What once felt wide and full begins to narrow—relationships shrink, hope fades, and the future feels smaller than it once did.
But God still knows how to make lives vast again.
This week, Psalm 12 has been echoing in my heart as Deanna and I met in Porto, Portugal for our second survey trip, praying about the possibility of helping start a church-planting movement here.
And strangely enough, that psalm took me back many years—to the Yukon.
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When My World Became Small
As a young adult, I quit high school and left home. Eventually I ended up in the Yukon, where I lived for seven years.
At first, it felt like freedom.
No rules. No one I knew. Lots of money. A wide-open life in a wide-open land.
But after a few years something inside me began to collapse.
I had mistaken space for freedom. I had mistaken independence for life.
What looked vast on the outside was becoming very small on the inside.
I was lonely. Spiritually thin. Exhausted from living my own way. I didn’t feel like I had even one close friend who truly understood what I was experiencing.
My world had begun to shrink.
Looking back, that was one of the first times I understood what devastation really feels like.
Not just pain.
Not just failure.
But a life that was meant to be spacious becoming narrow.
When I finally committed my life to God, I expected things to become even smaller—only now with heaven waiting at the end.
Instead, the opposite happened.
God did not make my life smaller.
He opened it wider than I ever imagined.
Within a few years my world began to open.
Texas. Jamaica. The high Arctic. Brazil. And eventually friendships and family around the world.
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Psalm 12 and the Cry of the Needy
This week in Portugal, Psalm 12 has been echoing in my heart.
Looking back, I realize something important: God often begins His work in the very places where life feels most devastated.
“Because of the devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” Psalm 12:5
That word devastation stayed with me.
It carries the picture of something stripped down… diminished… made smaller than it was meant to be.
De-vast-ed.
I know that feeling personally.
And I suspect many people in Portugal know it too.
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Deanna, Rick, Anni (our daughter), and Luciana and Milton (directors of Vineyard Brazil)
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Portugal: Ancient Faith, Quiet Hunger
Portugal is a fascinating place spiritually, and a humbling one.
It is one of the oldest historically-wide-spread Catholic nations in Europe. Churches are everywhere. Faith shaped this nation’s history for centuries.
Portugal was also once a great sending nation, carrying faith, language, and culture across oceans.
That history matters.
If Brazilians, Canadians, or Americans hope to serve here, we cannot arrive as experts, rescuers, or religious entrepreneurs.
We must come:
as learners, as guests, as servants.
A nation with this kind of history deserves that kind of dignity.
The Real Question
Brazil was once a missionary-receiving nation.
Today many Brazilian churches are full of faith and missionary courage. Some of our Brazilian Vineyard churches are deeply interested in cross-cultural church planting.
That is beautiful.
But the real question is not simply whether people are willing to go.
The deeper question is this:
Can we go humbly enough to be received?
Can we listen before speaking?
Can we serve before leading?
Can we love people well enough, long enough, that trust begins to grow?
Those are not small questions.
But they feel like the right ones.
We are learning that trust in Portugal grows slowly—through conversation, presence, and friendship.
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Where Hope May Begin
Right now we are still in the earliest stage.
We are not launching anything.
We are:
listening praying paying attention.
One possible next step might simply be to rent a house here for a season.
A place to live. A place to pray. A place to share meals. A place to learn a neighborhood from within.
Sometimes the Kingdom begins that way.
Not with noise. Not with a big platform.
But with quiet faithfulness.
A table. A conversation. A seed in the ground.
Not Less for the Amazon
A fair question naturally rises:
What about the Amazon?
Our commitment there has not changed.
But in God’s economy, more vision need does not necessarily mean fewer resources to go around.
Sometimes when the field widens, grace widens too.
More doors can mean more people.
More vision can mean more provision.
The Kingdom of God is not built on scarcity.
It is built on trust.
A Vision Beginning to Form
We are praying about what it might look like, over time, to invite small missionary units to live throughout Portugal as humble, rooted witnesses.
Not to build an empire.
Not to import a formula.
But to live close to people, love neighbors well, and make room for the presence of God.
At this stage we are not forcing a model.
We are simply trying to discern whether God is planting an idea that should be tended.
One thing already feels clear:
If something like this grows, it will require people willing to stay long enough to become trustworthy.
Not a quick visit.
Not a burst of enthusiasm.
But patient presence.
Deep roots grow slowly.
We spent time this weekend with leaders from Ponte Church in Porto and friends from Boston, learning how slow, faithful presence can build trust in a community.
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A Word from This Week
This week has reminded me that hope often begins quietly.
Not with certainty.
Not with control.
Not with a polished plan.
Psalm 12 begins with the cry of the needy—and with the Lord saying:
“Now I will arise.”
That is our confidence too.
Not that we have everything figured out.
But that God sees people whose world has become small.
And He still knows how to make lives vast again.
How are people here really doing beneath the surface?
How can we become the kind of neighbors others instinctively trust?
If churches are planted here, how would they look and feel?
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Deanna’s Journey to Healing
Deanna continues to make steady progress. It may take up to two years for her to regain full strength, but the Lord is faithful day by day, and we are full of hope for the future.
Thank you for praying with us through this journey.
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Prayer Requests
Please pray with us for:
Wisdom as we discern whether this invitation in Portugal is truly from God
Humility to approach this nation with honor, patience, and a servant heart
Provision for the Amazon and any new doors God may open
The right people to emerge in God’s timing if this vision is meant to grow
Prayer For the Portuguese Survey Team
Lord Jesus,
You see the places where people feel diminished, weary, and unseen.
You hear the groaning of those whose world has become small.
Thank You that You are still the God who says,
“Now I will arise.”
Give us humility where we need humility, courage where we need courage, and patience where we need patience.
Teach us to listen well, to love deeply, and to plant only the seeds You place in our hands.
