Our first night we participated in a Youth Rally where 5 churches were represented in Cacapava at Primeira Igreja Batista Regular. Great turnout and participation. We promoted Dare to be Daniel which we were teaching the next day from 9am-12noon for Junior High kids and 2pm-5pm for High School kids with a church community outreach in the evening showing the movie Facing the Giants that followed with a short discussion afterwards.

I have been doing Dare to be a Daniel with churches in Mexico for 1-year and I nor the team was prepared for what we were to experience in Brazil teaching Dare to be Daniel. Not just in Cacapava, but also in Jacarei where we taught Dare to be Daniel the following Saturday to a different group of kids. Usually Dare to be Daniel is broken into 2-parts, but due to circumstances out of our control as many of the young children have jobs, we knew ahead of time that we would have to implement the program as a whole for a duration of 3-1/2 to 4 hours. One would assume that kids, even as young as 6 years old would loose their mind and be anxious or restless. Nope…we had their full attention 100% of the time, and if that wasn’t amazing…this will just knock your socks off. After the first segment, the kids were excused and we left to eat our 15-course lunch over a 45-minute period of time and then came back to start with the next group of kids. And who shows up...half of the kids from the first segment..IT JUST BLEW OUR MINDS...they knew they couldn’t win any prizes and still sat through another 3-1/2 hours of teaching that was the same though the discussion answers varied nonetheless they were extremely attentive and well-behaved. We were just amazed, but certainly didn’t expect the same situation to reoccur the following Saturday when we were teaching in Jacarei. But it did! WOW!

The impact that Dare to be Daniel made could never be described in words, yes, even I am speechless. It is an experience that the team will keep with them for the rest of their lives. Working with kids from 6 different churches that faced similar issues, we created bonds through small group discussion with a mixture of kids to where we firsthand witnessed unity, fellowship, and the making of godly Christian friendships. Though we won’t be present for the next youth rally we know that we open the door for amazing possibilities for these churches to follow in our footsteps and unite and develop further programs for the youth as a whole. Afterall, we are better together. We brought additional material to address issues for the youth in Brazil that is at the heart of the pastors: sex, drugs, alcohol and other temptations. We pray that the material will reach these kids, multiply and most importantly—make a difference.

Our translators were energetic and have committed to continue the work we started and will duplicate our efforts. In fact, we have already been contacted by the church in Jacarei, within just a few days from returning back home. AWESOME that we were able to effectively empower and motivate these churches.

We showed Facing the Giants and I must admit it was probably the 10th time I had seen the movie. The pastor came up to us and said, “I never even thought about showing a movie in the church and briefly discussing it afterwards”. Something as simple as a movie can empower a church to explore possibilities to reach out to the community and implement discipleship and fellowship within themselves. And yes, even the men had tears in their eyes. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is a must see.