PRE-GAME BIBLE STUDY - Football gives IMB missionary Brady Nurse and Hands On volunteer Grand Shields an opportunity to share the Gospel with their team.

LISBON, Portugal (BP)–The bright Portuguese sun illuminated the makeshift football field. In the distance, Atlantic waves beat the shore. Players for the Lisbon Crusaders took the field for their pre-game routines, which include, among other things, marking the field’s yard lines with sand.

The football field was only a converted soccer pitch, and the crowd only consisted of a few friends and family members. But for Emanuel and his Crusader teammates, the excitement reached NFL proportions in the moments before kickoff against the Galiza Black Towers.

For Crusader player/coaches Brady Nurse and Grant Shields, the excitement was more than pre-game nerves. For them, the football team is both a competitive outlet and an incredible inroad for sharing the Gospel.

Lisbon, PT – Hands On/Team Promo from IMB | European Peoples on Vimeo.

“Football has been a great way for us to get into the lives of the Portuguese people,” said Nurse, an International Mission Board missionary who has been in Portugal for four years and has played with the Crusaders for three years.

“It is a spiritually hard state here in Portugal,” Nurse said, noting that less than 2 percent of Portuguese have any kind of relationship with Christ. “There is a big spiritual dryness.”

In spite of this, Nurse and Shields — a volunteer with the IMB’s short-term Hands On program for college students — have seen nearly 30 football players in Portugal come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

One of those players is Emanuel, 21, who has played center for the Crusaders for three years.

Like most Portuguese, he was raised in a Roman Catholic family. However, by the time Emanuel was a teenager, he had grown disillusioned. He saw the poverty around him and could not fathom why the priests kept asking for more money.

“They would [spend money on] cathedrals that were so pretty and well constructed and lined with gold,” Emanuel said, adding, “I realize now that it’s not about the place [of worship] but what you do while you are in it.”

Emanuel’s resentment toward religion grew during his college years as his life took a downward plunge. His mother battled cancer and his longtime girlfriend left him. Emanuel’s grades fell and depression set in.

“I had never talked to God during the good times [of my life], so I was ashamed to come to Him during the bad times,” Emanuel said. “I felt like I was being punished and was alone.”

One day Emanuel saw a flier advertising tryouts with the Lisbon Crusaders. He enjoyed watching American football games on TV so he decided to try out. He made the team and fell in love with the sport.

The Crusader team became family for Emanuel, and his friendships with Nurse and Shields grew as their ministry to the team deepened.

“I knew Coach Grant did a [regular] Bible study, and one day he asked me to be a part of it,” Emanuel said. “I remember being surprised. It was really different [from my Catholic upbringing]. The Catholics prayed to many different saints. The saints are not God, but in those [cathedrals] they were. One thing I realized with Grant was that it’s all about God and He is the only one who matters.”

Emanuel accepted Christ as his Savior and continues to meet with Shields and other members of the team for weekly Bible studies.

“He begs me to have more Bible studies,” Shields said. “He is hungry to learn.”

The Crusaders team has opened the door for Shields and Nurse to pour the Gospel message into these men, among whom competition and teamwork have forged a camaraderie that makes open and honest conversation possible.

“Football has had a big role in opening my eyes,” Emanuel said. “I don’t feel empty like I did a few years ago.”

American football is steadily gaining popularity in Europe. University and community teams are being formed in many larger Portuguese cities. Currently Portugal has six teams, and Nurse hopes four new teams will be added to the league in the next few seasons.

“I did not know about football in Portugal until I saw some guys practicing in a field … ,” Nurse said. “I asked if I could join them and a few months later ended up being asked to be the head coach.”

Since then, Nurse has brought some gridiron savvy not only to the Crusaders but also the entire Portuguese league by helping organize football training camps with ex-NFL and collegiate players.

“The camps have not only been a way to increase the sport’s visibility, they have also been the greatest way to share Christ with these guys,” Nurse said. “Christian football players and churches from the States come over and teach not only football but also the Gospel to these Portuguese guys.”

The Lisbon Crusaders team has been instrumental for Nurse and Shields to gain access into the lives of players who, otherwise, may have been closed to a friendship.

“Before practices [began], I spent a month here without being able to meet anybody,” Shields said. “If I could just get someone to say ‘hi’ to me, I would consider that day a success.”

Now success looks different — and not always a win on the football field, even when those come.

In the game against the Galiza Black Towers, the Crusaders quickly found themselves struggling to overcome a 14-0 deficit — a margin wider than any the Crusaders had come back from. But the Crusaders dug deep and fought back. They beat the Black Towers 38-34, keeping their hopes for the championship alive.

Nurse and Shields celebrated with the rest of the team after the game, but their hope — and now Emanuel’s too — is for something far greater than a gridiron championship.

Don Dixon shares The Einstein Enigma (A Formula De Deus) with a Portugeuse couple

Lisbon, Portugal–Don Dixon began reading a new popular novel in Lisbon, Portugal and found himself intrigued with the possibilities he saw in the subject matter. The Einstein Enigma, a fast-paced action story by Jose Rodrigues Dos Santos, revolves around the foundational argument that God’s existence can be proven. Don is using the book as a catalyst to engage Portuguese men and women in conversation about their religious skepticism and atheistic worldview.

Two men recently came to Christ as a result of these talks as Dixon has led them from serious doubts of God’s existence, to belief in “a god,” to belief in the God of the Bible. Dixon has also initiated a personal friendship with Santos at a book signing in hopes that he could help the book become known by English speakers, in America and elsewhere, who would, in turn, use it to engage their culture.

“Jose asks the question, ‘how can you really think this order that you see in the world can come from chaos?’ and that is a compelling argument for all people,” said Dixon. “As a popular romance novel, it is also a very effective tool for engaging the growing number of people in the western world who have a postmodern or post-Christian worldview, which often includes or results in atheism or agnosticism,”

Santos was fascinated to meet an American who had read his book in Portuguese and has reciprocated the friendship. Currently the two are working together to develop a study guide to use with groups who are on a search like his own.

Santos isn’t a scientist but he is a man on a journey—one that has taken him from skeptic to firm belief in a creator. Although Jose does not yet believe in the God of the Bible, he continues to search for truth and has accepted Bible study videos from Dixon. Writing the Einstein Enigma was a personal quest for Jose and it has changed his ideas about God.

“It may not be literally the God that arises from the Bible, but there’s definitely an entity behind the universe. Our existence is not accidental,” he says.

The book has been published in 17 countries, including the United States. According to Santos, it has achieved cult-like status in Italy.  When asked about the subject’s popularity Jose said it was for obvious reasons.

“Is the universe the result of an accident or an intentional creation? What’s the purpose of our existence? Who wouldn’t want to know these things?” he asks. “You see, if the universe is accidental, there’s no God and life has no meaning, but if we find clues that prove the universe is not accidental, then God does exist – whatever He is, and, yes, life has a meaning. So, this is the ultimate question.”

Since Santos is a highly respected public figure in Portugal, this book has been a great starting point for conversation. Don’s wife, Billie, uses the book in her English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and Dixon often engages people one-on-one, challenging them to consider the evidence presented in the book for God’s existence.

“With his fame and respect as both an author a television personality, and as one very active in Portuguese society and culture, his testimony of coming to believe in a creator through his own study of the evidence is invaluable for getting people to consider this position,” said Dixon.

Aside from the two who have become believers, another person is considering the claims of Christ and two others have moved from atheism to belief in a creator.

Don and Billie have been in Portugal for nearly five years as International Mission Board missionaries. They focus on church planting and are beginning a work among the deaf community. Dixon is excited to see what God will do with the new study guide and plans use it to initiate group encounters as well as fuel discussion in Bible studies and ESL classes.

“I recently had a conversation in a coffee shop with a man who had read the book,” Dixon said. “During our talk and the person seemed to process what he had read, change his mind and admit that God must, indeed, exist.”

Pray for

*Don and his family as they seek to begin discussion groups.

*Portuguese atheists who will read this book

*Santos as he seeks answers to his questions

* Contact Don Dixon if you are interested in being a part of what he is doing in Portugal.

*To find out more about Einstein Enigma and Jose Rodrigues Dos Santos, visit his website.

Sandra, center, enjoys a fellowship night with friends

Missionaries are students of God—always learning, always growing in faith. Lindsey Gould is no exception.

She is discipling a young woman named Sandra. It has been a 2 1/2 year process of watching and waiting. The result is that Sandra is preparing for baptism.

Lindsey moved to Lisbon, Portugal for three months in the summer of 2008. Sandra was not seeking God at that time, but she was learning about the Orthodoxy because of her plans to marry in the church.

When Lindsey returned to Portugal as a Journeyman a year later, she and Sandra ran into each other on the University campus. By that time, Sandra had already married and divorced. But through the process God was at work.

“She said that she knew God was doing something,” Lindsey said. “That really got my attention because she never really believed in God, she was just doing the religious things she needed to do in order to be married.”

The next week Sandra confirmed that she had come to believe in God’s existence, thought he might be working through her difficult circumstances and had a plan for her. Lindsey gave her a Bible and hoped she would soon become a believer, but it didn’t happen.

“I tried calling and contacting her many times during the next few months and never heard back from her.  I continued to pray for her, but it was very discouraging to have a few good conversations and then not hear from her again,” she said.

Finally, in late June, Sandra contacted Lindsey and asked to meet. She had been reading the Bible on her own and God revealed Himself to her through the book of Romans. She had become a believer.

She and Lindsey began meeting weekly to study the Bible, going through the Gospels together. Baptism became an issue and Lindsey urged her to consider the importance of that public confession. She was hesitant because of her prior experience in the Orthodox Church, where baptism is a requirement for membership, though not symbolic of faith.

“I told her that I would not pressure her to do it, but that I would pray and be ready to talk about it when she felt comfortable,” Lindsey said.

They continued to study and she even invited some friends from her classes to join them.  Within a month Sandra was convinced she needed to be baptized.

“She said that God had used Scripture, as well as other believers, to show her His will,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey will be a part of the baptism ceremony, since she has been central in her discipleship, but she is helping Sandra connect with a local group of believers so that when her Journeyman term is finished, she will leave Sandra with a spiritual family.

“I feel it is very important for the national believers to be involved in the whole process and for her to feel comfortable with them so that when I leave, she will still be plugged in to that church,” she said.

Sandra has been talking with the leaders of a house church led by local believers and plans to be baptized in January. They have been meeting for questions and discussion and Sandra has grown in her spiritual understanding through this time. She has also been sharing her new faith with friends and inviting them to study the Bible with her and Lindsey.

Although Lindsey wanted to see results of her prayer and ministry much earlier, she has no complaints and is, instead, grateful.

“This was such a lesson to me about being patient and waiting on God’s timing for Sandra to claim Christ as her own.” Lindsey said.

To find out more about ministry opportunities with students in Lisbon or to know how to pray for Lindsey, contact her at lindsgould@gmail.com.

Ethan MIlam plays games with a Portugese friend at his home in Lisbon

When Andy and Michelle Milam moved to Lisbon, Portugal, they thought it was a mere pit stop on the way to their final place of ministry in Porto. They planned to learn Portugese during their year-and-a-half of language school in the capital city, but God had bigger plans. After 17 months of living and learning, God began a church through Andy and Michelle just one month before the couple moved away.

In January of 2009, the Milam family relocated to Portugal and enrolled their kids in school. Their boys were soccer players and this became the family’s link to their community.  It was at the soccer field that the neighborhood fathers, and sometimes mothers, would meet and talk. They drank coffee, talked about life and work, and watched their kids practice “fotbal.” Andy would spend four nights a week at the field, meeting other dads and practicing language. After so many months of living the Gospel out before their neighbors, Andy and Michelle were eager to see God do something.

“We were desperate to be able to share with these people,” Michelle said. “We’d been learning the language and it was still a struggle to share in Portugese.”

“We really wanted to be intentional about sharing our faith with our friends and neighbors before we moved,” added Andy.

As the time of departure neared, Andy and Michelle sent out a prayer calendar and asked their friends and supporters to devote a week to specifically praying about this desire. They believe this was pivotal to what happened next.

Andy had translated a tract into Portugese that revolved around the World Cup theme and taken it to soccer practice. A man named Luis asked him what he had in his hand, and Andy shared it. The next week Luis’ wife, Liliana, asked Andy where he went to church because she and her husband were interested in attending. The Milam’s community didn’t have a church, so Andy told her that he and Michelle would like to start a bible study in their home and Luis and Liliana committed to come.

Michelle had also developed a relationship with a single mom who lived in their building. Her son, Rodrigo, went to school and played soccer with the Milam’s youngest son, Ethan. She, too, was interested in coming to the first Bible study.

On the first night, the Milam’s prayed specifically for the needs of their three friends. They asked God to help Luis and Liliana find a job. The next week at Bible study Luis and Liliana had big smiles on their faces.

“Luis said, ‘God is good—you prayed and He gave me a job’,” Andy said. “Although we explained that God doesn’t always do what we want, God was working in an amazing way during that time.”

Luis, Liliana and Celia were all seeing God at work and by the third week of Bible study they accepted Christ as Savior. Knowing they had to leave, the Milams had invited new colleagues, Mike and Sarah Prewitt, to join them at Bible study. They continue to meet with these three today. Andy and Michelle are also traveling back to Lisbon periodically to encourage the group and help them reach their own people.  At recent meetings, the trio of new believers continue to give praise to God and grow in their relationship with Him. Luis and Liliana are asking about baptism and their son, Tiago, has also become a believer.

It was very difficult at that time to leave Lisbon for the final destination of Porto, but since being in their new home, the Milams have been certain of God’s leading.

“God has really confirmed, through conversations and relationships, that we’re where we’re supposed to be,” Michelle said.  “And we’re meeting with a new believer who really wants to start group here.”

But their time in Lisbon was pivotal. “We weren’t even supposed to go there at first,” Michelle said,  “and when we went, we thought it was just for language. But God had greater purposes.”

Looking back the Milam’s realize that the key was incarnational witness.

“Day by day living is huge,” Andy said, “By sharing in their daily routine, you earn a right to speak spiritual matters into their lives. You have to be there, spend time, listen to soccer stories. And then when they say, ‘why are you here?’ you have opportunity.”

And why are they there?

“Our job is living daily—its people,” Michelle said. “If you keep looking for that one big task you’re “supposed” to do, you miss the little things in between. That’s what we need to be doing wherever we are.”

To find out more about how you can be involved in the Milam’s ministry in Portugal, contact Andy at the4milams@gmail.com.