God is bringing The Journey to Brazil

Exciting news about how God is calling for translation of The Journey curriculum into Portuguese to take to Brazilian men: In 1982 I had the opportunity to speak to several Brazilian churches in Rio over about 2 weeks, and share about the benefit of embracing discipleship training into their churches.  At the time I was using a popular discipleship program in my ministry as a businessman in the USA.  I didn’t have a feel that it would work cross-culturally in Brazil.  Therefore, all I could do was speak about the benefit of drawing near to Christ.  I was shown several things during those two weeks about the Brazilian people, as I shared my heart with them. First, I was surprised with how open and welcoming these people were about drawing near to Christ.  However, they wanted more than a simple message from the pulpit could give them.  They wanted Jesus Himself!  They are open and ready to come close to Him. Second, I discovered that the religious culture in Brazil only gave them a taste of what it means to have a genuine intimate relationship with  Christ.  There is “good soil” in the Brazilian people that is ready to receive the truth, and this kind or fellowship with the Person of Jesus Christ can be found and enjoyed.  But, the current religious/pagan culture works against the truth of what it means to have a real relationship with Christ, and this often carries into the Protestant churches that seek to lead these people to intimacy with Christ.  As we know, church programs, no matter how good they are, can lead their people to think that behavior modification is the only thing required of them, especially if they come from a religious culture that promotes it.  For this reason, I conclude that the discipleship program I was using then, and even promoting when I was in Brazil, would not have worked with them.  It would have created another example of performance-driven Christians who are still missing out on the deep, intimate relationship Jesus invites us to.  When in Brazil, I grew to love these people and the Portuguese language.  We now have the privilege to return to their land and to sow The Journey in the healthy good soil there, and we need your help.  Let me explain: A couple months ago, I received a contact from Sam Gill, who is a missionary in Brazil.  He had heard about us through our friend Dr. Gary Oliver, who was speaking in Brazil to a conference.  Sam requested a sample of The Journey curriculum, reviewed it, and determined that it is exactly what he had been looking and praying for, to reach Brazilian men.  Like all cultures, but more so there, Brazilian men are the key to reaching families, communities and cities for Christ.  However, the men there are passive, uninvolved and are not accepting their roles as spiritual leaders.  Sam saw quickly what we have seen over the last 9 years.  When a man gets into close proximity with Christ, Jesus will transform the man.  This transformation will also raise up a spiritual leader. The Journey has one single objective. It is not to create behavior modification by introducing another set of rules to follow.  Rather, it is to get a man into close proximity with Christ.  When this was realized by Sam, he immediately sought to translate our curriculum to Portuguese, and introduce it to the Brazilian men.  We want to join him. As before, we are invited to go and join another work that has already laid a foundation, and is ready for The Journey.  As before, we must do it by faith, relying on the generosity of our Influencers to finance the project.  Therefore, we invite you to help us go after the men in Brazil, and we need your help. To support this project, we have established a Brazilian Translation Project account, that will receive your gifts for the purpose of funding this project. We are being invited to one of the most fertile fields in this world.  Like Jesus said, “Look around.  The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  Will you help us go to this harvest we are being invited to, and raise up “laborers” who will then go after their own people?  Jesus can make a difference in Brazil, if we can get His family into close proximity with Him. Click here to go to our "Support" page and select "Special Translation Donation" under Donation Type. To our King’s glory: Rocky