BRAZIL! Rio, Carnival, Beaches, the Olympics, Zika, Political Upheaval. Right?

Not what I saw last week. Well, I did see the president impeached, but that was amazing democracy in action and the unwillingness of people to have a corrupt government. Of course that was not why I went to Brazil.

I went to Brazil to see what God was doing particularly with young professionals. It was very refreshing.

Cris’ Church

As I got off the plane (3 hours late) Cris picked me up and took me to her church where are group of about 30 young professionals were waiting to talk about Business 4 Blessing. I met young people in many professions that are eager to use their professional skills for the Kingdom. The next afternoon we had a session with about 100 of the congregation to again explore kingdom principles for business.

Paulo’s Church

The whirlwind had begun. Paulo had me meet a number of his friends and quickly organized a group at his church for Tuesday night. Lots of Brazilian energy and I talked to people who were beginning various kinds of businesses. To give you an idea of the variety of business:

• Handicrafts with Syrian refugees
• Agriculture with poor people
• High Tech aps to solve business problems

Paulo translating for this crazy American

Paulo is putting together an accelerator in Sao Paulo to help these businesses move forward.

Let’s Worship God!

Next we traveled to Maringa for Vocare (Brazil’s  Urbana for young professionals). About 1200 were in attendance. Most impressive to me was at the last session. The speaker said: “the only distance between you and the mission field is the distance between your knees and the floor. We all knelt down and prayed. Of this whole group about 20 were going out to the field within the year. I’m sure that God is calling many more of these young professionals–and they are responding. The shirt we wore said “Turn the World Upside down…NOW.

Arthur, a young business guy

Hugo, a great translator

Mariah and friend, young business women

I gave 2 workshops and spoke from the main stage. We talked about the principles of Business 4 Blessing and I challenged people to not only do business to God’s glory, but to give Him a blank check for our lives: Anything, Anytime, Anywhere.

That is always my question to myself: Today, does He have my blank check, or have I taken it back?

Blessings,

Nora