2009 Yearend Total Mag Small

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FrontlineM ISSIONS



Page 1

contentsFrom the

Heart of Alanpage 2

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Brazilpages 3 & 4

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Cover Story:Guyana

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Guyanapage 6

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Honduraspage 7

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ChavarriaMinistry

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Cover photo:Alan Winter, Rosia Hussain, and John Pitzer in Mahaica Creek,

Guyana.Taken by Mary West.

Top Right and Back Cover photo:Taken by Jayson Mapes.

journeying TO THE FRONTLINE

BRAZILMarch: Alan, Harr y school dedication/openingMay: Alan, Harr y CETRAM Intensive Class

July: Manna Church, Alan, Heidi church planting, children, constructionMonthly during school year: GCI one-week intensives

GUYANAFebruary/March: Bethel SSNM, Alan, Heidi ministry, prayer, and evangelismApril: Alan, Harry leadership development

June:Peachtree Christian, Alan, Heidi prayer and evangelism July:St. James Episcopal, Harry children’s Home, VBS

HONDURAS January:Redeemer Lutheran, Alan clinics, constructionFebruary: Ballardsville Baptist, Luis evangelism, constructionFebruary: Jabez Ministries, Luis explorationApril:Landmark Christian School, Alan, clinics, evangelism, ministry

Heidi, Harry April: Alan, Luis leadership developmentMay:First Baptist Atlanta, Luis leadership development, VBS

June:Crossroads Douglasville, Luis clinics, construction July:Beulah Baptist, Alan construction, VBS July:First Baptist Atlanta, Luis leadership development, VBS

NICARAGUA January: Cumberland Presbyterian, Luis clinics, construction June: Crossroads Douglasville, Luis construction, evangelism

For more information about this schedule and other Frontline news, visit www.fmusa.org.To receive regularly emailed updates and prayer requests from Frontline,

please contact us at [email protected] .



As we reach the end of this year, I find myself asking the Lord,“What have You taught me this yearthat will help me bring You glory next year?” I was hoping for somegrand and exciting revelation, butnaturally I did not get the answer Iexpected. Instead, my spirit heardHim speak that old familiar verse:“Therefore, as you go, disciple allthe nations, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. ”(Matthew 28:19).

With this in mind, I began to re-flect back on 2009. The year began

with a 560-mile trip in a dugoutcanoe up the Essesquibo River andthrough the rainforest on the bor-ders of Brazil and Guyana. I was onmy way to see the Wai Wai people,

who had asked Frontline to come totheir villages and to teach them how to fulfill the Great Commision.

With me were five college stu-dents: Matthew Yeager and AlanBradfield from Atlanta, Georgia,and Brandon Jones, Chris Mandel,and Justin Brezee from Fredericks-burg, Virginia. Three gracious

Amerindian guides, Peter Jefferies, José de Silva, and Charlo Hen-dricks, who led us safely along thedark river into the deep forests of Guyana, accompanied us.

It was the adventure of a life-time. I can’t even begin to describethe experience: landing on the riverbank for the night and smelling a

very poisonous snake; learning how to stay comfortable when sitting inthe bottom of a canoe for hours or

even days on end; eating piranha be-fore they could eat us; filling our

water bottles from “water vines”—that’s life in the jungles of Guyana!

The Wai Wai’s invitation hadcome two years before, after Front-line organized a conference of in-digenous leaders in Roraimi, Brazil,in 2007. In their eagerness to be apart of God’s work, fifteen Wai Waifamily members made the gruelingfourteen-day journey to the villageof Agua Fria for the conference.Representatives from eight other in-digenous tribes were present, along

with some Brazilians and a few Americans. The fellowship of eat-

ing, working and worshipping to-gether as one family in Christ for a

whole week encouraged and ener-gized the Wai Wai. They envisionedthe same life of brotherly love fortheir own communities, and askedFrontline to visit their villages to in-spire and rejuvenate the rest of theirpeople.

The Wai Wai are a joyous peo-ple, and their welcome song lastedthree hours as they led us up thepath from the river to the village of

Konashen, when at last we reachedthe end of our journey. Every mem-ber of the village participated in theenthusiastic celebration of our ar-rival—singing, dancing, and huggingall of us. They overwhelmed us withtheir warmth and love.

At the conference in 2007, we were privileged to witness each peo-ple group worship the Lord with

their own unique cultural expres-sions, which is why we were sur-prised to find that the village of Konashen—home to one of the old-est churches of all the tribes—didnot actually have a truly indigenouschurch. Instead, we found a “west-ern-styled” church in the middle of a native settlement.

We were puzzled by this. The Wai Wai love to sing and dance andare generally very animated. Most of their cultural activities take place in a“round house”—a large round build-ing with lots of room for all thissinging and dancing and other tradi-tional events.

Therefore, as you go,disciple all the nations...

Matthew 28:20

Page 2

Fishing Wai Wai style: getting the piranha before they get you.

(continued on page 9)

FROM THE H EART OF A LAN



March 1, 2010, will be the culmi-nation of three years of planning andhard work—the opening of the Cen-tro de Treinamento de MESEF (CE-TRAM). CETRAM is thelong-awaited training center for in-digenous leaders from seven north-ern Brazilian tribes: Macuxi, Ingariko,Patamona, Taurepang, Yanomami,

Wai Wai and Wapichana.

Nine years ago Dr. Eric Hoffler, LynLoveless, and I made our first unforget-table contact with the Indian villages, en-countering legal and spiritual obstaclesthat threatened to keep the Gospel fromimpacting the Indian cultures. Now after34 trips to the town of Boa Vista in Ro-raima, Brazil, I get to celebrate the mar-

velous acts of our Lord as we see theindigenous church take one giant step in

reaching their people for Christ.

Frontline’s efforts to serve indige-nous populations concentrate on thethree-self formula: self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating.Helping tribes reach these goals canbe a daunting task, since these aremostly hunting-gathering cultures

which the diminishing resources of their region can no longer sustain.

CETRAM will train students in

Biblical storytelling (a method of evangelism in line with their oral cul-ture) along with language studies, fi-nances, and vocational education.The training will be sixty percent prac-tical and forty percent theoretical.

On the weekends, teams of stu-dents and leaders coordinated by Josède Silva will go to indigenous villagesto seek out disciples and cultivate new

indigenous churches, in accordance

with the 2007 mandate given toMESEF by the State Congress of In-dian Chiefs. CETRAM students havequite a task ahead of them, as they areessentially responsible for the spiritual

well-being of 250 indigenous villagesin the state of Roraima.

By the Lord’s grace, we have final-ized the local, state, and federal certifi-cations MESEF needed to proceed.Having the required approvals allowsus to incorporate the federal educa-tion system, which will enable us tooffer many of the vocational coursesfree of charge (mechanics, agriculture,computers, etc.). The school will alsobe eligible to receive a portion of ourschool meals at little or no cost fromlocal and state governments.

These governmental certificates willalso make it possible for students to re-ceive a bachelor’s degree from the fed-eral university system (after they meet

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BRAZIL

The CETRAM facility (kitchen shown) nears completion after three hopeful years.

Jemima Chatarpal, Awan Chatarpal’swife, will serve as CETRAM’s director.

MESEF training center to open in Marchby Alan Winter



In July, Manna Church in Fayetteville, North Car-

olina, sent a team of 17 people to Roraima, Brazil. Theirgoal was to help MESEF provide support and shelter forone of its most dedicated leaders: Pastor José.

José is an important part of the MESEF organiza-tion (Frontline’s arm in Brazil). He works hard to plantchurches and spread the Gospel among the indigenouspeoples of Northern Brazil, especially within the state of Roraima. This area is isolated and underdeveloped, but

José is tireless in his efforts to reach these needy people.He has had a significant impact on the communitiesaround him, and he will be bringing his expertise andpassion to the training of new leaders at CETRAM.

Constructing a home for Paster José and his family was the main goal for the team from Manna Church,and they threw their backs into it!

In addition to building this house for José and hisfamily, the team from Manna also hosted a VBS for thechildren of four different churches in the area.

BRAZIL

entrance requirements and pass a stan-dardized test). This is equivalent to acollege in the United States receivingaccreditation—it’s a big deal in Brazil!

CETRAM will hold classes fourdays each week; in the mornings,classes will be taught in Macuxi, Por-tuguese, and English. Evening classesin Portugeuse will be offered for stu-dents who live in the city with daytimejobs. In the afternoons and eveningsthe indigenous students will attend vo-cational training and work as appren-tices for various companies in the city.

Dr. Steven Crowther (president of Grace College of Divinity), Don and

Alida Lewis, and Alan Winter willtake part in the CETRAM’s openingon March 1, 2010. We also expect the

mayor and the governor to be in at-tendance, as well as a number of MESEF’s international partners.

The local communities recognize

that this is a momentous developmentfor their region. CETRAM’s long-an-ticipated opening is being greeted withso much excitement around the stateof Roraima that the opening cere-mony will be televised. In preparationfor this wonderful moment, two majortasks need to be accomplished:

1) Installation, registration, andtraining of CETRAM staff, and a trip

by José to register indigenous students(cost: $5,000); and

2) completion of the women’s dor-mitory (cost: $13,000).

Time is of the essence as we near

opening day. CETRAM is on the lastlap of preparation, and ask our sup-porters to consider contributing tothese final endeavors. Much still must

be done and we need your help.Please join with us in your prayers:

we are asking God to break down theremaining barriers that stand beforeus, to ensure the final details willcome together smoothly, and that allof the students will make it to Boa

Vista without difficulty.Our God is an awesome God and

He will honor His name in and

among the nations and tribes. He is tobe praised for realizing this impossibledream for us. Our thanks also go toour supporters. We remain humbledin the midst of His mighty work.

Manna Church team builds MESEF leader a home

Manna Church team member Rachel Sgro works hard in thehot sun during the construction of Paster José’s new house.

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Page 5

G UYANA

The lame shall walk: A healing in Guyana “Alan, I know if you go to my

house and pray for my granddaughter,she will be healed,” exclaimed Mrs.Hussain. She was speaking of RosiaHussain, a 28-year-old woman whosetraumatic birth resulted in permanentnerve damageand paralysis inher right side.She had lived herentire life withcripping immo-bility and debili-tating pain.

The Hussainslive in MahaicaCreek, Guyana, asmall villageamid vast ricefields with only a

few believers. I was in the area with a team of thirteen from theBethel-AtlantaSchool of Super-natural Ministry;

we had spent the trip reaching out topredominantly Muslim and Hinducommunities, pouring our hearts

into evangelism. When Mrs. Hussain heard I was in

Guyana with a group of believers, she was extremely eager for us to visit.

To reach the Hussain farm, theteam and I walked a mile in the hotafternoon sun and found Rosia andher parents waiting for us. Rosia’s

head hung low—the posture of 28

years of shame and suffering.The team surrounded Rosia, re-

peating her grandmother’s declarationof faith: “I know if you pray for her,she will be healed!” We were strength-

ened by that unshakeable faith, andprayed fervently for Rosia’s recovery.

As we watched, Rosia’s right eye

rose and began to move. Her mouthslowly lifted from its immobile droopto a smile. We rejoiced to see suchmiraculous signs and began to pray again. Soon, she was lifting her badarm and making a fist with fingersthat had never been strong enough tohold anything.

The team passed her heavier and

heavier objects to hold as they contin-ued to pray; Rosia tested her wrist

with each one—a tomato, a rock—andtold us the pain was disappearing.

With increasing astonishment, we watched Rosiaflex her bad leg,lifting it up anddown. To her fam-ily’s shock and joy,she began walk-ing—a straight,strong, healthy

walk, not thedragging limpshe’d always had.She walked 400

yards away fromus, turned

around, and sud-denly broke into arun! We couldn’tbelieve our eyes!

The air waselectric; we feltGod’s power surg-

ing through us and radiating fromRosia’s face. We laughed with joy, eyesfull of tears, amazed at the Lord’s mar-

velous deeds. We joined Rosia, whoran triumphantly with her arms lifted,like a champion crossing the finishline. She was a captive freed from along bondage, reaching out in surren-der and gratitude to her great Lord,giving Him praise and glory in themidst of her unspeakable joy.

The thirteen-member team from the Bethel-Atlanta School of Supernatural Min-istry witnessed the healing of Rosia Hussain first-hand during their trip to Guyanathis past summer.

by Alan Winter



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G UYANA

This summer I went to Guyana with a mission team

from St. James Episcopal church; while we were there, wehad the opportunity to minister to some surrounding vil-lages and spend time at the Save’R’Kids Children’s Home.

We stayed in missionary dormitories attached to theSave’R’Kids Home, whichhouses 28 boys and girls, many of them siblings, and all of them from unfortunate situa-tions. To honor Michael andMichiel Campbell, who directthe children’s home, we wor-shipped at their church andhosted three days of VacationBible School for 208 childrenfrom their church family. In ad-dition to a trip by boat to an

Amerindian village, and a brief visit to Mahaica to fellowship with Pastor Fizul Hack, theteam also worked on some contruction projects.

When not working on site or at VBS, we simply spenttime with the Save’R’Kids children and teens and the Camp-bell family. I could go on for hours telling you about the chil-dren. (If this tells you anything, I have their photos on my

screen saver and my refrigerator right along with my girls and

my grandson!) They enjoy playing games, being read to,learning, laughing, being held, and giving and receiving loveand attention. The Campbells enjoy the encouragement of

knowing there are brothers andsisters in Christ who care aboutthem and the children.

It’s easy to talk about what we did. It’s harder to put into words how the trip touchedeach of us. Like Moses comingdown from the mountain top,

we pray not to lose the glow of having been intimate with theLord for a couple of weeks.

On the trip, we had toleave behind our day to day re-sponsibilities and concerns.Phones didn’t always work, theinternet wasn’t dependable,

and the electricity went off sporadically. But we could see

all the stars in the sky and we played musical chairs withthe children by moonlight. We provided our own musicand entertainment. One evening, the children andCampbell family put on an amazing variety show for us.

We went to bed early and got up early with the cow and the sheep (or are they goats) and the monkeys and thebirds. We went barefoot. We worked hard but there waspeace and spiritual refreshment.

It made me think of Matthew 11:28-30: “Come toMe, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I amgentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for yoursouls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

Someone asked me if I plan to return to Guyanaagain next year for a third trip. My answer: “Yes, if theLord is willing and the creek don’t rise.” I want to see“my” children. I miss them. I want to spend time apart

with the Lord and my church family. I want to learn andplay and love and feel as light as a prayer.

How I spent my summer vacation

For more information about Save’R’Kids,please call or visit the website:

Pat Jackson 770.969.0127

Donna Shuford 770.251.5309

www.saverkidsinternational.org

by Teena Martindale

The children of the Save’R’Kids home put on a show for their visitors. There are currently 28 boys and girlsat the Guyana children’s home.



Christ and the international sport A team from Landmark Chris-

tian School in Fairburn, Georgia,found a unique way to shareChrist’s love during their missiontrip to Honduras: soccer!This sport,called fútbolin Latin coun-tries, is aptly named “the inter-national sport”because of its ex-traordinary popular-ity. Using fútbol toreach out to Hon-durans provided theLandmark team with aunique opportunity tominister to those whodid not get treated at the

medical and dental clinics.Outside ministries provided

soccer uniforms and balls to giveout to villages the team visited. Inone small village outside of El Car-rezal, an entire soccer team com-posed of about a dozen young menranging in age from mid teens tolate twenties came to get uniforms.

While being given their uniforms,each of these young men (none of

whom were believers) heard theGospel of Christ.

These men listened intently tothe message about human sin, thenature of God’s holiness, andChrist’s death and resurrection.

After the uniforms were

handed out, the Landmark team invited

this group of young men to play a fútbolmatch. The villagers gladly acceptedand all proceeded to the soccerfield. While the field was mostly dirt with many humps, the Hon-duran team immediately changedinto the uniforms and were as eager

to play as though it were a World

Cup match.The Hondurans proceeded to

defeat the Americans 3 goals to 1,despite a good effort by the Land-mark students. It’s tough to beat fút-bol players who have grown upliving and breathing the sport their whole lives!

Someday, we hope those young men will be as serious

about the Lord Jesus Christ asthey were about their soccer.That day, a dozen young menheard the Gospel because of their love of fútbol and the

generous do-nation

from out-side min-

istries of uniforms

and balls.Now that the

seed has beenplanted, per-

haps their hearts will be moreopen to God’s

mercy and love.

Page 7

H ONDURAS

Top: Honduran boys play soccer withdonated equipment.

Bottom : A group of Honduran boysshow their new donated uniforms and Spanish-language, soccer-themed Bibles.

by Joe Cochran



Page 8

C HAVARRIA M INISTRY

This was my first full year with

Frontline, and it was a year of chal-lenges and spiritual growth. We cer-tainly serve an awesome God, and Iam thankful that He is in control.

We took several short term mis-sion teams to Honduras, Nicaragua,and Costa Rica this year. These tripsinvolved medical clinics, construc-tion, children’s ministry, women’sministry, evangelism, leadership

training, and marriage retreats.Every trip is special, but there werea couple that really had an impacton me.

During one trip to Honduras,our team ministered to the Lencapeople in the western part of thecountry. The Lenca village we trav-eled to was in desperate need of anew church, so we helped them

build a church building.The villagers were so excited

about the new facility that they werethe first ones to the building site inthe morning and the last ones toleave at night. When we asked forten of the village men to help, forty showed up. The women broughtfood and water and even workedalongside the men.

The Lenca people mostly live inpoverty, and this village is especially poor, but the people there have suchgenerous spirits. They plan to usethe old building as a feeding centerfor the four hundred school childrenin their community; although they have few resources, they are eager to

share what little they have.I just returned from the last mis-

sion trip of the year in Nicaragua, where we had the opportunity notonly to help train pastors for min-istry, but also to be part of a youthcamp. Looking at the next genera-tion of God’s servants—seeing theirstruggles and their thirst for God—

was a moving experience.One day soon, these young peo-

ple will be going around the world toshare the Good News, to preach and

lead others to Christ. We were hon-ored to be a part of their training.

We also worked with a pastor

whose congregation is getting in- volved with church-planting for thefirst time. This congregation is plant-ing its first church in the community of Las Lajas, where there is currently only one believer—a man God al-lowed the church to reach out to justa few weeks ago. The pastor’s visionis to get the Las Lajas church thriv-ing, and reach out to three sur-rounding villages from there.

I want to thank our ministry part-ners and Frontline supporters formaking this year possible, and for al-lowing us to be a part of God’s work.

We saw the love of God poured outupon us, and we are grateful to theLord for all He has done.

First year in retrospect: blessings and challenges

Luis Chavarria with his wife Karen. Luis joined Frontline in 2008.

Let them give thanks to theLORD for his unfailing

love and his wonderfuldeeds for men.

Psalm 107:8

by Luis Chavarria



FROM THE H EART OF A LAN

Imagine our surprise when weattended their church service, whereeveryone sat in rows singing Westernhymns, led by a motionless choir anda pastor at a podium. When I askedthem why church was so differentfrom the rest of their day-to-day lives,they said, “This is how the missionar-

ies taught us!” When I heard that, I thought of

the Apostle Paul and his simple,straightforward purpose: to win as many people as possible to Christ. This mis-sion shaped his evangelist lifestyle, andmade planting and nurturing churcheshis only focus. What’s more, the scrip-ture shows us that Paul became allthings to all men, so that by all possiblemeans some might be saved (1Corinthians 9:19-23, Romans 15:16-21,and 2 Corinthians 4:3-15). Paul was thefirst apostle who labored on the front-lines, recklessly abandoning everything—even his cultural predispositions—torescue the perishing.

Fifty years ago, missionaries ar-

rived in Guyana and shared theGospel with the Wai Wai. Praise Godthat the Wai Wai gladly received the

Word of the Lord and establishedchurches within a few of their com-munities. Unfortunately, the churchmovement—like many missionary en-deavors—never became indigenous.Christ was preached and accepted,

but the message also included a lot of western cultural baggage.

Fortunately for the Wai Wai, theirremote location has allowed them toretain their cultural heritage. They have not been troubled by doubtsabout their identity as a people group(as so many other ethnic groups acrossthe world have after being evangelized).Now the Wai Wai want to learn how to reflect Christ through the prism of their own remarkable culture.

I recently read Searching for theIndigenous Church: A Missionary Pilgrimage, by Gene Daniels. The au-thor records similar experiencesamong native peoples. With the bestof intentions, and often at great cost

to themselves, missionaries carriedthe Gospel to foreign cultures, wherethey often planted Westernized con-gregations instead of fostering indige-nous communities of believers.

But the Great Commission is amandate to make disciples of “all na-tions,” or people groups. I believe theemphasis on “all nations” was not an af-

terthought in that statement, but a key component in nurturing a vibrant com-munity of believers represented by every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. Reve-lation 7:9 describes this diverse body of Christ worshipping before the throne of God—how can we, as missionaries, hopeand pray for anything less?

The Chinese church is an excellentexample of an indigenous church move-ment. In the 1940s missionaries wereimprisoned, church buildings destroyed,Bibles burned, Christian gatherings out-lawed—but in spite of this constant per-secution, the Chinese church hasemerged as possibly the strongest, most

vibrant church in the world. How canthis be? One of the answers is simply

(continued from page 2)

Page 9

The Wai Wai on the riverbank.





M ISSIONSFrontline

5600 Short Road, Fairburn, GeorgiaContact: 770.774.0641 w [email protected]

have multiplied,O Lord my God,Your wondrousdeeds and Your

thoughts towardus; none cancompare withYou! I willproclaim and tellof them, yet they are more thancan be told.

Psalms 40:5 ESV

YouYou

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