Exactly how far should we be willing to go in order to win young people to
Jesus Christ? This church movement in Brazil obviously believes very far.
They hold so-called "fight nights" for different sporting
competitions; they
use reggae and rock music, and they even have tattoo parlors at their church
where their converts can obtain Christian tattoos. The church was founded by
surfers.

Of course, there is some scandalous activity associated with this church as
well, as the following article makes clear.


Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO - NYT

September 14, 2009


SAO PAULO, Brazil -- The atmosphere was electric at Reborn in Christ Church
on "Extreme Fight" night. Churchgoers dressed in jeans and sneakers, many
with ball caps turned backward, lined a makeshift boxing ring to cheer on
bare-chested jujitsu fighters.

They screamed when a fan favorite, Fabio Buca, outlasted his opponent after
several minutes. They went wild when Pastor Dogao Meira, 26, took his man
down, pinning him with an armlock just 10 seconds into the fight.

With the crowd still buzzing, Pastor Mazola Maffei, dressed in army pants
and a T-shirt, grabbed a microphone. Pastor Maffei, who is also Pastor
Meira's fight trainer, then held the crowd rapt with a sermon about the
connection between sports and spirituality.

"You need to practice the sport of spirituality more," he urged.
"You need
to fight for your life, for your dreams and ideals."

Reborn in Christ is among a growing number of evangelical churches in Brazil
that are finding ways to connect with younger people to swell their ranks.
From fight nights to reggae music to video games and on-site tattoo parlors,
the churches have helped make evangelicalism the fastest-growing spiritual
movement in Brazil.

Evangelical Christian churches are luring Brazilians away from Roman
Catholicism, the dominant religion in Brazil. In 1950, 94 percent of
Brazilians said they were Catholic, but that number fell steadily to 74
percent by 2000. Meanwhile, the percentage of those who described themselves
as evangelicals grew by five times in that period, reaching 15 percent in
2000. A new government census is due out next year.

Despite Brazil's deep connection to Catholicism, more and more Brazilians
want to experiment and choose their own religion, said Silvia Fernandes, a
professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, who wrote a
book about Brazil's evangelical movement.

She said more Brazilians were attracted to evangelical churches, or
Pentecostalism, for the "flexibility of the religious expression." They see
churches like Reborn as places where they can express themselves more
freely, and "not only look for solutions to personal problems, but also find
a place to meet and socialize."

Pastor Meira said that for young people seeking salvation, evangelism could
fill a void. "Here they enter the church, sometimes to see a fight
competition, they receive the word of Jesus Christ, and they begin a
transformation. They will get off drugs, start to respect their parents and
start to cure the illnesses of the soul, like anxiety, depression, drugs and
alcohol, prostitution," he said.

Amid the youth movement, Reborn in Christ has suffered its share of
controversy. The church's leaders, Estevam and Sonia Hernandes, returned to
Brazil last month after serving several months in an American prison for
trying to smuggle more than $56,000 into the United States, including $9,000
concealed in a Bible. They still face fraud, larceny, tax evasion and money
laundering charges in Brazil.

Reborn tries to hire younger pastors who can relate better to adolescent
members. Pastor Meira is a part-time pastor; he also has a day job in
marketing for a household paints company and studies advertising at night.

The night of the Extreme Fight, dozens of teenagers and young adults hovered
around the church. In the front room, booths sold hot dogs and pizza, and
young people lined up in one corner to get religious-theme tattoos like "I
Belong to Jesus." In the main room, there were video games, a D.J. spinning
a mix of hip-hop and funk, and a projection screen showing a DVD of the
Harlem Globetrotters.

Though most came for the main event, the Extreme Fight, they lingered. After
four fights and Pastor Maffei's sermon, members paired up. One placed his
hand over the other's forehead and spoke of Jesus Christ; the other closed
his eyes tightly.

The growing evangelical youth movement takes aim at Brazilians of all
classes. At Bola de Neve Church, young professionals blend in with
lower-income families and troubled youths.

Pastors lead a flock of more than 2,500 members on Sunday evenings in
rousing reggae and rock songs, with religious lyrics projected on a huge
screen.

The church's "apostle," Rinaldo Pereira, said he had a near-death
experience
related to drugs and hepatitis some 17 years ago before a "supernatural"
event led him to dedicate his life to God.

In 1999, Mr. Pereira and a few other avid surfers here founded Bola de Neve,
which means snowball, inspired by the idea that a snowball starts small but
can grow big. The church received its initial boost from a surf wear
entrepreneur, who lent an auditorium for the church. Needing an altar for
the first service, Mr. Pereira grabbed a surfboard he saw in a corner and
placed it on some chairs.

Today the church says it has 100 chapters, mostly in Brazil. One chapter, in
the Barra da Tijuca area of Rio de Janeiro close to the beach, was started
three years ago by seven people and now has about 3,000 members.

Sports and music "overcome all sorts of boundaries," Mr. Pereira said in an
interview.

"People may not enter a church but will definitely attend a fighting match,
a surfing championship, a musical event," he said. "Both the athlete and
music transmit a message to the audience."

In Sao Paulo, the church is truly a family affair. One Sunday, Mr. Pereira,
37, led a sermon that lasted three hours, still using an upside-down
surfboard as his pulpit. His wife, Denise, also a pastor, warmed up the
crowd, belting out lyrics with a rock band at her back.

In the church basement, their 16-year-old son, Nathan, led a teenage and
younger crowd. The spiky-haired pastor-in-training delivered a sermon about
Jesus Christ with talk-show-host skill. At one point, he held up a white
plastic container and urged the young followers to donate, assuring them
that God would "give back twice" whatever they offered.

Upstairs at his father's sermon, a young man and woman took the stage and
professed their love. Mr. Pereira congratulated at least two young couples
on their new babies, holding them up for all to see.

As his sermon reached its climax, members closed their eyes tightly and held
out an arm, as if in a trance, singing and swaying to the music as tears
streamed down their faces.

After the service, Dom Luiz Bayeux, 22, told of how he got there. He grew up
in a broken home where his stepfather, a crack addict, died of AIDS. At 13,
a rebellious Dom began a life of crime. Five years later, his search to
escape addiction led him to many places and many religions.

After failing an entrance examination for the military, he remembered
hearing about Bola de Neve. The day he arrived, the pastor told members,
"You are here to enlist yourself into the army of Jesus Christ."

To him, it was divine intervention. "The fact that people here speak the
same language and live the same style of life as me is what really attracted
me to the place, and it's what helped keep me here," he said.



Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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