here. People live here and works in other places of our city.
After previous conversations we are foreseeing the date of February 17 to make our first meeting, we are planning to congregate in this first meeting families that once had a very close commitment to some churches but, after some sad experiences are not so like now.
Until February 17 we have 3 concerns:
- Our group: We are counting with three families for our kick off: seven adults, three children and three babies. We are also inviting more three families to attend first meetings. We are looking forward to consolidate our group from 10 to 20 people and starting some outreach events for unchurched.
- A place: Here in Brazil it is not as common to find cafes that should receive our meetings, even more when we have families with children and babies, for our first two meetings we are planning to make in my appartment and later we are searching for meeting rooms at hotels of our region.
- Our children: We have now four children with 6 years average, and the families we are inviting are also in their beggining too. For first meetings we will search for help in order to entertain our children while we consolidate our group. After, when we start outreach events we ourselves must be prepared not to entertain but to reach children also.

Well it have been very exciting days, but days which I feel so dependend on God, we need Him to be the first in all process, and for this case I ask for your prayers.
As soon as we walk ahead, I will share our news.

A good quote to start up 2006!

2006-01-10T14:06:00.000-02:00

With this new year I started to read "Leadership wisdom from unlikely voices", a very nice book for emergent leaders, so far I have liked very much. Dave Flemming have collected many good quotes and I would like to share one here:

"It is far easier, though not very easy, to develop and preserve a spiritual outlook on life, than it is to make our everyday actions harmonise with that spiritual outlook. That means trying to see things, persons and choices from the angle of eternity; and dealing with tem as part of the material in which the spirit works" (Evelyn Underhill)

Actually I don't think to develop a spiritual outlook on life easy, for me, seeing things from the angle of eternity is a real challenge to me. I believe that our great spiritual conquests have this condition behind.
Anyway that is a great challenge for me this year.

The World Cup thrills have begun!

2005-12-10T17:23:00.000-02:00

Yesterday I could see the final draw of World Cup 2006 in Germany, for this time, the zone of Brazil is not as easy as it was in Korea, because of it, our team should be very prepared prior to First stage with groups, but a 5 time champion should not choose this adversaries. Croatia was a good team in 1998, but I don't know though they are now; Australia can surprise, but Japan has Zico as their coach, a former brazilian player that knows our team a lot, and this is my biggest concern.
Apart from it, it was fun to see Argentina with a though group again (sorry my Argentinean friends, but you know our rivalry).
Next 6 months will be full of expectations and preparations for this very big event.
US friends, I am not sure if USA will make it this time as you did in Japan, Italy and Czech Republic are big teams! And, if you make it, you will find Brazil ahead, remember 1994!

The blessing of being father

2005-12-10T16:52:00.000-02:00

DSC00290
Originally uploaded by Lufe Batista.

As we have been atending a baptist church, I had to make our own baptism for Pedro Henrique, I could invite a friend who is a presbiterian pastor to baptize my child, not for a matter to make him baptized, but mostly for a witness of how important is our commitment of being fathers recognizing the Fathership of our God.
We made a very simple event, but it was also very touching.
We were very well reminded by Roberto, that prior to anything, Pedro is a being very loved by God, and God trusted to me and my wife the care for this little life. It is, we are caring first for being a God creature.
We could invite lots of friends, not all could came but at least lots of conversations started from this event, which were what I was willing for this kind of opportunity.
May God bless us, not only for our witness to others as a family but for the witness we will give to Pedro as his fathers.

Dreaming and planning

2005-11-05T21:17:00.000-02:00

Latelly, I have been talked a lot with a pastor friend of mine about planting a new presbiterian comunity here in North side of Sao Paulo. These have been very exciting talks because I have been dreaming a lot with it and also he was dreaming of it too.
Beyond the excitement I know there is lot of important decisions to make about it, with whom will we count on it, where and how to start and I definitidely need wisdom from God to start well.
Frankly I have been thinking and praying about this moment for three years, I am so happy and my creativity is faster now. Surely I am starting to take a look on books I have owned last months but not read because it was not time, but now I count on your prayers for wisdom and opportunity.
Surely I will let you know about how it is going.

A photovisit to São Paulo

2005-10-08T18:11:00.000-03:00

São paulo at night by Massao
By strength of circunstances I have been surfing at photo's sites, I liked very much the ones I found at Flickr, but I have got a pleasable surprise to find some communities of photos from my city: São Paulo, that is why I invite you to start knowing my city at Flickr at São Paulo community and also at Sampa Flick's, a nice way to start.

By faith

2005-10-03T20:14:00.000-03:00

JR Woodward posted a message given last sunday about the second aniversary of Kairos Los Angeles, he told their story as Hebrews 11.
I love to see such cases and they are so insightfull and inspire so much as to think that the church is the hope of this world, and to wish to live such adventures here in Sao Paulo.

Hope

2005-10-02T14:50:00.000-03:00

Photo by Mariusm
I would like to talk about what we are here for, what takes people to search for a church and what makes us wake up everyday: Hope.
In a midst of lots of discussions about rethinking church and theology, my inbox receive everyday remindings about lackness, about failure, about resposibility not fullfilled, about our need for a new reformation and the likes until going to the point of getting me a feeling of bitterness until to be tempted to think that the worse is happening in our church. I don't want to flee from all good discussions and questions about our faith, they have made us grow a lot. But I want to remember what we are here for.
When I think about what we have done I can think about trouble, but we are here not because of us, but because of God who had loved us first. When I was thinking about hope, it came a verse from Lamentations, when Jeremiah was also remembering about lots of bad thinks were happening to them, but could brilliantly talk about hope:

"I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness
the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed
I remember it all - oh, how well I remember -
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I rembember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope.

God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He's all I've got left..."

Lamentations 3:19-24 (The message)
Hope came ever when we remember who God is in spite of who we are. And I think that remember our hope is the best we can do when we are willing to please Him. He is a God that works for us and in spite of ourselves, makes all evil turn to our good, and this is His nature.
In the midst of all discussions I would like to remember the Hope we have, not for a scape nor for an excuse, but because we can, and if we live in all discussions for themselves away from the hope we got from Jesus ressurrection, we will become the saddest of all other people who also have lots to discuss but don't have this kind of hope.

Is this just a matter of service offered?

2005-09-30T18:18:00.000-03:00

I found this very interesting picture from Rick's blog, if you track links you will find very interesting comments about this church add.
I am at very beggining of this emerging conversation and our emergent status in Brazil is also at its very beggining, but this picture brought me some questions: is emerging church just a different service to gather youths to church?
I myself fought a lot for a worship with drums and the like, and many leaders still think this is the matter.
When I read a very interesting article at Church Marketing Sucks: "Why People Leave Church", people themselves try to explain that quality of services are the matter, but as the same excellent article concluded, problems are more like a cummulative effect and has more to do with our inability to solve conflict. Which is: the problem goes around how we are community.
From what I have seen, this story is much deeper than offering services to please everyone. I think the way we do services reflect a lot the culture of a community and has a lot to do with how we express, but what we do and how we live community day by day means the large part of iceberg under the sea.

[RR] - SYDM - Chp 2 - Initiative

2005-09-21T20:15:00.000-03:00

I would like to share a little of our discussion at Rambling Reading with the second chapter of Seizing your Divine Moment. The writer opens the book with Johnatan story at I Samuel 13:22 until 14:23 and discuss this situation in this chapter, when all the army was sleeping and Johnatan took his armer and went to Philistines camp to defeat them. Actually, he had everything to act as a victim of God of not being chosen to be the next king, instead of it, showed great courage and created a great opportunity.
An interesting quote of the chapter tells:

"We have defined holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life we fail to live."

It is so true! As I read in other book I am reading now, Streams of Living Water, from Richard Foster, he described the Holiness tradition as very related to practice of spiritual disciplines not for Santification itself, but to empower and free us to make the good works we usually are unable to do. When I read the "Spirit of disciplines" from Dallas Willard I could get it, but now I am more convinced about it. It is, Santification implies action.
McManus remembered also the parable told by Jesus about the treasure distributed as the lord went out; this story fits very well with this situation, the guy that received and buried what was trusted to him was pledged guilty and this show how inaction might be a serious matter!
It is the kind of the book I must avoid to read at night, McManus words are like a gas to the fire inside me to be more outrageus at the Kingdom! It is hard to get to the bed and calm down to sleep! I hope and pray to be as outrageous as Johnatan, to realize more for the kingdom and inspire others as I have been inspired.

Imagining the effects

2005-09-11T16:58:00.000-03:00

I was able to post some findings at Light Giver. But, by this time, just there.

[RR] Seizing your Divine Moment - Choices - Chp 1

2005-09-11T10:02:00.000-03:00

McManus is gifted to challenge us in what he writes. I expected that and I felt myself very challenged since this chapter. I think I needed these kind of inspiration and challenge more often.
I think my preferred quote is from page 18: "If a moment is the gate through which your divine journey begins, then choice is the key that unlocks the adventure".
Choices makes not only differences to our own lifes, but sometimes has the potential to impact more people until impact the whole world. Another quote explain my concern:
"That's the mystery of a moment. It is small enough to ignore and big enough to change your life forever. Life is the sum total of what you do with the moments given you."
The fact is that I have been seen moments ignored by lackness of courage to make some difference and disregarding the risks.
I have been absorved by dreams but I can only dream of what if everything were propely done and think of this actual moment, there is a lost link between these two moments that must be achieved by choices that I must make. But this is not an easy think to do. I would like to be more eager to recognize potential moments and size them.
I pray only to not loose these moments that come to me to seize.

Oh! This is my post to Rambling Reading for first chapter

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it" Jesus Christ, Luke 9:24

Our home is now complete

2005-09-10T17:04:00.000-03:00

After a tense week, we have received good news as days went by, and now we are all home and our family is now complete.
Thanks to God that everything is OK now!

Cow Parade

2005-09-07T21:42:00.000-03:00

Today, while my wife were at hospital with my baby, I could walk with my doughter to Ibirapuera park, we found 2 cows from CowParade.

After 24 cities, we have this Cow Parade here in São Paulo, the cows might not look so wonderful but they surely are nice. I hope to bring more from this collection.

Reality Church

2005-09-07T18:36:00.000-03:00

Great post from Dan Kimball (writer of Emerging Church).
Reality Church brings 10 stages that people can spent in churches.I could perfectly identify myself in some stages, luckly Dan also told that we should not necessarily spent through all stages nor ending like 10th stage stated there.
I discovered it at Reality Blogs.

FlashBack

2005-09-07T18:16:00.000-03:00

We are back home, but our baby didn't, he spent some problems with hypoglycemia and jaundice and is being treated at hospital. Now, we are envolved in the work of following how are his health at hospital without lacking our attention with my daughter Maria Ester, who also spent her first month at hospital.
But by this time we expect to have him returning very sooner here, until there, we can prepare our home for him.

Here's the Boy

2005-09-05T14:53:00.000-03:00

Thanks to the Grace of God everything were all right.
We were expecting to make the C section next Friday, but we had to do it at last Saturday due circunstances that I don't know how to explain in English right now.
I could be present at the section and his borning was awsome! A Great moment of my life.

MY BABY IS BORN!

2005-09-03T06:36:00.000-03:00

Pedro Henrique was just born! at 05:50 AM with 2.265 kgs, here in São Paulo.
God is good!
Later more details

Baby is coming, emotions are high

2005-08-31T08:53:00.000-03:00

We are very close to Pedro Henrique borning, Heloiza blood pressure is OK, but she is suffering a little because of hot weather. We expect to make the C section on September 6th, but tomorrow we will go to doctor and he may antecipate this day.
My daughter, Maria Ester is very stressed, she got so nervous yesterday because I sit over her princess crown and broked it, in the second night in a row she overreacted to it. I tried to hug her, affirm our love to her, the love of all our relatives and her friends to her and tried to make her overcome this loss.
This is a new situation, this was not the first time that she used to overreact and cry compulsively. I am trying to treat her showing love and all acceptance. We know that this would arise as the day of Pedro Henrique borning becames close.
We count on your prayers.

Light Giver

2005-08-30T08:54:00.000-03:00

I was honored by JR Woodward, from Kairos Los Angeles, to contribute to Light Giver, one of his blogs, with articles about imersing and living in the sacred text.
I am comitted to write there weekly, though writing weekly seems a hard task, I am not writing here weekly, I am glad to participate in this challenge and the opportunity to bless and also learn.

Soccer

2005-08-28T21:32:00.000-03:00

Back to the alien conclusions, one of the most clear faces in Brazil of comparision problems arise around soccer matches. I readed Donald Miller trying to describe what were basketball to an alien, but I think it would be as embarassing to describe soccer and soccer passion to him.
I support a team here: Corinthians, I even cried when Brazil won World Cup. But I think that the interest in soccer teams got beyond entertainment matters. I think the problem is not with passion as entertainment but how it is being envolved not only with money but in lives.
People want to choose the best team in order to be in a better position than his friends of office, he can laugh at them and show his pretended advantadge, from this point of view, people starts not only to support their teams but also support against other teams with a high grade of interest, which is clear when we can hear very well lots of people shouting at goals even in a small importance match.
From this we can go to the groups of people that make serious fights if they encounter each other at streets or broke everything at city to show their happiness when their teams win or their frustration then their teams loose.
I think this is a clear sign of an effort to pin what was missed with all sorts of odd methods which have not worked.
Ah! And I didn't told yet how people are getting rich with these things!
If team make it,happiness come for the follow day, but comes Tuesday and starts everything again, and it will not be enough.

Shame on you Rev. Robertson!

2005-08-24T17:11:00.000-03:00

I don't know if our press are overeacting with this case as they do with evangelicals, "Estado de S. Paulo" published half of a page report titled: "Evangelical pastor asks death of Chavez".
But I liked the quick reaction of my favorite bloggers:

Thou shalt not say stupid things on the air - Caffeinated Adventures - Rick Stillwell

WWJA: Whom Would Jesus Assassinate? - Bloggedy Blog - Andrew Careaga

Pat "The Idgit" Robertson and More on Pat Robertson - Orange Jack - Rob Willams

After taking lots of time explaining about Fundamentalism, Cruzades and Christianism, there's more to do yet!

Alien

2005-08-18T20:55:00.000-03:00

I have finished yesterday "Searching for God knows what", from Donald Miller and I though it a terrific book. I liked when he though about how an alien would think about humanity after observing people and TV shows:

"Humans, as a species, are constantly, and in every way, comparing themselves to one another, which, given the brief nature of their existence, seems an oddity and, for that matter, a waste. Nevertheless, this is the driving influence behind every human's social development, their emotional health and sense of joy, and, sadly, their greatest tragedies. It is as though something that helped them function and live well has gone missing, and they are pining for that missing thing in all sorts of odd methods, none of which are working. The greater tragedy is that very few people understand they have the diease. This seems strange as well because it is obvious. To be sure, it is killing them, and yet sustaining their social and economic systems. They are an entirely beautiful people with a terrible problem."

To feel well, people need to be in a kind of advantage against other, but this will be never enough.
I can see that think in some ways... to be covered in next posts.

Not so inspired

2005-08-09T20:11:00.000-03:00

I am not as inspired to post today, there such days like these I am now that I got so tired of my dreams that I start to feel a strong cinicism, I think "who cares?". Last sunday we went to morning service and as my wife chosed to rest at afternoon she would not go to night service, so did I. Normally I would use to go to both services, but I choosed not to go, I felt so alone there in the morning that I would not like to feel more loneny at night.
Today I could not sleep all night and I could wake up early to pray and meditate at Word, I could read some psalms and though I am so tempted to feel far from spiritual, I could feel with God anyway.
I could just ask Him not to let my vision be lost and not to focus at my career as my daily hope.
Not so inspiring days but these days are with God.

We have not known thee

2005-07-26T10:32:00.000-03:00

I first listened to this music at Mars Hill Church Seattle site, but last time I have listen a beautifull playing from Team Strike Force, I could even dream with this music last week. When I came here, I could search for lyrics and find a very rich music which was written in 1875 but tells a lot for us today. The music is at the main page yet. It is awesome:

We have not known thee as we ought,
nor learned thy wisdom, grace and power;
the things of earth have filled our thought,
and trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light thy truth to see,
and make us wise in knowing thee.

We have not feared thee as we ought,
nor bowed beneath thine awful eye,
nor guarded deed and word and thought,
remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know thee near,
and grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved thee as we ought,
nor cared that we are loved by thee;
thy presence we have coldly sought,
and feebly longed thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
to feel and know the love thou art.

We have not served thee as we ought,
alas, the duties left undone,
the work with little fervor wrought,
the battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
for thee to toil, for thee to fight.

When shall we know thee as we ought,
and fear and love and serve aright?
when shall we, out of trial brought,
be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
to see thy face and serve thee there.

Back again!

2005-07-24T15:45:00.000-03:00

I have returned last Friday from Serra Negra, this is the third time I go to Vale do Sol, there has been not a travel to know new places and take many photos, but it has been rather a time for retreat. I was longing for it a lot, every hollidays I was dreaming of going there, but this week was the time.
It was a retreat with early devotionals from John Piper with the book "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ" and with main lectures from Donald Miller with "Blue like Jazz". Actually I read it all from Sunday to Thursday.
I have got really impressed with Donald's simplicity, humility and authenticity telling his stories. The chapters about Belief, Loneny and Worship told a lot to me. His stories inspired me a lot to use my stories to reflect God and His kingdom, I hope to be as simple as him to share my stories.
As I have shipped two books of him, I will follow with "Searching for God knows what".
As previously told, my house was painted while we was in Serra Negra, so when we got back and got satisfied with final results, we had the task of unpacking our luggage and also unpack everything boxed. Was my opportunity to re order my books in shelves.
I got also my throat inflamed so there came fever, pain through body and I slowed down my work. But everything is getting fine and I hope to be better until tomorrow.
Thursday I will be back to office.

A little rest

2005-07-16T21:39:00.000-03:00

Finally I am on my vacation, tomorrow I will go to the mountains to feel some cold weather (just cold weather at about 5 C) at Serra Negra and retire from rush here.
I was waiting a lot for these days, I hope to rest a lot and to be sure what to do when I come back regarding ministry and kingdom.
I hope the termical swimming pools might help me a lot!
I am taking on my luggage "Blue like Jazz", I have seen the blogosphere talking a lot about Donald Miller, so my last shipment I asked for two books of him.
Also, I will seize the trip to have my house painted, today was a day to box everything and Friday will be a day like Home makeover surprise!
The hotel is very simple and I will not have full access to internet, so, I will not be able to post. I hope to escape to the city when I can read some mails and comments.
I count on your prayers for this travel.

What others say about Luis Fernando

2005-07-14T14:03:00.000-03:00

I found this meme in Rick's blog - take your name and search on "Name is" (use quotes to keep the phrase together), and see what you find. So, here's "Luis Frnando is" to the rest of the world:

- Luis Fernando is his name and he took us to many
places we would not normally have gone due to ignorance,language,and fear! ... - Come and see the light!

- Luis Fernando is handsome, rich and accustomed to
getting his own way. When his best friend Ernesto steals one of his lovers, ... It was you Ernesto! I will kill you!

- Luis Fernando Is Credited On The Following CDs. Guitarristas "Guitarristas" Our Price: $14.50 (Price Includes US shipping) - I think this work was very fine, intimist but very sincere. May worth to check.

- Luis Fernando is an Associate. Professor of the Foreign Languages Department since 1995. He studied Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Pontificia ... - Many people were impressioned to see me as professor at 25s, very young, but I made it!

- Our new brother Luis Fernando is 38 years old, is a baker man and now a son
of God by His mercy and thanks to our work through the radio. ... - Yes! Listening to "how to bake" lessons in radio I am now a new man!

- My Brothers and Sister. Luis Fernando is the oldest. He is very intelligent, and he always make a very good job. - Thanks

- His wife, Maria del Socorro, also kidnapped by the ELN and released on June 15, said that "Luis Fernando is in great spiritual shape thanks to his faith Thanks again! Tuff times kidnapped.

Icons

2005-07-09T15:08:00.000-03:00

My dougher seized the variety of post-its she got to draw our family and post them close to the computer: Pedro Henrique (pragnancy is going very well!), Dad (me), Maria Ester (her) and Mammy (my wife)

...

2005-07-09T10:32:00.000-03:00

This week I could finish my reading of the book of Judges, and it is finished with one of the most bizarres histories of the Bible, a levite travel with his concubine and in the middle of his travel stops for a rest. Some neighbors call the man that received them and asks for the visitors for an orgy, they give the concubine wich is violented by them until death. The levite send pieces of her body in order to all country reflect, but this reflection makes Israel go to Benjamin and almost destroy this tribe... Yes, it is disaster after disaster. This happened in a time when "there was no king in Israel and anybody acted like was good to themselves"
Israel could make it and live well without a King if they should follow God with all their hearts, God should be their King. But it seems it didn't work and each one followed their own heart and made what seemed right to them, by this way, even their reflections was disasterous
When I saw bombs from Al Qaeda again I thought in it, if Jesus is not present we will see bizarreous things, also the most people will reflect the most we will see other bizarreous things for this lack of wisdom.
Here in Brazil some are glad to know are not on Al Qaeda list but we are in the middle of scandals from people of government and these things have generated consequences as bizarres than those things: corruption and misery.
As what happened with the levite, who asked for a reflection after such disaster, what else we need to start to think?
Jesus Christ is the answer.

One year posting in English

2005-06-30T07:53:00.000-03:00

There was so many things to do this month, that I skipped the blogversary of this blog. I started to post here translating some posts from my Brazilian Blog "Checklist para viver o Cristianismo Hoje", at that time, some people tried to read that blog with Alta Vista translating facilities. Though, sometimes I know that to be understood you need more than a word by word translation, you need also an explanation of what means some things I am telling there, that is why I started to post here specially in English.
It has been a nice year, I have got more friends and the conversation has been very fine. As long as I have received some comments and also links to this site, those things have making my days. It has making me feel inserted to a great blogging community, and I have been learning a lot with those, specially with the emerging churching bloggers. Though Emerging Church is far to emerge here in São Paulo, I can feel this taste with all of you, emerging church bloggers. From you I get so inspired to make this way here in my city.
I has been a hard work also, as many posts from my other blog are inspired of what I have found in my blogosphere, sometimes I think that those are not as relevant as to translate them here. So I have tried to post something really relevant to my international readers. Sorry if sometimes I am posting here fewer than I could!
Anyway I hope you are enjoying this as much as I.

Reading review

2005-06-26T11:27:00.000-03:00

I found this meme at Rick's new blog and found it interesting to post here too:

Total books owned: Near 300.

Last books I bought: Seeing and savoring Jesus Christ, John Piper; Contemporary Christian Music, Sandro Baggio and NIV Bible at Chronological Order.

Last book I read: The Craft of Research, Booth, Colomb and Williams.

Five Books that mean a lot to me:
Community 101 - Gilbert Bilezichean
Jesus for a New Generation - Kevin G. Ford
Uprising - Erwin McManus
Divine Conspiration - Dallas Willard
Celebration of Discipline - Richard Foster

Feel free to share your revision at comments