Category Archives: Ministry

50 Years of Mission Work Pays Off

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Conference leader

About a week ago I had the privilege of participating in a celebration conference in a nearby tribe. The tribe was celebrating 50 years since the arrival of the Gospel in their tribe. On January 25, 1965 a German missionary from New Tribes brought the Gospel to their village.

During the conference the first man of the tribe to be saved gave testimony of the day he met this missionary. He asked the missionary if he was after gold or diamonds. The response was negative. He asked him if he was tapping rubber trees. Once again, the response was negative. Then the Indian man said, “What are you doing here?” Though the language barrier prohibited a clear understanding at the time, the missionary said, “I am here to tell you about Jesus Christ and how he died on the cross to save you.” What a wonderful thing to hear a testimony from this man who was the first of the tribe to receive Jesus Christ as Savior.

Many others gave testimony of what God has done in their lives and how their lives have changed for the good. They compared the wars of years past to the peace that now abides in their hearts. Separation has been changed to joyous reunion and forgiveness.

There were people from at least five different tribes around our state and the neighboring state. These were all enemies fifty years ago. Today they join to give testimony and to praise the Lord for what He has done in their lives. Though the conference technically did not start until Friday evening, they had a service on Thursday and stayed up singing and praising the Lord until about 6am!

The most memorable moment for me was when all the missionaries were called up front. First, those missionaries sent to Brazil from a foreign country were called. Then the Brazilian missionaries came to join us. Finally, the Indian men and women who are pastors and missionaries were called up front. What a site! There were missionaries from 25-85 years of age. Each one fulfilling their call and passing that burden on to others.

The young man pictured above fits into this third group. He and his wife just graduated from Bible school and are seeking opportunities to work for the Lord. They will spend the next year in the tribe working in the church, then will pursue further training to better equip them to reach other Indians with the Gospel.

Sometimes we wonder if the time and money we have invested in mission work around the world has been worth it. This conference was proof that the great commission given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ is worth every second we have to invest in it or in prayer for those involved. It is worth every cent we choose to give. May God’s work move forward as we fulfill His command.

Posted in Culture, Ministry, Work With Indians

Tyler Family Prayer Letter – January 2015

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Prayer Letter – January 2015

E-mail sent with Prayer Letter

New Pictures

Here are four ways to keep up with the Tylers…

1. Read this blog and leave a comment – You may also sign up for the RSS feed

2. Facebook – Add me as a friend HERE

3. Prayer Letters – Visit our Prayer Letter page and subscribe on the left.

4. E-mail – Write to us HERE

Posted in Furlough, Ministry, Prayer Letters, Work With Indians

A Sunday to Remember

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Sunday January 18

Sunday morning the Kokenzies were with us for their first service since returning from furlough. We had a good group. Other than the Kokenzies, we had a normal Sunday morning crowd and a visitor.

Sunday evening, however, was a different story. We arrived early as usual and were preparing things for the service. We planned a little fellowship after church, so we had a little more to set up than normal. Amanda left to pick up someone, and by the time she returned we still did not have anyone show up other than the Kokenzies and the lady we picked up.

Just about five minutes before starting, a few young men drove up and parked across the street. They said the were invited to the services and we welcomed them. Just after that another young man drove up on a motorcycle. Since nothing else was open around us, we assumed that he was coming to church also. As we entered the building to get the service going, two more people walked in. We prayed and a few more walked in. Then we sang a song and more people walked in. This kept on going until I was ready to preach. I announced the text and the last two couples walked in.

The building was packed! We had 30 chairs and 40 people. Amanda took a few of the younger kids to the back and others sat on their parent’s lap. There was not one empty seat. I was still expecting a few more of our regulars to be there, but they did not show up. God knew exactly what we could handle and sent them all our way.

With 23 first time visitors, we did not even have enough visitor’s cards to get everyone’s information. We did take a picture though and did get their names so we can probably locate them all and make contact in the near future.

Our fellowship after church was very good. I tried to get around and speak to everyone before they left. It was not an easy task, but I think I almost made it. One couple was sitting in the very back and stayed there for a while without getting up. When I spoke to them, she was in tears. Her husband said, “We are not sitting here waiting for cake. We just enjoyed the service so much that we wanted to savor the moment.” He went on to say that his wife had dreamed the night before that the Lord would speak to them through the service that night.

The young man who invited most of our visitors was surprised himself to see some of them come. As a matter of fact, a few of his relatives came to the service (including his sister). He told me he had not even invited her, but someone else asked her to come.

It is easy to get excited about an event like that. Yet, it has caused me to reflect on what really happened. God brought a good number of people to us so that we could share with them the good news of salvation. Others also were there to hear the preaching and be encouraged to follow the Lord. I am confident that God met with some of them and spoke to their hearts. Please help us pray as we follow up and try to help these people wherever they are spiritually.

Posted in Church, Ministry, Preaching

Two Great Sunday Services in 2015!

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Back in October of 2014 we rented a building in which to hold services. The Lord has blessed, but we have really not seen as many people come as we would have liked. We have invited hundreds of people, visited prospects, and prayed. However, the increase was very small compared to what we were expecting. We had one family visit in two months. Health issues, vacations, and even some academic tests have kept our regulars from attending during the past few months.

The past two weeks have been drastically different. Most of our regulars have still not been able to attend for various reasons, but the Lord has blessed the services by sending us visitors. We had eight visitors within the first two Sundays of the year! That is a great way to start out the new year. It was a joy to preach and give the Gospel to these people. Though we previously knew most of these people, only three out of the eight have attended one of our Bible studies.

This past Sunday evening, Tiago, one of the young men that visited, told me that he enjoyed the service and was going to invite a friend of his that he thought would enjoy it also. Another one of our visitors, Nicholas, said he really enjoyed the service and that he would definitely return and invite some of his friends. His sister and her husband are one of our regular families. When we spoke with them about Nicholas coming, they said he seemed to be very excited and enjoyed a service that was not extremely loud. (That should give you some insight on the average church in our area.)

We are excited to see what God will do in the lives of each visitor that has been with us. There is no doubt in my mind that God is working, but sometimes we are impatient and fail to see His hand in the circumstances around us.

This next week we will probably have the largest crowd since the inauguration of the building because the Kokenzies have returned. Some of our regulars will also be back that were not able to attend these past two weeks. Please pray that the Lord will continue to work in hearts and that these people will be truly saved and follow the Lord!

 

Posted in Bible Studies, Church, Ministry, Preaching

New Year 2015!

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Happy New Year!

We would like to start off this new year introducing you to our new family website (www.tylersinbrazil.com). We wanted to have this website ready before our furlough. It is a simple website with the goal to keep you more up-to-date with our ministry.

Please take a look around and let us know what you think. We will be updating the blog with events and prayer requests as we are able.

We will no longer be using the website www.braziltotheuttermost.com. Please refer to this website from now on for any updates from our family. You can get updates through RSS feed or keep up with the posts on Facebook.

Every page can be easily accessed through the menu, but here are a few of the new pages you might enjoy…

Pages for each family member

Ministry websites

Information Pages

* Please note that we will be using this domain for our email also. You can use any of our first names @tylersinbrazil.com to reach us.

Posted in Family, Ministry, Websites

Divine Appointments

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Sometimes we set appointments in our lives to keep us on schedule. Yet, it is in the changing of these appointments of ours that God sets His appointments. Our lives are pretty scheduled and we try to stay on schedule, but sometimes our schedules change. Especially during these changes we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When something pops into your mind out of nowhere, it might just be God trying to change your mind or direction.

This week we were once again reminded of how God works! We attended a special preaching service in Ji-Paraná, where Bro. Greg Smith from Southwest Baptist Church was preaching. We did not have to be at this meeting, but had decided to attend so we could hear the preaching and meet the Smiths. We were invited to join them afterwards at a restauruant for continued fellowship over dinner. Since we had already eaten and we still had a 40 minute drive back home, we decided against staying. After saying goodbye, we all entered the car and began the drive home.

A few blocks away, I suddenly remembered a conversation that night about internet connections with Bro. Brian Lawson. I have had a radio internet system at my house for over two years now. It was used for about a week, and I never was able to sell it. Thinking specifically of this, I turned the car around and headed back to ask Bro. Lawson if it would be useful for them.

We drove directly to the Lawson’s house. He invited us in, but we kindly declined wanting to make our way home.

As we were saying goodbye, a lady walked up and asked if we would pray for her. I agreed to pray, but wanted to know more specifically what she wanted prayer for. She began telling of her difficulties. These seemed possibly to involve some demonic activity in her life, though I am not sure. The descriptions of events made me think of similar events in the Bible. She looked somewhat tired, though she did not look quite like so many of the beggars we see.

As I began addressing her problem, I spoke of the Gospel and how Jesus could save her. She wanted to pray and ask Christ to be her Savior. Praise the Lord! Right there in front of Bro. Brian Lawson’s house, she prayed and asked the Lord to be her Savior. Please pray for her. She told me she has a husband and two children in her home. Her husband has threatened to leave her because of her problems.

She gave us her address and Bro. Sam Rogers will be making a visit there. Lord willing, we will be able to continue helping her and also help her family. Please pray for her. Her name is Marineide.

In all of this, I was reminded that God directs our steps. He began working out the details of this specific appointment years ago. I remember the frustration when I bought this internet radio equipment and only used it for a week. I paid several hundred dollars for internet that month! The internet radio is slow and we wanted something faster. The DSL company told us they would put us on a waiting list. They said there was not internet available in our area at the time and they did not know when it would be available. While waiting we decided to go with the radio equipment. Two days after the equipment was installed the company called and wanted to install the DSL. Ha!

Well, if nothing else, I can look back and say that God allowed me to buy that equipment, keep it for several years, think of it that night, and meet this woman who was desperately in need of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when things go wrong, remember that we have a promise… “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.

Posted in Ministry

Inauguration Sunday

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First of all I would like to thank everyone who sent a note telling us specifically that you or your church were praying for us this past weekend. Thank you for participating in prayer and also for letting us know that you were praying. It was a great encouragement to us.

SATURDAY EVENING we had a special prayer meeting at the church. It was an encouraging time to listen to people talk about what they believed God would do. We spent some time reading a passage of Scripture together. Then we talked about sinners coming to know the Lord as Savior and the goals of acquiring this rented facility. We finished the time together with prayer. It was sweet to hear the prayers of the people as they asked the Lord to bless the work and especially bless the inaugural service the following evening.

After a little time of fellowship we set up for Sunday and headed home thanking the Lord for the response of the people.

Front of the Building – Sunday Morning

Inauguration Day!

 

SUNDAY MORNING began well. Everyone we expected showed up. All of our faithful people were there! A family from a church about three hours away also came to participate in the day’s events. It was a blessing to have them in the service because they are familiar with most of the hymns we sing. They also helped clean chairs and get the details taken care of.

In the morning service, we talked about the preaching of Paul and related it to what we were doing. Several people asked questions or made comments which always helps us know better where people stand.

Sunday Morning Service

Inauguration Day!

 

God gave us a building with a small room in the back. This allows us to continue the Sunday school class we had for the smaller children. This week we had four children in the class! Most of these children have little practice sitting still in a class. For some, their parents are still learning about discipline and are struggling to teach their children. So, needless to say, Amanda had a challenging time with the children this week!

Amanda Teaching

Inauguration Day!

 

After the service a few of us men went out inviting people to the evening meeting. Including the flyers passed out earlier in the week, we were able to hand out over 800 invitations to the inaugural service.

SUNDAY EVENING we arrived at the church about 30 minutes before the service began. It was an exciting time as we waited to see who would come. We had 40 chairs, but only about 30 fit in the building comfortably.

Beginning of the Service – Sunday Evening

Inauguration Day!

 

When we began the service we had a few visitors. By preaching time, we had 27 people in the building! With around 30 chairs set up, there were only a few empty chairs left.

It was thrilling to see who the Lord brought to us. Nine were from a like-minded church several hours away. Another man came from out of town. He was invited by one of the ladies whose house we hold a Bible study in weekly. Two were our neighbors! We did not expect them to come, so it was great to see them drive up. The rest were all people who had participated in our Bible studies in the past. We had personally visited them in the past week. What a blessing!!!

Entire Group – Sunday Evening

Inauguration Day!

 

I preached a Gospel message asking two questions. 1- Do you know God? 2- Does God know you? All were attentive and listened very well.

Though we did not have any salvation decisions, it was wonderful to hear what the people had to say. One of the ladies spoke to me specifically about her daughter. She said she was going to do her best to bring her daughter to the next service. One of the men present said, “We will come many times from here on out!” That was exciting. We did not have the opportunity to talk to everyone individually before they left, but it was evident that God was working.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING! This is just the beginning of the story. We will be meeting every Sunday morning and evening from now on out. Though we will need to make some adjustments as time goes on, we are happy to have a place to meet now. The people prayed that this would be a place where God would work to change lives! That is what we expect and what we are looking for God to do.

We will soon start a mid-week Bible study also. We hope to continue the Bible studies we have and get more people involved by meeting in a better location.

Once again, thank you for your prayers!

Posted in Bible Studies, Church, Ministry, Preaching

A New Meeting Location

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We are looking forward to meeting in the new building we have just rented for the church. We will begin our services on the 19th of October. We are pushing for a big day and have much to take care of before then.

The Lord has given us a building for less than $300 a month that will fit around 30 people without much trouble at all. This will get us started though and hopefully help us build the core group.

Here is a look at the building the way it looks right now…

 

Church Location

 

We are getting a sign printed, invitations printed, and trying to furnish the building with all the necessary items we need for the church services such as a pulpit, table for literature and things like that. There is quite a bit of running around to do in the next few weeks. We hope to install some fans and fix a few little issues with the building. Over the next few months, we will be working to slowly provide what is missing when we start. For now, we will rent chairs. Not knowing how many we will need and how things will progress, we have decided to wait just a bit to purchase the chairs.Here is a look at what we hope the sign looks like. Lord willing, it will be put up in about a week.

 

Church Location

 

Please pray as we press forward to reach more people here in Rondônia. The people we are working with are excited about this step. They are looking forward to participating a bit more. We felt acquiring more permanent location was a necessary step forward to be able to reach people in our city.The Kokenzies will be returning in January. We hope to have things in order when they get here so the work can move forward. Once they return we will be preparing for furlough.  We need your prayers! Please remember to pray for us on the 19th of October when we hold our first evangelistic service. Pray for souls to be saved and believers to be edified.

Posted in Bible Studies, Church, Ministry
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