Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, (cont.)

The Lord was at work at First Baptist Church, Valentina, even if not everyone knew it at first. Including Pastor Eneas. His wife, Simone was, however, seeing God break into their practice times, and when Vtoria finally came and told her of the dream, Simone did not reject it outright. She said they would pray about it. For one thing, Vtoria could only remember the first part of the name, Algodao, which means 'cotton' in Portuguese. Secondly, they could not find any such  town on any map that they looked at. So Simone suggested that she, and Vtoria and Vtoria's friend Joselie pray and ask the Lord for clarification. That afternoon Vtoria agonized with the Lord and pledged that her family would not eat until the Lord showed her for sure. As she prayed on the living room rug, the Lord told her to go to her daughter's room, and there in a brand new Geography textbook, she found the town...Algodao de Jandaira. When she called Joslie, Joselie had a man at her house from the church who was doing repairs. When Joselie asked him if he had ever heard of such a place, he cried out, "Algodao? Algdoa de Jandaira? I grew up in that place! It is so needy!"

That began the determination that they would go to visit Algodao de Jandaira. However, they had very little money and no one in the choir, the worship team or the dance team had a car. So they held bake sales to pay for gas and borrowed an old Volkswagen, and in summer of 2002, they made the first journey to Algodao.

In a prayer meeting before they left, Vtoria had another vision, this time she saw the dirt road and the town, and a little girl with curly uncombed hair, blue shorts and a red blouse. Four of them piled into the car and made the 3 1/2 hour trip north. As they pulled off the pavement onto the dirt road that lead to Algodao, they were silent with anticipation. As they drove further, Vtoria was exclaiming that this was exactly like her dream! When they turned the corner and saw the town they were shocked! The town consisted of two streets, and mostly mud stick houses. The terrain was just grey. They realized that these people were poorer than they were. As they drove slowly through the town, three times, this little girl with curly uncombed hair and blue shorts and a red top walked in front of their car! Quite a confirmation, and quite a welcome!

They parked the car and broke up into teams to visit with the people. As Vtoria came to the third house, she could hear someone inside. As they stood by the window, she could see an old man sitting at a table. He was praying..she could hear him... "Lord we need you, please send missionaries to help us! Please send your angels to help us!" Weeping, Vtoria cried out, "sir, the Lord has answered your prayers, we are here!"

That began what became monthly sometimes twice a month visits from Joao Pessoa to Algodao de Jandaira.
They would go house to house and tell of the love of Jesus. They would bring food and toiletries, but all that they did felt so inadequate compared to the great need. But they remained faithful. Through 2002, and 2003.

As they continued their "mission" to Algodao, God began to bless their church. It seemed that the destinies of these two were linked in a very spiritual way.

At Christmas, 2003, the people of First Baptist, Valentina decided not to celebrate Christmas in their usual way, they would take Christmas to Algodao. They held a great celebration, brought gifts and shared the true meaning of Christmas. As they left, they were glad, but felt again like they had contributed so little to the great need of Algodao. Only God could help, it was too big a task for them.

Next time....God answers in a way no one would have expected !

The Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira

This is the amazing story of two cities, and one church. A small dying community called Algodao de Jandaira in the Northern desert regions of Brazil. A community of 2,000 folks who were barely existing. It had not rained in that region with any kind of effectiveness for 23 years. The water they had to drink was trucked into town and was brown and bitter. Most of the people lived in houses made of mud packed around sticks pounded into the ground. Those who lived there at that time had little to eat, and were often limited to eating cactus leaves. They described the area as "grey."

Because of the shortage of water, the children know nothing of hygiene. One could not even locate it on published maps of the area. It was a community unknown,  unnoticed, and dying.

To the south some 3 1/2 hours drive, there was a small Baptist church in the city of Joao Pessoa. A church plant from a larger church in Sao Paulo. First Baptist Church of Valentina was a very typical Baptist church. It's pastor, Eneas Araujo was a fourth generation pastor, his wife Simone always knew she wanted to be a pastor's wife. Soon the fate of this church and the far away forgotten town of Algodoa de Jandaira would forever be connected.

It was their 7th Anniversary as a church plant and they were going to have 7 days of celebration. Esly, the worship director had picked a couple songs that were a little "edgy" for this conservative congregation. One was called "I want Revival," the other "Dreams and Visions." As they sang, the words, On a dry land, it begins to rain. A fresh rain that God sends down. He opens rivers in the desert, streams in the valleys. The rain of living waters, little did they know what God had in mind.

One Sunday as they sang those words, God began to move. At the end of the alloted time for practice they intended to close with the usual short closing prayer. Instead, the Spirit of God fell upon them and they spent the next two hours weeping in repentance. It was an experience they had never had before. The next week, the same thing happened to the dance team. Simone knew God was up to something.

The third week, instead of practice, Simone brought a CD for them to listen to. It was the testimony of a missionary. They were wanting to be more mission minded, they had made plans for a missions trip to Cajazeiras where Eneas had a pastor friend, so this would be a good thing. 

That night Vtoria was planning on coming to resign the choir. The troubles with her father's ailing health were just too much for her. But as the CD played and she closed her eyes, Vtoria found herself there with the missionary, she could see all the details, everything! It was so impactful that she forgot to resign, and went home unable to sleep. She lay for hours on her bed praying for missions. Finally at 1:30 am, she fell asleep, and the Lord came to her in a dream. She saw a great wall in front of her and as the wall opened up, she saw a rocky, red dusty road...she instinctively know it led somewhere...then she saw the name, Algodao de Jandaira blazened across like a movie screen. Clear as a bell, the Lord spoke to her, It is not Cajazeiras, it is Algodao de Jandaira. I know, responded Vtoria, and the dream ended.

Next time...What God did in the life of this small Baptist church that would bring transformation to them, and a far away forgotten town.

Talking about Transformation

Transformation. The term is used in a variety of ways and contexts, with multiple meanings and implications. If we are praying with a vision for transformation, then we need to define the term more clearly and set our hearts to a common vision.

The general concept behind the word transformation comes from the Greek word metamorphosis. At the core definition, it is "as connoting a change of nature" (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) The idea is simply that a thing is changed in its very nature. A good example is the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Transformation in this context is quite dramatic and noticeable because clearly something has changed. A clear and dramatic change is the benchmark for true transformation that comes from the supernatural hand of God!

This is indeed the case in more than 800 communities, regions, and nations around the world. The Sentinel Group is documenting case after case there the very fabric of society is being changed by the presence of God in the midst of the culture. Some of these societal transformations have been documented in the Transformations videos. These stories have sparked the imaginations and the hope that what is happening elsewhere could indeed happen here.

But confusion can come when claims of transformation or the process of transformation are made, but yet there are no clear indications that truly something has changed. Those who are experiencing genuine transformation know what it looks like, but most of us can only operate in theory. The very real danger then becomes that we settle for a lower standard than what God has in His heart for our communities. We settle for the changes that we can make and call them transformation instead of pressings forward until God truly breaks through in genuine society altering transformation.

Unknown to most of the world, the construction of a small church building has been completed in the small Brazilian community of Algodao de Jandaira. The significance of this small church in the Northern desert regions of Brazil would be lost to most. Yet it stands today as a testimony of the mighty power of God to bring transformation to the most seemingly unknown, and forgotten places in answer to the prayers of just a few. More on this amazing story next time.

A Transformation Testimony

Prayer and revival has been a part of my Christian life from the very first weeks as a new believer.

As a new believer, a serviceman in Nha Trang, Vietnam, I was brand new to the faith. I came to Christ through the witness of a former High School friend on January 3, 1969 while on leave on my way to Viet Nam. I soon found the Christian Servicemen’s Center, and began to devour books by Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers, A.W. Tozer and other prayer and revival authors.

Over the years, as a pastor, prayer and revival were always a part of my heart and my teaching.

In fact, the reality is that those who were in my churches did not always embrace the messages regarding prayer and revival.

In 1998, I entered the world of non-profit prayer ministries. It was in 1999 that I first saw the Transformations video. I brought together a number of pastors, and after we watched that first video depicting God’s transforming revival, I stood up before these fellow workers and exclaimed, “This is something I can give my life for.” Little did I know how the Lord would take me up on that statement.

In the years as Executive Director of Prayer Transformation Ministries, I was drawn closer and closer to the amazing stories coming from the Sentinel Group. We continued to work closely with the Sentinel Group. In 2005 I had the privilege of attending Transform World Indonesia in Jakarta. In those years, our ministry published several Prayer Guides on the topic of Transformation and the healing of the land.

2008 was a watershed year in this journey. I was not only able to attend the Torchlight Training sponsored by The Sentinel Group in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, but I was also able to be a part of the Sentinel Fire Tour and visit several communities that are currently undergoing transforming revival. The effect on me was explosive. In my journaling and in later descriptions I likened the change to a change in my very DNA. No longer would transforming revival simply be something that I believed in and taught, but it would be a part of the very fabric of who I had become.

The honest truth is, that I have been ruined now for anything less the completely transforming manifest presence of God. We talk about these things, but until we truly see and experience what the presence of the Almighty God can do, we will settle for the lesser. That is not to put myself in some sort of elevated place, on the contrary, it is absolutely humbling…the things that I have seen. But if you know what a real dollar bill is like, you will never settle to accept a counterfeit bill.

In this blog, I will be sharing stories of transformation, and talking about the principles of transformation as seen now in almost 900 communities around the world, as well as Biblical and historical teaching on this needy subject.

Watch for my next post

A New Beginning

I am beginning a new blog in a new setting with a new ministry. For the past 11 years, I was the Executive Director of Prayer Transformation Ministries in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In that capacity I would contribute to a blog connected with that ministry.
I am now serving with The Sentinel Group (producers of the Transformations DVD's) and am living in Monroe, Washington. So this is a new start, but on the same theme...that of God's work of transforming revival, what is happening in the world today, how we are to understand God's work of transformation, and how our lives must change to welcome God into our lives and our communities.

We in the West talk a lot of community transformation, and revival, yet why is it that we see so little of it...at least like is happening in other parts of the world? Or what has happened in history? These are the questions I will wrestle with here on this blog.

My prayer is that if you come from time to time, God will touch your heart and give you an ever deepening hunger for genuine transforming revival.

My next posting will be a little bit of my own testimony, and then I will weave into that some of how has "ruined" me for anything less than all of God for my life, for our communities... wherever we live.

Thanks for dropping by.