We have finished up with participating in five worship services with the church here in Manaus. Pastor Vernon Rainwater preached Saturday night and Sunday, Pastor Dan Lacich preached Monday night. Pete Geiger and Stephan Thomas helped lead parts of the services as well as spent considerable time with Tech and Worship team members walking them through how Northland plans and implements a worship service, including how we focus on an attribute of God and work to provide as distraction free environment. A memorable moment in worship was when Vernon taught and led the congregation in singing the “Future Song” complete with motions, grunts, and yells.
Margi McCombs, Sean Cooper and Jennifer Raymond have spent a great deal of time with the Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry and Small Group Ministry. They will all have more time learning from as well as sharing with those ministries as we meet with 60 church planters from up and down the Amazon and Rio Negra. That conference begins Tuesday with Alan Chanteleau teaching the group about missions from Acts and Dan Lacich teaching them how to do their own Bible Study and lead groups in that study.
Vernon heads back to Orlando on Tuesday. The rest of the group, including Larry Van DerMay and his son Matt will be here till Friday Afternoon.

The team arrived at our hotel in Manaus last night at 3AM. After a few hours sleep we were all up for breakfast and a quick look around the city before heading to the first series of seminars being conducted at our partner church, The Manaus Presbyterian Church. There will be 60 church planting missionaries from up and down the Amazon coming together for training on worship, spiritual formation, discipleship and basic theology.
Pete Geiger, Stephan Thomas and Vernon Rainwater will be joining the worship team from the church during five services over the weekend. Vernon will also preach five different sermons, if you have one he can use, send it to his normal Northland email.

The first Brazil team is leaving tomorrow (Jun/29) to the Amazon. Weare flying on Copa Airlines at 7am and arriving in Manaus at 4:10pm (same time zone that Florida!!!), changing planes in Panama City (Panama), with a lay-over time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

We are partnering with the Presbyterian Church of Manaus (103 years old church) in their ministry to the villages that sit on the riverbanks of Amazon River Basin (over 1100 rivers - lots of water!!!!). Those villages range from 10 families to something around to 10,000 people.

There are over 10,000 of those villages in the state of Amazon (the largest state in Brazil - twice the size of Texas). Only 2,400 of these have heard at lest once the name of Jesus Christ!!!!!!

The church in Manaus applies the integral mission strategy, i. e., provides the basic needs of the communities it ministers to, such as: medical and dental needs (for free), clothes, food, medicine, toys, education, etc… Which “opens” the heart of that people and then the Lord plants a church in that community. After 17 years of this ministry in the rivers, there are over 85 churches functioning in some of these villages.

We stay in a boat for 6 nights, in cabins with 2 bunk-beds (4 people per cabin).

We visit one village per day, spending the whole day on that village.

Our daily schedule is:

Breakfast followed by a devotional together with the Manaus church team, work in the village until lunch, back to the village in the afternoon, an evangelistic service at night and dinner.

We will try to keep you posted througouht this week about our trip.

Thank you for your prayers.

To God be the Glory!!!!