Renato, Valdinho, and their team recently shared a simple supper at a remote buffalo ranch.
On a previous visit, four people there gave their hearts to Jesus when Clenildo came through. Now, on their fourth trip, theyāve returned to strengthen those new believers with fellowship, Scripture, and prayer.
No stage. No spotlight. Just presence.
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Underdogs and World-Changers
The picture above floods me with memories of time spent in similar settings.
I remember how the riverboat rocked gently as we sat on the deck, notebooks open, planning the next church plant.
But he knew the river. He knew suffering. He knew how to sit with people the system had written off, because he had once been one of them.
I watched him lead. Not with polish, but with presence. Not with charisma, but with a moral authority forged through hardship and grace.
I, on the other hand, arrived with advantages, education, resources, organizational backing, and cultural confidence. Useful tools, yes. But tools nonetheless.
Because the gospel doesnāt reward what the world rewards.
God works by a different metric.
Those society dismisses often become world-changers. And those who arrive with every advantage must learn something harder: to cling. To unlearn. To surrender the need to be indispensable.
Thatās the pattern Iāve watched for three decades. Communities are transformed not by those with the most resources, but by those who know they need God, and know they cannot do this alone.
Still Learning
I used to think my job was to bring the gospel to people who didnāt have it.
Now Iām learning that my real work is to recognize where the gospel is already alive, often in people I once assumed needed me more than I needed them.
I thought missionary work was a one-way street.
I used to lead with competence. Now I lead by clinging.
By admitting what I donāt know. By learning from those shaped by suffering into something I will never become, no matter how many degrees I earn.
Type-A leaders like me show up with systems and strategies, convinced weāre bringing transformation. And all the while, God is quietly transforming us, if weāre humble enough to let Him.
A Question to Sit With This Week
Where might God already be at workā not through you, but around you in people you once assumed needed you more than you needed them?
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David’s Journey to God’s Presence
Journeys take many forms.
Valdinho and Renato make heroic trips into remote regions. Deanna and I are preparing to travel on January 31.
And long before any of us, David wrote a song about his own journeyāone that led straight into the presence of God.
We call it Psalm 5.
Itās not a polished prayer. Itās raw. Honest. Expectant.
David believed something astonishing: that words, sighs, and cries still reach the ear of God.
He speaksāand then he watches.
Like a shepherd scanning the horizon, David prays with expectation. He brings his whole self before Godāconfession, vulnerability, trustāand asks the Lord to make the path straight again.
Psalm 5 names the ancient struggle we all know: the seductive voice that promises wisdom but delivers chaos. David knew the suave, flattering voice well (v. 9). He wished it didn’t exist. He asks God for protection, for clarity, for deliverance from what still corrupts the human heart.
And then something beautiful happens.
David looks around and realizes heās not alone.
There are others on the journey. Fellow travelers. Companions in trust. The presence of God becomes a shared celebration.
The psalm ends not in fear, but in joy. With intimacy. With refuge. With what David calls a shield of Godās favor.
May we speak honestly, watch expectantly, and walk the straight path into Godās presence.
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Deanna’s Journey to Healing
Deanna completed all 15 of her radiation treatments.
For a ten-second look at Deanna’s joy at leaving the radiation room in the lowest floor of the Abbotsford hospital, click on the link above.
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A Word from This Week
This week, we spent time with Art Rae, Helen, and Michael Hansen, friends and partners weāve walked with for many years. Their hearts remain fiercely committed to Godās work in Canada, the U.S., Brazil, and beyond.
We also saw Jim Nyssen, wearing the ring Clenildo gave him, crafted from the seed of an Amazon tree. It symbolizes Jimās love for people he has never met, and his quiet faithfulness in our earliest years in Brazil.
This is how the Kingdom moves forward. Not through one person, but through many, each doing their part.
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Prayer Requests
Deannaās complete recovery
The sale of the mission property in MarabĆ”
Wisdom and grace in my final days in Abbotsford
The upcoming conference in Texas and the people weāll meet
My re-entry to Brazil, itās always a shock after time away
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Closing Prayer
Lord,
Teach us to see as You see.
Help us recognize the world-changers You are raising up in unlikely places.
Strip away our need to be indispensable.
Form in us the humility to learn from those we thought we were sent to serve.
Show us how to walk together, with courage, tenderness, and trust, into Your presence.
