todd rubin thomas

Puxa (WOW)! What a week! We are back in the USA now, and I wish we could have updated more while in Brazil. We just didn’t have access to the internet for the second half of the trip. Thanks for all your prayers and your comments on the previous posts!

Now instead of updates, we’ll be posting some recaps of the trip so that all of our supporters and church members can know all about what God did on this trip. Since the previous post covered Friday-Sunday morning, let’s start with Sunday evening…

Sunday Evening
Brazilian church culture differs from what we are used to in the USA. Sunday morning is usually reserved for small groups and fellowship. Many churches don’t have Sunday morning services – Sunday night is when the big gathering of worship takes place. Our group was thrilled to take part in this service with the Brazilian church leaders.

We had the opportunity to participate in many ways on Sunday evening. Our drama team did a fantastic job with their wordless sketch called “The Woman”, which takes its audience through the life of a woman searching for satisfaction and approval in life, but doesn’t find it until she meets Jesus Christ. The message of this drama is cross-cultural and cross-generational, and it had a profound impact.

Zach Monroe and Ashley Oldham in 'The Woman'.

In addition to drama, we had the opportunity to serve on Sunday evening through music. I had the profound privilege of playing guitar with the IBABI worship team. Some of the band members have been friends of mine for more than 10 years now! Here is a shot of us jamming together:

Todd playing with the IBABI worship band.

Our team members learned three songs (some of which were very difficult) in English and Portuguese – We Fall Down, Be The Center, and From The Inside Out. There was a moment of comedy on Sunday night on stage when we sang Be The Center, because half of the team started the song in English and the other half in Portuguese. Actually, for a moment I wondered if somehow a third language slipped in there. Here is a nice look of confusion from the team:

CPC Brazil Team singing Be The Center at IBABI.

Tim Parsons, our Lead Pastor at CPC, preached on Sunday night from Revelation 3. Patrick McClure, long-time missionary in Brazil, translated for him. It was a fantastic message and the perfect way to end the night. God used Tim, whose name is pronounced “chin” by Brazilians, to challenge all of our hearts and our walks with Christ. Here is a picture of Tim, Patrick, and Pastor Joel of IBABI on stage together:

Joel, Patrick, and Tim together on stage at IBABI.

More to come soon… Keep an eye out this week for more recaps.