Mission 66 from Trans World Radio is a conversational, modern-day study through the Bible. Adapted from its original Portuguese (as created by Dr. Luiz Sayão), it now reaches the English-speaking world today, with plans for more languages on the horizon.

Unathi Sithole is the voice of Esther Sisulu on the Mission 66 program (Photo courtesy of TWR)

The two co-hosts of Mission 66 in English are eager to help Scripture come alive to you. Meet Unathi Sithole with TWR Global, the voice of Esther Sisulu on the program. 

“I’m so passionate about the work that I do with Mission 66 because of seeing the tangible change in my own life through what God has done for me,” she says. 

“You know, I have my own testimony about how God reached me, how He saved me and He set me free — knowing what it feels like being someone who was living in bondage, living in sin, struggling with insecurities, struggling with identity and all kinds of things.”

Now that Sithole has experienced the transforming power of Christ through the Holy Spirit, she wants others to know it too. Her hope is for you to discover in Scripture your freedom in Christ and His deep love for you. 

So, what is Mission 66? 

Each 25-minute episode of Mission 66 covers a chapter or two of the Bible. In the first half, John Mathews (voiced by John-Paul Davies) reads Scripture and offers commentary. In the second half, Esther Sisulu (Sithole) joins in.

(Photo courtesy of Trans World Radio)

“I ask [John] questions about some pertinent points that pop up as a result of the reading. So we discuss these things and we try to apply what we’ve read into our daily lives, so that our listeners can truly be encouraged to implement the Word of God in their daily lives,” says Sithole.

“It’s just a journey with friends through the Word of God with some explanations on some concepts that might be difficult to understand, or even answering some of those difficult questions that we very often ask in our lives, about what the meaning of life is, or why we’re here, or what we’re supposed to do, what our purpose is,” she says.

You can learn more about Mission 66 by tuning in online here. 

“Through listening to Mission 66, I hope that you’ll get a true sense, a deep sense, of how much the Lord is willing to do to just reach you,” says Sithole. 

“The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ will leave the 99 to find the one. And that’s exactly what He’s done for each and every one of us. It’s what He’s done for you.”

And if you’ve already joined the Mission 66 audience, please pray for the remaining episodes being recorded. Pray with Sithole that God prepares the hearts of those will hear, to receive His hope in the gospel, come to know Christ, and be changed. Pray also that the Mission 66 team continues to be used by God and that He will glorify Himself through this program. 

Header photo of the Mission 66 team courtesy of TWR.

Dave McIntyre served as a church planter in Brazil for fifteen years before stepping into his role as Director of Global Ministries at Set Free. Many cross-cultural and bilingual experiences came his way during that time. 

“I’ve always wondered what the Lord was going to do with that now that I’m back in ministry,” McIntyre said.

Set Free’s spiritual freedom training materials are available without cost, to help people know and live in God’s truth. (Photo courtesy of Set Free Ministries via Facebook)

He discovered part of God’s plan last year at a church multiplication conference called GACX. There he connected with a global ministry there that was translating all of its materials into major languages. They invited him as a fluent Portuguese speaker to be part of the translation process. 

“I have contacts now all across Mozambique and Angola, to countries that speak Portuguese as their national language. So that lit a fire under me,” McIntyre said.

“A huge part of my heart I left behind in Brazil. I love that place. I love the people there. I’m always looking for opportunities to work with people who speak Portuguese.”

McIntyre still has connections in Brazil and would love to be able to work there again if the Lord leads. For now, he is training people from Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Angola and Pakistan.

“We have our volunteer manual for taking people through a freedom appointment already translated into Portuguese. I sent my translation to a writer, friend of mine in Brazil, who cleaned up the copy and made that look perfect,” McIntyre says.

”I translate these materials, I send them on to them. Then we have a conference call, and I do one-on-one training with them. The idea is that these ministries will be able to then train their own people and expand their ministry of spiritual freedom.”

That’s one of the guiding principles of Set Free Global, to train those who will train others, says McIntyre (see 2 Timothy 2:2). 

David “Mac” McIntyre, International Director (Photo courtesy of Set Free Ministries)

“Spiritual freedom is our niche ministry. It’s what we do here and I think it’s an underrepresented teaching in the church in general,” McIntyre says. 

Set Free’s spiritual freedom training materials are available without cost, to help people know and live in God’s truth. 

“If you know anybody who is looking for this kind of ministry training in the Portuguese language, have them get in touch with me,” McIntyre says. 

Freedom in Christ is worth fighting for. Pray for Set Free, that God will work through them to bring people into hope and freedom in Christ. 

Header image is a representative photo courtesy of StockSnap via Pixabay.

Helen Williams with World Missionary Press says that recently a donor approached them and offered a matching grant of up to $110,000. After careful thought they decided to use the funds for all one project and send materials to Brazil.

She says, “We will be launching a project called Blessings for Brazil, later in October, and then carrying it on for three months to raise matching funds to get three containers of material (primarily in Portuguese, and some in Spanish), for our major distributors to use throughout Brazil.”

A New Openness to the Gospel

Four World Missionary Press distributors throughout Brazil will split three 40-foot containers filled with materials. These distributors reach people in every region of the country.

The distributors are thrilled about the opportunity. Williams said one partner shared that the timing was perfect. “He was so excited. He said now is just the time; he said they’ve got a new government that is a little bit more conservative, that defends religion, and is not as difficult to work with as before, in the last 15 years. People have been encouraged to evangelize even more. He said there’s an even greater openness to the Gospel – more opportunities.”

Volunteers packing literature
Image courtesy of World Missionary Press

Williams says that despite COVID-19 slowing down distribution in larger cities, there is still lots of distribution occurring in the country. The Gospel is breaking into areas that have been filled with idolatry and pagan worship for many years. Some pastors are even going door to door with the good news of the Gospel.

Get Involved

The prospects are exciting, but the project is big. Williams asks for prayer.

“I think we want to pray for those open hearts to receive the Word and for a harvest. We don’t want to pour material in just to say, ‘Look, what we did. We got a lot of material: we got six, seven million pieces into Brazil.’ We want to see God’s direction and His Spirit move and see a harvest.”

Pray that God would open hearts and minds to hear the truth of the Gospel and respond. Please also pray for the distributors and pastors who work with World Missionary Press in Brazil. Pray that God would encourage and strengthen them for their work.

Please also join the project! Williams says that every dollar counts as they march toward the goal of $110,000. Join the work financially by visiting the Blessings for Brazil project here.

John Summerville with TWR says, "In Portugal, it is illegal to have a Christian radio station like we're accustomed to hearing in the U.S. If you have more than two hours of Christian broadcasting, then the government mandates a whole other set of rules for that radio station, and most radio stations aren't willing to go there."

However, Internet radio allows them to have a full-time Christian radio station without the rules. Christian radio is needed in Portugal, says Summerville. "There are 308 villages in Portugal, and only 95 of those have an evangelical church. That means there are 213 towns throughout the country of Portugal that have no evangelical witness."

The difficult part of web radio is letting people know about it. Summerville says they're working on that. "A lot of it is being done by word-of-mouth at this point. Right now we're currently having 1,500 people connected for at least one hour each day. So that means the word is getting out."

TWR's web radio programming is diverse and includes teaching, talk and Christian music. "When we first started doing Christian music, we did all American Christian music because there was no evangelical Christian Portuguese music. However, that has spawned a whole generation of people who are rising up and producing their own Portuguese Christian Music."

Their ministry has two full-time and three part-time employees, plus eight volunteers who help keep the 24/7 broadcast ministry operational.

Summerville says prayer and funding are needed to help this ministry grow by "offering new and innovating programs, so that they'll be able to go to more than one web radio station. TWR is looking to raise $28,000 for this project."

TWR isn't abandoning traditional radio, Summerville says. "Radio is always going to play a part overseas because internet is not always going to be available to people. But where it is available, Trans World Radio is stepping out and going head first so that we can be leading the charge in that area."

If you'd like to help TWR's web radio efforts, click here.

What makes this a natural fit is that the project focuses on
a group of nations in Africa who share a heritage with Brazil. Southwell notes that during the days of slave
trade, there were more Africans taken as slaves to Brazil
than to Central and North America together.

This pastor developed "Multi-Cultural Ministries Maranatha"
to train new missionaries, and the program will soon be ready to launch. "Hopefully in the end of this year, or very early
next year, two couples will be on-site, and they will focus their first efforts
at Cape Verde Island. These two young couples will be heading out and beginning a church plant in
the city of Praia,
which is the capital."

Southwell says ABWE is recruiting missionaries to work with
the Brazilians in this project, which currently focuses on Cape Verde Islands. One team will spend a year in
language training in Brazil,
followed by another year in orientation with the Brazilian mission boards in Fortaleza before joining the Cape Verde team.

However, the pastor is intent on training toward evangelism.
"After we go to the Cape Verde Islands," says Southwell, the pastor "has
a desire to look at someone going to Angola. We have already made some contacts in Angola
for people who want Angolans, who study even at our seminary in the city of
Sao Paolo to be able to build some bridges and relationships there so
they can fulfill their dream."