Rio Recap, 2021: Celebration Santa Cruz

This is Post No. 4 from our series Rio Recap, 2021.

Posted on July 28, 2021 by J. Boe Ellis

SANTA CRUZ, RIO DE JANEIRO — Monday, July 12, 2021, was drawn up as Buffer Day. We knew months in advance that we would have to head to the airport late that afternoon, which left our morning and mid-day up to the Lord.

So it was no surprise when our partner, Pastor Joe Souza of the Celebration Church Planting Network, shared the news a couple days in advance. “We’re going to go to Santa Cruz Monday,” he said, “and share our testimonies in a local school.”

And that’s exactly what we did. What a blessing to meet so many kids in the Recreio Christian School. We broke up into three teams and shared the Gospel, and shared stories, and answered questions. It was a fantastic time that wrapped up just before 11:30 a.m.

That’s when Part II of our morning kicked into high gear, when one of Pastor Joe’s old mates arrived just in time for a quick tour of his church facilities and for lunch.

Meet Pastor Rosalvo Wesley. He planted Missão Batista em Alto Nível more than 12 years ago, and praise the Lord he has entered into serious conversations about becoming part of the Celebration Church Planting Network as Celebration Santa Cruz. Amen.

Both visits–with the school, and with Pastor Rosalvo–were a bit unexpected, but when you are on mission with God it’s so awesome, and it happens thankfully a lot, to see the Lord working things out, and just in His timing.

Will you join us in praying for Pastor Joe’s work to grow Celebration Church in Rio, and pray for the churches’ influence with schools and other organizations that we can come alongside with a spirit of partnership.

We want to continue to be a part of the vision, and you can help. In addition to leading churches and teams to come to Rio to serve, God is opening doors for supporters in the U.S. and beyond to invest prayerfully and financially in this ministry.

Click here to learn more about our Brazil partnership or click on the button below to give directly to our work in Brazil.Click on the first image below to open in a lightbox. Click the arrow right to scroll.