Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - Hope Baptist Update

There has been a lot going on these last few weeks.  Today is the first day I’ve had time to catch my breath so I figure I’d better post some things to the blog before things get crazier than they are.

My father died on May 9^th.   He had been struggling with Alzheimer’s for the past few years. It is hard to say that my dad lost his fight with Alzheimer’s.  The disease wasn’t delaying the inevitable but rather delaying the glorious.  My father knew the Lord.  While it is sad to say goodbye, we have been saying goodbye for a long time.

Our plans were to go home on the 12^th but we discovered that Daniel’s passport had expired.  Sunday night after church he and I took a night flight to Rio and had the passport problem solved by 3 PM on Monday.

We arrived home on Wednesday evening.  The memorial service was on Saturday morning at Concord Liberty Presbyterian Church.  The service was well attended; my parents’ pastor preached a solid gospel message.   It was good to see my mom and brothers.  My younger brother Carl’s boys are both talking now so it was fun to see the cousins all together.

We were able to borrow the Jeep and stop in to see the folks at First Baptist of Perkasie.  It was good to hear they have our housing arraignments all sorted out for when we come home in August.

We arrived back home a day late (see The Unexpected) and had to hit it running.  I had to pick up Tim Moody (ABWE São Paulo) and Thiago, one of his seminary students at the airport around midnight.  In addition to church planting, Tim leads the Pepe Ministry.  They, and a group of 30 volunteers from São Paulo and the US, will be conducting two weeks of intensive evangelism with us in July. 

Tim Moody at Hope

Due to the small size of Hope Baptist we have joined forces with Copacabana Regular Baptist Church nearby for this effort.  Friday we spent driving around the area to give them a feel for the type of neighborhoods they will be working in.  Saturday night we held a joint training seminar for the two churches taught by Tim and Thiago over at the Sports Center.  We had about 30 people out for that.  On Sunday morning they presented the project at Copacabana in the morning and Hope Baptist at night.

Monday afternoon we visited two public schools near the two churches and both of them opened their doors allowing us to use their facilities in July.  Diana, the school administrator near Hope, is an evangelical Christian and had been the administrator there for one of my youth leaders, Renato.  From the 12^th to the 26^th of July we will be doing street evangelism in the mornings and then holding children’s meetings at the schools during the afternoons.

This had all been set in motion before we made the decision to return to the US in August.  A seminary student from Copacabana, Alberto, is currently praying about the opportunity to cover the preaching duties at Hope while we are away for the year.  Please pray for him in this decision.

With only two more months to go before furlough things will be moving very fast for us down here.  Please keep us in your prayers as we have much to do before we can leave home to head home.

By His Grace,

Dave, Patty, Erin, Karina, and Daniel Luke McIntyre