our story

In February 2004, Joe Carr, the founder of Gospel for Brazil,was sitting on the front porch of his mother-in-law in the little village of Ubaúna in the interior west of the state of Ceará.

He recently described what took place that morning:

February 2004. Hot day. Raw sewage. Pigs. Stench.

Going back almost five years, it is still difficult for me to get over the amazement that God wanted to do something big in an armpit of a place like Ubaúna, Brazil. Sitting on the porch of my mother-in-law, temperature a balmy 105+, open sewage stinking to high heavens, pigs sunbathing in the muck, that morning is burnt in my memory as though branded with a hot iron.

"Do something!"

Not one to be given to carrying on conversations with the Almighty, much less hearing from him in such a direct manner, his "counsel" was upsetting... to put it mildly.

So, what does one do when God comes knocking?

Not being an expert in these matters, all I could do was listen...

With that, activity was set in motion that resulted in a mission trip in July 2004 with a group of fourteen Americans. The goal was to put in some sort of drainage/sewer system that would clear that street of raw sewage, to hold a Vacation Bible School for the village kids and to put on anevangelistic campaign each night.

The end result was a street that improved the health and lifestyle of almost twenty families (and can even be seen in satellite photos of the town), almost 300 kids hearing about Jesus and ten adults putting the same on in baptism.

From that humble beginning, over the next few years, a church was planted, a full-time pastor hired, more than 150 have come to know Jesus as Lord and the village is being transformed.

And the best is yet to come…