20 years of Teams

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In celebrating the past twenty years in Brazil for our 20/20 Giving Campaign, I want to highlight the privilege of serving with a TEAM over these two decades; a dedicated, faithful, multifaceted and multicultural team. Campus Outreach holds teams as a value, as an important part of who we are and what we do in ministry on the campus. Not only are the ministerial benefits significant, but my personal experience and growth has been multiplied so much more because of the teams with whom I have served.

Although our team is constantly shifting and changing, my experiences on the CO team in Belo Horizonte can be characterized by the following chapters of my 20 years and my role on the teams which they span.

2002

Newby: 2002-2004

When I arrived in Belo Horizonte, the original launch team that landed 4-5 years previously was still here. They had paved the way for many things and had understood the need for contextualizing our ministry approach. I looked up to them all. During this time the first generations of Brazilian staff were hired. This was a time to really learn about personal ministry and my understanding of the gospel in real life. 

2007

Growth: 2005-2007

There was growth in three specific areas in the second chapter. First, our team and our campus communities were growing because of the fruit of new believers, discipleship and new staff. Still, the majority of the original launch team was still laboring with their young families. Second, I began my new family! Tathiana were married in December of 2006. Thirdly, 2007 also birthed the church plant of Comunidade Horizonte, our local church authority.

2010

Baptism by Fire: 2008-2011

August 2008 began one of the hardest seasons of my life. It, also, was the season that God moved me to embrace the leadership He had in store for me and the personal growth and maturity in my sanctification to become more like Jesus. Our team had many staff leave, both in harmonious, need-based transitions and also in contentious, combative division. This affected both our growing campus ministry and our young church. This was also within my first two years of marriage. It was very, very hard. This chapter resulted in a renewing of resolve and an opportunity to step-up to lead when others had stepped away.

2018

Resource Director: 2012-2018

For about seven years, I had the joy of contributing to our mission and our team via our operations. I took on a role I knew I was gifted and prepared for, but in which I had no experience, nor a subteam to work alongside me. Our renewed team and once again growing movement was in need of structure for the long-haul. It was sweet to provide in these ways in order for the campus ministry to push forward in confidence knowing that the operations were being handled. We developed and recruited what we call a Resource Team, and I handed the reins to that team off because God had prepared others to take over.

2022

Experienced Veteran: 2019-2022

The current chapter began in 2019, when I was already serving on our Leadership Team, and when I made the move back to the campus and to shepherding staff and executing our strategic plans. The team is younger (or we are just older) and I now meet freshmen who were born after I moved to Brazil. However, that's what a veteran is. Even as a church "elder" on our session of elders, I continue to see God using our gifts, experience and commitment to the gospel ministry here in Belo Horizonte and Brazil. 

Nations & Generations

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As we get closer to my 20-year mark on staff with Campus Outreach, I want to celebrate one of the reasons I have continued in vocational ministry. The motive that drew me to work with Campus Outreach was the commitment to life-on-life, multiplying discipleship. Simply stated, it's what I believe Jesus did as the framework of his earthly ministry and what we see in the New Testament, both in the foreground and background, in the primitive church and on the early mission field. The charge Paul gave to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-2 has been my motivation in ministry for decades, "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others."

During the first 10 years in Belo Horizonte, there were many men in my life with whom I had the absolute privilege to engage in discipleship. During those years, from 2002-2012, I was much younger, had no children and related on more of a leader-peer level. Those were very sweet times, because the men I led were also my dear friends. Times were not always easy, and today I don't have the close relationship with all of them I did then; even some who criticize me today. However, I continue to press on because this is what I believe the Lord has for me. 

Below I will highlight a few names and faces. These are men who have continued to dedicate themselves to the generational impact of discipling men in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many who will be left out, and I do not mean any ill-will towards anyone. For the sake of readability, I am attempting to keep this short, while also celebrating all the men who have continued to dedicate themselves to the generations among different nations around the world; Brazil, USA, the UK, and beyond.

Thiago

Thiago, was my roommate for years after he became a Christian. He is small in stature, and soft spoken by nature, but the Lord is using his very potent dedication to the Scriptures in big ways. Thiago is a leader and elder in our local church in Belo Horizonte. He was a deep-thinking, The Matrix trilogy-loving, frugal college student full of existential questions to which he didn't have any answers. How I love seeing him, his equally impactful wife and his growing family every Sunday as he worships the Lord and, at times, teaches from the pulpit.

Pedro

I met Pedro when he was 16 years old; a spiky-haired teenager all about Judo and having fun. His sister was involved in our community, and he came along for the fun parts. The Lord worked on him. What a testimony of the ministry of purposeful friendships that ask hard questions and don't shy away from even harder answers about God, sin, purpose and eternity. Pedro and I had a long discipleship relationship because he came to Christ before ever starting college. Pedro was one of the guys I considered a "purposeful non-hire" - meaning that I purposely did not want him to come on staff because he was ready to go into the marketplace to make an impact. However, God had other ideas…better ideas.

Pedro came on staff in 2015, fruit of a process that confirmed his character, his vision and his gifting for joining our staff team. By 2019 he had grown in leadership and experience, positioning himself to take over as our Administrative Director and leading the Admin team. His wife, Priscila, has been on staff with our team since 2008. Together they have grown into a couple that leads by example and by conviction, and driven by the grace of God in their lives. In 2020, in the midst of the global pandemic, Pedro officially took over as our Regional Director of CO Belo Horizonte, the first time a native Brazilian has been in overall leadership in our 20+ years of history. It has been amazing to see all this unfold, and to support him in his Christlike leadership.

Alan

Alan was the guy that wanted to do everything during college. If there was an opportunity, he was involved. So when this group of US exchange students arrived on campus with our Cross-Cultural Project in 2002, this wide-eyed freshman was all about it. That was just a start, because what began as an opportunity to refine his English grew into a real friendship. I'll never forget when Alan asked me one day, after a few years of already studying the Bible and asking hard questions about God and faith, "If I never become a Christian, will we still be friends?" That took me by surprise, but also challenged me to check my own motivations; if I loved these students conditionally because of ministry, or unconditionally because of Christ in me? 

Alan did in fact become a Christian. Immediately, he was a man captivated by gospel. Over the following years we dug into the scriptures and Alan wanted to be as involved as possible with what our team was doing on his campus. He got his family involved in church, in Bible studies; his immediate family, his extended family, his classmates and so many others. He quickly knew that this was what he was going to do for the rest of his life. He made sure we knew his desire, and didn't take "no" for an answer. Alan came on staff in 2006 and worked directly on the campus for years as a Campus Staff and as one of our Campus Directors. Many things coincided among his experience, family and desire to lead that culminated in Alan, his wife Júnia and their little boy moving to the UK to partner as a CO staff with a church plant in Manchester. Today, they have moved to Birmingham, England (not Alabama!) to continue to labor with a Campus Outreach team that is reaching out to the multicultural campuses there, with direct ties to more nations than I can list here.

Diego

Diego was that guy on campus who joined a Bible study group in order to prove me wrong. I mean, he was a law student and really smart, so what risk did he run? Well, that backfired because he became a Christian in 2010 and never looked back. We were in a few different versions of discipleship groups for several years, but our relationship has only grown closer. Today, Diego is my brother-in-law! He married Tathiana's sister, Fabiana, in 2015.

Diego is a professional, not on staff. He, in many ways, is what I long to see more often in and through our ministry - dedicated Christian professionals stepping into the marketplace, raising first-generation Christian families and committed to the ministry in and through the local church. His struggles and battles to believe and hold firm to his faith are much different than those of us in vocational ministry. But, to be directly involved in his struggles and see his faith grow deep roots in order to sustain the oftentime desert-reality of the marketplace is amazing. Jesus sustains; Diego and Fabiana have been a testimony of this truth. Their generation is growing as they welcomed their first child in November of last year. Maybe one day they themselves will go to the nations outside of Brazil.

60% - The Good and The Ugly

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Sixty percent (60%) is more than half, but not quite full. Sometimes 60% is really good. Sometimes it's just plain ugly.

Let's get to the ugly first:

  • 60% is about how normal our return to Brazil has been since January 23rd. When we expected schools to start-up in February, COVID-19 got in the way. In Belo Horizonte, elementary schools have been delayed from starting in-person classes for the new school year until Feb 14th. Our kids, and Tathiana, thought that was really ugly. 

  • Our COBH team was planning our first team-building retreat since September of 2019. However, COVID-19 got in the way and we decided to cancel for now as we had several positive COVID tests pop-up on the team and in our church.

  • Our car needed some service, nothing major, but because of a lack of mechanics and parts caught in the supply chain issue, we are on day 4 of being "car-less". That limits what we can get out and do by about 60%.

  • Overall, life and ministry feel about 60%. That's not a complaint, it's still just the overall reality of a late-stage pandemic in a tropical metropolis.

The good 60%:

  • Our trip to the US for connection with family and supporters was really great. COVID-19 did limit us some, as during the end of the year the Omnicron variant was in full swing in Chattanooga, TN and Birmingham, AL. We had several meetings canceled and overall decided to not expose ourselves close to our return trip as not to test positive and risk not making our flight back to Brazil. So, the trip was a great 60%. It's better to have a 60% visit than not come at all!

  • Lastly, our 20/20 1-Time campaign celebrating 20 years on the field has closed its first 2 months, and we are happy to report that we are already at 60% of the goal, with over $12,000 in donations so far. Thank you to all who have donated, encouraged and prayed for this important campaign. 

Please continue to pray for us as we try to live-out 2 Timothy 4:2, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season."



"Uh oh, PEOPLE!" - Getting ready for 2022

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The past two pandemic years have challenged us and our relational ministry strategy. We are looking toward 2022, but not looking to "start back" where we left off in 2019. We are truly asking God to help us "start over", and there are some specific ways that will play out in 2022. 

Campus: The university in BH, UFMG, has altered their calendar due to COVID, so the current semester will continue until the end of February 2022. Then, the first semester of 2022 will officially begin in April. We expect UFMG to resume in-person classes, and also for our team to have at least limited access to the campus and to students! We may not be able to enter buildings, but we can take advantage of common spaces and the general buzz of people being back on campus for classes. One of our challenges and a reason to "start over" is that there has been a 50% turnover since we were last engaged in-person at UFMG. Half of the campus population has graduated and incoming students have come to replace them. There are students who are half-way through their college career and have never had a class on campus. We have never had a chance to meet 50% of the current student population. While this is intimidating, it is also a new opportunity to see where God will open doors at UFMG.

English Initiative: GringoEnglish, our English-instruction project, will start 2022 with in-person classes. Very exciting! We have revamped physical spaces, refined our strategy, tweaked teaching hours and clarified how we will use this front in our overall ministry efforts to "build laborers through the campus for the lost world". I have spent the second half of 2021 focusing on this portion of our team and efforts, and am really excited to see how 2022 will provide a new means for us to impact UFMG and Belo Horizonte. 

Church: Our church has been executing a "preparation strategy" during the second semester of 2021 in order to transition well into 2022. It is not enough to be desirous to re-engage in life as a community and in ministry in our city, but to be prepared, active and have momentum toward re-engagement. Our leadership has had many conversations, strategy sessions and the beginnings of corporate events to get us ready for 2022. It won't be perfect, but we are excited to think about 2022 and what God is going to do in us and through us in Belo Horizonte.

The Lost Art

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The Lost Art of Disciple-Making, LeRoy Eims

Our teams often have frequent turnover, with new staff coming in every year, and staff transitioning off as time goes by. This dynamic led me to create a standard several years ago; important training issues need to be repeated every four years. This is because after four years you have new staff who have not yet had direct contact with specific content, and many who did have direct contact have likely transitioned off the team. 

At our most basic essence, Campus Outreach's content revolves around being a college ministry that focuses on evangelism and discipleship. This semester our leadership team decided it was time for a specific focus on discipleship training for our team. We are reading and discussing a classic on the subject, The Lost Art of Disciple-Making, by LeRoy Eims, who served with the Navigators ministry. This book is both a theoretical manifest for the need of life-on-life discipleship, but also for the biblical basis and full of practical application. There is a lot of content on which to reflect and discuss as a team. 

I have led our team discussions and provided discussion questions for our interaction. I have enjoyed thinking about the specific applications to our context here in urban Brazil on the college campus with a local church. We have come to wholeheartedly agree with many of the author's points. We have, also, disagreed with several points and considered how to adjust in light of what we believe was Jesus' example. It has been great to see how the maxim of "more is caught than taught” can be enriched and potentialized by consuming quality content and working it out through hearty discussion. 

Our plan is to finish reading and discussing all 12 chapters and 3 appendixes by the end of November, and we are right on schedule. This has been a great reminder for me of how I originally was drawn to the opportunity to work in Brazil with Campus Outreach because of the commitment to life-on-life discipleship, and oh how I have been encouraged to see this same vision continue strong 20 years later. 

US Trip 2021-2022

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Quick summary and requests for our upcoming visit:

  • We will be coming back to the US for Christmas 2021 and January 2022.

  • I will be visiting with supporters and working on support maintenance.

  • I will focus on our up-coming 1-time campaign, stay tuned for more info!

  • We are looking for a vehicle we can use for local Chattanooga use, only. Please let me know if you know of any options or good deals on car rental.

  • Another need is for a cell phone for Tathiana. She is used to iPhones, so a good quality, used iPhone is preferred, if anyone is looking for a good place for their used iPhone!

Prayer Walking on UFMG

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Our primary campus, UFMG, has not had in-person classes since March of 2020. There is limited activity on campus, research and faculty meetings, and the large open campus with lots of green has remained open to the public as a haven for outside activity since the restrictive measures have been in place in Belo Horizonte. 

A few weeks ago, a few people on our team began to talk about taking advantage of this unique opportunity to have a day of prayer walking on the campus. A huge campus, open to the public, with almost no one around to interrupt or ask what we are doing - a perfect situation to spend some time praying specifically for this campus and for God to open doors there!

Today, Monday, June 21st this happened. Two of our campus staff members organized it and it was great to see the younger generation taking the reins of important initiatives. 

Teammates Prayer Walking on UFMG’s campus

If you have a minute today, would you pray with us? 

  1. That God would open doors for the gospel on UFMG.

  2. That our team would have access to campus in 2022 (still no concrete plan on how open campus will be in 2022 because of COVID measures.