The main missionaries with whom we work on this trip are David and Pennie Hatcher. David serves as pastor of the Chapada Baptist Church in Manaus. Though he did not become pastor of the church until 1997, the church is one of 70 churches planted by David’s father, John Hatcher. John and his wife, Alta, have been in Brazil for forty years and are still serving and planting churches today. David’s brother, Paul, serves as pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, the largest Baptist church in the Amazonas. They have another brother, John Mark, who is a missionary to France, and a sister, Kathy, who along with her husband, Odali, administrates the Alpha and Omega Children’s home in the state of Sao Paulo. David’s other sister, Lynn, ministers in Nashville, TN, with her husband. Now the third generation of Hatcher missionaries are out winning the world to Christ. Some of them are in the Himilayas, others in France, another working on a PhD in science with a creationist viewpoint. Some of them have attended Boyce and Southern, I am proud to say.
The Hatcher family is one of the greatest missionary families the kingdom has ever had. One reason that is so evident is that, in spite of them planting well over 100 churches collectively, few people know about them. They are gospel pioneers, always seeking to plant the gospel in places where Christ has not been named.
David and Pennie are truly unique among missionaries. They are completely self-supporting. David receives no outside funding for his own income. What small gifts they receive from churches and individuals goes completely into buildings and an infrastructure that can spin off churches. I have never seen more missions actually accomplished for less money. Anyone who visits their work leaves truly amazed.
David and Pennie are proprietors of a language school. Pennie has a masters degree in linguistics and David has a PhD in linguistics, both of those earned at the University of Texas at Austin. They are creative, innovative, and hard working. David is one of the best preachers in Brazil and pioneered a marriage seminar that doubles as a church-planting strategy.
David grew up in Manaus, so the city is home to him, even though he is a US citizen. He left long enough to get his education at the University of Kentucky and The University of Texas at Austin. He asked Pennie to marry him in the states, and then he went back to Brazil. She accepted and came to Brazil to marry him there. They came to Lexington, KY, to work with me at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in the 1990’s, but stayed only two years and their burden for Brazil took them back. Unlike most missionaries, Brazil is their home. They don’t take six-month or year-long furloughs, but remain in Brazil the whole year, taking time only occasionally to visit friends in the US and to take a vacation with me and Tanya.
When I was only three months old, my family moved to Manaus and we literally lived with the Hatcher family for six weeks, so there has never been a time I did not know David. He and Pennie are among our dearest and closest friends. I know them as well as anyone, and I know them to be two of God’s choicest servants. By helping the Hatchers and the Chapada church build this camp, we are making an investment in a ministry with a proven track record. As a direct result of what we do here, hundreds and perhaps even thousands will come to faith in Christ.
