It’s been so long since we posted to this site that I had to watch the tutorials to remember what to do! I decided the best thing to do was to start all over again with a fresh reset. I was going to just delete everything. Start fresh. But then I decided that I would leave all the old stuff there just to remind me to be more intentional in keeping things current. I’ll consider this to be an experiment. If it works, you will hear from us more often! If not, who knows? I may just have to delete the entire site out of embarrassment.
Who are we and why are we here?
We are Mark and Caron Johnson and have served with the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention for 30 years. We have served in many capacities in Brazil over the years, but here, I want to focus specifically on two areas: Leadership Training and Prayer. Our purpose here is to give you an idea of what we are doing in the area of Leadership Training in Brazil and provide you with some concrete ways you can partner with us. The single most important way you can partner with us is through prayer.
Leadership Training – 3 levels
Advanced – this usually involves Masters Level work at one of our Brazilian Baptist convention seminaries in partnership with one of our SBC Seminaries. These classes are usually online.
Formal – this involves teaching in person, or online at the Bachelors level in one of our Brazilian Baptist Convention seminaries (Photos below show South Brazil Seminary in Rio, North Brazil Seminary in Recife, and Equitorial Brazil Seminary in Belem).
Informal – this refers to teaching and training that happens at the local or small group level. It can be anything from weekend or week-long intensive training, hosted by a State Convention, Baptist Association, Bible Institute, local church level, small group, or even individual mentoring. (Below you can see an associational level training event, a “graduation” dinner for discipleship students completing all 4 books of MasterLife and a local church leadership trining event.)
Prayer Requests:
Thanksgiving is coming up and we are so thankful for all who so faithfully support us with their prayers. We could not do what we do without your prayer support. Here are some specific ways you can pray for us:
Holiday times can be a bit lonely when one is far away from family. Pray for us, our children, our grandchildren and our extended family, while we are apart from one another during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season.
Pray for us as we begin scheduling our teaching/training commitments for 2024. There are always more requests than we can fill. Pray for wisdom in knowing which commitments to prioritize. We will be posting some opportunities in the future for you to join us in some of these training initiatives here in Brazil. Stay tuned!
Pray for your church and your pastor. The end of the year can be a very busy time in the life of the local church. Pray that all will take the time to focus on worship. Ask your pastor how you can help – make an evangelist visit with him or disciple a new believer. You will be blessed as you serve within your church.
Since we missed wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year earlier, please know that even in our silence you were never far from our thoughts and prayers.
Typically the last quarter of the year is our busiest time of travel, and that was certainly the case in 2016. Since the end of August we were traveling away from home for 97 days, in 15 different cities and in 4 different countries.
You may wonder what we do that takes us away from our home so often. In addition to our local on-going ministry involvement, which we have written about extensively in the past, we have also been involved in numerous training events across the Americas. These training events would not have been possible if it had not been for the generous contributions that many of you have made over the course of year to the International Mission Board. Through regular tithes and offerings (in Southern Baptist churches which participate in the Cooperative Program), through one-time gifts, and through your contributions to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, we have had the financial resources to make this kind of wide spread training a reality in 2016. For that, we say “Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.”
Teaching truth, transforming lives and touching the world—that’s what we have been focusing on in 2016.
Looking back on the year 2016, we can actually count 925 people whom we have taught, mentored and/or discipled. These are not just numbers to us. They are real people. In addition to teaching content, we have spent time together, shared a meal or a cup of coffee together and prayed together. If you keep up with us on FaceBook, Twitter or Instagram you can see that we have taken lots of pictures together as well. These pictures are more than just something to fill space on our social media accounts. They serve as tangible reminders of our precious time together. I think Paul sums it up best in Philippians 3:3-7a
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace…(HCSB)
So, as we have taught truth, we have done so with the vision of lives being transformed—making a difference—and the impact those transformed lives have on the world around them. That, my friends, is something worthy of giving thanks to God for. Truly, it does give us great joy as we pray for those whom we have had the privilege to walk alongside during the year 2016.
As we look back on 2016, we have so much to be thankful for in our own family as well. We added a new member to the family with the birth of our youngest grandson, Elliot James Landers last January. Its hard to believe he will celebrate his first birthday here soon. We also had the privilege of meeting the Mullinax family in November, the parents of Rebecca, our soon to be “daughter-in-love” (Wedding scheduled for May of 2017). We were able to spend a couple weeks of vacation with our kids, grandkids and both our mothers (and even some of our extended family) around Thanksgiving. Returning to Brazil in time for Christmas, we were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas Eve with precious Brazilian friends and open our home on Christmas Day to others who were far away from their families.
Teaching truth, transforming lives and touching the world—that’s what we continue to focus on in 2017.
Just because it’s a new year, doesn’t necessarily mean our focus needs to change. Granted, some of the details change—location, people involved, topics, etc. But, the purpose remains the same. We continue to use the skill set, talents and abilities God has equipped us with to reach those whom He brings into our path with the Good News, the life transforming news of the Gospel.
How can you be involved?
Continue to pray for us as we make plans for 2017 and the new and exciting challenges in the months to come. (More about that next time.)
Ask the Lord of the Harvest how you can be more personally involved in the ministry of your local church, in your community, and in support of local, national and international missions. Maybe 2017 is the year for you do something you’ve never done before. Ask Him!
Don’t wait to “go somewhere new” to get started. It’s a new year; it’s a good time to begin a new commitment. There is no greater investment you can make than to invest in discipling a new believer. Begin with your most natural relationships: family members, friends, and neighbors. Then ask your pastor if there are others new to your church that you can help to disciple as well.
Check out the article Mark just wrote, “3 Ingredients for Discipling New Believers in Any Context”. You can access it through this link from International Mission Board:
Usually, when we write about ministry commitments / teaching opportunities away from home, Mark is the one traveling and I am home. This time, our roles were reversed. I just returned from an exciting week of ministry in the town of Santos (in the state of São Paulo), where I was invited to teach a week long intensive ESL (English as a Second Language) course. This course was sponsored by the Litoral Baptist Theological Seminary, and open to their students as well as others in the community.
Litoral means coast; as you can see there is a beautiful coastal view in the port city of Santos. Yet the other two pictures show more of the urban reality. While considered a small city by Brazilian standards, this city of 434,000 people is home to the Baptist seminary that serves the entire area known as the Baixada Santista.
The Baixada Santista is a metropolitan area located on the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil, with a population of 1.7 million. Its most populous city is Santos. As an administrative division, it was created in 1996. It consists of 9 municipalities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baixada_Santista
Many of the seminary students drive anywhere from 60 to 90 min, one way (depending on the traffic) after working all day, in order to attend three hours of classes in the evenings. Given the fact that the students would be arriving to class tired from a full days work and driving through stressful traffic conditions just to get there, I was faced with the dilemma of what I could actually teach them that would be of value in only 5 nights. The students were a mixed group, with the majority being true beginners, many with zero understanding of the English language, and a few who were intermediate level learners. Twenty-four students in all made this an interesting group to work with. Pr. Dilean Melo, the Rector of the seminary has a vision for offering masters level studies within the next few years (currently, they offer only bachelor’s level courses). With so many quality theological resources available at a low cost in English (many even free, in digital formats), the goal is to is to equip students with a course designed to meet their unique academic needs.
I have taught ESL as a ministry here in Brazil for over 20 years. One of my favorite resources was published by the the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (now known as NAMB) back in the late 1980s. This material uses the Gospel of Mark to systematically teach grammar, vocabulary, listening skills, writing, pronunciation and conversation while at the same time presenting a clear gospel message. Using this material as my basic text, and additional materials which I have compiled over the years, I planned for this 15 hour “language immersion” week. While I have taught this material over the course of many semesters in different locations in the past, I wasn’t sure how it would work to cram a lot of information into tired brains and bodies after a long hard day, 5 nights in row in a language not their own. I began to pray for God to show me what He wanted to be the end result of this “experiment”. Several weeks after I began praying about this opportunity the Lord impressed upon me to invite a young lady from my weekly Bible study group to assist me. Usually I teach this material alone, but I felt this would be a good opportunity to train someone else in this method. So, I invited Myland to join me for the week’s teaching.
Myland is from Indonesia and married to a Brazilian. I met her through the ministry of the International Congregation from the First Baptist Church of Curitiba. Shortly after moving to Brazil a year and half back, Myland and her husband André began attending our bi-lingual Bible study group that meets in our home. Myland has a passion for evangelism, a servant’s heart and I soon discovered, was a very creative teacher! She and I taught “tag-team” style that was so natural, it could only be attributed to God answering our prayers! It was as if we had been team teaching together for years!
As the week progressed and the students really began to show their hunger for learning the Lord impressed upon us that this one week was only the beginning of something even bigger than what we had initially imagined. The result: I will be returning to Santos one weekend a month, teaching 3 classes (1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday) to this group and one other pilot program for a small advanced-level class. In addition, I am developing the on-line component for the students to continue their study with me via distance education during the month. Our goal is that students will complete the basic course in the first year, the intermediate course in the second year, and by the third year, the students will be ready for a rigorous academic study focusing on reading and writing theological English.
I am thankful for this unique opportunity from the Litoral Baptist Theological Seminary. I am thankful to Southern Baptists for producing high quality materials. I am thankful for the students’ willingness to spend long hours studying English, in addition to their other seminary courses, full time jobs and family responsibilities. I am thankful that Myland was able to go with me and assist me. I am thankful that our husbands (André and Mark) were willing to let Myland and I leave them to fend for themselves for the week. And, I am thankful for Pr Dilean, his wife Vania and their lovely family who so graciously hosted us for the week, took care of all our expenses, and made the course affordable for the students. I’m looking forward to next month’s classes already.
I recently returned home from a two-week teaching trip in Brazil’s Northeast. In a real sense for me, this was getting back to my “missionary roots.” Before moving to Brazil’s south fourteen years ago, Caron and I spent eight years ministering in Minas Gerais. Minas Gerais is a Texas-sized state located in Brazil’s Southeastern region. Much of the state of Minas Gerias is economically and logistically linked to the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the two states that make up the southern and southeastern borders of Minas Gerais. This region of Minas Gerais is a land of mountains, mining, and great coffee. It has cool winters and warm summers, and is lovely beyond words and was “home” to us for the early part of our ministry.
However, there is another part of Minas Gerais that is not the stuff of lovely post-card pictures. This other region has a beauty of its own, but it has a hard side as well. It can be hot, dry, and even survival is hard. This is Minas Gerais’ northeastern region known as the Valley of the Jequitinhonha. This is one of the poorest regions in Brazil and is the beginning of a vast semi-desert region known as the Sertão.
The Sertão stretches from northeastern Minas Gerais to the state of Ceará, where I was last week. It is a region whose rain patterns are directly affected by the Ocean currents popularly known as “El Niño” and “La Niña.” When ocean waters regularly warm in the Pacific, the “El Niño” effect, this directly impacts patterns of air circulation globally. Winds that would have come in from the Atlantic to bring rain to Brazil’s Sertão simply do not arrive. Hence, it is a region that experiences cyclical drought. As a result, farmers can lose an entire crop in any given year. If this occurs two years in a row, it can have disastrous consequences for those who live there.
I’d like to share with you the three things that God taught me while I was ministering in the Sertão recently:
Hard times need not necessarily make hard, harsh people.
As I have already said, Brazil’s Sertão is a hard region. It is not easy to live there. It is certainly not easy to farm there. It is not easy to stay there. The people who live in this region are tough and hardy. There is a saying among them that I will translate from Portuguese, “A Nordestino (Someone from the Sertão) is so tough that they can get milk to come out of a rock.” Dramatic rhetoric aside, it is true: The People of Brazil’s Northeast are tough and resilient. They have to be in order to live there.
Yet, they are kind souls. They are generous, warm and welcoming. A visitor to this region is greeted and received with the warmth extended to a long-time friend or family member. I could give you several examples. However, let me share with you an example that I still remember from our early days. Nearly 20 years ago I took my son, along with several other Brazilian Baptist friends, to the Valley of the Jequitinhonha. The weather was hot, the sun intense, and there was little or no water to be found. The suffering experienced by the people in that region was palpable. Yet, the warmth, generosity, and acceptance that I received remain lodged in my soul to this day. After several days staying with a family, the older matron of the family began to call my son, “o meu Galeginho” while simultaneously pinching his cheeks and kissing him. I could tell from the context that whatever it meant it was most likely good, but as a young missionary, I really wasn’t sure about the meaning. In my thickly accented Portuguese, I asked her, “What does that mean?” She responded saying, “You are a German (Portuguese = Alemão), i.e., a foreigner. He is a “Galego”, literally a Spaniard, i.e., a white person who is one of us.” Trust me, if there was anyone on the planet who did not look like one of them, it was my son, a tow-headed white-blond, fair-skinned boy, born in Kentucky. Yet, to her, he spoke Portuguese like one of them, so he was one of them. That gift of acceptance of my son as one of them is still a blessing that I treasure in my heart. It has kept me in Brazil. Accept my children and you accept me. Accept me, and it so much easier to stay.
This was a very poor family. There were holes in ceramic tile roof and you could look up at the stars while you slept at night on the floor. Yet, hard times did not make them bitter. Hard times made them better. On a different continent in a different day and time, my father was raised in the crushing poverty of the depression. Many times having meat for supper depended upon the sharp eyes of the shooter and his single .22 rifle shell. Thankfully, I never knew those types of hard circumstances first hand; my knowledge of those times came from my father’s stories. Yet, it was obvious that hard times did not make my father bitter. They made him grateful. He was a man whose life was characterized by a deep and abiding gratitude and joy. Whether it is a farmer living in Brazil’s Northeast today, an American being raised in the Great Depression, or any one of us today: Hard times need not make us bitter. By God’s grace, they can make us better. They can make us kinder, more compassionate, and more welcoming.
The green around the city is deceiving. In a few short weeks it will all be brown again.
This abandoned house made of clay and small branches is just one more evidence of recurring drought in the region.
Spiritual challenges require apostolic passion and commitment.
Brazil is without question one of the world’s most religious countries. Brazil is a religiously diverse nation; the majority would identify with some form of Orthodox Catholicism or Protestantism. However, Brazil is also a country deeply imbued with many types of non-Christian religions and heterodox forms of Christianity. One particular form of unique religious expression is the veneration of Padre Cícero, which is particularly strong in Brazil’s Northeast.
Padre Cícero is locally recognized in this region as a “popular” saint. He is believed to have miraculous powers, but the Roman Catholic Church does not officially recognize him. His following in Brazil’s Northeast rivals that of Marian veneration of Nossa Senhora de Guadelupe in Mexico or Nossa Senhora da Aparecida at the Bacílica da Aparecida in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. What makes this movement of particular interest is that Padre Cícero was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church near the end of his life, although he was reinstated posthumously last year into good standing. It’s hard to know exactly what Padre Cícero actually taught and/or believed during his lifetime. Certainly, many orthodox Roman Catholics during his lifetime considered him heterodox to the point of meriting excommunication. However, there is no doubt many today in Brazil’s Northeast look to him as a principal source of spiritual power, comfort, and consolation in their daily lives and struggles. In the midst of this cultural reality, profound, deep apostolic passion and conviction is needed on the part of those who would minster the Gospel in this region.
When I use the word “apostolic”, I am not using it in the primary sense of apostolic authority. In my theological and confessional tradition, primary apostolic authority is limited only to those who gave actual eyewitness testimony to Christ’s life and resurrection. Rather, I use the term in its secondary sense as one who has been sent on the “apostolic” mission of making Christ and His Gospel among those who still have not heard. To that end, when I think of apostolic passion, I think of my friend of many years, Pastor Washington Oliveira. I recently spent a week with him, and I was impressed once again with the importance of apostolic passion for Gospel ministry.
Pastor Washington was born in Brazil’s Northeast and has lived almost twenty years in the Sertão. His body, mind, and spirit is focused on one holy calling, making Christ’s Gospel known among the people who live in this region. Every conversation with him always works its way to the question, “How can the Gospel advance in the Sertão?” Every decision made by his local church passes through the same filter, “How will this local church’s decision contribute to church planting and evangelism in the Sertão, Brazil, and the world?” Most importantly, his prayer life is directed toward on-going intercession seeking God’s gracious blessings for the people of the Sertão. While with him, the prayer I most often heard was, “Lord, send forth more workers into your harvest.” With this type of passion, it is understandable how his church has been able to plant 15 churches in a region where previously there had been no Baptist work at all.
Wherever God might have you deployed in His mission, there are principles that can be learned from a servant like Pastor Washington:
Longevity in a place of ministry often lays the foundation for success in ministry. Pastor Washington has given 19 years of his life to his region. When he speaks, he speaks with apostolic authority. His love, concern, and credibility are recognized. Longevity in a given location is no guarantee of inevitable success in ministry, but a lack of long-term presence and credibility is often linked to a lack of success in ministry.
Intentionality in public ministry priorities defines a ministry’s direction and inevitable results. Something in a person’s ministry will have first place in terms of time commitment, personal interest, emotional affection, and investment of resources. For success to be attained Great Commission advance has to be intentionally prioritized at every level: personally, ecclesiastically, and institutionally. There are many “good things” in which a person can invest time, efforts, and energies, all in the name of missions and ministries. Kingdom success comes to those who intentionally choose the best Great Commission advance from among the many “good things” of ministry.
Passionate personal piety focuses on mobilizing laborers for Gospel Harvest. One of the phrases, I heard Pastor Washington repeat on multiple occasions was, “I have wept and pleaded with God …” What has so grieved our hearts that leads us to say, “I have wept and plead with God?” There can be no greater cause to bring before the Father than the cause of the advance of the Gospel in the communities where we live, work, and minister. Perhaps the greatest need we can place before the Father is to send more laborers to advance His Kingdom’s work.
Hard places require a mobilized missionary presence.
There are many hard places in the world. Hardness may be due to political unrest, religious hostility, geographic isolation, or climactic challenges. Brazil’s Northeast is most widely known for its climactic challenges. No matter what the reason, hard places and spiritual “lostness” often go hand in hand. For the Gospel to reach these hard places, it requires God called servants to hear His call and say, “Yes, I will go.”
Those who go can and should be willing to do whatever is needed to advance the Gospel: things like evangelism, discipleship, social ministry, and training leadership. All of these ministries are needed in Brazil’s Northeast. In particular, I took part in a leadership training project via the catalyzing ministry of Reaching and Teaching, http://reachingandteaching.org in cooperation with the Brazilian Home Mission Board of the Brazilian Baptist Convention, a local Southern Baptist church, and the International Mission Board (IMB).
The IMB has a growing commitment to seeing limitless teams of Southern Baptists deploying to the nations. If you or your church are praying about your involvement in global missions, I would ask you to prayerfully consider Brazil’s Northeast. The needs are profound: spiritually, climatically, and economically. You and your church can make a real difference in the cause of Great Commission advance. One of the great needs is for more laborers in the Great Commission Harvest. There are many places in the world where we can and should go where God’s servants are not necessarily well received. That doesn’t reduce our missional responsibility to go there. Yet, the fact that you will be well received in Brazil’s northeast by warm and generous people, people who are open to a Gospel witness, does not detract from the fact that they too are lost without the hope of the Savior. In that sense, the spiritual reality of Brazil’s Northeast is not altogether different from other hard places. Yes, it does require some intentionality to get there. Yes, the climate can be challenging. However, if you or your church is looking for a first place to be involved in missionary ministry, I would commend this region to you. If interested, you can contact me or the International Mission Board for more details.
Let me conclude with these words translated from a popular evangelical song that expresses so well the message that I want to leave with you:
Whether in sandals or in flip-flops
Eating dust and dirt
On a donkey or a bicycle
Or on top of a truck
The feet of those who preach the Gospel how lovely they are.
It does matter what you drive
It doesn’t matter who is driving
The important thing is get there
And preach the Gospel
The feet of those who preach the Gospel how lovely they are.
In the Book of Acts
God gives the same orientation
Be my witnesses in any and every place
The feet of those who preach the Gospel how lovely they are.
Many of you have walked with Caron and me through the ministry challenges of 2015 and 2016. They have been times of clarifying our call and place in God’s global mission via the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. As the challenges of 2015 begin to recede into the distance, opportunities for greater Great Commission engagement loom continually larger in the present and future. I am thrilled to see the International Mission Board positioning itself for on-going Great Commission impact worldwide.
Dr. M. David Sills, my friend and doctoral supervisor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, winsomely summarizes the Great Commission mandates as “reaching and teaching.”
Reaching is that part of the Great Commission mandate in which God’s people intentionally advance the Gospel among those who have never heard the Gospel, once heard the Gospel, or have heard it, but still have not effectually believed it.
Teaching is that part of the Great Commission that intentionally seeks to help ground believers in the “faith once and for all delivered to the Saints.” This grounding is based on the Biblical teaching as understood by the historic Christian Church, has life application and worship at its center, and is guided at all levels by a commitment to Great Commission expansion.
By God’s grace, the Johnsons are blessed to give themselves wholeheartedly to the teaching component of the Great Commission. My (Mark’s) primary task is to strengthen theological education in the Americas. My “official” job title is “Theological Education Consultant”. The team with whom I work seeks to influence theological education throughout Mexico and Latin America. I would like to share with you what my team is doing in order that each of you can more effectively pray before the Father on our behalf.
The Theological Education Consultant Team works with local missionary teams and Baptist partners (churches, associations, and conventions) throughout the Americas to help them in the area of their theological education needs.
Note: When we use the term “Americas” (with an “s” at the end), we are referring to Mexico, Central America, Latin America and South America, but not the United States of America.
Six priorities of the Theological Education Consultant Team
Each Theological Education Consultant brings some form of academic preparation to their task of relating to seminaries throughout the Americas. Most importantly, each one brings a strong sense of calling to and passion for theological education as an important and strategic means by which a new generation of Great Commission servants is developed and sent to the Nations. To accomplish this, each Theological Education Consultant is encouraged to exercise their teaching ministry and gifting. In this way, strategic relationships with Americas Baptist seminary leadership and partners are nurtured and developed. For example, this year I will be teaching a full gambit of courses in the area of Missiology: Theology of Missions, Missions Anthropology, History of Missions, and Missions Strategies. Whenever I teach, and wherever I teach, I will be working with key strategic Baptist seminary partners to train more leaders for Great Commission advance.
Theological EducationConsultants work to develop a theological education network throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America. One recent and exciting example of this was a meeting coordinated by the International Mission Board in Panama. At this meeting, seminary leaders from the SBC met with Baptist seminary leaders from Mexico, Central America, and South America. This was an exciting opportunity to cast vision and strengthen cooperation.
Theological EducationConsultants connect the tremendous theological education resources of Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and partners to the theological education needs and opportunities that exist in Mexico, Central America, and South America. One Theological Education Consultant project of tremendous value was recently highlighted in an article in Baptist Press, http://www.bpnews.net/46562/from-the-seminaries-sebts-and-brazil-baptists-mbts-doctoral-ethics-degrees-9marks-at-sbts. Please read the whole article entitled, “Southeastern partnership with Brazilians sees first fruits”. My team was deeply involved in this entire process. Thankfully, similar theological education projects are being facilitated throughout the Americas. A quote from Dr. David Bledsoe sums up well what the Theological Education Consultants are doing across the Americas:
“This MTS endeavor has demonstrated Baptist cooperation at its highest level,” said David Bledsoe with the IMB in Brazil. “Southeastern offered the program and strived to do so in a contextual manner. IMB offered a missionary professor to assist in the coordination … [and] the Brazilian mission boards provided much of the logistic assistance to pull off the program on Brazilian soil.”
Each project’s details will be different, but the essential goal is the same: Baptist cooperation at its highest level.
The Theological EducationConsultants prioritize the development of Masters and Doctoral level training among Baptist seminary partners in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Theological education and leadership can and must take place at all levels. The Theological Education Consultants are deeply involved in broad based leadership training projects. However, many of the Consultants have terminal degrees (PhDs and D.Miss) that allow them to teach at the higher levels of theological and missiological education. It is an important priority for this team, the Baptist partners in Mexico, Central America, and South America have seminaries that are training and producing their own Masters and Doctoral level students who are prepared to teach and train in the future. Strategic partnerships exist or are being established with key Baptist partner seminaries throughout the Americas to help meet this very special need.
The Theological EducationConsultants help to facilitate the development and implementation of on-line theological education among Baptist partners in the Americas. This world is rapidly becoming a digital world, and the digital revolution is changing both how theological education content is being studied by students and how the content is delivered to them for their study. The Theological Education Consultants work with Americas Baptist seminary partners to help connect them to the technological resources of Southern Baptist Convention life in order to meet their growing needs for quality digital delivery of theological content.
Finally, Seminary Consultants help develop leaders within the International Mission Board (IMB). Theological Education Consultants work in conjunction with the field strategies set by the affinity leadership team as well as cooperatively as part of a local IMB engagement team. It is a pleasure and honor to work with and serve along side fellow Southern Baptists on mission to the nations and IMB colleagues who are forward deployed among the nations.
You now have an overview of what I am doing and how I am leading this team as we work together in theological education in an area that stretches from the Rio Grande River to the southernmost tip of South America. This work is possible because of the financial support of Southern Baptists to the Great Commission and the prayers of each you on behalf of God’s global mission. This work of theological education has God’s global glory as its primary focus and Baptist cooperation at the highest levels as the means by which this global mission is being accomplished.
If you are a theological educator with a terminal degree and are interested in a short term missionary teaching assignment, please contact me. I would love to share with you some exciting options. If you are a pastor or church leader with a heart for training, there is a place for you also in this work. We are committed to training leaders at all levels. I look forward to hearing from you. God bless you and thank you for being a part of this cooperative effort that makes this all possible.
I love the beach. I love to watch and listen to the waves. Usually I find that relaxing. Sometimes however, when you are in the ocean the waves can hit you harder and faster than you expect. The opposite of relaxing, that kind of experience can become ever more tiresome, even grueling. We’ve been back in Brazil now for two months and the waves have been growing in intensity.
The Political Wave – Brazil has made international headlines with the widespread corruption scandal, protests in the streets, and moving forward with Presidential impeachment hearings. Some days the tension here is palpable. Prices are high, store shelves are not stocked with many options, and everyone talks about the uncertainty of the future.
The Emotional Wave – Due to economic instability in Brazil and other factors within our own mission sending agency, many of our beloved missionary colleagues and ex-pat friends have left Brazil and returned to the USA. While I have many, many dear Brazilian friends, there is something akin to feeling like you’ve become an “empty nester” all over again, when you realize that your “American family members” have left home. There is sense of loss over not having had the opportunity to even say “goodbye” to many dear friends. On top of that, there is the sadness of having said goodbyes to friends and family in the USA once again.
The Ministry Wave – Mark has had a very intense travel schedule since our return to Brazil, beginning not quite 48 hours after our arrival. He has logged thousands of air miles, both domestic and international. He has lots of exciting news of what is happening in Mexico, Central, and Latin America in Theological Education, but he will post about that when he gets home. (These are good waves, but they are one right after the other with little break between waves to catch one’s breath.)
The Spiritual Wave – Honestly, for me, it’s been a battle. I have been home alone for most of the past two months. While I admit, I do enjoy a bit of “me” time, this has been a stretch. After unpacking, scrubbing all the mold and mildew out the closets, washing every single thing that was left here and stored during our time in the USA, reorganizing and painting the bedrooms, planning out our ministry calendar for the year and doing all my “normal” daily ministry activities, I still had way too much time on my hands! I found myself falling into what I call the “blue funk fog”. Have you been there? It’s the place you just kind of slip into, without meaning to go there, and you just hang out. It’s not productive. You don’t make any real progress in the direction you need to be going. You don’t feel any joy—you just complete one task and move on to the next. You survive, but you don’t thrive. You begin to feel you are just being carried along to somewhere you don’t really want to go. This is a dangerous place for me. When I’m here I begin to feel fearful, sorry for myself, and begin to drift off course.
Lessons from the beach
I remember on a certain occasion going to the beach. Now, I am not a strong swimmer and I certainly am not coordinated enough to surf. But I do enjoy riding the waves on a boogie board. I knew the current was carrying me farther down the beach each time, but I stayed in the water anyway. I thought I could handle it. The water was only waist deep but some of the waves were nearly 5 feet tall. The waves were coming in hard and fast, one right after the other. Once the bigger waves settled down a bit I realized that I had drifting further down the beach, away from my family, and the undertow there was a lot stronger than I was. I found myself fighting against it to no avail. I had stayed in the water so long that by the time I realized I was in danger I couldn’t seem to make any headway trying to walk through the waist-deep water to get back to my family or back to the shore. The rest of the family couldn’t see me anymore and thought I had already gone in. No one knew I was in trouble. The only thing I knew I could do was sit on the board and let the current carry me over to the point that curved around at the other end of the beach. I knew it was unlikely I would drift out farther than that point. I knew the beach and knew the water was shallow over by the rocks at the point. So, I calmed down and settled myself on the board and allowed the current to carry me to the rocks at the other end of the beach. Once there I was able to climb off, hold onto the rocks and make my way to the shore and begin my long walk back.
That was an experience I don’t ever want to repeat! It would have been far better to make some adjustments sooner and not continue to stay in the water being battered by the waves. In fact, it would have been even better if I had noticed the red warning flag on that section of the beach advising of the strong currents! So, this past month, after wave after wave hit me and I began to feel myself growing tired and being pulled in the wrong direction I knew I needed to make some adjustments; and the sooner, the better! This time I saw the warning flag and I knew I had to get out of the water of self-pity and loneliness. The Lord used my time alone here in the past weeks to get my attention and speak to me.
Lessons from Loneliness
Much like the plan I made at the beach that day, I knew I needed a plan for dealing with those political, emotional, ministry and spiritual waves which were wearing me out, or the undertow would take me where I did not want to go. God has blessed me in so many ways. He has given us an important ministry here in Brazil and we feel 100% certain that this is where He would have us at this time. Still, some days are just plain hard. And, it’s in those hard moments that He teaches me more about himself.
Mark and I take lots of pictures. We take pictures of places we have lived and places we have visited; we take pictures of friends and pictures of family. We look at our pictures often—on our phones, on the screensavers of our computers, framed and hanging on the walls. Our pictures are reminders of special memories. Yet, if all I ever had of my grandchildren were their pictures, I would only know a small portion of who they are. A sweet picture can make me smile or even laugh, but it is still only a flat, static image that represents a memory of a time past, or perhaps a moment in the present that I am not a part of.
A video clip, on the other hand might make me feel more a part of action in the present. Even though it captures a moment in the past, I can almost envision myself there as I am virtually reliving the experience watching the video in the present. It’s not flat and static. The sound adds to the imagery and feeds my imagination. Still, the interaction is only one sided. Watching a video is bittersweet; in the end, it doesn’t necessarily help the relationship grow.
Conversation, on the other hand is participative. It is real time. It is present tense with forward momentum. It is going somewhere. While pictures and videos help stem the tide of loneliness, nothing takes the place of a good real-time (or FaceTime) conversation. I enjoy those unscheduled, unexpected quick phone calls just to say hello or pass on some piece of information, but even better are the long conversations where we just talk and enjoy one other’s company. Those are the kinds of moments that relationships need in order to grow.
I’m going somewhere with all this….just hang with me a little longer. 🙂
When Mark is traveling, I know he has arrived somewhere since I receive an automated text from the airline saying that flight 442 has arrived. But, I feel part of his story when Mark texts me saying he has landed and all is well. What’s the difference? I have a relationship with Mark, not with the airline’s automated system! I enjoy talking to my kids and grandkids because I have a relationship with them. The only way for the relationship to continue to grow while we are miles apart is to continue to communicate intentionally.
It seems the Lord wanted me to know this truth. He wanted me to experience this truth. Pictures and videos reminding me of precious memories can be compared to spiritual markers in my past. But in order to keep my relationship vibrant and growing with the Lord I needed to be communicating with him more and on a deeper level. I can’t just rely on my memories of past experiences. Could it be that the Lord viewed my quick prayers at mealtime and bedtime or my perfunctory morning quiet time as I view those quick purposeful calls? They are nice, but they leave me wanting more from the relationship. Could it be that through my loneliness the Lord wanted to remind me to invest more time communicating with Him on a deeper level? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:18, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” I began to ponder that and resolved to work on the relationship with my Father, and the first step was improving communication—PRAYER.
Lessons from Lessons
One of the things on my to-do list upon our return was to prepare the rest of this year’s curriculum for the small group Bible studies we do in our home weekly. I had encouraged several of the participants to take over the teaching responsibilities in our absence, but they were ready for me to re-engage in the teaching and prepare to train the next generation of leaders. I had planned on tackling subjects such as prayer, pride, envy, anger, greed, just to name a few. I had done my initial readings and was ready to begin my teaching notes and prepare the students’ study guides. But, as I began preparing the lessons on prayer, this teacher became the learner. The Lord began to show me how going through the motions of prayer is not the same as having a real conversation in prayer. He began to show me how reading the Psalms could actually help me give voice to my prayers in an all-new way. He began to show me how the book of Psalms is perfectly suited for praying His Word back to Him even when I didn’t have the words to pray. The book of Psalms deals with every single emotion I was feeling. Through the words of the Psalmist I learned that instead of focusing on me and my problems and my desires, I could focus on praising and worshiping Him and praying for the needs of others. I could pray the divinely inspired words of the Psalms back to God when I didn’t have words to express myself.
Interestingly enough, when I did this, I no longer felt like I was being battered by those waves. I no longer felt the overwhelming despair of lonliness. I no longer felt like I was drifting to a place I didn’t really want to go, but rather, I felt that I had a purpose bigger than myself. I began to pray for others I knew who were going through difficult times. And I made a conscious effort to be encouraging to others—whether it meant meeting someone for lunch or coffee to really talk, or sending an encouraging email or text. I soon learned that in God’s perfect timing, each time I sent a message or had a conversation, it seemed it was just what that person needed at that time. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I was just what they needed at that time. Rather, it was God’s Spirit in me ministering to them at that time, just the words they needed to hear. What if I had not had all that extra time on my hands? What if I had not spent that extra time in prayer? What if I had not read the Psalms and been motivated to pray for others? What if I had just prayed for them, but not followed up by sharing with the person that I had prayed for them? I think I would still be stuck in the “blue funk fog”, that’s what. And I think I would have missed out on the blessing of being used to show God’s love to someone else who was hurting.
Sometimes we have to be in the dark to appreciate the light. We have to go through the lonely times to appreciate a good conversation. If I close my eyes, I can almost hear the waves. The sound of the waves reminds me that God is in control. In fact, when Jesus spoke, the waves obeyed him!
I’m looking forward to our Saturday night Bible study time together to share what the Lord is teaching me. Thanks for your prayers! Don’t stop.
Twenty three years ago Mark and I took our two preschoolers and twelve pieces of luggage along with our brand new passports and one way tickets and boarded a plane for the great unknown—our answer to God’s call to transplant our lives in Brazil. It was no April Fools’ prank. It was the real deal. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. We had no (as in ZERO) language skills, had no idea where we would be living and could not even correctly pronounce the name of the city of our first assignment.
We were appointed as Career Missionaries with Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (now known as the International Mission Board, or IMB) in October of 1992. It took a couple of months for us to sort through, give away, sell, pack and crate our few worldly belongings, 8 weeks of orientation (as if anything could have prepared us for what we would actually face) and then several more months of waiting for visas before we actually arrived in country on April 2, 1993. And now here we are, twenty-three years later.
Much has changed, including our addresses (we are currently in our eighth place of residence), our official job descriptions, missionary colleagues have come and gone, our national partners have changed, just to name a few.
Muchremains the same, including our passion for evangelism and discipleship and our God given call to teach and equip workers for His harvest.
What have we learned so far?
God has made the world’s wisdom foolish. The Bible tells us this in the passage from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. Note verses 18 and 20b.
God chooses to use what is foolish (in the eyes of the world) to bring Him glory. Note verses 26-31
1 Corinthians 1:18-31Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Boasting Only in the Lord
26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective,[not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.
As we celebrate our “anniversary” of our leaving one home to make our home in another place, we remember these words from scripture. Maybe April Fool’s Day will be a reminder to you, as it is to us, that God is about something greater than we can imagine or envision.
Caron and I want to thank you all for praying for us. We return this week to Brazil to continue our ministry in that great mission. These past ten months in the United States have been challenging for us, and for many of our International Mission Board colleagues. We prayed and sought God’s will as to whether to accept the terms of the Voluntary Retirement Initiative being offered by our mission board, or to continue in our missionary ministry. There is no doubt that the Father desires us to return to Brazil and continue in His mission.
God has affirmed three truths in my heart that lead me into the future:
God’s mission calling for Mark and Caron Johnson has not changed.
A friend shared with me these words from Jeff Iorg, President of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. They have helped me as I navigated the challenges of the past year with respect to God’s will for my future:
“Your calling establishes parameters, giant brackets around your life, which informs your choices and directs the outcome of your life. A call can only be changed by a subsequent, superseding impression from God.[1]”
Previously, I wrote as to how God marvelously and providentially moved us to the missions field. Based on these words of Dr. Iorg, I can say He has not in any way clearly said His plans for us have changed. We go back confident of His leading because we know what continues to burn in our hearts, a passion for His missions among the nations.
Kentucky Baptists, and Southern Baptists are still deeply committed to Great Commission advance in the world through the IMB.
My time in Kentucky has reminded me that Southern Baptists love missions and are still committed to God’s mission to the nations. This has not changed. Spending years outside the United States, I am at times amazed at the rapid rate of social change taking place in my own nation. However, one thing has not changed: Southern Baptists still love missions. Many of you have communicated this to us personally. We return with that knowledge. Dr. Iorg reminds us, “God calls through the prompting of others. [2]” I have felt encouragement and support from Southern Baptists during these challenging times. Challenging times still await us in the future. Yet, I find strength to continue in the encouragement that I have received. Like Aragorn in the Battle of Helm’s Deep, described in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Two Towers”, he received encouragement to stay from his friends: “Your friends are with you, Aragorn.” Knowing you stand with us makes all the difference between staying and going. We go because we go with the confidence of God’s presence and the support of God’s people.
My (Mark’s) personal mission has not changed: My mission continues to be to train the next generation of Great Commission servants for Global Missions deployment.
After much prayer and soul searching, we reached we are confident of this: God would have us to continue in Brazil and the Americas until we have fulfilled our part in His mission.
After the soul-searching of 2015, I find Eric Liddell’s words in the movie, Chariots of Fire, to express my own deepest feelings: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” I believe God has made each of us for a purpose. When we run the race He has set before us, we will feel His pleasure in what we do.
Yes, there will be tears when we return to Brazil this week. We cried when we thought of leaving Brazil; now, we cry some more thinking of leaving friends and family (especially 2 grandbabies!) in the USA. However, God has spoken to our hearts. God has called us. His churches support us. He has said, “Who will go for Us?” and we have said, “Here am I, send me.”
My passion is to see the biblical, Baptist, and missional theology of missionary pioneer Zachary Taylor embraced in every part of Brazilian Baptist life, and throughout the Americas. Working to this end is where I can make my greatest contribution to God’s mission in the Americas. Yet, this is not the ultimate vision. This (theological education and leadership training) is a means by which a greater vision can be attained.
I conclude with the words of Baptist missionary pioneer, William Buck Bagby a son of the great state of Texas whose parents came from Kentucky. Allow me first to quote him in the lovely Portuguese language:
“É o mais lindo panorama que os meus olhos jamais contemplaram. (…) Enquanto eu olho hoje à noite para o esplêndido panorama de luzes cintilando na superfície das águas, postadas ao lado das montanhas e se misturando com o brilho das estrelas, meu coração, se entristece por haver aqui milhares de pessoas que estão ‘sem Deus e sem esperança’, movimentando-se sob a triste sombra de um eclipse. Ó Deus, conceda que a tua verdade que está em Cristo Jesus encha esta terra, de Norte a Sul, do Atlântico aos Andes! ” — William Buck Bagby
“It (Brazil) is the loveliest panorama that my eyes have ever contemplated. While tonight as I look at the splendid panorama of lights reflecting on the water’s surface, placed by the side of mountains and mixed with the brilliance of the stars, my heart becomes saddened because in this great nation there are thousands and thousands “without God and without hope” walking as if under the dark cloud of a spiritual eclipse. Oh, God! Grant that your truth which is in Christ Jesus fill this land, from North to South, from the Atlantic to the Andes!”—William Buck Bagby.
Are we concerned? No more than normal. If God has called us, His churches support us, and our friends have not forgotten us, we are ready (to roughly paraphrase William Carey) “to go back down into the hole” because we know our family and friends, our churches, and our Southern Baptist family will continue to “hold the ropes”.
Yours for the Gospel and the Advance of the Great Commission,
Mark and Caron
[1] Iorg, J. (2013). Seasons of a leader’s life: learning, leading, and leaving a legacy. Nashville: B&H.
[2] Iorg, J. (2013). Seasons of a leader’s life: learning, leading, and leaving a legacy. Nashville: B&H.
In English we say a picture is worth a thousand words. In the Portuguese language, there is a word worth a thousand pictures. “SAUDADES.”
sau·da·de [souˈdädə] (noun) a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament.
SAUDADE
A word in Portuguese and Galician (from which it entered Spanish) that claims no direct translation in English. It describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade
We are in the final countdown month of preparations for our return to missionary service in Brazil. Many of you have asked how you can pray for us. Mark and Caron will both be sharing some thoughts on this poignant subject of leaving the land and people we love to return to the land and people we love. Here is the first of a two part series. Caron shared s her reflections in Part 1 last week; Now, Mark shares his thoughts in Part 2.
Part 2 — Mark’s Thoughts
Hudson Taylor, at the end of a life full of suffering and trial, said, “I never made a sacrifice.”[1] In once sense, these words seem to be blatantly contradicted by the plain facts of Christian experience in general, and all forms of Christian missions service in particular. Hardships are endured on the part of God’s people when they are obedient to God’s mission, whether in sending or in going.
God’s mission has always gone forward on the “sacrifice” of God’s people. Minimally, that sacrifice consists of giving and sending. All Christians are called sacrificially to give of their financial resources for the advance of the Gospel. Some Christians individually will be called to give of their lives by actually deploying to other places and cultures in order to spread the Gospel.
However, at the same time, Christian missions is motivated by a deep sense of gratitude, gratitude for what God has done for humanity’s salvation in Christ Jesus. “Sacrifices” made in God’s mission pale in comparison to that which He has done on our behalf in order to procure for us salvation. Temporal “sacrifices” made in God’s mission pale in comparison to the eternal benefits that wait for us in God’s certain, coming Kingdom. His servants believe these truths, live for these truths, and willingly undergo personal hardships for the sake of these truths.
Is Christian missions a “sacrifice”?
In one sense, Hudson Taylor is right; deploying for the Great Commission is not a sacrifice. It is a privilege. No hardship experienced on our part equals the magnitude of the grace of God lavished upon us in Christ Jesus.
Yet, in another sense, the pain felt in Christian service is very real. The nature of missionary service is such that common human pain is often times amplified beyond normal experience by the additional challenges and stresses of trans-cultural living and cross-communication. As a result, the normal hardships of life, including the Christian life, are magnified in the rigors of transcultural living, ministry, and survival.
Missionaries deeply feel the pain of separation from kin and country that deploying for the Great Commission demands. This pain is real, and it can be very intense. This pain has been a constant companion in my missionary pilgrimage. For twenty-three years, I have lived with this reality of Great Commission obedience in my life, the pain of good-byes. Indeed, nothing has been more painful than the good-byes.
My first years of leaving family and friends to go to the mission field were accompanied by a deep sense of pain and loneliness. Initially, leaving family and friends, I would cry like a baby. Sometime ago, I quit crying. Not because the pain of separation grew less, but not even tears could bring healing to the heart. For some sorts of pain, the hurt runs too deep to be casually cured.
Medicine can mask the pain.
Counsel can ease the pain.
Diversion helps to momentarily forget the pain.
However, as an American, I always felt the deeply held cultural assumption that I had to get through pain, get over pain, and/or move on from pain in order to be whole. After all, “the pursuit of happiness” is a part of the political and cultural legacy of what it means to be American. It was at that point that Christian missions itself taught me how to deal with, live with, and ultimately embrace that which I felt most deeply in my heart. Allow me to share another story from the life of Hudson Taylor that illustrates this important life lesson. The following passage is from The Growth of a Soul, vol 1. Written by Howard and Geraldine Taylor, son and daughter-in-law of Hudson Taylor.
My beloved, now sainted mother had come over … to see me off. Never shall I forget that day, nor how she went with me into the cabin that was to be my home for nearly six long months. With a mother’s loving hand she smoothed the little bed. She sat by my side and joined in the last hymn we should sing together before parting, we knelt down and she prayed – the last mother’s prayer I was to hear before leaving for China. Then notice was given that we must separate, and we had to say good-bye, never expecting to meet on earth again.
For my sake she restrained her feelings as much as possible. We parted, and she went ashore giving me her blessing, I stood alone on deck, and she followed the ship as we moved toward the dock-gates, As we passed through the gates and the separation really commenced, never shall I forget the cry of anguish wrung from that mother’s heart. It went through me like a knife, I never knew so fully, until then, what ‘God so loved the world’ meant. And I am quite sure my precious mother learned more of the love of God for the perishing in that one hour than in all her life before.
Oh how it must grieve the heart of God when He sees His children indifferent to the needs of that wide world for which His beloved, His only Son suffered and died.
Hudson said: “I never knew so fully, until then, what ‘God so loved the world’ meant.” These key words from have helped me walk through the pain of separation from family and loved ones.
Simple though it may be, it came as a revelation to my spirit that it was “Ok” to be deeply grieved with saying good-bye.
How could it be anything else but terribly painful to leave those that we love? It was “Ok” to be saddened to leave behind aging parents for whom I longed to care, precious family for whom I longed to be near, and long-time friends with whom I desired to share life. It was not necessary for me to “get over and move beyond” anything that I felt, because the pain I felt was real.
Painful, sacrificial love is the essence of the very faith that God’s people have been sent to proclaim to the nations.
The pain of separation was part and parcel of Christ’s incarnation and ultimately His atoning work on our behalf.
Salvation cost the Father loss of fellowship with His Son as He became a propitiation, a sin offering on our behalf.
Salvation cost the Son communion with His Father, which He had enjoyed for all eternity, when He took unto Himself the wrath for which humanity’s sin deserved.
His cry of dereliction, abandonment, and separation was the price paid for sinner’s salvation.
It comes as no surprise that those who follow in the footsteps of the Savior must be willing as well to walk in the same way of suffering and separation as He walked. As we go to the nations, we go as messengers of a costly sacrificial love. It is no small wonder that we too must bear the marks in our spirits, and at times our bodies, of this same sacrificial love for others that is necessary to make Christ known among All Peoples in All Places.
Caron and I have known the pain of leaving fathers who have now gone on to be with Jesus, mothers who are now aging, precious family members whose relationships are treasured, and now two grandsons. All of these have been painful. Particularly, it is now leaving the two grandsons that brings with it a type of pain heretofore not experienced in my life. I deeply grieve leaving them, because I so deeply want to invest in them, to love them, to see them become the men God would have them to be.
Only one love motivates me to continue in what is indeed a painful mission, God’s eternal love for the lost.
He has lost sheep in All Places among All Peoples whom He desires to call to Himself. These come from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Embracing God’s love for lost souls and His costly mission to redeem them, I can embrace the pain of leaving and separation. I can embrace the pain of good-byes.
When the pain of the mission is embraced, the feeling left in the human heart is “saudades,” the genuine heart-longings that one feels for the people and places we most treasure. I can live with this pain because it is an integral part of a mission bigger than the pain that I feel. For the day will come when these words of Christ words will become true: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3 NASB).
What will we feel when this Day finally comes to pass? In this life, we embrace the pain of Great Commission faithfulness and live with the sweet “saudades” that God’s Spirit leaves in the heart. The Day is coming when all hearts in Christ will find the eternal joy for which their hearts long. Words from J. R. R. Tolkien express the future for which all God’s saints yearn:
“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”
“A great Shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count.
For now, we embrace pain in God’s mission to the nations, but the day is coming when everything sad is going to come untrue.
It is for this we labor. It is for this we long. It is for this we eagerly await. What does it mean to have “saudades?” For me, it means making peace with my pain for sake of the Prince of Peace.
[1] Piper, J. (2002). Brothers, we are not professionals: a plea to pastors for radical ministry (p. 52). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
In English we say a picture is worth a thousand words. In the Portuguese language, there is a word worth a thousand pictures. “SAUDADES.”
sau·da·de [souˈdädə] (noun) a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament.
SAUDADE
A word in Portuguese and Galician (from which it entered Spanish) that claims no direct translation in English. It describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade
We are in the final countdown month of preparations for our return to missionary service in Brazil. Many of you have asked how you can pray for us. Mark and Caron will both be sharing some thoughts on this poignant subject of leaving the land and people we love to return to the land and people we love. Here is the first of a two part series. Caron will share her reflections in Part 1; Mark will share his thoughts in Part 2.
Part 1 — Caron’s Reflections
As a mother, I well remember awaiting the birth of our second child and wondering how I could ever love another with the same kind of love I held for our firstborn. It took about .025 seconds for me to resolve that after his birth! I was amazed that my heart could make room for another to occupy the same level of intense love. Yet, that is exactly how I describe the situation I now find myself in.
I am a person who loves, feels at home at, and deeply misses when not present, two distinct countries, two different peoples, two different cultures. As we prepare to return to Brazil, people ask me, “Where do you consider home now?” My response: Both. And neither.
Allow me to explain: Neither, because I will always be an “outsider”.
In Brazil, I speak Portuguese, have Brazilian friends, observe Brazilian customs and holidays, but I am still American. I enjoy celebrating American holidays, making American recipes (especially desserts!) and my Portuguese has a distinct American accent, no matter how hard I try. I am an “accepted outsider”, but an outsider, nonetheless. I belong, but I am different.
In the USA I find that here too, I am a bit of an outsider. It is the land of my birth, the home of my ancestors for several generations now. Yet, I find that after living abroad for 23 years, I am a foreigner to many of the customs, slang expressions, jokes, references to TV shows, understanding certain processes (pumping gas, automated Rx refills, to name a few). I crave different foods. I enjoy hanging out with internationals. I speak English without a foreign accent, but it doesn’t take long for folks to realize that I’m just a bit different. Thankfully, here too family and friends receive me as an “accepted outsider”. I belong, but I am different.
Both, because I am “at home” both in Brazil and in the USA.
When in the USA, I embrace whole-heartedly the culture, the people, the seemingly unlimited variety of options of everything to purchase for a reasonable price. I spend every possible moment out in the backyard: gardening, grilling out, and sitting around the fire pit. I enjoy watching the squirrels play and the hearing the birds sing (things I don’t get to do from my 10th story apartment in Brazil.) Most of all I enjoy spending time with friends and family. I enjoy meeting friends for lunch or coffee. I enjoy Wednesday night suppers at church. I enjoy singing in the Christmas Cantata. I enjoy every moment I spend with my precious family. I cherish every diaper I changed, every bath given, every story read to my two grandsons and I cherish the special moments I have spent with their parents (our daughter and son-in-law). I cherish every road trip taken with our son, every song sung together and Trivial Pursuit game played (even though I never win). I value every hour spent in the waiting room of a doctors office with my mom, or trip to the grocery together; every visit with my mother-in-law around the dinner table at the assisted living residence. I find myself purposefully, intentionally, recording these memories (sights, sounds, smells, etc.) on the hard-drive of my brain so I can recall them at a later date and relive them. Yes, I’ll confess here, that is why I take so many pictures and post them at random times. I am reliving those special moments because I know that those moments will never return. Now, I am not saying that the same is not true for you, dear reader. But might I suggest that unless you think about the fact that you won’t have that opportunity again for a very long time (possibly never), you many not fully appreciate how precious it is to experience it now.
Saudade was once described as “the love that remains” after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone (e.g., one’s children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends, pets) or something (e.g., places, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence. It brings sad and happy feelings all together, sadness for missing and happiness for having experienced the feeling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade
Yes, the USA is my home. I love it here. I don’t want to leave. (There, I said it.)
Yet, I am ready to go “home” to Brazil. I miss my bed. I miss my kitchen. I miss my pictures. I miss my orchids. I miss my “stuff”. I miss my friends, bike rides, walks along the beaches, and churrascos (Brazilian cook outs). I don’t miss the urban traffic, but I do miss certain aspects of the city. Most of all, I miss what I do there.
I’m a teacher by trade. I have taught every age and every grade from preschool – high school at some point. I have taught English as a Second Language (ESL). I have taught cooking and sewing and needlework classes. I have taught in churches and in seminaries. God has used my abilities to teach to create within me a passion for discipleship. I love teaching new believers how to take their first steps in following Christ. I love helping folks understand the glorious mysteries of the Gospel. I get excited about explaining how the Bible is relevant to all of life to those friends who are “not-yet” believers. I am honored to have the privilege of teaching young couples what it is to have a marriage centered on Christ and to teach principles of godly parenting to first generation Christians. I am blessed beyond measure to practice hospitality and open our home for Bible studies and times of sweet fellowship. (Even when sometimes it feels like we are running a Bed and Breakfast!) I still teach, but at a much different level now. God has uniquely made me who I am (with my interests, talents and abilities) so that I can become who He wants me to be. I’m not saying that can only happen in Brazil. But I am saying that is where God has placed me.
In a word, it is the “call” of God that empowers me to say goodbye to the life I love here in the USA and go embrace the life He has enabled me to love in Brazil. Many of you know we were offered the opportunity to for an early retirement package from our mission sending agency (IMB). After much prayer and soul searching, we decided not to accept it. Many of our dear friends and missionary colleagues chose to accept it. They too did so after much soul searching and prayer. It is not an easy decision to stay on the field or to return to the USA. Those of you involved in ministry know that decisions of this nature are not defined by financial loss or gain, but rather the sense of “call” on one’s life at that particular moment. I grieve for the loss of dear missionary friends and colleagues. I will miss them. I will add them to the list of my “saudades”. I can say with confidence though, that at this point in time, our call to “go and make disciples” is still what it was 23 years ago. The Lord has not yet released us from that call in Brazil.
Teaching Truth--Transforming Lives 