McKinney Report

     I will be traveling this weekend to Cajazeiras to teach an intensive seminar on "Faith and Obedience"over the weekend.  Please pray for a safe trip and encouraging, edifying classes.  The church in this city has a lot of young people.  Most of whom have not grown up around Christian influences.  In fact, many of them have seen more drug dealers than people imitating Christ.  Helping them understand God's Word and the promises in which their faith is rooted is important for them, as well as any Christian.  Helping them understand how that faith will be evident in their lives through words, actions and attitudes will be important for all of those around them.       On May 13th , Joe McKinney and I will head out for Patos, returning on May 16th .  Our goal is to discover church's needs and how to best help them.  We will also visit other small towns that have congregations - Emas,

Picture (from left to right): Sônia, Beta, and Simone       Simone, a loving mother of her six year old daughter.  Simone, a loving wife to her husband.  Simone, a faithful Christian in a small farm community.  Simone's two sisters, Sônia and Beta, are the only Christians in the town of Areial about a 15 minute motorcycle ride from where Simone lived.  The three sisters would meet every Sunday by themselves to sing, pray, read God's Word, make an offering, and take the Lord's Supper.      Simone had a toothache; she and her daughter were on their way to Areial to see a dentist.  There was a cow in the road so she stopped and waited, honked.  A young bull ran across the road and rammed her, they think it was head o head with Simone.  Most people do not wear helmets on country dirt roads.  Simone had a serious head injury and her six year old daughter, a broken arm.  Not long after, someone passed by.  They got help and rushed both to the nearest hospital about an hour awa

Here is this month's news from the city on the other side of Paraiba:     The Perpetão Championship - the Right Step Project - reaching kids and families through soccer - participated in this exciting event. The boys got to play on a professional field, and it got families more interested and a flood of new students - more people to study the Bible too.     The Right Step kids are taught morality lessons in a classroom and practical lessons on the street. They put together 70 sandwiches and made juice and distributed them to the homeless, who sleep on the streets in Cajazeiras. Confronted with so many sad situations, the kids were touched and a second day of feeding the hungry is in the works. Rivaldo Café wrote, "We talked a lot with some of them and they are people who listen and they kept asking who we were and we answered that we are your future friends." On the second day, they will have more time to share our Eternal Friend.     Jorginho, disciple of Christ a

Mangabeira is the largest neighborhood in João Pessoa with around 200,000 people, yeah, it is a neighborhood.  The church began meeting in a house on November 14, 2010 and moved to a school in January 2011 where they have had an average of 20 - 25 people on Sundays.       The two full-time evangelists, Raniere Menezes and Raniere Vieira, along with 6 young Americans from AIM (Adventures In Missions) out of Lubbock, TX, went door-to-door for close to 8 months.  There have been three baptisms, the last of which was Joseane.  She is Jorginho's wife.  He himself was baptized 9 months before and his new Christian life has obviously influenced his family.      Numerous Bible studies have also been held as a result of these efforts.  Raniere Menezes reports that in January he knocked on the door of Benedita, who asked if he would conduct a Bible study in her home.  He said "Yes".  She told him that there was one thing he needed to know: she is a devout follower of

While we were taking Suely to Recife, we received word that Simone, a sister in Christ in the interior city Areial, passed away. She and her six year old daughter had a motorcycle accident on a country road when a calf jumped out in front of her. The daughter had a broken arm, but Simone had a head injury. The doctors operated on her to relieve a blood clot, but she went into coma and died. She is Sonia's sister. An update on Suely's son, Anderson: he had killed a man in self defense ten years ago and lived under a death threat from this man's family. When we received news of the murder, we figured it caught up with him finally. But it looks it had nothing to do with that. His family says he got into a fight at a soccer match. Later that day, the teenager involved came and shot Anderson at his work out gym. It seems so senseless to die over an argument at a soccer game, and the sad part is that he seemed to be getting his life in order, even with God. He star

We are taking our dear sister Suely to Recife today to bury her son. He was murdered. She is torn up, even though her family only told her that he had a motorcycle accident and was in serious condition in the hospital. Dad and Mom are going to tell her the truth before our trip. This will be the worst day of her life. She really needs your prayers! your brother, Joseph

To all who love the Lord and await His coming,     Thank you for the prayers on behalf of the campaign in Campina Grande.  Thank you for your dedication and participation in building up the church in this city.  The campaign was a success!  94 people signed up to study the Bible, we read scripture and prayed with numerous others, and 60 from João Pessoa, Campina Grande, and Recife had their faith strengthened.     34 people arrived Friday.  After lunch, a welcoming period, devotional, and campaign instructions, we set out to spread the "Good News".  Michael, an American here from the AIM program, and I asked for permission to advertise the next School of the Bible class, "Let the Bible Speak," at business establishments.  Others han

 If you felt an urge to pray for me this past week, then it was the Spirit working. I had some panic attacks, beginning on Thursday at 2 a.m. when our new dog starting barking and wouldn’t quit till 4 a.m. When I woke, I felt all my problems crashing down on me. It was agony: shallow breathing, my mind racing from worry to worry, I couldn’t lie down, and I wandered the house till my legs ached. Finally I slept but woke feeling exactly the same. I couldn’t concentrate, and the smallest problem seemed mountainous. Food gave no comfort – I was nauseous. At my morning Bible study, I confessed by weakness and asked for a prayer while fighting back tears. My work seemed like it was going nowhere, no light at the end of the tunnel, I was stuck in despair, a funk that was never going to end. The claustrophobic feeling terrified me, but spiritually this was a moment of growth – it stripped away all my props and securities: my family, my work, my health, my finances, my home – they all seemed ut