Teaching, Cleaning and Planning

I traveled to Patos at the end of June to teach an intensive course on Romans, visited with evangelists from four different congregations and met with three congregations. It was an encouraging and productive trip.

The class on Romans was 12 hours long. It was supposed to be 15 hours but got cut short because of the rain. The city of Patos got about three inches of rain. That is a lot of rain for the desert region of the state and it had been a while since such a hard rain. The drain at the back of the building was stopped up because a cat had crawled into the drain pipe under the building and died. The water backed up and eventually flowed into the church building. The class stopped and the clean up began. Everyone was really excited with the rain. They all enjoyed the class as well, and we were able to finish the whole book.

Two of the evangelists were in my class on Romans so it was easy to visit with them. The other two were about 30 miles away so I went and visited them and met with the two congregations in those cities. We also planned our next moves for the Great Supper in October (a weekend for all of the Christians in Paraíba to get together for fellowship, learning, teaching, and evangelizing in the host city).

Please pray for:

· The evangelists: Luciano, Santo, Givanildo, and Silvan

· The congregations in the cities: Patos, Belem, Emas, and Catingueira

· The unity of the church in all of Paraíba

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Consecration

We know that God can do anything. The question is what will He do? What will the Lord do in the lives of His people when they consecrate themselves to Him? We hope to find out. Friday, May 22 nd , the Luna congregation had an all night vigil of consecration. We went from 9 pm to 5:30 am, and over 50 people participated, from the ages of 10 to 75 years. In the prayer corner, brothers and sisters signed up for time slots so that we would have prayer without ceasing. The vigil focused on Consecrating our Lives, in Gratitude, in Unity, in Service, and in Sharing . Each part consisted of prayer, singing, Bible Reading and Reflection, and practical activities, like in Service, we washed everyone’s feet, and then everybody joined in making breakfast for the group: homemade bread, fruit, tapioca and eggs, juice, and coffee. In Sharing, we ended with a wonderful meal together in family, talking about people with whom we want to share the gospel. Spend

Luna Men

The men of the Luna church of Christ have a weekly meeting for the purpose of edification and planning God's work in the congregation. Some are going strong, others have family problems, and we all want to grew in God's purpose for our lives. Last night's meeting included a discussion of what really happened on the cross, on resting in Lord in the Psalms. We made plans about the upcoming Carnaval (Mardi Gras) retreat, and talked about the need to do some manual labor on our building. Though the group was smaller this week, there is a hunger to serve. Five out of the six committed spending Wednesday ripping up a big wall that needs to be redone. Whether leading, studying, admonishing, evangelizing, or tearing up a wall, let God use us to His glory!

Pentecost in Paraíba

"This is Pentecost in Cajazeiras," Rivaldo Café said, "Almost three thousand were baptized in Jerusalem, almost ten in Cajazeiras." A wild comparison, of course, but the excitement that produced it was legitimate. Six young men gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized on Saturday. I was blessed to be there: the sixteen hours on a bus, going and coming, was worth it. I went to teach a weekend couples' seminar on the theme "God Gave Me You". The couples (around 12) were mostly parents of kids in the Right Step Program. The changes in these boys' lives have made an impression on the families, many of which have started Bible studies too. Saturday morning, after the soccer practice, three of the boys asked to be baptized. We headed to the building. Café began filling the portable swimming pool while I talked to the boys about what it means to come into the Family of God. Franze (15 yrs), Luam (14 yrs), Jorcelam (17 yrs)

McKinney Report

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