[willowbrook] FW: Invasion

[Taylor, Doug]

-----Original Message-----
From: jim spann [mailto:jfspann at knology.net] 
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 9:27 PM
To: Taylor, Doug
Subject: FW: Invasion


 Doug, 

would you see that this gets sent out over the Willobrook prayer net?

Thanks,
jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy and Cindy Kennedy [mailto:akennedy at skorpionet.com.br] 
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 7:20 PM
To: Ann Stewart
Subject: Invasion

Dear Family and Friends,

We desperately need your prayers right now.  Since today is Cindy's
birthday, many of you may have already seen her name on the prayer calender
and prayed for us.  Please pray again.  We are in a difficult situation and
we need the Lord's wisdom and power to resolve the problem we face.  The
problem is complicated so I need to take a little space to explain it.

We have been working for some time in a poor neighborhood on the edge of our
town (Maraba).  Many years ago, eight local churches bought some land in
this neighborhood to build a Baptist Camp.  At that time this area was just
open farmland.  Soon thereafter, the area around the camp was "invaded".
Here in Brazil, a movement started some years ago to get land for the poor
who needed a place to live and land to plant food, etc.  This group was
backed by political interests including the communist party and even some
churches, but was a minority group and for years had little political clout.
So, the group began using "invasions" to get land for their people.  The
leaders of this movement would organize a large group of people and simply
"move-in" to some farm land to live, sort of like "squatters" in the old
west.  The difference is that this group did not go to the frontier to start
a new life, they invaded land that had already been cleared, planted and
prepared by the owner.  Many "invasions" ended up in violence and many on
both sides (landowners being invaded and people invading land) were killed.
The government finally got involved, but rather than give out frontier land
to those who needed it, they began to force those being invaded to let the
invaders stay and then (often years later) they would pay the landowner a
value that the government decided to pay to compensate the owner.  Well,
when the land around the church camp was invaded five or six years ago, the
church land was not invaded.  We became involved when we saw that this new
neighborhood needed a church and we started a congregation and with the help
of some churches in Alabama built a building on this land that we already
had in the middle of this invasion neighborhood.

Around the building is several acres of land including a soccer field.  All
this land was purchased by the eight churches years ago.  Friday morning,
another invasion took place.  This time the target was the church's land.  I
was out of town and arrived Friday afternoon, and went to see what was
happening.  There were already a hundred or more people marking off lots,
building little huts and "staking their claim" on this new "free" land they
were taking from the church.  I have since discovered that the MAJORITY of
these people are not homeless, they already have homes in the neighborhood,
they just want to get more while the opportunity is available.  The local
President of the association of churches appealed to the mayor's office to
do something but so far no one seems willing to get involved.  The written
law here has little power if no one enforces it which seems like most of the
time.  I don't understand all the legal implications here, all I know is
that my heart was broken when I saw people dividing up the land of the
church like they divided up the garments of our Lord on a Friday nearly
2,000 years ago.

Please pray!  Ask God to intervene and bring a just solution to this
situation.  Ask God to give us wisdom to respond appropriately.  Even if the
government or police do respond, we could have many problems in this
neighborhood in the future.  Pray especially for peace.  We had shots fired
over the heads of children gathered for a Vacation Bible School on this land
two years ago.  The man shooting was drunk and shooting at another man who
ran into the crowd of kids and thank the Lord no one was hurt.  I myself
went to visit a family one day when the police blocked my car in the street
in pursuit of two young men and I ended up crouched behind our car while
shots were exchanged between the police and the young men fleeing arrest.
This neighborhood is a violent place, a place where those who are wanted by
the law hide out, and where the marginal and criminal elements live.  Last
month, I carried a 20 year old young man to the hospital who was beaten and
stabbed only 100 yards behind our mission congregation.  This happened on a
Sunday afternoon while we were having a worship service!  He died the next
day.  Pray for our safety and for the safety of those who are with us
seeking to save the lost and make a difference, because this is also a place
where many poor families live because they have no where else to go.  There
are good people here too.  Most are impoverished, many have jobs but barely
earn enough to survive and if they get sick cannot afford medicine, much
less a doctor so they suffer in ways you cannot imagine from things that
could be easily cured.  Many little children go to bed hungry at night.

The real problem is a spiritual one.  Alcoholism, drugs, prostitution,
illegitimate children, broken families, all could be seen as the cause, but
the real cause is that people without Christ and without hope are suffering
the consequences of their sin.  I cry not so much for the alcoholic but for
his children who go hungry.  I weep for the teenage girls giving birth to
children who will never know a human father.  I actually had a grown man
kiss my hand because we brought his family a basket of food.  He said that
he was desperate and that he had even stolen in the past because his little
children were hungry and he had no food to give them.  While many are
suffering the consequences of their sins, others simply never had the chance
for an education and there are not enough jobs to go around in this region.

We have preached the gospel here and we have seen a good number come to
Christ and seen lives literally transformed by God.  We have helped some
with the social needs, but I wonder if we have done enough?  It seems that
at least some in this neighborhood don't think the church is worthy of the
land it owns.  This invasion is not of God.  Our God does not condone theft,
robbery, or stealing.  However, we live in a culture that thinks very
differently than you and I.   The current President of Brasil is from the
"Workers" (communist) party and supported this invasion movement many years
before being elected President.  Many of the people on the street today
think it is just fine to take land away from anyone who has "too much" and
give it to those who have less.

Tomorrow morning at 8:00 am local time (6:00 am central daylight time) we
will go to worship as usual.  We will have to pass through those who are
building their huts on the land around the church building.  Those of you
who read this tonight and will be at a sunrise service tomorrow, please pray
for us.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 PM local time (2:00 PM central daylight time) we
will go back to the church and we have invited as many of the other churches
that we could contact to go with us.  We do not plan to confront anyone, we
just feel the need to have as many of God's people as possible present to
pray for God to bring a resolution to this situation.  Pray that our
brothers and sisters in Christ, from all the churches will come and stand
with us tomorrow.  I have resolved to trust this entire situation to the
Lord.  I really believe that it is His land that has been invaded and that
He is more than able to act and deal with whatever may come.  I also believe
that this parcel of land is not the real issue.  Our God owns all the land
in all countries.  I believe that we must speak the truth in love to those
who are invading and let them know that they are acting against the will of
God and that He will one day hold accountable all who disrespect Him and His
Word.  Most of all I am praying that God will be glorified in this
situation.  I know that God does not condone sin, but He has the power to
turn a sinful situation for good.  We celebrate such an event tomorrow.
Those who nailed Jesus to the cross committed a sin, but God used the murder
of his own son, to save us all from our sins.

I have written this letter with many tears.  I have nowhere else to turn but
to you, my family in Christ, and our Lord Himself.  Please pray, I know this
is arriving late so please call others and ask them to pray.  Feel free to
forward this email to others and then call them tonight and ask them to read
it.  We will need your prayers tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon.

Yours in Christ,

Andy and Cindy Kennedy
IMB Missionaries
Church Planting and Aviation
Maraba, Para  Brazil
abckennedy at post1.com