Hope on the Amazon: Adult Mission Story for October 4, 2025

Some pastors live in parsonages attached to a church. Others buy or rent homes located away from the churches where they minister. Pastor Cassi lives on a boat that is also a church.

Cassi’s floating church is a Thirteenth Sabbath project, purchased with the help of worldwide offerings collected in the first quarter of 2016. People like you have made it possible for Cassi to minister to unreached people in remote villages along the Amazon River.

Today’s mission story is a look at the work of Pastor Cassi and the floating church, which is named Hope of the Amazon.

When the boat arrives at a village, Cassi goes door to door to meet people, to gain their trust, and to become friends. The first few days are challenging because Cassi arrives as a stranger and no one knows him. Among his first stops are the homes of the village leaders, whose support can play an important role in the success of his stay. He invites them and all residents to come to the boat and see inside the floating church.

The first meeting on the boat is a big party. Cassi and his wife organize a special program with Christian music, food, and a drawing for prizes. The prizes include kitchen dishes, electric fans, and soccer balls. At the party, Cassi also shares an inspiring message from the Bible and invites people to return for Bible-based seminars every evening. The first week of meetings covers topics like marriage, child raising, and health. The second week kicks off Bible studies that will last 25 to 30 evenings. During the day, Cassi and his team offer lessons on cooking, guitar playing, and singing. A doctor and dentist also stop by the village to provide free treatment.

When people see that Cassi has come with a sincere desire to improve their lives, they often come to the meetings every evening. About 150 people can fit in the sanctuary of the floating church.

During the first month at a village, construction work begins on a Seventh-day Adventist church. Usually, the church is built quickly in 30 to 50 days. Construction workers are hired by the church conference to sail to the village and build the church.

When the Bible studies finish, Cassi appeals to participants to give their hearts to Jesus in baptism.

By the time that Cassi baptizes the first villagers, the new church is usually open and ready for worshipers.

Then all worship services and other meetings are transitioned off the floating church and into the new building.

At that moment, Cassi works in earnest to disciple new church members. He encourages them to share with others what Jesus has done for them. He works to strengthen their faith through home visitations and additional Bible studies. New members are also trained to lead the new church and to organize Sabbath School and church services on Sabbaths and prayer meetings on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.

Cassi and the floating church stay in a village for five months. Then they hand over the new church to a permanent pastor who continues the work that Cassi has started. The floating church used to visit more than two villages every year, but then church leaders realized that it needed to spend more time nurturing people in each village.

After ten months at two villages, Cassi and the floating church spend the rest of the year — December and January — in the major river port of Manaus. There, the boat undergoes annual repairs and Cassi works with church leaders on strategic planning, including choosing villages for the next year. He also takes a vacation.

Cassi and his wife have planted four churches in four settlements in two years. A total of 174 people have been baptized.

“Each person has their own story,” Cassi said in an interview on the floating church. “But God has been sending us special people, and He is leading in His special way.”

The floating church named Hope on the Amazon is bringing hope to many people thanks to a 2016 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering. Thank you for supporting this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath projects in Brazil and Chile with your prayers and donations. Together, we can work to spread the good news of Jesus’ soon return. Hear stories of people touched by Pastor Cassi’s work next week.