So Tell Me about Brazil...

            “How many baptisms did you have?” Oh, how I dread this question. As people tell me of double digit numbers ready to take the steps towards baptism, I think back to my church. About the number I have to “show.” None. Nada. Not a single one. So tell me, does this make me a failure? Have I completely failed at the work God had for me to do in increasing the number of Adventists in Brazil?

            Originally I wasn’t assigned to the Caseb church. In the confusion of the first night, Christine and I were mixed up and sent to the “wrong” churches. I didn’t realize this mistake until I arrived back and Christine informed me of the fact. Both of us were uncertain of how we should proceed and prayed that evening and morning that God would show us what we should do (either switch back to our original churches or stay in the church we had arrived at.) In the end, we decided to stay in our churches, knowing that God could work though this "mistake."

            My church didn’t have any extra ordinary experiences while I was there. We never had people weeping over their sins or people walking up at the end of the meeting proclaiming that they were going to completely turn their lives around. No, the people whose lives were impacted were not those who had never heard the Gospel. It was the lives of young children, 20-year-members, and also me.

            When I first walked into my church on Friday night, I quickly looked around to see if there were any children. Studying to be an Elementary teacher, I was hoping to interact with children of that age. While there was a group of high school aged young people, I didn’t see a single child in the audience. As the other preachers reunited with stories of all the adorable children in their church, I wondered why God had put me in a church with so few children. Even after meeting more children in my church on Sabbath morning, I felt as though there was not an easy way to communicate with them, knowing very little Portuguese. Yet though drawing, giving of gifts, talking through my translator, and simply giving hugs after every meeting, we became friends and when I had to leave, they were some of the people that I hated to leave the most. Even though they were young, they would pay attention during the meeting. One night as I was giving an altar call for those to come forward who wanted to accept Jesus, Camille, a 12 year old girl, was the first to come up.

            It wasn’t just the young who seemed impacted by the meetings. People who had been going to church for years were touched by God’s Spirit. After preaching the final sermon about Heaven, my translator told me that a man who had been going to church for 20 years had come up to him afterwards and said that he had heard this sermon in a completely new way and that it had moved him to tears. While talking about the reunion we will experience when Jesus comes back, both with those who have died in Jesus and those who are now separated by oceans, tears were shed by many, including myself, as we all found ourselves looking forward to that glorious day.

            You see, I was changed as well. I have a whole different understanding of what ministry is all about, and I’m not talking about the preaching aspect of ministry. Yes, I learned a lot about how sermons should be preached through trial and error, and I certainly gained insight from my local church as I participated in visitations. However, what I realized how ministry cannot be defined simply as the act of preaching or visiting people’s homes. Ministry is a lifestyle that is constantly happening and cannot be stopped even for an instant. I also learned that ministry is exhausting. It’s one of the most rewarding things you can ever do and there is a special energy I believe God gives, but ministry also can completely drain you if you don’t take time to rest and recharge your relationship with God. You can be so involved with God’s work that you actually feel as though you don’t have time to spend in communion with Him.

            I leave Brazil with a heavy heart but a heart filled with love for the people in Brazil. Having left brothers and sisters in Christ at the Caseb church, I praise God that He put me in the “wrong” church. There is not a doubt in my mind that the mix-up that took place was actually God's original plan.

But, have I failed in my ministry because I did not baptize any new members? First off, isn't this question flawed? It is never “I” who has success in ministry. Secondly, when has success for God only been measured by baptisms? Yes, the purpose of mission campaigns may be to baptize people into the Adventist church, yet success cannot be measured by such small standards. Echoed during multiple morning meetings with our group was the fact that we won’t necessarily see the results of our labor. So even with “nothing to show,” nothing has changed the passion in my heart for ministry. This has confirmed more than ever that I want my career to be my ministry, that there is no other way I could ever be happy with anything else. Mission work isn’t just for “heathens” but is also for the church as well. Those of us in the church can be touched and changed no matter how many times we hear the Gospel story.

            And that my friends is the power of the Gospel! It never grows old or runs dry. No matter how many times we speak of Christ’s love, we can still be amazed at the depth that it reaches and the width that it stretches. So even though every night for the past two weeks I’ve talked about this amazing God and His ever reaching love, my mouth still wants to speak of His love and my hands want to reveal His character to every person I meet.