We enjoyed ministering in Brazil this month (November 5-25). Four cities opened their arms and hearts to us this year: Sumare, Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Lages! Every single service for three solid weeks was packed with Holy Spirit encounters and freedom releasers! Maryl and I saw people healed, saved, filled with the Spirit and released to new dimensions in their walk with Jesus! The Brazilian worshipers were so open to all that God had for them during these sessions! As we ministered we experienced not only the presence of Jesus but an increased awareness of His anointing throughout our time there.
We started in Sumare, Brazil (north of Sao Paulo) at the Sao Paulo Foursquare District Worship Conference: Alcance O Proximo Nivel (Reach the Next Level) 2014! Mike Herron and Esteban Vazquez joined us for this amazing conference with over 1000 in attendance. From the opening session it was evident that God was up to something as worshipers danced and celebrated His love and the Holy Spirit moved all of us in deep moments of His presence.
This was a fascinatingly unique worship conference executed with excellence from beginning to end by Pastor Samuel Odierna and his amazing team. Everyday was packed with lots of worship (several teams from all over Brazil led the many sessions. Each one with powerful songs and wonderful passion for their Lord) led by Paulo Cezar Baruk, Rick Diglio, Samuel Odierna, Keby Noguiera and Quatro por Um. Throughout the day there were many special ministry teams: dance team Cia Profetas da Danca; an astounding hip hop team from Sao Paulo; an amazing aerial acrobatic artist from Rio de Janeiro who had us all holding our breath while he climbed high above us to demonstrate the love of Christ. Mike, Esteban and I were the keynote speakers and we found an eager audience ready to receive. Mike shared his wonderful Numerics of Music showing the handiwork of God in music and the Bible. That was followed by Esteban elaborating on the Creation Worshiping that led us into a spontaneous session of praise that just went on and on as we worshiped with the sound of whales and comets and all of creation in a universal tapestry of praise! Powerful – had most of us on our knees!
I ministered twice at the conference. The first night was going late (my session started at 10:30pm!) so I changed what I was going to share to what I felt like God was speaking to the conference – Relationships are vital to worship! We ended with a great moment of forgiveness and singing over each other. My second session was called Extreme Worship where I explain true worship from an Old and New Testament perspective. After illustrating the ‘shachah’ (the Wow of Worship) and ‘proskuneo’ (the Kiss of Worship) (both meaning to bow) and explaining what God is looking for in our worship, I used the amazing examples of Abraham, Job and David in rising to ‘worship’ in the most difficult of circumstances. We ended with a session of ‘bowing’ our will over our problems, our children, our finances and our lives. Powerful response especially from parents as they gave their children back to the true Father of all! I must say our translator, Pastor Josue Candido Eduardo did an outstanding job of translating with passion and even sang all my musical examples! A good translator is worth their weight in gold! Thanks Josue! Our final day together ended with a delightful moment when a young mother and dancer was brought on stage because she had some vertabrae issues that the doctor told her she would never dance again. Two days before the conference she couldn’t even walk! We prayed and anointed her as she tearfully stood there before the whole conference. After the prayer, Mike asked her to kneel – which she said she couldn’t do – and then she knelt!!! and then she stood and did a dance move with a kick!! Praise God – she was totally healed in that moment! We then heard from a young man from the worship team that was healed at the same time of a numb leg that came to life immediately. and later we heard that many backs were healed during that glorious moment. God showed up!! We left Sumare, revived and refreshed and ready for the next leg in our journey through Brazil: Sao Paulo!
In Sao Paulo, Maryl and I were honored to minister for three days to a group of churches’ leaders, worship teams and youth. Pastor Shiro has established this group of 12 churches throughout the Sao Paulo metropolitan area rather than one large facility since commuting around this huge city can take hours! We met with a few hundred each night. The opening night I shared on the Vision for Worship – stretching our concepts of what worship is all about in our church services. The leaders there were so receptive and my translator, Pastor Tom Wilkins, did an amazing job (even sang my musical examples in Portuguese!) The second night was for worship teams but the church was packed with everyone eager to learn more about worship. I ministered on the Extreme Worship again and got them all bowing and singing in response to what God is calling us to do in hard circumstances! Powerful time with all of them! The final night as I shared more of what God can do in worship I felt impressed to bring up the youth attending that night. About 25 young people came forward and Maryl and I started to pray, minister and prophesy over each one. Their tears and receptivity confirmed the word that was coming forth! We felt that God was really going to move through the youth in this wonderful group of churches in Sao Paulo!
Then Maryl and I flew to Curitiba for an exciting weekend with our friends Pastor Mike and Terry Piper at Comunidade Crista de Curitiba. They have turned the church over to Pastor Luiz and Eliane Magalhaes who are doing an outstanding job in this great church! We were there in 1999 when they were just starting to build this beautiful new facility that now seats 2000. It is wonderful to see God fulfill His vision for faithful people! We went immediately to the church to meet with the worship ministry. After a rousing set of worship, I proceeded to minister on the Vision for Worship with my new translator, Anderson Oliveira. It was such a powerful time with a big response from the whole team. We decided to have a special meeting on Saturday morning with those that could make it. So in the morning with a pretty good turn out we continued sowing vision in the hearts of these earnest worshipers with an amazing response ending with even my translator on his face receiving a word from God! That night we ministered to over a thousand of the youth of CCC with a tremendous response at the altar. We also played cello and flute in the worship which was exciting – and then taught them some new songs – some in Portuguese and some in English! Then on Sunday morning we again played during the worship, taught some new songs and ministered on Extreme Worship (as we did in Sumare) with an excellent response at the end with many lives being drawn back to Jesus. In the evening, the church was packed once again and the spirit of God was rich in the house! Worship was off the charts ending with everyone on their knees worshiping Jesus and giving their all to Christ. After preaching, it seemed the whole church came forward in response to God’s call on their lives. A powerful time with a great church! I believe a great deposit in Word and Spirit was left in this beautiful Body of Christ in Curitiba!
The next day, Maryl had to fly home to deliver some babies (not her own!) and I drove with Pastor Hugo Schmitt and his son, Lucas to their city Lages – about 5 hours to the south of Curitiba. Here, they treated me so well – I only wish Maryl could have been there to enjoy their wonderful hospitality and kindness. Though I was scheduled to speak every day for 6 days straight, they gave me most of the day time off to rest, study and repair my voice (I had picked up a bad cold over the weekend and my voice was giving out!) The first night I spoke to their whole church on Vision again with a great response ending with many coming forward as I was honored to minister personally over them, praying prophetically for many of them. My translator Lucas, stayed with me the whole night! My voice almost quit on me the first night – but it slowly improved until by the last day I was stronger than ever! Praise God! Thank you Pastor Hugo for allowing me to rest so I could be able to minister each night with great strength. Many people don’t realize the toll it takes on the voice when you lead worship, sing songs, preach, teach and then pray for people at the end of each service – especially after two weeks of ministering like that and with a cold!! The second night I ministered to the worship team (along with a few other hundred people!) on prophetic worship and singing His Song! The response was outstanding as they eagerly sang songs the Lord gave them that night! The third night was with the church leadership (again the church was full) so I spoke on many aspects of Godly leadership in the Church – there was a strong anointing that night for empathetic and heartfelt leaders in the church. God was doing His work among us. The fourth night was for married couples – which I have never spoken to, even though Maryl and I have been married for 40 years! The Holy Spirit gave me a word about healthy relationships and by the end I had each couple looking into each others eyes, holding hands and singing a prayer over each other! A lot of tears and smiles confirmed the word that God was performing that night!
The fifth day was outdoors in the city square as a culmination of their March for Jesus. With a couple thousand Christians marching through the city streets, the atmosphere was electric as we all gathered together to worship Jesus in this great city. Many different groups played and sang and pastors exhorted and prayed. Then they had me join the local band (led by Matheus Schmitt) on my cello – it was actually pretty fun as they danced around me while I joined in as best I could – laughing with delight most of the time! :) Then I played a solo that led into Our God is Greater which they all joined me in playing and singing – then I went to the keyboard, sang a couple of songs in Portuguese and proceeded to exhort the gathering concerning God’s desire to bless the city. By the end we were all lifting our hands and blessing Lages in every direction. A beautiful moment of unity brought to them by the Holy Spirit! Loved this! The final day was Sunday where we had some ‘blow-out’ worship with Matheus and his band along with some beautiful dancers interpreting the songs. I ended up splitting my Extreme Worship sermon into two parts (morning and night) with the emphasis in the morning on the Shachah (the Hebrew word for worship) or Wow of Worship – bowing our lives in difficult situations like Abraham , Job and David – the response was very interesting with mostly men coming forward, kneeling, weeping and repenting! Many lives were transformed that morning! In the evening, after a powerful time of prophetic worship, songs and new songs flowing, I launched into the second part of Extreme Worship – the Proskuneo (the Greek word for worship) what I call the ‘Kiss of Worship’. Taking the concept of bowing in our worship and adding the kiss of intimacy that comes through the cross of Jesus Christ – God’s desire all along: to restore relationship with His people! Once again the response was so amazing – the whole church came forward and packed out the front while we sang ‘Oh How He Loves Us’ – reinforcing His love and desire for us! A great week capped with a great night of passion and love for Jesus!
Monday, Pastor Hugo and Lucas drove me to Florianopolis to enjoy this beautiful city and beaches on the Brazilian coast and then I flew back from there! What a whirlwind and exciting three weeks in Brazil! I believe we left significant deposits in each of the four cities and we look forward to hearing the reports of worship increasing in spirit and in truth everywhere – and we can’t wait to return to these wonderful joy-filled people! in Him, Tim and Maryl