McKinney Report

Cajazeiras     I went to Cajazeiras this past weekend to teach a class on God's plan of salvation.  The church is small in number and growing both spiritually and numerically.  The class started Friday night; it went on Saturday afternoon and night and ended with a class Sunday morning before the church meeting.  I also interviewed Café, Leila, 4 girls and 3 boys from the Right Step program, the main evangelistic thrust in the city. This program helps underprivileged families with their children in school, on the soccer field, in their homes, and most importantly in their personal lives.     Please pray for Café, Leila, and their four daughters. They are the only family working full-time with this program and are feeling the weight of visiting and caring for 93 boys, girls, and their families.  Please pray that God may send another couple to this city to help His Kingdom grow in and around Cajazeiras.     On a side note, we read 2 chapters of Ruth while on our 7-hou

Goal for the Children, for the Teenagers, for the Adults of the João Pessoa Congregation: Study ONE chapter of the Bible each week.     Since we made this goal in September 2009, we have studied Esther, James, Jonah, Philippians, and now Ruth. After studying a couple of books, we have a congregation wide competition. The last was the James/Jonah Cup with thirty participants. And the winners were... Group A: (6-8 yr old) Mathias Hagewood (1st - 56%),  Lucas McKinney (2nd - 47%) Group B: (9-12 yr old) Nicholas Newlin (1st - 83%),  Mariana Campos (2nd - 72%) Group C: (13 yr to adult) Kamilla Crispim (1st - 90%),  Vinicios Soares (2nd - 79%) Group D: (missionary couples) Monica Newlin (1st - 95%),  Jeremy Newlin (2nd - 89%) LOCK-IN     To make the Word more alive, we had a lock-in for the pre-adolescent group on the theme of the "Christian Journey and the Book of Jonah". We divided up the auditorium into sections and the kids journeyed from one place to the

by Ricardo Sobral       The apostle Paul said: "To me, the least of all the saints, was given this grace to announce to the gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ." (Eph 3:8)       Considering the imprisonments, the persecutions, the beatings that Paul received because of the Gospel, his words about receiving an "undeserved gift" to preach to the lost reveal a deeper importance of the Gospel than we have yet grasped.     I felt this during the Carnaval period as I traveled with my good friends and brothers Cesar and Randy from city to city in Piaui, sharing Christ. This campaign gave opportunity to continue another campaign of raising among Brazilian brethren money to send a team of native missionaries to the city of Campina Grande as we passed through cities that already have congregations. The church in Natal and Fernando's family in Itarema have grasped this grace to participate with us in preaching the Gospel of Christ to the lost in

 We have been having a Bible study for workers at the China Taiwan restaurant. It starts when they are most awake and off from work around midnight. This past Tuesday we showed a movie at their dormitory, The Passion. It ended at 2:40 am, but thirteen waiters and cooks stayed till the end. It is impossible to watch this movie without thinking about what Jesus did and why he did it. Our hope is that more will take seriously his sacrifice and receive the forgiveness that Jesus is offering freely.  

    Patos is the third largest city in Paraíba and figures largely into the PORMISSOES plan to reach the whole state for Christ, and it will be done one step at a time. Christ has provided the shoemakers to help in these steps. Maurício is a Patos brother in Christ who is also a shoemaker. When he started living and speaking for Christ, his co-worker Wilson studied the Bible with him and also became a Christian last year. Wilson shared Jesus with another co-worker Márcio , who was baptized recently. These three disciples start off their days together in prayer, in the Word, taking steps alongside our Lord in the city of Patos.

Rivaldo Café reports that the first couple of the year has been added to the Christian Family in Cajazeiras.     The church in Cajazeiras has been praying for families to come to Christ. Rildo and Kelly are the first answer. They have been married for six months, contacted through the Right Step program, and after eight months of personal Bible studies, they received Christ into their lives. .     Please say a prayer for Rildo and Kelly as they start out anew for Jesus and also for Cesar and Nelinha, another couple in Cajazeiras considering making this most important decision.

by Ricardo Sobral     "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:13-15      We have preachers! Now is the time to send them. The arrival of the Campina Grande team has been decided: July 2010. We are organizing ourselves in terms of best time and logistics for the families to move. We ask for prayers from each one of you that they will find adequate living quarters and schools for the children. JUNIOR, HIS WIFE KATIA AND THEIR DAUGHTERS, VALESKA AND ALICE ISAC, HIS WIFE SOLANGE AND THEIR CHILDREN, , FERNANDO, RAQUEL, AND RAISSA     We praise God for all the brethren that are contributing with this mission effort, se

    It was a hot autumn day, just before Easter - remember we are in the southern hemisphere - when we set out towards Alagoinha (Little Lake).  This  is one of the last cities in the state that I, myself, would have picked to preach the Gospel but God, as always, sees beyond our limited vision.     In the year 2000, I studied the Bible with a man whose wife had family in Alagoinha, and he insisted that I go visit them and tell them about God.  I eventually went and, to make a long story short, the church began in this small, out-of-the-way town. Unfortunately, the man who insisted so much on others hearing the Word of God was killed in a car wreck.  I buried him, and I miss him.  He himself never became a follower of Christ, but two members of the family that he took me to visit did and so did others in the town.          The church now meets in a rented house three or four times a week.  Many of those that began their walk with Christ in Alagoinha have fallen ba