Jerry and Lynda, with their two young children, Nathan and Rachael, arrived in Brazil in January of 1984.  During these thirty-nine years they have ministered in four distinct types of ministries.

 

Church Planting - Their first two terms were involved in church-planting projects. For two years they ministered in the metropolitan setting of Salvador, Bahia.  Then from 1986 to 1993 they helped establish the Igreja Batista Esperança, four hours interior, in the rural city of Itaberaba, Bahia.  It was during these years in the state of Bahia that both Luke and Lydia were born.  Later, from 2005 to 2009, they were involved in the establishing of the Maranatha Baptist Bible Church in the slum neighborhood of Edson Queiroz in Fortaleza, Ceará.

 

Teaching - While still in Bahia Jerry began to direct his efforts toward the ministry of teaching and training Brazilians for ministry which eventually involved this type of ministry in three Northeastern states:  Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, and Ceará.  From 1988 to 1992 and again from 1996 to 2001 he taught classes at the Berean Baptist Seminary and Institute (SIBB) in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte.  In Fortaleza, Ceará, since 2002, their main ministry has been teaching at the Maranatha Bible Institute and Seminary (SIBIMA).  Since leaving Bahia our colleagues started the Bahia Regular Baptist Bible College and Jerry has returned several times to teach there also.

 

Brazilian Missions - In 2006, their ministry gained an additional emphasis of thrusting Brazilians out into God's harvest field through two new avenues of ministry:

          1. teaching in the newly implanted missions major at SIBIMA;

          2. helping to launch Maranatha Multicultural Ministries (MMM), a cross-cultural mission agency with a vision of sending Brazilians past their borders with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since June of 2009, when the Neumans left the Maranatha church plant work, they have emphasized teaching and training Brazilians through SIBIMA, then thrusting them out into ministry through MMM.  After 13 years as the Administrative Director of MMM, Jerry resigned this responsibility. Even so, they continue to encourage these Brazilian missionaries through more informal ways.  Jerry and Lynda also teach SIBIMA´s Missionary Life class every two years.

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Biblical Counseling - Another aspect of training Brazilians began in February of 2010, when God brought the Neuman’s former colleagues, Al and Kim Yoder, to teach a module in Biblical Counseling at SIBIMA.  Since that time, Jerry and Lynda have been involved in facilitating, planning, and logistics for four seminars in Biblical counseling.  These seminars are now offered each September, with tracks on four different levels.  This course prepares pastors, missionaries, and lay-workers to help believers face life’s difficulties by applying biblical truth to all areas of their lives, in accord with 2 Peter 1:3-11. Again, this ministry is totally in the hands of the Brazilians. Just the same, Lynda especially continues to be involved in discipling and counseling ladies in church contexts.