Blaylock Missions

October 2026

Derek Blaylock Oct 30

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Prayer Request:

1. Amanda’s Migraine Struggles

2. Fundraising Efforts – $7700 in one time needs, $1700 in monthly recurring needs.

3. Good Starts for Our New Multiplications / Microchurches

4. For Persons of Peace in Russian Community here and in Valentina Neighborhood

5. For the Church Legal Process – Official Documents

Donations:

If you would like to donate to the ministry you can do so through through the mission’s secure giving portal here:

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Hello Friends!

Thank you all for your time, love, attention, donations, and prayers on our behalf! This last month or so has been a season of first for us!

• We are having our first baptisms service this coming Sunday! We intended to have it last Sunday, but the runoff election was held on that day so we pushed it back a week. We are very excited about this!

• We had our first team come to visit! Some wonderful brothers from New Horizon Baptist Church in LaFollette, TN came down to for 10 days. They encouraged our leaders, went on extensive prayer walking excursions with us, practiced some street ministry, shared testimony and served food to the community of ladies trapped in the sex trade that we work with, helped with cleanup efforts of a neighborhood park our church adopted, and doted on our kids. It was wonderfully fruitful, encouraging, and refreshing!

• Microchurch multiplication! – We have our first multiplication! The Lord has led us to do two things. The first is that I have a leader in training who is very active evangelist and is hungry to know the Lord deeper. He has led some people to faith recently so we are about to split our microchurch here into two. The first group will be Portuguese language focused and will begin with some new believers and some spiritually curious people and go through an Alpha course.

• An English-speaking microchurch – There are two other factors here in the creation of an English speaking microchurch. The first is that there is a growing international population here that needs reaching with the gospel and needs community. Usually they arrive here without knowing much Portuguese, but with English as a second language. The second factor is that there is a growing desire among younger Brazilians to know English and to experince the Bible together in English. This second microchurch is meant to be our first foray into reaching this demographic and it came about as a direct result of those aforementioned prayer walking efforts.

• First Legal Process – We are now at the point where we need to officially setup bylaws, establish our official tax ID number (called a CNPJ), and get a bank account and accounting processes setup. Thank you to Simonton Community Church in Simonton, TX for donating the funds we need for this legal process!

• First time pastoring through elections here – There is nothing that breaks Christian community faster and causes people to forget their baptism more thoroughly than the worldly political process – especially around election time. Elections touch upon our deepest idea and images, war against our deepest desires, and can very easily cause our flesh to assert itself against the demands of Christian Charity. Christ is Lord however, and He has His own politics (its called the Kingdom of God) that do not easily map onto any one earthly political party or political agenda. Passions run hot, and pastoring is fraught during these times. What I will say is that, through God’s grace, we have managed to navigate this season well, and that although we have a myriad of views and political persuasions in the network here – we have managed to maintain our love for one another, give fair hearings in political discourse, and grow in the communal aspect of our discipleship during the midst of all this. See my article below for more on this.

  A quick note about our fundraising efforts. We will be returning to the US for our stateside assignment in late February through May of next year. This sprint is intended to help us stay financially viable for the next three years. In our monthly, recurring needs we have a number of donors who will be retiring or will otherwise have a change in life circumstances which necessitates us raising this amount for us to stay here on the field. Our one time-needs include some funds for training soul care practitioners, some intra-county travel on behalf of the Missão Xingu, and for some material needs pursuant to a community center we hope to get up and running in the next few years. Truthfully, this community center will likely need quite a bit more than we are currently asking, but we will need some additional time for that to become clear.

  Also, Brazil is part of a loose economic alliance of nations called BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa plus an list of countries that has expanded over the last few years. As a result of the war, there is a significant amount of Russians moving to our city due to access through the BRICS alliance. This became very apparent to us when we were at the immigration office. We have one contact in this community, but it remains to be seen if they are a person of peace. We do however, feel invited by the Holy Spirit to begin praying into how to reach this community here.

We love you all, and are grateful to have you as partners in sharing the Good News and participating in the advancement of The Kingdom.

— The Blaylocks

The Sheep Gate – Christ Political Warning and Good News

Below is part of the initial talks I gave to our church as we enterted into this political season.

We have been in a series from the Gospel of John wherein we have been looking

at the “I Am” statements of Jesus. The series is meant to complement our

practice of the Prayer of Examen. If you will remember – I likened our two prayer

practices – the CESTA and The Examen to breathing in and breathing out the

Gospel. In the Examen – we breathe in the truth about Jesus, who He is for us,

and for the world. In the CESTA we breathe that truth back out in the work of

loving intercession.

Here is the Good News. The greatest truth ever disclosed to this world is Jesus

Christ is Lord. We are not alone. We are not left in death, no longer subject to

destruction, we no longer sit under judgement, and the Kingdom of God is not

far away. It came near in Jesus Christ and continues to this day. As such – we take

time to breathe in these “I am” statement that Christ makes about Himself. We

allow Christ Himself tell us who He is, because as we will soon see – many

people want to hijack Him for their own agenda. In hearing His “I Am’s” we are

letting the truth of his marvelous person breathe life into us, strengthen us, heal

us, and bring us peace in a world of conflict and competing interest.

Setting The Stage

Just prior to this I Am statement Jesus healed a man who was blind from birth.

In the passage, Jesus and his disciples have arrived in Jerusalem, and he was

on his way to the synagogue on the Sabbath day when he encountered this

poor man. And because Jesus came to give abundant life and demonstrate the

Kingdom of God – he heals this guy and goes on about his business. When the

Pharisees found out that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath they became

very angry. And because the formely blind man that was healed refused to

denounce Jesus action on the Sabbath – the Pharisees become angry at this

formerly blind man and expelled him forcibly from the synagogue. Some people

found Jesus and told Him about the mistreatment this guy faced at the hands of

the Pharisees, so in a moment of pastoral care Jesus goes to check on Him, and

to make sure that He understands that Jesus is the Messiah. When He finds the

man, he is in a public place and there are some Pharisees nearby. And so He

tells them this parable John 10:

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

What Good News!

I Am the sheep gate! Those who come in through me will be saved. They will

come and go freely and will find good pasture. Not harsh pastures. Not arid

pastures that cannot water their souls. True nourishment. A way of life and

relating to God that just fits (se serve?).

And Oh we will hear His voice!! That same voice that spoke creation into

existence, that same voice who with a command drives out sickness and evil

spirits, that same voice who speaks words of comfort and care to the widow and

orphan, that voice who breathed life into your body and made you a living soul.

You will hear His voice and you will recognize the Good Shepherd and follow

Him in trust. Hear His voice and find the Bread of Life, food that nourishes your

spirit and heals the world. Hear His voice and receive the Light of The World – by

which you can see the path of true religion and right standing with God and

man. Jesus is so wonderfully responsive and insightful. He sees the mistreatment of

this poor man and all those around him, laboring under the burden or oppressive

rule-makers and political revolutionaries- and He points to Himself as not merely

a middle way between two extreme ideologies and systems – but as a 3rd way

beyond all such things. He sees that the people needed to hear the Good

News of freedom from all other religions, political ideologies, worldly

philosophies, and oppressive systems. You will enter the Kingdom of God

through the gate of Jesus death and resurrection and into direct, conversational

relationship with Him.Now,

I used two very important words there from Jesus’ parable: rule-makers and revolutionaries. Jesus was contrasting two ideas based on the real world events He was responding to. In John 10:1 – he contrast Himself, and entry into life through the sheep gate of His death and resurrection – as something completely different from ladroes and assaltantes.

The Rule-makers – Ladrões

Jesus makes a strong statement – All who came before me are thieves and

robbers. And to whom does he refer to as thieves – it was the Pharisees, the

Rule-makers – the people who would seek to erect barriers between people and

God for their own benefit! Seek to rob people of the vital, healing relationship of

the Trinity through religious systems that were a perversion of what God intends.

Jesus seems a bit frustrated at this point. This is the second time in a few weeks

he has faced this situation. On His way to Jerusalem he stops in a smaller town

and teaches on the Sabbath, and heals a woman who has been sick for 18

years! The Pharisees get very angry at Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. And in

response to this he tells a similar parable – the parable of the Narrow Door. – of

the only way to salvation which is through faith in the death and resurrection of

Jesus Christ as the source of righteousness and of all right living. Jesus ends

that parable by saying the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

In another instance Jesus gets even more explicit with the Pharisees. Matthew

23:23 – “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.

Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your

gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy,

and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Sinfulness is not merely a judicial matter in which God needs to adjudicate

justice. Nor is it a broken system that can be fixed by installing some new rules

to live by.It is a sickness unto death that needs to be cured! A condition of all mankind

that came about of us choosing to separate ourselves from Him. Of us climbing

over the wall of God’s gracious acceptance and leaving His the pasture of daily,

faith-filled, interactive relationship for the rules and ways of thieves.

The Revolutionaries – The Assaltantes

We need to talk about the term translated as assaltante here. In the original

Greek language of the Bible that word is lēstēs. In the world of first-century

Judea, the term carried a meaning far more specific and politically charged than

the modern word assaltantes suggests. It did not primarily denote petty thieves

or random biker gang. Rather, lēstai referred to armed insurgents, revolutionary

fighters, and anti-Roman bandits. They were essentially people who used

politically charged violence or cultural shaming tactics to try and impose their

agenda on the population. To our shame, this behvaior has infiltrated the Church.

Revolutionaries are not like a thief who seeks to rob people from vital life with

God by setting up barrier of entry into the pastoral lands of God’s kingdom.

They are those who would propose to you a different pasture all together and

seek to move you there through force and their own vision for societal

organization.

This is an insidious agenda. Its founded on the belief that being sufficiently

organized around a political cause, voting for the right politician, or picking the

Right public policy, and enacting a “godly” agenda through political force or social

shame or relational pressure can lead to something more like heaven on earth.

In the same way even that the Church has stolen vital, healing relationship with

the Trinity by erecting barriers to entrance that He Himself never built, the church

has also assaulted the conscience and wrecked the life of many a world weary

pilgrim in the name of a political agenda founded on the alternative project of

worldly power. Beware the preacher from the pulpit who tells you are not a

Christian or cant be accepted by God unless you vote for the politician that they

tell you to vote for. Such a person is a revolutionary, not an under-shephard.

The politics of this age are founded upon a vision of flourishing apart from the

life of God in Christ, and defended through either physical violence, social

exclusion, or personal shaming. It seeks leadership without humility and service,

seeks compliance without love, and power without the humiliation and death of

the Cross.

The Sheep Gate

However, the Sheep Gate is not like that. Christ has his own political interests-

it’s called the Kingdom of God. This alternative arrangement of the world is

defined by the Cross and defended by co-suffering love. It is mediated through

Christ alone, is not violent or forceful, and erects no other barriers to entry other

than faith in the narrow door Himself – the one true Sheep Gate – the death,

resurrection, and lordship of Jesus Christ. Of course, our lives will be

transformed. They will be transformed through our faithful loyalty to living by the

Light of the World, by our succor (socorrer) in the safe pasture of the Kingdom of

God, partaking in the Bread of Life, and by the daily, interactive listening to the

voice of the Good Shepherd. One’s life cannot help but change and be

transformed when one enters this type of life through faith in Jesus Christ. You

can come as you are, but I promise you that you wont stay as you are. Your life

will be transformed out of the overflow of dwelling in the safe pasture of your

savior and in following the sound of His voice.

© 2026 Derek Blaylock
Xingu Mission USA, PO Box 340785, Columbus, Ohio 43234
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