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Well, to my shock nobody in Brazil wanted me! I had met people associated with PAZ, Project Amazon, but they were fairly unimpressed with anything I brought to the table, which admittedly was not much. I did not want to just come alone, without a team, to experience Brazil first hand as they suggested. I did not want to just send a check as they also suggested. My vision of bringing short term missions teams to Brazil to build a whole church from the ground up in a week was deemed impossible. And I would know that if only I actually would come! Over the next 30 months, the Lord humbled me. The Lord brought the various leaders of PAZ one at a time, to my house in Rochester, NY, to visit, just so I would know that, even in the face of my dynamic personality, and forceful presentation I would still be rejected. I now knew the leaders of PAZ by their first names. I had tried mightily for better than two years to no avail. Surely this would be enough for God. I tried, right? Still I felt I would have no peace without doing all that I could do even if it seemed to make no sense to me. The only thing left was for me was to finally and completely trust and submit without reason. The Lord had told me right from the start that I would have to put myself under the direction of this hardly heard of organization called PAZ. They at PAZ had all told me, all along, I needed to go to Brazil, but I wanted a commitment from them before I got on a plane. So it was finally clear to me, the one last thing to try... was blind obedience.

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OK, so there was a little internal kicking and screaming but I was on the plane to Brazil! I had boarded the plane out of obedience that had to count for something, right? The Lord says He prefers obedience to sacrifice, And in this, I felt, He was getting both out of me at the same time, kind of a two for one deal. The Lord had told me some two years ago to bring New Yorkers to build churches on the Amazon. But I had not been given a plan by the Lord. I only had my wife in tow, she is sweet, but hardly a team. It all seemed like a waste of time and money but I went anyway in order to at least fulfill the command "to go".

Scott and Michelle Toth

We were to go first to the mission house in the city of Castanhal, Brazil run by the pastors Scott and Michelle Toth. We arrived in Castanhal early in the morning on Sunday. After taking most of the day for food and rest, it was time to go to the PAZ church. Only a minute or two into the service and my heart was broken, for the sake of the Lord and for the Brazilians. In the weeks to come both in the city and in the villages we visited out on the Moju River we witnessed such an unfettered joy in the hearts of the people for God that I felt privileged to be there with them. You sometimes will see a display of Christian self sacrifice and you sometimes will be witness to true joy in the Lord, but not usually at the same time and not usually as a general state of being. In Brazil, and especially out on the river, Dianna and I saw self sacrifice with joy, in abundance. River pastors that would work all day in their gardens and then, three times a week, walk 10 kilometers into the jungle to bring the word of God. We had met what we came to think of as "important" people.

Dianna and Steve

Their importance did not come from what they had or who they were and so could not be credited to them by the world's standards. Their importance came from their uncompromising service to Jesus. Dianna and I were hooked. There was no way we were not going to help these people. And so in His graciousness the Lord gave, Pastor Scott Toth a prophetic word for me, that the Lord said to him was in response to the obedience and humility that I had finally shown. The Lord would now tell me how to build the river churches just as he had told Noah how to build the ark. A very big

Prototype Building

deal to me as I had complained to God that it was not fair to tell me to build something and not show me how as He had done with Noah. Within hours I was shown a building method which uses concrete panels for the walls. The panels are light enough for one person to lift and cheap enough for our budget and are manufactured right there in Castanhal! The dear church worker that was my guide to this new method is a Portuguese speaker that I never would have met had I not gone to Brazil. What do you know, obedience to God really works! Fast forward to October 2007. By the grace of God, ten brave North Americans with the help of half a dozen Brazilians have built our first building in Brazil. [See the video above.] It went up in just five days! We learned a lot and fully expect the next one will go up in just four days!

PAZ is now firmly behind our vision so, OK, would-be A.R.C. Missionaries here we go! In the future we will be building in the villages of Alca Viaria, Santa Maria and Solidade scheduled for the Fall of 2008 and the Spring 2009. Want to come? Do you feel God speaking to you? Of course it will be a tremendous blessing for our Brazilian brothers and sisters, but most importantly it will forever change you and your walk with the Lord, as it has done for those of us who have already gone.

The last thing our Lord said to the disciples before He ascended into heaven was "GO!" If this is your time to obey the call, then contact me for details. Obedience delayed, is disobedience! Contact me and I will gladly set up an informational meeting for any individual or church which is interested in partaking in an adventure in Christianity.

Steve Butcher Sr.
A.R.C.