By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil (LBM) – Deanne Denton recently took a mission trip to Brazil that took her “full circle” to the church where she spent a week as a summer missionary 35 years earlier.
Denton, previously part of a six-member collegiate team to Brazil in the summer of 1989, worked alongside Igreja Batista Barreiros (Barreiros Baptist Church) in Florianopolis during Beyond the Walls’ (a ministry that equips and enables groups to share the Gospel overseas) 2024 trip. During the recent trip she was reunited with Elizandra, who learned about Christ through the collegiate team’s ministry at the same church more than three decades earlier.
“To see Elizandra, who was eight at the time I first served in Florianopolis, stand during our final worship service this summer and share that God used our collegiate team years ago to draw her to the church and tell her about Jesus gave us all such encouragement,” she told the Baptist Message. “To know she is now married to Dario, one of Barreiros’s pastors who served alongside our team this year, further reminded us of what God can do.
“Dario will begin leading his church in ongoing ministry with one of the tribes of Guarani (indigenous people group) in the mountains surrounding Florianopolis. It’s a true full circle moment you rarely experience in ministry,” she continued. “All those years ago, six college students were just obedient to do small tasks the missionaries laid before us, and God used it. So often, you complete a mission trip just trusting there will be lasting results. When God directs the work, He multiples it for generations to come. It was a true gift for us to tangibly experience what we always pray, and trust God will do.”
Denton, the wife of David Denton, pastor with Highland Baptist Church, New Iberia, was among 33 members of a Louisiana Baptist-led mission team from Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Utah that saw a harvest of 558 Brazilians, July 5-16.
While there, the team split into two groups that served in either Florianopolis or Jequitinhonha and participated in personal evangelism visits, drama ministry, construction of a church, compassion ministry that included food distribution, and street evangelism ministry. Additionally, the Florianopolis team was granted permission by the government to venture into seven of the 13 Guarani tribes (a protected indigenous people group) located near the city.
During these bridge-building visits, many tribal members heard the Gospel for the first time, some coming to Christ immediately. One of the tribal leaders commented as the team left, “because you have been so respectful of us, we will be more open to hearing you again.”
GOSPEL FIELDS
David Denton said he was amazed at how God used his wife’s service in Florianopolis 35 years ago to plant seeds for a spiritual harvest.
“What transpired this trip confirmed to us that God is working, and that God works in ways that we don’t see,” he said. “It renews our trust and faith in God’s ability to produce the fruit from the seeds that we sow.
“It’s the Lord who brings the increase,” he continued. “We just have to trust Him, step out, and do what He’s called us to do. He’s the one that’s working to bring all things to a conclusion for the sake of His glory.”
John Galey, pastor with Poydras Baptist Church, Saint Bernard, felt the presence of spiritual warfare taking place during one visit to a tribe that previously had one Christ follower. Shortly after his team’s arrival, Galey learned the tribe’s witch doctor refused to attend the gathering where the Gospel was presented and chose to remain in her home during the duration of the visit.
Even still, the drama team presented, and Galey shared the Gospel. Stella, the daughter of the witch doctor and wife of the tribal leader, then accepted Christ. She was among 15 in the tribe who turned to Jesus.
“It was neat knowing that we went to people who had never heard the true Gospel of Jesus,” Galey said. “We used their love for nature to share with them that we know the one true God who made all of this. Hopefully our visit left a tremendous impact on the tribe.”
A visit to a prison in Jequitinhonha was the highlight of the trip for Patricia Lincecum, a member with Lincecum Baptist Church, Georgetown, Louisiana. Her team saw 70 inmates profess faith in Christ.
“The men were huge and intimidating at first glance, but when we talked to them all of that just drifted away,” she said. “They were so happy that we were there, and they didn’t want us to leave.”
Lincecum also saw 100 people accept Jesus during visits in Jequitinhonha homes and beauty shops.
“I wanted everyone to leave with a feeling of the love of Jesus,” she said. “We wanted them to know He loved them and that they too can experience His love.”
Christi Ogea, a member with HBC, was moved to tears after an encounter with a single mother, who accepted Christ during a food basket delivery in Florianopolis.
“She had such vulnerability and the biggest smile knowing that what she did in the past didn’t matter, since she now knew Christ,” Ogea said. “After we finished praying, we hugged knowing we now have this automatic spiritual bond that will last an eternity.”
Ogea, who also shared the Gospel as a member of the drama team, was in awe of the evangelistic zeal shown by the youth from a local church. While the Gospel was shared at a local public high school, the teens prayed and afterward they witnessed five of their classmates turn to Jesus.
“It was cool to see the youth, at such a young age, be so in tune with the Spirit,” she said. “They would lift their hands in prayer as Jesus was proclaimed. At that moment, it seemed like there was no more important place to be than there for the youth.”
Sean Keith, Louisiana Baptists’ adult ministry strategist, was amazed at the opportunity to work directly with the different tribes, many who had never heard the Gospel.
“To see them interact with us, listen intently to the Gospel, and respond to our compassionate ministry was a unique and joyful experience,” he said. “I had the privilege of working with a local church to do evangelistic and ministry visits.
“Every interaction was positive and engaging,” he continued. “When I had the opportunity to visit with families who were dealing with debilitating diseases whose faith was strong and even encouraged and ministered to me. I can only compare my ministry in Brazil to how Paul and Barnabas must have felt on their missionary journeys. I saw first-hand how God can use a stranger in a foreign land to open doors for compassionate ministry and the proclamation of the Gospel. Maybe God has a plan for you in a foreign land like Brazil.”
FUTURE PLANS
David Denton said they are excited about returning to Brazil and building two more chapels. By doing so, the teams will fulfill Beyond the Walls Founder Wayne Jenkins’ vision of constructing 75 chapels since mission trips were first taken there in 1984. Jenkins, who previously led 34 mission trips to Brazil, took his final mission trip to that country in July 2018 before his death Nov. 13, 2018, after a lengthy battle with cancer. His son-in-law, David Denton, began leading trips there in 2019.
“That’s gratifying to me, but not just in the sense that we’re fulfilling Wayne’s goal,” he said. “It’s gratifying to me in that we are continuing the Great Commission. I just want to finish the course, which were some of Mr. Wayne’s last words to his family.
“That resonates with us, obviously, because it’s from Scripture, and then also because this was Mr. Wayne’s passion, just be faithful to finish the course. But getting to number 75 doesn’t mean we’re finished,” he continued. “We are one step closer to finishing, but 75 is not the end. I don’t know what the end is. The end is going to be when we see Jesus. We just want to be faithful to what God’s called us to in the meantime.”
Beyond the Walls will send another team to Brazil next summer, July 11-22, 2025. Additionally, the ministry will be expanding to include educational travel beginning with a trip to Israel, March 1-11, 2025. For more information about how to join a trip or donate to the ministry, contact David Denton at 337.359.7689 or denton@hbcni.org.
