Passover Seder essential for understanding NT

Last night, on Easter Sunday, our pastor walked through the details of the traditional Jewish Passover meal, known as the Seder. It convinced me that every believer should have this experience. Why? When the reader has a grasp of the Jewish background, many parts of the NT leap from black and white into technicolor.

One example: During the Passover meal, Jesus breaks the bread and says, "This is my body, given for you..." The bread that Jesus used was the matsa (unleavened bread, to symbolize the absence of sin). It had first been broken into 3 pieces. Jesus then took the middle piece and broke it again. Traditionally, part of that broken middle piece was placed inside a white linen cloth and "hidden" in another part of the home. Later in the meal, that cloth would be "found" and the family would rejoice together. If this sounds a little like Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, you have caught the excitement of the early Jewish Christians, who realized the incredible symbolism in the Passover meal!

Transforming lives through the Word

Since we returned from the States last year, Lalia and I have been attending a church plant here in São Paulo, Igreja Batista Nações Unidas (see photo, Pastor Luiz Sayão). About a year old, it is a Brazilian Baptist church, but with a non-traditional model. The mission statement is simple: “Transformando Vidas Pela Palavra” (Transforming lives through the Word). We meet in a convention center located on one of the major urban expressways. The preaching is expository. The teaching ministry avoids the Sunday school mold and focuses on biblical theology, even to the point of testing students with periodic exams.

At the pastor’s request, I started teaching a Sunday afternoon English Bible class (just before the worship celebration). Internally, the class is known as a “bridge” event to serve those who are searching for spiritual meaning. We are enjoying the smallness of the congregation, after spending four years in a mega-church (by Brazilian standards) environment.

Last night during the worship celebration we heard from a missionary sponsored by the church, who works with evangelism in the Middle East. Until God transformed him, he was a member of Hamas, in charge of rigging bombs for use on targets in Israel. Now he risks his life to take the explosive power of the gospel to his fellow Palestinians and peoples in North Africa.

Too many books

"Paul, you're crazy! You've read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a grip on yourself, get back in the real world!" (Acts 26:24, The Message)

Sometimes I feel a little like Festus’ evaluation of Paul.

Our ministry revolves around books, but I was able to “get back in the real world” this week as I hopped the bus and subway to a government office in downtown Sao Paulo. I was on mission business, the latest in a series of frustrated attempts to register some important documents. I spent half an hour in the government office and 2-1/2 hours in transit. Maybe this time the red tape vigilantes will give us the green light. I will only find out two weeks from now.

Back to books. Get a grip! I finally finished editing/proofreading the latest book for Vida Nova publishers: Group’s Emergency Response Handbook for Youth Ministry (the Portuguese version, of course). Besides correcting the translation (Brazil translators don’t always “get the drift” of the English text), I also wrote an additional chapter which addressed the problem of employment for young people in Brazil. It’s a different reality here, and we wanted to contextualize our book for Brazilian youth workers. Lalia did a final reading for the finer points of Portuguese grammar and style which are still out of my reach. We make a good editing team.

International Women's Day

I usually think of the U.S. as having the corner on political correctness, but I had never heard of International Women’s Day (March 8) until I arrived in Brazil. It’s a pretty big deal here. Advertisers use it to hawk their products. Politicians use it to garner votes. Employers use it to keep their female employees happy. And sometimes it even shows up in churches.

Using the hook of International Women’s Day, Lalia will give a Bible message on Sunday, March 9, at the church pastored by her brother Nelson. In a separate event on Saturday, she is the featured speaker at the women’s Easter tea, sponsored by the Morumbi Baptist Church. Hundreds of women will attend, including many seeking faith. I’m suspect, of course, but those of you who have heard Lalia speak know that she has a great gift of communication. Just think what she can do in her first language, Portuguese!

Deadlines

Deadlines are good motivators. While I don't work well under a lot of pressure, I find that deadlines help me focus on a task and filter out a lot of unnecessary stuff. Not to mention that it's a great feeling when you finally check the item off your list.

One of those deadlines on my February calendar is a new book for the Vida Nova publishing house. I am now proofreading the translation to make sure it is faithful to the original. (I can't reveal the title, but I can say that it is aimed at leaders of youth, their parents and friends.) Along the way I make occasional grammatical revisions, consulting with my live-in Portuguese language expert, Lalia.

The book deals with crises that youth face, like depression, divorce, addictions, grief, sex, relationships, and others. With the publisher's permission, we decided to add a chapter on employment to the Portuguese language edition, because that is a huge crisis in Brazil. I'll be writing that chapter based on interviews and other information.

One more deadline. Next week, classes begin at the local Baptist seminary. This semester I will be teaching first and third semester Greek. I'm looking forward to the challenge of making Greek understandable and even desirable. How is that possible? One goal is to teach students how to glean the goodies from Greek reference books. Another priority is to constantly remind students that Greek is a means to knowing God better, not an end in itself. This perspective keeps us humble, too!

Oh yeah. The photo was taken from our living room window a few evenings ago. Intense colors courtesy of Sao Paulo's high particulate levels!

PROMIFÉ, January 2008

PROMIFÉ = a Portuguese acronym for Projeto Missionário de Férias, or Vacation Missionary Project.

PROMIFÉ is always a life-changing experience.

Twice a year, in January and July, dozens of Brazilian young people come together for a full week of evangelism and leadership training. They share the gospel good news through home visits, kids clubs and the Jesus film. Local church partners are responsible for follow-up.

This time, Curt "roughed it" with the students, sleeping on the floor in a public school (remember, this is summer vacation break). He gave the message at one of the victory celebrations at the end of the week.

One of the highlights of the week was the emergence of a new crop of leaders, which should allow the project to flourish. They dream of implanting the PROMIFÉ idea in Angola during the next several years.

Along with these photos of PROMIFÉ, here are some other images from this week that will stay with me:

• seeing a pair of young people kneeling with two children on a city sidewalk in a gospel-driven encounter.
• hearing Andrew Trawick tell of his faith journey and the power of love to change his rebellious heart.
• learning the theology of the voids, in which God uses voids in our lives to draw us closer to him.
• cheering godly Brazilian young people who are grabbing the baton of leadership.
• serving with young people who have a passion for Jesus and the gospel.

If you or your church group (adults included) would like to participate in this life-changing project, please contact us at ckregness@worldventure.net.

Sizzling in Sao Paulo

From warm and rainy Sao Paulo, we send New Year’s greetings to all, with thanks for your indefatigable partnership in our ministry.

January is summer vacation here, but we look forward to a full schedule of work-related activities.

• Jan. 12 to 20: We travel 250 miles north to the small town of Ibiraçi, for another Promifé (a Portuguese acronym for “Vacation Missionary Project”). Dozens of Brazilian young people come together from various churches and denominations with a common goal: share their love for Jesus and the transforming power of the gospel. Our role is encouragement and service to the leadership of the project. We need your prayers for physical stamina, as well as for open minds and hearts.

• Lalia continues to translate from English into Portuguese a book of 52 Bible lessons for children (320 pages, large format). Special challenges in this project are adaptations of puzzles, poems and music. This is where Lalia’s creative neurons start to flash frenetically.

• Curt is heading up the editorial process for two new books: a handbook for youth workers and a book of object talks for kids. Both are being translated by Brazilian free-lancers, but the former requires an additional chapter to fit the Brazilian context. Curt will check the translations line by line to see if they are accurate and faithful to the original text.

• Other books in the pipeline under Curt’s care are an introduction to Christian counseling, being written by a Brazilian author, and the revision of a series of discipleship self-study workbooks.

• In the red tape trophy category, Curt has been trying for more than a month to get some official papers registered for both the publishing house and the mission. There’s nothing like bureaucracy to build patience!

• Seminary classes start in February, after Carnaval. Curt has been asked to teach New Testament Greek again. The challenge is to present the material clearly, but in a way that will also challenge and motivate. Many students do not have a good grasp of Portuguese language and grammar, and this is a big roadblock to success. However, I take heart in the fact that the teacher always learns more than the student!