Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of Israel and led Israel into the Promised Land. It was beautiful but full of people who did not obey God. Therefore, God commanded Israel to defeat these people.

Israel’s first challenge was against the people of a strong, walled city called Jericho. God instructed Israel to march around the city one time every day for six days. He told them to walk around the city seven times on the seventh day. As they circled the seventh time on the seventh day they yelled loudly and the priests blew their horns. Then the walls fell down. Israel charged into the city and destroyed everything in it. God told them to offer to Him all of the gold and treasures. However, one man kept some of the treasures for himself. His sin caused Israel to be defeated in their next battle. Israel stoned him because of his disobedience.

After this, they continued to overtake the land and divide it between themselves until God gave them rest. Joshua reminded the people they ought to continue worshiping God alone and following the instructions he had given Moses.

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Meaning: The three promises to Abraham of a people, a place, and a worldwide blessing are finally being realized. In the Moses Story we saw that Israel was a numerous nation, thus fulfilling the first promise. In this story, we see that Israel has finally entered into and conquered the Promised Land.

All that remains of God’s promises to Abraham is that final promise. Now that Israel is a large nation with their own land, will they be that blessing to the nations – an example of what love of God and love of others look like? Put another way, will Israel go the way of Adam and Noah by ultimately falling into sin, or will they serve God and obey his instructions? Will Israel, as a nation, defeat the serpent and save the world or will they, too, fall into sin?

Years later Israel was a large nation but was enslaved in a foreign land called Egypt. Israel cried out to God for help and He heard.

One day, Moses saw a burning bush not being consumed. God called out to Moses from the bush, saying, “I have seen my people’s suffering. I will rescue them and take them to the land. You, Moses, will lead Israel.”

Moses came to Pharaoh and said, “Let God’s people go!” Pharaoh mocked God so God judged Egypt. The final judgment was the killing of the firstborn. God instructed his people that each household was to sacrifice a perfect lamb and put its blood on the doorposts. Whoever followed God’s instructions would save their firstborn, but those who disobeyed would lose him. When the firstborn of every family in Egypt died, Pharaoh finally let Israel go.

When they were free, on their way to the Promised Land, God entered into a special covenant relationship with Israel. God instructed them on how they were to worship God and live before others so that they might bless the entire world.

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Meaning: God has fulfilled the first of his three promises to Abraham – of his descendants being numerous. Israel is a large nation. However, the problem is they are enslaved in a different country rather than being in the land of promise. The story of Moses is the story of God fulfilling the second promise – bringing his people up to the Promised Land.

Along the way, God gives Israel his instruction so that they might be a light in the darkness, an example for other nations. Upon entering the land, the hope is that they will obey God’s instructions and in so doing bring all the other nations to worship the one true God. In this way, God’s instructions appear to be the means by which God will fulfill his third and final promise to Abraham – to bless all the families of the earth. However, the question is, will Israel succeed by obeying God, or will they go the way of Adam & Eve, Noah, and the rest of humanity?

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Personal Note: This was one of the most difficult stories to get under 200 words. It was fairly easy to summarize the stories of Adam and Noah since they only consist of 3-4 chapters of our Bibles anyways. In the Bible, Abraham takes up a good chunk of the book of Genesis – but that’s still only one book! Moses’s story goes from Exodus through Deuteronomy! Therefore, I am aware that this story is somewhat lacking for us who know about Moses’s birth story, the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the wilderness wandering, etc. However, I tried to think about the flow of the great narrative of Scripture and Moses’s contribution to that “metanarrative.”

When the earth was, again, full of people, God scattered them and confused their language because of their continued wickedness.

Then God chose one man and told him to leave his family. This man, Abraham, obeyed. The Lord promised Abraham many descendants, a new land, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.

God tested Abraham, saying, “Take your only son, Isaac, whom you love and offer him as a burnt offering.” So, Abraham took Isaac to the mountain God showed him. Arriving at the place, Abraham built an altar and bound his son Isaac on it. Then Abraham grabbed the knife to slaughter his son. But an angel stopped him saying, “Do not hurt the boy, now God knows you fear him.” There was a ram caught in a nearby bush, so Abraham offered the ram as a burnt offering in place of his son. The angel told Abraham that because of his obedience, God would surely give him many descendants, the new land, and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.

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Meaning: Abraham is not “The Promised One,” but through his story the promise continues and expectation grows. God’s promise to Adam and Eve of a snake-slaying-savior will now be fulfilled in the offspring of Abraham. God promised to Abraham a great nation who would inherit the Promised Land. This nation-descended-from-Abraham would then bless all the other nations. But what is this blessing of the nations? Surely it is the reversal of the curses – the undoing of the fall. Through Abraham’s offspring, God promises to restore the perfection of Eden and save all the families of the earth. The greatest blessing of all would be a return to life in the physical and manifested presence of God, just as Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden.

Years later the earth was full of evil and violence. God regretted making man and said, “I will wipe off all creatures from the earth.”

Noah, however, found favor with the Lord for he walked with God. So God told Noah, “Make a big boat for I am bringing a flood to destroy all creatures. Bring into the boat a male and a female of every animal.” And Noah obeyed God.

Then Noah, his family, and the animals entered the boat. Rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. The waters flooded the earth and lifted up the ark. All creatures on earth perished. Then God caused the water to begin to subside.

About a year later, God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark. I am establishing my covenant with you that never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the sign of the covenant I am making: the rainbow. Go be fruitful and multiply.”

After this, Noah planted a vineyard. He drank the wine and became drunk.

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Meaning: This story shows us that whereas everything was perfect in God’s original creation, now everything had been marred by human sin and violence. God who is good and just will not allow sinful rebellion to go unpunished. God sent the flood to destroy those who sinfully rebelled against him while saving Noah and his family because of Noah’s faithful obedience. God established a covenant with Noah and all the earth that he would protect and care for the earth.

Noah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for rest – apparently Noah’s father thought he would be the one to bring rest from the curses, rest from the pain of women bearing children and men working the land. However, Noah’s drunkenness at the end of the story reveals that he is part of the problem, and not the solution, not the promised one who would fix everything. We still await!

Here is the first story of our “Hope of the Messiah” story set, a summary of Genesis 1-3. As I wrote previously, our goal is to be faithful stewards of Scripture while summarizing these stories to around 200 words. Let us know what you think! (i.e., if you have questions about why we included certain details but not others, why we worded things the way we did, etc.)

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In the beginning God created everything and it was perfect.

God created Adam and placed him in the Garden to work it. In the Garden were the Trees of Life and Knowledge. God told Adam he would die if he ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Adam was alone, so God created Eve from his rib to be his companion.

One day the snake told Eve that instead of dying after eating of the Tree of Knowledge, she would be like God. When she saw that the fruit was beautiful and good for attaining wisdom, she ate it and gave some to Adam.

Because of this, God told the snake that one of Eve’s descendants would defeat him. God told Eve that her pain would increase in birth and he told Adam that with great pain he would work the ground.

Because of this, God did not want them to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. So he expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden and placed cherubim at the entrance of the Garden to guard the way to the tree of life.

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Meaning: This story tells us that God created everything that exists. Everything. And everything was perfect! He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden and they prospered in his presence. However, their disobedience shattered that perfection. All sadness, suffering, and death are results of Adam and Eve’s sin.

But, the good news is that God promised to send one who would crush the snake — who would save humanity by conquering evil. This promised one, a descendant of Adam and Eve, would make everything perfect again. Taken in context, this promised one would reverse the curses, give access to the Tree of Life, and allow us to walk with God in his presence once again. The Old Testament will go on to develop this promise and speak about the coming one who would defeat death forever.

The people we work with are primarily oral learners. The International Orality Network defines an oral learner as “a person whose mental framework is primarily influenced by spoken rather than literate forms of communication and who therefore learns primarily or exclusively by speech, song, etc.” In other words, many of the people with whom we do Bible studies prefer to learn via verbal communication instead of written communication. They pass knowledge from generation to generation through songs and stories, not books or documents of any sort. This does not necessarily mean our people can’t read (though that is the case for many of them). It’s more a matter of preference, culture, and what’s ‘normal.’

Therefore, we try to teach Scripture in a contextualized manner. We try to simplify the stories of the Bible so they can be heard, memorized, and meditated upon. When I lead a Bible study, I will typically stand up with an open Bible in my hand. I will tell them that the story I am about to tell is a story that comes from God’s Word. Then I proceed to tell the story. To aid in memorization, the story typically gets told 6-8 times throughout the duration of the Bible study, which happens in any number of the following ways: (1) me telling the story from beginning to end, (2) me asking guided questions for them to essentially tell what they remember of the story, (3) them telling the story as a group with each person volunteering what they remember of the story, and (4) one person volunteering to tell the whole story from beginning to end.

Once they all know the story fairly well I close my Bible (to symbolize the end of the inerrant Word and beginning of Greg’s words!) and I start to ask questions probing at the meaning of the story (keeping in mind that for many of them, they are hearing the stories about Creation, Noah, Jesus, etc. for the very first time). I do not have a ‘sermon’ prepared or anything like that. Instead, using a somewhat Socratic method, I ask them questions to try to get them thinking about the story and making connections between the stories and to their own lives. Obviously the questions change from story to story, but, in general, we look at (1) how the new story connects to the last story, (2) what we learn about God in the story, (3) what we learn about ourselves in the story, and (4) how should we apply the story. I love these discussion times as they are putting things together for the very first time – many times their questions are as simple as, “Who came first, Eve or Mary?” or “How long ago did these stories take place?” (They are amazed that Jesus wasn’t walking on this earth within the last 20-40 years!).

Usually I close our formal Bible Study time by telling the story one last time (either I tell it or I have someone else do it if they were able to memorize it during this time). I do this so that – hopefully – they remember God’s Word more so than my words. I want to close on what is of eternal worth rather than my mere interpretation.

So why am a telling you all this? The answer is twofold. First, perhaps this helps you know a little more about what Bible studies look like in our context. We do not pull out our Bibles and have everyone turn to a particular passage (since most don’t have Bibles and even those who do prefer to learn orally instead of written-ly). We tell them the Great Story of Scripture by means of the great stories of Scripture. Second, I write this post as an introduction to a series I will be putting on here. I would like to share with you our Creation to Christ story set, what we call “The Hope of the Messiah.” You will notice these stories are very short. In order for the stories to be memorizable, I have done my best to keep the stories to 200 words or less. I’ll try to post our first story in a few days! Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about this process, I’d love to share more.

Antônio* is one of our primary disciples. He is the patriarch of his family and a leader in the community. Every Saturday morning, we have a Bible study at Antônio’s house. When everyone is in town, we have 15-30 people packed into his wooden house. The people form a circle with most of them sitting in plastic chairs, while others sit on a table, on the floor, or stand. Antônio invites people to the study and hosts it. We see God at work in his life and pray some day this will result in Antônio being a pastor of this nascent church meeting in his home.

One day Antônio went upriver with his family to work their farm. When he got back he told me everything was going well at the farm, but that something was hurting in his back and he wasn’t able to raise his arms. He told me he took some medicine but that didn’t help. He said next he prayed to God, but God didn’t heal him. So he called on the Shaman, or witch-doctor, to come heal him. The Shaman performed some rituals and “healed” Antônio.

You see, Antônio grew up in a culture in which they regularly sang, danced, gave offerings, and performed other rituals for their ancestor-spirit-gods in order that those ancestor-spirit-gods would provide them with health, fertility, rain, food, etc. In his worldview, the powers-that-be must be appeased and even manipulated in order that he might get what he needs or wants. If he doesn’t receive what he needs he calls another shaman, performs a different ritual, or calls upon another power. (I think it is at least in part because of this worldview that the “prosperity gospel” is so prevalent across the Amazon and the whole of the Global South.) In Antônio’s mind if he’s not being cured it’s because he’s doing something wrong; therefore, he changes things up until something works. So what do we do?

On the one hand, we pray that God would perform miracles! I do believe that God is the Almighty, All-Powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things. I believe he is more than capable of healing anyone of any pain or sickness and I believe he still acts in supernatural ways in the world today. Therefore, in the spirit of 1 Kings 18 where God showed himself more powerful than Baal, we do pray that God would heal people like Antônio in order that they might see that our God is the one true God and that their Shamanistic rituals are empty. We pray that such miracles might operate as they did in Acts 14:3 where it says that Paul and Barnabas spoke “boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” In other words, we pray that next time God would heal Antônio as a confirmation of the message that we are preaching and that such a miracle would help Antônio repent completely of his past ritualistic practices.

On the other hand we are hesitant to ask for miracles. Why? First, we don’t want the miracles to just play into Antônio’s worldview without shaking it up. Should God heal him this time, what will happen next time? What if God doesn’t heal him 6 months from now? Will Antônio simply find another god or ritual that works for him then? We want Antônio’s faith to be firmly in God, not in miracles. Second, we know that God doesn’t always heal people. God has plans and purposes for us even — or dare I say especially — in our suffering. God has designed suffering in such a way that it ought to cause us to depend upon him more and increase our faith (Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; 4:17; James 1:12).

So what do we pray? We pray for a transformed worldview. We pray that Antônio and countless others might be able to say just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to King Nebuchadnezzar right before being thrown into the fire: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

We do pray for miracles and we want Antônio to pray for miracles. But we want Antônio to have his eyes firmly fixed on God alone. We want him to be so transformed that he would be willing to suffer with God than to turn back to his old ways.

*Name changed for privacy.

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is the story of the Philippian Jailer from Acts 16. I like the story for multiple reasons – Paul & Silas’s hope and joy as they sing from prison, the conversion of the jailer and the baptism that follows, and the celebratory banquet soon after that. But my favorite part of the story (and probably the most well known part of the story) is the jailer’s question – “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” I long for people to ask me this sort of a question — a softball for a person in ministry.

Well, two Saturdays ago, that is exactly what someone asked. We are currently storying/teaching through the Old Testament with some new believers as well as their families and friends. Some Saturdays we have over twenty people, other Saturdays there are four. Two weeks ago was one of those “over twenty” days, with all the ‘regulars’ in attendance as well as new faces from upriver. We’ve been telling stories from the Old Testament with a focus on the Hope of the Messiah – Genesis 3:15’s promise of the conquering descendant of Eve, the worldwide blessing promised of Abraham’s seed in Genesis 12, and the eternal reign of David’s son. At this particular study, I told the story of the Exile – because of Israel’s sin, they were kicked out of the Promised Land just as Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. Instead of the promises being realized in and through Israel, they were pushed off into the unforeseeable future because of their disobedience and inability to follow the Law.

At the end of the story I talked about the hope of the Messiah – that God promised one who would come and defeat sin, death, and Satan. Suddenly, one of the men I had never met looked up at me and asked, “How can I become a believer?” Praise God! I spoke to him for a few minutes during the study, then for a few minutes after the study, and again at the riverbank the next day.

One of the difficulties about where we live is that the next day he went back upriver. And we don’t have any means of communicating with him until he comes back downriver – which usually only happens once every three or four months. Pray for him and his family. I’m not quite yet willing to call him a believer, but he’s definitely seeking and interested. Pray that God would break his heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh; pray that God’s Sprit would breathe life into him.

When I (Greg) previously lived in the Amazon I loved going with the people to their roças – their farms. The day would start early in order to get work done before the sun got too hot. We put on our rubber boots, sharpened our machetes, and walked 30 or so minutes through the dense Amazon jungle before seeing a sunny clearing where the farm was.

The farms were full of banana trees, pineapple plants, sugar cane, and manioc – a root that is the primary food of the people of the Amazon, a bit like a potato. After an hour or two of uprooting the manioc, when it was really starting to warm up, we’d look for some shade and peel it. Some of my favorite memories were while talking and laughing peeling manioc together.

Since coming back to the Amazon, this has been missing. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to go to the farm with someone. One of the difficulties is that many of the people we work with have farms that are far upriver – that even they rarely go to. Well, I was finally able to go last month. We worked for a few hours uprooting and peeling manioc. We ate lots of banana and manioc, as well as some açaí and grilled chicken. It was a fun, exhausting, nostalgic day.

One of the reasons I share this with you is to explain a little bit about the culture of the people here and our ministry. For us, some of the best ministry can and will happen while sitting down and peeling manioc together. It is fantastic conversation time and a great opportunity to share God’s Word.

Another reason I share this with you is to ask for your prayers. As we have thought and prayed about how we can get to know more people, provide for some physical needs, do ministry as a family, and continue to progress in culture and language, we have returned time and again to the idea of having a family farm. We could invite a family or two to go with us. They could help us work the land and in return, they take everything they harvest back home to hopefully have at least 4-5 days’ worth of food. We are only in the beginning phases of looking into this. But we do ask that you would all pray for us as we begin researching and looking for a place to farm and do ministry.

Happy Belated Mother’s Day to my sweet, dear wife. And, happy four years since we started dating!! And happy six months since arriving in Brazil!

Savannah does not know I am writing this; however, I just wanted to give a public shout out and thank you to my wife for the years of sacrifices she has made and continues to make. Ever since we got married it seems as though our roles have been reversed. She would love to be the stay at home wife/mom, creating a comfortable atmosphere at home for us to enjoy as a family as well as for us to invite others over to cultivate friendships. Now that we have Titus, she would love to be at home playing with him, teaching him, laughing with him all day.

However, this has not been the life we have had. I’m not complaining, or saying there are any regrets. I’m just saying I’m thankful for my wife. When we first got married, I was in seminary and working part time putting much of the workload on her shoulders, to work full time and “put me through seminary.” She worked from 8:00am till 6:00pm. Whereas she would have loved to have been home to make a hot dinner for me when I got home from the day’s activities, we usually both got home about the same time and threw together a quick bite to eat (many times as I was on my way out the door for evening classes).

Once we had Titus, we had what many might call a “normal” lifestyle. I worked full-time while Savannah was full-time momma! But that only lasted about 4 months. Then we started getting ready to leave the country. Whereas we definitely enjoyed time with friends and family, and we were greatly refreshed by our training in Virginia before coming to Brazil, during that time it was difficult to have a schedule, to be a “normal” family, to sit down and smile and relax and enjoy being parents. In some ways, we were ready to get to Brazil because we would finally be able to put down an anchor, find some routines, and slow down a bit.

Whereas much of that has happened, our first 6 months (can you believe it’s been 6 months already!?) have also been difficult. Those who receive our monthly newsletters know that Titus has been fighting cold/flu/pneumonia off and on for the past 1-2 months. That has been especially taxing for his momma, in a country where she can’t speak the language (though she’s learning fast and doing great!) and there are different germs and bacteria affecting us all.

In the midst of all this, it is my wife who has made the most sacrifice to be in Brazil. Whereas my Portuguese can always get better, I’m already comfortable living here and speaking to whoever about whatever. I love the food (sometimes more than American food!). Having spent 2 years here, I understand the culture and have learned to even appreciate it. However, none of these things are true of my wife – not to say she isn’t learning fast. It’s all new to her. What is easy and comfortable for me is difficult and strange to her.

In particular, and going back to how I started this blog, she has continued to make sacrifices for the sake of our marriage and for the sake of our call to missions. I simply want to acknowledge the difficulties of these sacrifices and tell her thank you, publicly. One big sacrifice concerns being a mother. Clearly she is a fantastic mother to our child! I love watching them together. However, what I am saying is that in order to learn Portuguese, ever since we got here, she has said goodbye to Titus every morning at around 7:30am, not to see him again until 10:30am or even noon (depending on a given day’s Portuguese activities). Whereas this is important for her to be able to leave the house to learn the language, and whereas I love my mornings with Titus, this is just difficult for his momma. Perhaps you who are moms can relate-there is that natural bond between mother and son. And it is difficult day after day for her to say goodbye to him. I tell her some of the new things he is learning to do, or say, new habits or routines (such as transitioning him from two naps per day to one!). There is a sense in which she feels that she should be telling me about those things, not the other way around.

Another great sacrifice she makes each and every day is in the simple fact that we are in Brazil! I lived here for 2 years. I have friends here. I rather prefer heat and humidity to cold and crisp – I prefer sweating to wearing multiple layers. For my wife, who grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, she rather enjoys her 4 seasons and misses frost on the ground and seeing her breath. The elements are physically exhausting, and the language and culture are mentally exhausting. She’s getting it from all angles! But she’s doing well, smiling, learning to love a culture and a people that, 6 months ago, she did not know.

One final, specific sacrifice, concerns pregnancy. As I just mentioned, the heat and humidity as well as the language and culture pack some punches; however, this is only amplified by the exhaustion that comes with pregnancy. So far, she hasn’t complained, but I know these days are difficult and long for her. On top of the exhaustion is the fear of giving birth in a foreign country! Whereas we are excited about our little girl being born a Brazilian, there is a lot of nervousness as we look at doctors and hospitals and think about the whole process going down in Portuguese!

So, as we look at 4 years since we started dating and 6 months in country, I just want to tell my wife publicly that she is doing great in Brazil and that I am incredibly proud of her and thankful for who she is and what she has done and continues to do for the sake of our family and our calling.

PS – We’ll try to be a little more consistent about posting here! Sorry it has been so long!