Brandon Winkler felt a little uncomfortable, he said, when he was asked to lead worship on a Sunday morning in Brasilia, Brazil. He wasn’t uncomfortable in his guitar playing. He had played these songs before. The challenge for him was the setting.

He stood on stage in a chapel of a rehab facility. The room was simple with white walls, white tile floor and wooden pews set up in two sections. The technology was in good shape with a quality sound system and a projector that shined the word “Welcome” on the back wall of the stage, greeting people before the service started.

Winkler was in Brazil’s capital city with a volunteer missions team from First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, Missouri. They were spending a week serving Indigenous families. On this Sunday, though, they took a bumpy dirt road to visit this facility supported by Brazilian Baptists.

Why was this worship setting unnerving for Winkler? First, he doesn’t know Portuguese. Second, he was to lead worship for more than 50 men in the rehab facility. As the associate pastor of student and family ministries at FBC O’Fallon, Winkler is more familiar with leading a worship time with teenagers.

Sofia, one of the translators for the missions team, made the situation easier, as she offered to sing on stage with Winkler. The 17-year-old is a member of a worship team at her church, so this was natural for her. One of the facility’s residents played the drums, and words to the songs were translated in Portuguese and projected on the wall.

What happened at the beginning of the service was unexpected by Winkler and the team. They opened with singing “The Goodness of God,” and not only did the residents know the song, but they also sang it with great passion. Their boisterous vocals filled the room.

The whole missions team joined in praise, as some raised hands and wiped tears. God had changed these men as evidenced by their worship.

“It was a ‘step out of my comfort zone’ moment, but it was one of the most authentic worship experiences I’ve been a part of,” Winkler said.

Brandon Kiesling, associate pastor of gospel proclamation at FBC O’Fallon, shared his testimony during the service. With the help of a Portuguese translator, Kiesling told the men how God rescued him from a life of addiction and is using him as a minister of the gospel.

The residents listened intently, and their expressions showed they could relate to Kiesling’s story. When he mentioned 2 Corinthians 5:17 and began to quote the verse, the men recited right along with Kiesling in Portuguese.

“Let God do a work in you, and He can use you to do greater things,” Kiesling said at the conclusion of his testimony.

Sharing love and the gospel with Indigenous families

The missions team started serving the first day they arrived in Brasilia. They joined their hosts, International Mission Board missionaries Nick and Amber Sroka, in making the daily hour-long drive to a center for Indigenous families who face difficult circumstances.

Brazil is home to more than 300 ethnicities and 250 Indigenous languages. Some tribes observe infanticide for babies born with birth defects, incurable diseases, or in cases of twins and unwanted pregnancies, seeing these as curses. In many situations, parents or relatives of these children do not comply with the tribal observance and are forced to leave the tribe.

The center is called ATINI, which means “voice” in one of the Indigenous languages. This faith-based organization harbors these families and provides them care and living arrangements. ATINI also receives families with children needing medical care that isn’t available where they live. The center helps adults register with the government so they can receive health and welfare benefits. It assists children who need enrolled in local schools and provides them tutoring.

The missions team filled their days ministering at ATINI. Mornings were filled with Vacation Bible School activities for children. Though it was wintertime in the U.S., this was the middle of summer for Brazil, so children were out of school. The warmer weather was a pleasant alternative over the cold temperatures in Missouri.

Team members often used lunch breaks, which always featured beans and rice, to share Bible stories with families. The story of Gideon from Judges 7 seemed to catch the attention of the listeners.  Some mentioned they never heard this story before and were amazed that God used the reluctant judge to defeat the Midianites.

In the afternoons, the missions team swapped VBS duties for lawn tools and did clean-up and repair projects as well as mowing and hedge trimming on the ATINI campus. The center is expanding on their 10 acres of the property, which includes building a community center.

The Srokas, as well as their children, were involved in all the activities at ATINI. Nick helped repair roofs and tinkered with a tractor, getting it to run.  With a limited staff at ATINI, the team’s service made much progress on the campus.

Indigenous family shares profession of faith since living at ATINI

Edgar and Elisa and their five children have been living at ATINI for six years. They spend their time making jewelry and designing satchels with cultural artistry. The couple sew colorful beads together to make beautiful necklaces and bracelets, as well as cross-shaped bookmarks. Edgar also does woodcraft, carving walking sticks and clubs for protection against animals, which are common among Brazilian tribes.

Their young boys are natural athletes who regularly play soccer with other children. Isadora, their youngest, took every opportunity to jump on the trampoline with her mother or an ATINI staff member always close by.

Their daughter Jessica is 12 years old and has muscular dystrophy. Though she is confined to a wheelchair, Jessica regularly has a smile on her face and enjoys helping her parents make jewelry and other craft items.

Edgar said he knew about Jesus when he lived in his tribe, but since moving to ATINI, he and Elisa have made professions of faith in Christ and were baptized. Elisa said she loves when church groups come to visit ATINI. Her face beamed when she talked about hearing visitors share Bible stories or testimonies of how God has worked in their lives.

Kiesling encourages more Southern Baptist churches to do volunteer missions

FBC O’Fallon is planning a return trip to Brasilia later this year with continued work at ATINI, helping with construction projects.

Along with their growing involvement in Brazil, FBC O’Fallon is involved in other mission work. The church has a strong partnership in Chiapas, Mexico, with IMB missionaries Clay and Tammy Richardson, helping to reach the Zoque people. They also are supporting Project 3000 work.

Kiesling said the church is working toward having an ongoing mission partnership on each of the six major continents by the year 2033 with current partnerships in North America, South America, Europe and Africa. On average, FBC O’Fallon supports 12 volunteer mission groups a year.

“I think every Southern Baptist church should do at least one mission trip a year,” Kiesling said. “God uses these trips to bring the gospel to the lost but also to show Jesus followers the brokenness of the world beyond our own backyards.”

IMB makes it possible for every church to serve with missionaries all over the world. There are short-term trips designed for Southern Baptist churches, and IMB handles training, logistics and travel, so mission teams can focus on sharing the gospel.

For more information visit imb.org/get-involved.

Some names have been changed for security reasons.