We have met some of the most amazing people in the last 5 days and have hit the ground running as usual. After arriving in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we were picked up by our new Portuguese friend Ruben who handed us a sheet of paper with some useful Portuguese phrases like, “We’re hungry for food,” and, “We need to stop for the bathroom,” and my favorite, “We need to stop and puke.” We all laughed together at the choice of phrases to welcome us to the beautiful nation of Brazil…and hoped we didn’t need to use all of them.

We traveled a couple hours to a very impressive rest stop where we got to taste our first Brazilian food. I’m sure Brazilians would be appalled that our first bite of Brazilian food was at a rest stop, but we were excited nonetheless. I ordered the picture on the menu since no one we were with spoke any Portuguese. This paragraph is written in honor of my mother’s writings about her vacation menus. Sorry mom, I’d tell you what I ate, but I’m still not sure.

Piratininga is a small town of about 18,000 people in the beautiful Brazilian countryside close to a larger city, Bauru. This would be our home for the next 17 days. Our team is made up of some of the most positive, adventurous people I know. What a joy to travel with such amazing friends! We spent our first morning exploring our new town and looked for unique stores, schools, churches, people, and food items. We also looked for any English speakers…nope…there were plenty of the other things we looked for, but English speakers were nowhere to be found. So now we are officially working hours every day to learn as much Portuguese as possible. My Spanish background helps and the fact that six of our team are already bilingual is a bonus. We attended a local Vineyard church service Sunday night and enjoyed familiar songs in Portuguese and then stood and waved when the entire congregation turned around and look at us and motioned that we were to stand up.

Monday morning we officially began our times of ministry going to an elementary school for poor children and we shared stories about Jesus’ love for them and made them all laugh with our silly skits and games. I began to learn the famous YWAM outreach song “Making Melodies” in Portuguese, which I have now perfected I must add. We gave plenty of hugs and high fives to these joyful children. I love my job!

Since that morning we have visited them again and also have started spending time with a local church in Bauru working in a favela (Brazilian slum.) Our hearts are being broken and also falling in love with this nation so quickly!

Monday night is the highlight for me so far. Four of our team had the opportunity to go to a youth prison and share the Gospel with them along with a few of the local YWAM staff. The night was so cold! We checked in with security and were taken into a waiting area as the door closed behind us and then we were ushered through metal detectors and through the second door into the correctional facility. Inside we were frisked and all our Bibles were searched, our guitar was looked over and we were deemed to be of no risk. We walked through the facility to another holding area where we were once again checked through a security door and through yet another. My mind began to wonder what the lives of these young men must have been like to cause them to end up here. I’m sure this wasn’t a part of their original plan. I was getting so excited to look into their broken eyes…past the hard shells they would probably put up to the young boys who are hurting and desperate for a new hope.

We were brought into the meeting room with 10 of the young prisoners. The local YWAM staff has been going to this prison for over a year and had an amazing discussion prepared about forgiveness. She asked the young boys and us to share what forgiveness means to us. Then she asked for us to share songs and testimonies. Jeremiah began to share about the story of his father abandoning him as a young boy and how he has had to walk through forgiving him to a point that he now has a loving relationship with his father after years of him being absent. He shared that Jesus was the only reason he could forgive his father. If Jesus was able to forgive us for all of our sins then he could give him the strength to forgive his father.

He went on to articulately share the Gospel with these boys and then asked our host if it would be appropriate to give the boys a chance to respond to Jesus. After she said yes, Jeremiah simply asked them if they would like to receive Jesus into their hearts as their Lord and Savior. He told them they had the chance to have freedom, even freedom behind bars. That night 9 of those young men and 3 prison guards gave their lives to Jesus. We prayed with them and then led them in prayers of forgiveness towards those who have betrayed them, and forgiveness towards themselves. Christ has already forgiven them, who are they to withhold what has already been given freely!

We left a room that night that had been transformed into a place of joy. We gave high fives and celebrated that we would see one another again this Saturday. Our hosts reported later that they had never been that open before and had never responded to the Gospel. What a miracle! After these warriors had been working so hard for all these months we were able to be a part of a wonderful harvest! We rejoiced together as Monja from Germany kept telling me this was the coolest thing she’d ever been a part of! So true!

And in case you are wondering…no, I’m not writing this report from behind bars. We made our way back through the maze of security to our cars and back home…but we did happen to leave something behind. We all left our hearts behind with those young men.

Thankfully we are going back a few more times before we leave Piratininga. Those young men have been given a fresh start in Christ and I believe they are going to live out the truth from the scripture we are going to memorize with them this Saturday. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

There are a few times in my life when I have felt like a celebrity. Definitely not many, but a few. One of the first I remember was when I was a freshman in college at PLU. I was asked by the Central Washington DARE director (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to write the theme song for their annual education program. The theme was the catchy phrase, “Be Smart Don’t Start.” What a great song title, right? Well, my creative juices started to flow and out came a song that I was asked to record and take on tour all across the greater Yakima Valley! So my dear friend Jennifer Licht (now Alexander) and I toured the elementary school circuit over Spring break of our freshman year. We sang at school assemblies, gave a music and recording presentation to our former high school choir, and even signed a few autographs. Wow! Autographs! We made it to the big time. We were swarmed by 7 to 10 year old boys and girls who had us autograph homework assignments, paper towels from the restroom, and cafeteria napkins. Jennifer and I had arrived and enjoyed the feeling of celebrity status in the eyes of the children who knew us as the “Be Smart Don’t Start” duo. What a great moment!

I’ve had a few other celebrity moments, like a front-page article in the Yakima Herald Republic Entertainment section. I’m still proud of my high school band Twenty 7 and boast that there are two tattoos in the world of our logo on the arms of one band member, and one loyal fan! It’s pretty cool to say your high school band recorded in LA. Definite Rock Star status!

I used to think making it on you-tube was cause for celebrity status, but if you’ve searched you-tube lately you would probably agree that I can’t add that to the list of celebrity moments.

So now I live in another small town in a remote part of the world and the farthest I can travel from my home in a car is about 100 miles. Yet the last few weeks I walk the paths of the YWAM base and feel like a celebrity once again…and once again I carry this status with the under 10 age group. How did I attain this lovely status you might ask. Well, in September my wife and biggest fan volunteered me to write a song for The Learning Centre. This is the brand new school that Jacob is attending this year. There are about 15 students in 1st and 2nd grade. The leaders of the school thought it would be great for the kids to sing a song at the 50th anniversary celebration for YWAM at the end of November. The theme for the celebration is, “The Flame Goes Forward.”

Now I had just returned from a three-month outreach in Cambodia and was ready for a couple days at the beach. I was not ready to think about the 50th celebration, and certainly not ready to write a song for it. I do my best writing the day before a performance, but that wouldn’t fly for this particular event. However, as a celebrity I could not let down my biggest fans. My #1 fan and now manager Ronda had already signed the contract. My #2, #3, and #4 fans would definitely be disappointed if they didn’t get the chance to sing daddy’s song! So the week before Ronda and I were set to take a week’s vacation I went to work. Hmm, “One flame, burning bright has run all through the night.” Oh, I like that! “The flame goes forward, to the nations…young and old will catch on fire!” Yes! I love anytime I can write about setting things on fire! And the day before Ronda and I left town for a week I handed in a very rough demo to The Learning Centre’s leader. My job was finished. All we committed to was writing a song, and I held up my end of the bargain. My fans could rest at ease.

Well, in typical YWAM fashion my little commitment began to grow. What started as a song for 15 kids that might get used began multiplying. First we added the pre-school, “Oh, that will be cute…why not?” Then the ICS and Foundations School joined in…now this wouldn’t always mean huge numbers, but here in Kona this quarter we have the largest number of students in history. Therefore, our 15 voice children’s choir added a zero to the end and increased to a little singing ensemble of 150 voices!

This was no longer something I could handle alone. I could probably manage 15 children for a handful of rehearsals, but definitely not 150 children from ages 3 to 17! “Help me Ronda, help, help me Ronda!” Every other husband that “married up” in the world can appreciate your wife saving your life a hundred times! Ronda came in to save the day with teaching skills, hand motion skills, discipline skills, organization skills, communication skills, political skills, planning skills, creative skills, and a whole lot of other skills that I wasn’t bringing to the table. Umm…let’s see…I brought song-writing skills. The list isn’t very proportionate if you know what I mean. So now, due to my wife’s expansive list of skills I have been sky-rocketed to celebrity status!

We held some rehearsals, emailed out a few recordings and now I have theme music that follows me everywhere I go on the YWAM base. I hear “The Flame Goes Forward” sung by 15 year olds who sing it kind of mockingly as I walk by. I hear 7 year olds sing out, “climbing mountains, crossing seas,” as if they’re auditioning for the lead role in a play I’m directing. Just today a 4 year old ran by me saying, “Hey, you’re the one flame guy!” I can’t walk anywhere on campus without being high fived by some 6 year old or whispered about by some group of 8 year olds. Wow! Life is good!

And to top it off tonight I watched the video footage that has been placed behind the soundtrack. 50 years of mission’s footage from YWAM’s history has been restored and edited to play right alongside this tune. I sat in my room with tears in my eyes as I watched Loren Cunningham preach to young person after young person challenging them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel!

The flame is going forward! I am here in Hawaii right now with over 2000 people who are here to celebrate not only where the Gospel has gone, but where it is going! There are still hundreds of unreached people groups that need to hear of the greatness of our God! I believe that many of the 150 voices that will sing this song tomorrow will not only sing the words, they will live the words. It is so thrilling to be able to stand with the next generation of missionaries and sing out in front of 2000 people about taking the Gospel to the least, the lost, and the last. I would rather be a celebrity to these 150 kids and take a stand for Jesus, than have my name in lights for any crowd of raving fans because I have a great image!

On December 1st at 7:20 p.m. I am going to proudly stand with the best choir I have ever led and declare that the Gospel is going forward to every tribe and tongue! Their voices are going to ring out, their faces are going to shine, and their hand motions are going to tell the story! We are not going to stop until we finish the task!

Will you join us? Will you keep the flame going forward? Go with us, pray with us, and partner with us to see lives changed by the unfailing love of Jesus Christ all around the world!

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Today is yet another day filled with service projects and evangelism at the university. Pray for us that the Lord would go before us and prepare the way of the hearts that we meet. We want to see continued harvest while we are here and are grateful for every opportunity to share His love in these communities!

Thanks to everyone who is praying with us!