Brazil Missions Trip ’09

Some preliminary thoughts

In a couple of days I’ll board a plane and fly to Fortaleza, Brazil. The trip is not about SharperIron, but it is about iron sharpening iron. Some months ago, a missionary our church supports financially contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to preach at the regional conference for Baptist Mid-Missions (BMM) in northeast Brazil. I felt honored by the invitation and was eager to go if the Lord provided the funding. Through some generous givers (my church covered about half the cost), He did provide, so off I go.

The conference has several purposes. The BMM missionaries of the region meet to fellowship, conduct business, and do some spiritual refueling. My mission is to do some of that refueling through preaching.

I don’t mind admitting I have mixed feelings about that. In many ways, it would be more appropriate for me to do the listening while they do the preaching. Who am I to preach to the likes of these? Fortunately, I have the best possible source material. I’ll bring word that is not my own, and that doesn’t depend on me in the least for its power. Though diligence is required of me and effectiveness may be limited or enhanced by my efforts (as God chooses), the real work is not my own.

At the same time, I’m delighted to be a part of the Great Commission in this particular way. I’m glad to be giving a little back to people who have given—and continue to give—so much to so many. I’m glad to have a chance to help with their work by helping them.

Goals

I have a few goals for my trip.

One, I’d like to get a better feel for what the work is like in the region of this particular mission field.

Two, I’d like to be challenged by these people in my own walk with God and my own commitment to His service.

Three, I’d like to send these folks away greatly encouraged in the value God attaches to their labors and in the great potential their work has for eternity.

Since I’m spoiled rotten, I’d also like to do it all without major travel mishaps, bites from exotic insects, lost luggage, miserable weather, or bad reactions to the local cuisine!

If you have some moments to pray for this ministry, feel free to seek the Lord regarding all of the above, but especially item three. The theme for the conference is “rejoicing in hope” from Romans 12:12.

Finally, if the apostle Paul needed prayer that he would speak clearly (Col. 4:4) and boldly (Eph. 6:19), surely all preachers and teachers of the Word need prayer for the same and more.

I look forward to sharing some results with SI readers when I return.

Short-term missions

Time doesn’t permit me to write at length about the value of spending some time on a foreign mission field, interacting with another culture, and connecting with people who serve God in foreign missions. As in anything else, it is possible to do the “mission trip thing” to excess. But in my own case, opportunities to be “on site” have been invaluable, especially in the case of ministries our church has been helping to fund.

These trips should not about benefiting the supporting church. But churches that send pastors or members on mission trips end up receiving dividends anyway. The believers they have sent return with a deeper and broader understanding of what the Lord is doing through their partners in faraway places and—usually—a heightened sensitivity to the opportunities nearby.

Aaron Blumer, SI’s site publisher, is a native of lower Michigan and a graduate of Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He, his wife, and their two children live in a small town in western Wisconsin, where he has pastored Grace Baptist Church (Boyceville, WI) since 2000. Prior to serving as a pastor, Aaron taught school in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and served in customer service and technical support for Unisys Corporation (Eagan, MN). He enjoys science fiction, music, and dabbling in software engineering.