Skip to main content

Out And About

By
    Last weekend I traveled to Patos, where I conducted the state-wide plan meeting, spent time with an evangelist, helped plan the Great Supper in October and met with two different congregations. 
            The state-wide plan is still moving forward.  Their goal for this meeting was to have someone prepared who is able to prepare another person.  Each congregation is still working towards this goal.  They each have someone in place that they are training.  The short-term goal is to train men and women who will be able to train other men and women.  The mid-term goal is to prepare the congregation in various aspects of the work and spiritual life so that it, the congregation, can continue to grow without the current evangelist.  The long-term goal is to prepare the congregation to send out the current evangelist or other men to establish a congregation in a new city.  We are moving slower than I would like to see but we are moving forward.  That is good news. 
            I spent a full day with one of the evangelists supported through funds from the U.S.A.  We spent time talking about the work, about his personal life, and about vision for the future of the church in Paraíba.  I am confident that he now has a better understanding of the direction in which, I believe, the church needs to move.  It was good to spend time with Givanildo.
            While with Givanildo, Silvan and Diogo, I helped plan the Great Supper.  This is an event for the church throughout the state of Paraíba, a feast of knowledge of God's Word, of fellowship with the church and evangelism in the host city, Catingueira.
            I met with the church in Emas, Catingueira, and Patos on Sunday.  It was encouraging to see the simplicity of a small congregation, meeting in a house and having lunch together after services, as well as, the simplicity of a larger congregation in Patos, meeting in a building in construction, supporting an evangelist all at the same time, but having the same love and concern as the smaller congregation. 
Please pray:
  • that God will direct our path for the state-wide plan.  That the plan will be His, not ours;
  • that the vision Givanildo now has will permeate his plans and actions;
  • that the Great Supper will be a true spiritual feast for the church in Paraíba;
  • God's people will live and "...proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" 1 Peter 2:9

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"What About Baptism?"

By
Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!
Post a Comment
Read more

For the Kids, Part III

By
    In the USA, there are two special days during the year that children love: birthday and Christmas. Brazil adds one more: Children's Day. On this day, children receive a present and since it coincides with Our Lady of Appeared Conception, Brazil's patron saint, it is also a national holiday.     Each week we get kids from the Castelo Branco neighborhood together at the square in front of Dona Terezinha's house to talk about Jesus. For Children's Day, we invited the parents to watch the kids perform a play of the "Prodigal Son," then each kid receives his or her fill of cotton candy, cake, and a sack full of goodies. The parents who came received a Today's Portuguese New Testament and an invitation to the weekly Bible study at Terezinha's.     Lori Hagewood has organized this activity for three year with the help from Terezinha, Joseph, and Michel (from the China Taiwan restaurant). Michael, Ashton, and Tif...
Post a Comment
Read more

Samuel McKinney's New Life in Christ

By
It has been only three days since Samuel gave his life to Christ, but it is so exciting to see my young son exercising his faith, like getting upset when his history teacher at school taught that miracles in the book of Exodus can be explained by natural phenomena: low and high tides in the crossing of the sea, natural disasters for the plagues, etc. The day after his baptism, Samuel went on a trip with his school and received a new nickname: the boy who reads the Bible. He read 1 Samuel, chapters 1 through 6, out loud for the whole bus to hear. His eagerness to take the Lord's Supper for the first time was refreshing. May our Father bless all our families with life changing faith.
Post a Comment
Read more