Rick Bergen

He Led Captivity Captive

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:50:38 GMT

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,

He led captivity captive,

And gave gifts to men.”

Ephesians 4:7,8 NKJV

I woke up this morning thinking of this phrase, "He led captivity captive." That is quite a thought, isn't it? Sometimes, when we don't get answers to our prayers, or at least not the answers we want, we realize later that was a good thing. Other times, it just seems wrong. We know that we live in a broken, fallen world, and one day all things will be set right. And we know that the Kingdom of God is here, and it is coming soon. These are both true.

When Jesus was on earth, He came to set the captives free. With each healing and miracle, the Kingdom of God would break through and set things right in this broken, fallen world. And in Jesus' death and resurrection, He led captivity captive. And He gave gifts to men.

May the Holy Spirit reveal to each of us what He is trying to tell us.

END.

Olivia Turns 14!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:12:34 GMT

Hi Everyone,

We are sure proud of our 14 year old!

We were just out on a boat trip together with a team from Ontario. It was amazing to watch our girls pitching in, holding crying babies during the sermons, translating for the English speakers and just, in general, growing up. How did that happen? I kind of miss the early years, when they were little, but I am trying to adapt.

Rick.

Where is my focus?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:45:02 GMT

Where is My Focus?

I often feel like I am walking along a narrow mountain path among the cliffs and thick fog and clouds. Sometimes I can see parts of the path way up ahead where the fog is lifted. Most of the path I cannot see. But I can always see where to place the next step. And sometimes I can see a few steps in a row. I have to be careful not to focus on myself or my problems. By keeping my focus on Jesus the next step of obedience is always easy. And occasionally, when I look back I am amazed at how far along the path one step of obedience after another can carry us.

· Peter walked on water as long as his focus was on Jesus.
· Jesus was eating with Martha and Mary. Martha was doing her best to serve Jesus and the other guests, and possibly to impress them. Mary simply focused on Jesus.
The children of Israel often thought of themselves and their problems. But to those who kept their focus on God and His promises, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.” Joshua 21:45

Here are some photos of a recent ministry trip to Tijuca. We had to walk a couple of kilometers through a lot of puddles to get there, and slept in the one-room schoolhouse.

END

Easter Sunday morning

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:11:22 GMT

We had a big feast at our church Easter Sunday morning, to celebrate the ressurection! This has become a tradition for us at the Mirante church.

On another line of thought, here are a few remarks from A. W. Tozer.

When Something Right Can Go Wrong.

1. When in our determination to be bold we become brazen

2. When in our desire to be frank we become rude

3. When in our effort to be watchful we become suspicious

4. When we seek to be serious and become somber

5. When we mean to be conscientious and become overscrupulous

END

Ross and Larry

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:37:34 GMT

Ross Hansen was just here for a couple of weeks. It was so good to see him again. He came with a businessman from Chilliwack, Larry Dekoff. It was a great time of encouragement for me, having them both stay with us a few days.

Ross and Bud, and their families were the first missionaries to join us here in Altamira. Ross is currently home on a year's leave, putting their children through a year of school in Canada. They are praying and evaluating what God would have them do next.

Ross took the plane out for a good flight while he was here. It sure does shorten the travel time to get way out to the farflung communities.

END.

Good Friday Baptism

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:17:50 GMT

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

The Mirante Church had a baptism service Good Friday, in the morning. I am always amazed at how a group of believers can grow, in numbers and in maturity.

Freedom

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:55:04 GMT

Jesus died to set us free.

Free from bondage to...everything.

How many people this Easter week-end don't have a clue?

How many don't have a chance to hear the gospel message in a way they can understand it?

Maybe some of your friends? Maybe they are locked in materialism? Or poverty? Or they have a monster in the closet from their past that they can't tell anyone about? Or maybe they are living in a remote community and no one ever goes there with a clear gospel message?

Let's make the best use possible of each day.

END.

The Law of the Big Mo

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:29:08 GMT

John Maxwell says that momentum is a leader's best friend. He points out how Moses was reminding the Isrealites about when they started gaining momentum. "And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities." I feel like Xtreme Mercy has some momentum here in Brazil now. And I am excited about moving forwrad.

Pick up Ross in Marabá

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:15:57 GMT

Monday morning at 4:30 a.m. Clenildo and I were driving out of Altamira, heading for Marabá. I was looking forward to spending the time with Clenildo, and to see if he would see what I saw in Marabá. After about 7 hours of gravel road we had decided to drive straight through and have a late lunch in Marabá...until we got to the bridge that was under construction. We ended up having supper in Marabá.

When we first arrived at the property the man's wife told us, "The property is sold. They made a deal with another business. I heard the man say, 'Don't sell it to anyone else, I'm bringing you the money.'" Upon further investigation, there is another big company in Marabá interested but there have been no commitments made. The first person to come up with the money can buy the place. This seems reasonable to me, because the property is priced way under market value due to another significant opportunity available to the sellers.

The next day we picked up Ross and Larry Dekkoff at the airport. (Ross is here for two weeks with a businessman from Canada).

The photos that follow were taken on the 14 acre property.

That evening we prepared to leave for Altamira by fueling up the pickup. The gal at the pumps asked me where we were from and what we were doing. I explained that we were missionaries with Igreja da Vinha.

"I know Igreja da Vinha."

"You do? It is only known in the Xingu."

"I know. I was visting Altamira and I went to a church called Igreja da Vinha, near the Mirante Park. I gave my heart to the Lord there. This town does not have any churches like that. When you come here, make sure you tell me, so I can come and help you plant a church here."

Meanwhile Clenildo got in a conversation with the other gas attendant.

"I want to go to your church when you come to Marabá. I want to go to church somewhere where it is fun to serve God. We don't have any churches like that here in Marabá."

So we have the push factor, people who want to be part of planting a church in Marabá, and we have the pull factor, the people in Marabá who want us to come.

Extreme Mercy Leadership

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:30:35 GMT

In June 2006, we had some meetings that have turned out to be Summit Meetings. During these meetings we prayed, thought, brain-stormed and wrote out some ways we would like to restructure the mission organization for growth. This has turned out to be tremendously helpful for us all. Since then we have been meeting as leaders to work out the details as to how we organize smaller teams which will somehow reflect our values of autonomy and accountability.

Last week, during one of these meetings, the Leadership team released us, the Bergens, to pursue the launching of a new church-planting base in Marabá. This included a fund-raising budget, strategy document and the encouragement to develop a board and register the Marabá Base.

I really sense God's approval in this. This has been confirmed, in part, by the eager anticipation of our family, the approval of our leadership team, and an unprecedented response to an email regarding our recent survey trip there last month. The real test of approval will be to see what happens as we move forward in this direction. We now have some Brazilian families praying about moving with us. We will be able to talk about this more as we get property and a budget to work with.

Yahoo!

Cristovál

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:13:37 GMT

Anni and Via just got back from Cristovál. This is a Youth Retreat for our church's "youth of all ages." It was a roaring success, with a lot of preparation which really paid off. The camp construction now includes a meeting hall, mess hall, four large rooms for hanging hammocks for sleeping and some bathrooms. Added to this Clenildo and some of the local leaders built an "obstacle course" for the youth, a "jail", where you could send anyone for 25 cents, and they had to stay there for one hour, or until someone rescued them with a 25 cent release card. The four Igreja da Vinha churches in Altamira that participated each had their youth prepare special numbers to present in front of the larger group, which were rated by a panel of "judges." All of these activities centered around some really good ministry and worship times. Our daughters said their favorite parts of the three day retreat were the preaching/ministry times and showing their friends how to play a card game called Dutch Blitz.

The Porto de Moz churches also said they had a very special time during Cristovál, with good participation and a special sense of the presence of the Lord.

E ND.

Xtreme Mercy Team

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:45:33 GMT

Chris and Jane Weins came for the tenth time to Brazil! He is the president of Xtreme Mercy Canada. Dan Thiessen, also on the XMC board, came for the first time, and brought his Dad. Dan was raised in Borneo, was a missionary in Israel is now based out of Canada.

PS We decided as a team to change our name Xingu Mission to Xtreme Mercy all around.

Missionaries

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:38:29 GMT

We've done several survey trips. We have identified some areas that have a lot of need for missionaries. The questions remain...Who should go? When? How will we start over? Which of the three primary locations, Marabá, São Felix do Xingu, or Ituparinga, should come first? What will the XM leadership look like as we expand to more bases? While we all feel the task is enormous we cannot yet see our next steps. We look forward to secondary survey trips to these places after our furlough. Please continue to pray for direction for us and the team here.

..................................................

“But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God."

Peterson, E. H. (2003). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Ac 20:22-24). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.

..................................................

Cowboys

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:22:42 GMT

Cowboys here move cattle in a slightly different way than I was used to from Alberta. Here the lead cowboy has a long "berrante" horn, which is made up of several cows horns glued together. When he blows in it, it makes a long, deep sound, which the cattle will follow. They lead the herd. The church wagon and cook go ahead and park on the hill tops to slow traffic. Several other cowboys encourage the stragglers to keep going. The cowboys often make rope corrals along side the road where the cattle spend the night. On our trip to São Felix I think we drove through about seven herds, several of which had 1,000 cattle.

When we were doing a survey trip in a town called São Felix do Xingu, I asked the surgeon at the hospital if they had lots of shootings. "Lots." Then I asked him were the shooting drug related, or theft related, or gangs, or what? His reply surprised me, "One hundred percent of the shootings here are disputed over land boundaries on the ranches."

End.

Uncle Henry

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:10:25 GMT

When I grew up in Canada, every four years or so my Uncle Henry would come home from Borneo on furlough. He was a missionary there, with his family, for about 25 years.

I never imagined I would one day be translating for him in the Amazon. The local people loved his stories about bringing the gospel to the cannibals, and loved the way he taught the Bible.

Many of the joys and difficulties of missionary life are similar. It was very encouraging to have him come out for 16 days.

End.

Maranhão

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:31:16 GMT

As we are considering planting a new base, the area of Marabá continues to come to mind. We have heard about a train that takes passengers from Marabá to a coastal town called São Luiz, the capital of the state of Maranhão. This train would be about $200 cheaper than flying in and out, and might be a good option for ministry teams. So we decided to check it out, our family of 6 plus Heather, a short termer who is visiting us. When we got to Marabá information about the train and hotels on the other end, etc., all seemed pretty sketchy, and expensive. BUT, we were told, São Luiz was only 5 or 6 hours away by car, on good roads! So off we went in our car, mid-morning, ready to be at the coast by mid-afternoon. Along the way we were told it was 7 hours away, then 8, then on one ferry crossing a river, well into our trip, a lady told us it was about 14 hours from there! In the end it was about 14 hours each way from Marabá, and the roads were mostly Not Good. And the train option looks really good, though we still have not actually tried it.

As this was a survey trip, we had a good chance to look over many towns and villages, and a few cities. We had a good time together as a family. And there was a lot of time to reflect and pray about how we can actually start a church planting movement. We need to let these ideas perc a bit, and continue talking to our leadership teams here in Altamira.

End.

Annika turns 15!

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:18:09 GMT

June 1 Annika turned 15. She was one when we moved to Brazil.

We thank the Lord for all these years.

Missionary Survey Trip to Monte Dourado / Laranjal

Mon, 28 May 2007 14:59:39 GMT

We just got back from a most beautiful eight day trip. Natural highlights include an passage of the river that was so narrow the trees often touched each other above the boat. It took us 5 hours out of the 25 hour trip to cross this stretch each way. In the early morning we saw a big black toucan with a bright orange bill, illuminated in the morning sunlight against the darker backdrop of the green and blue canal. We saw countless macaws and parrots, and even monkeys a few times. One time, right above the boat, I saw a small monkey with an even smaller baby monkey clinging to it's back.

On the more human side, we discovered that most of the people in these two towns work for a huge paper mill or a huge calcium mine. Or they wish they did. The thousands of industrial workers are relatively well off. The majority of the rest seem very poor. There are probably miles of boardwalks connecting small wooden houses, and full of garbage and stench below, in one of the towns. It seems this is a very needy place, but since most of the people live in the towns there is a smaller rural unreached / unchurched population. One city official pulled up some statistics that showed there were 247 families living within a one hundred mile radius of the town. While it seems a great mission opportunity, because there are already some churches in the towns we are feeling it is a lower priority than some of the other places where we have traveled.

Please pray with us as we seek to find the place where God would have us plant the next mission base.

End.

Virgilho's Story

Mon, 28 May 2007 14:35:46 GMT

“If you have something to confess you need to do that right now! We are here to pray for you, but you have to cooperate if you want to be healed!”

"Yes. I have something to confess. I made a pact with a saint, that if he would heal me I would wear his black cape for six months."

Virgilho went with Keith and Marsha to the house of a neighbor. She had been slandering him, the church and the mission. But Virgilho felt he needed to forgive her, and go and pray for her. She has (had?) tumors in her stomach. When he got to her house she was laying on the floor and had been there for some days. Her voice was very weak, and she looked like she was dying. "When I started praying for her, my prayers just bounced off her. They wouldn't go anywhere." Virgilho was telling me at church what happened. That is when he told her she needed to confess something, and she confessed about the pact she had made with the spiritist. As they were praying for her another spiritist came over with more council. Virgilho kindly declined, then asked the 70 year visiting lady if he could pray for her. "She spun on her heels and was gone like a flash. She wanted nothing to do with Christian prayer." When they were done praying for the sick lady she sat up and was speaking in a much stronger voice. Three days later she was much more alert, still not walking, but significantly improved.

About two weeks later the lady is in our state capital city of Belem, getting a medical checkup for a lump.

Please keep praying for Virgilhio and Joanna. They are fairly new Christians, and pastoring a new congregation out in the bush where they now live. Prayer would also be appreciated for Deusemar and his wife, and for Keith and Marsha, who are working with these people.

End.

What Are We Doing?

Wed, 09 May 2007 09:55:02 GMT

Here are a few questions?:

1. What is our goal?

2. How will we know if we have done a good job?

3. When is our job done?

Here are a few responses:

1. We want a plant a church planting movement...plant churches that train leaders and plant churches.

2. We want to be careful not to create long-term dependency.

3. When it becomes a lot of fun, but we are not really needed, our job may be done. A few questions we can ask to find out are:

a) If I leave, what churches, events, organizations or momentum will die?
b) If I don't go to the meetings, what will really happen?

What is our plan?

1. Go where there is no church like the one we want to plant.

2. Make disciples of local people. Plant a church with sufficient leadership, finances and infrastructure to keep making disciples and planting churches when you are gone.

3. Give it away. Move on. Do it again.

Remember

1. Missionaries go where few invite them to come, and leave when few think they should leave.

2. The harvest field is still huge. (This is understated).

3. We need to find the people who God has called and help them get on the right path. They may be trapped in really bad lifestyles and patterns. God will train them, and they be far more effective than we could ever hope to be. Find them. Help them get to the right place. Move on.

4. Missions are really good at starting and equipping.

5. Missions need a local exit strategy. Work until the time is right. Then go and do it again.

6. The Harvest Field still has a tremendous need for many more missions and missionaries.

AND THE BIG QUESTION?

7. What in life could be a greater investment than starting a church-that-plants-churches-that-plant-churches? What if you could be part of a team that does more than one of these in a lifetime? How would you feel about that? What if together we could build a team that will plant a whole bunch of these, in several countries? How much time and money and effort would YOU be willing to pour into a project like this?

Hmmm...