McKinney Report

            On a bright and shiny Sunday morning, I traveled to Alagoinha with the hopes of encountering the bright young man who had shown interest in wanting to know God and being used by Him to help the church grow.                 I did find him but not as motivated as I would have hoped.   I tried to set up a time to study with him before arriving but was unable to do so.   When I arrived I asked to study with him and his first response was no: he did not have time because he is involved in campaigning for a politician in his city.   (This year there are elections for mayor and city council members.)   After sometime, he came to Antônio's door (the man with whom I usually stay when in town).  We sat and talked, studied and prayed together.   He is hungry for more, but I cannot be there all the time, and in between my visits I fear he may lose some of his fire.             I know that I am not the one in whom he should put his hope, and I do not pretend to be,

It was a comfortable night in João Pessoa.   As I left the church building after teaching a lesson on personal finance, nothing was amiss.   After giving someone a ride home, I was off to my own home.   I remember thinking as I pulled away from her house: I am going on the paved road tonight (the road I usually go on is cobblestone, and I bounce around a lot because of the holes and the unevenness of the cobblestones).   As I pull up to the stop sign I see a man standing there by himself, and I think to myself, "That is strange, what is he doing?" (I'll tell you what he was doing later on)   I make a left turn, and about 100 yards ahead there are three other guys standing at the edge of a favela .   Again, I thought to myself, "Hum, that is strange, I wonder what they are doing."   (It is not strange for people to be out in the streets but for them to just be standing and not talking or walking somewhere is strange.)   Well,   I knew something was wr

    We have been in contact with Roseli for years, ever since there was a weekly neighborhood Bible study at Irene’s, taught by Hunter and Jeremy. Since then a lot of water has gone under the bridge, including her husband leaving her and other crises of life. And all that she has been through has brought her to seek Jesus and to meet with the congregation at Irene’s house.     Irene and I studied the Bible her and could see more and more that she is placing her faith in Jesus and her hope in the things above. The only thing she lacked was baptism, which, she would say, is a very serious step. But when it became obvious that baptism in her mind was so serious that she wasn’t getting any closer to making the decision, I asked her, “What would happen if Jesus came back tonight?”     That question shocked her into thinking that the return of Christ is a reality to contend with someday, but that baptism is the yielding to Jesus and bringing Him into her life now. She decided she couldn

        I traveled to Cajazeiras with Mark Hagewood at the beginning of August.   It was a short trip but a helpful one.   I have been looking for someone in the church that can help Café and Leila with maturing the Christians in Cajazeiras.   I think I may have found someone.   I ask for your prayers for the maturity of the church in Cajazeiras.                        Mark and I taught a class to the older Christians about service and serving others.   I gave the lesson on Sunday trying to help the Christians understand who they are and why they are here. We are salt and light with the purpose of glorifying God in our lives. Please pray that: God will give me wisdom to help the Christians throughout the state of Paraíba grow in maturity God will continue to bless Café, Leila and the church in Cajazeiras

            I traveled to Cubati the end of July to continue visiting and teaching a correspondence course begun in June.   I am visiting once a month to keep up with contacts and trying to create new ones.   This visit the number of people continuing the course dropped from 13 to 6, but the remnant is excited about learning more.                        Afonso and I also visited a nearby family in another city, and a door opened up for me to teach a finance class, in which I hope to lead them from earthly treasures to the true treasures of heaven.                         Afonso and I traveled to Patos, a two hour trip, to have a meeting with the Brazilian evangelists in Patos, Emas and Belém to discuss the plans for establishing a congregation in Pombal.   The meeting was encouraging because I believe they began to see the vision that I am wanting to pass on to them so that they can carry-on the work by themselves when I am gone. Please pray for:    Afonso

            Raniere Menezes has initiated AME (Evangelistic Adventures in Missions), an AIM-like program for Brazilians that encourages young people to get involved in missions. He traveled to Cubati along with 18 others, including 14 young people, ages 12 and up, who spent two Saturdays training for this campaign, even handing out pamphlets at the stop lights on one of the busiest intersections in João Pessoa.   In Cubati we handed out invitations, close to 300, on Saturday morning and had games with spiritual lessons during the afternoon and night.   About 25 young people showed up for the games.                           Sunday with 18 visitors present, I taught the Sunday School class on David and Goliath   and then preached on Jesus and Satan in the sermon showing that both David and Jesus knew who they were and who was fighting their battle.   Because of this knowledge, or should I say faith, they were used by God the Father to defeat both of their enemies.   I relate

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, My kids, Lydia, Samuel, and Lucas, entered a Youtube video in a contest. The video with the most views at the end of September 2012 wins, and each participant will receive a tablet. Their video is 1:31 minutes long and is only 200 views behind the one in first place. If they win, they want to donate 2 tablets to the mission work in Paraiba. I have never used a tablet, but I imagine it would be helpful to a children's program, for communication, or even sharing studies for evangelism, especially to a church in the interior that doesn't have any computer resources. So help the mission work in Brazil receive a couple of tablets by watching their video and sharing it with everybody you know. Superpoderes Supera #070 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfSZHzPGsPY