And Beyond. . .
The weeks ahead will be busy.
- July 24 -- for 2 weeks I speak to 12,000 people at the New Wine festival in England. Leaders from all over Europe will be there. Please pray that they will receive the message of grace and healing and that I will be able to make friends for Good News to the Poor.

- August -- a group of us are off to Kenya and South Africa to conduct business seminars and participate in missions training. Among those going are Doug Wall, Jim Shanley and Emmet Blue.

- October -- I will conduct training schools attended by leaders from all over S.E. Asia in Korea and Australia.

- The trip to Albania that was scheduled for this summer has been moved to early 2003.

That's the current picture. Please continue to pray and send money. Take a look at the "Kayamandi Jewelry" section of this website if you're interested in distributing jewelry made by the Kayamandi women. Thanks again for your support in taking the Good News to the poor.

Peace and all good,
Ken

Message from Claudio Oliver:
Hello Ken,
Probably this message will arrive when you will be still traveling. Thank you very much for your time spent here. What happened between you and our people was something that I normally indentify as a kind of divine appointment. The connection from both sides (I hope you will agree) occurred automatically, without any preparation or assumption. You caught the hearts of the Brazilians, I think that this time was only your first time around here.

Everybody loved you, felt blessed by your words and had the clear idea of you being used as a tool by the Lord. Personally was an honor and I feel grateful for the time you spent personally with me.

I have some ideas, some dreams to share, and probably I'll call you after you arrive home.

Well in the name of the Vineyard pastors in Brazil, thank you very much for your time and investment in our lives, our people and our country, I hope this is only the beginning of a long frienship and relationship. If you have any commentary to share about your time here, I know that the other pastors will be glad to receive your impressions and perceptions. All the guys are asking me: When Ken will come back??? Let us know, we loved him.

I hope your family and friends will be OK when you arrive.
Yours,
Claudio Oliver Brazil & Nicaragua

Brazil & Nicaragua

July 15, 2002

Brazil
Brazil is large and green. Even from 30,000 feet in the air, it is large and green. It takes 3 hours to fly over the Amazon basin alone. Landing in Sao Palo, I was quickly swallowed into its congested population of 20 million. The very rich and the poorest of the poor live side by side in a stew of Latin humanity and the drive through their city took several hours -- much like L.A. during rush hour traffic, only worse. I just happened to be there during the Soccer World Cup, which Brazin won, and was struck by the absolute devotion to and near worship of their team. I wondered what it will be like when the passion they lavish on the team is spent of Jesus, who has already won an infinitely greater victory for them than the World Cup.

I was there to provide training for 150 church planters and missionaries. Participants came from university settings at one end of the social spectrum to front line missionaries to the Amazon Indians, at the other. I instantly hit it off with everyone. They had already read my books, which had been translated into Spanish and Portugese. Spiritual abuse has been a serious problem in Latin America, so my book on that subject was especially helpful to them.

An email from Claudio Oliver is enclosed. He is a business executive, a university professor and the head of the Vineyard Churches in Brazil. I pass his letter along to give an idea of the effect my ministry had on them. It is to you as much as to me, since you made my work there possible.

Nicaragua
Devastation is what comes to mind when traveling through Nicaragua. Its recent history includes: the economy being looted by the dictatorship of the Samoza family, the earthquake in the mid 70s which leveled its capital, Managua, the military takover by the communists led by Daniel Ortega, and then the years long Contra wars leading to the overthrow of Ortega and company. Nicaragua is now trying to rebuild and learn to govern herself democratically. The violence of the last 50 years has left her wounded, scared and corrupted, but strangely optimistic about the future.

I spoke to several large Christian groups in the capital and to many mission leaders on the Mosquito Coast. No matter where I talk about grace and healing, it always strikes a nerve and produces good fruit. It usually always comes as a total surprise as well, as evidenced by the common comment, "I didn't know God was like that". All in all, it was a very good investment of time, money and energy.