McKinney Report

Rivaldo Café’s daughter, Rebeca, meets with us at the Luna church of Christ. When she started dating Wesley, she brought him to church. He is a physical therapist, but felt the need for spiritual therapy, demonstrating the desire for Christ in his life.  The same week I invited Wesley to study the Bible, Café was visiting from Cajazeiras. He had already decided he wanted to be baptized, and Cafe baptized his future son-in-law for the remission of his sins.  I knew very little about the guy, but I knew I needed to connect with him. Samuel McKinney and I started giving him Spiritual Milk lessons to ground him in his new life with Christ. The first Bible study was spent mostly listening to him and letting him tell his story.     One side note: Wesley is a big fellow, and we were a little worried Café might not get him out of the water. Somehow he did.  I ask that you pray for God to help Wesley build relationships with other Christians and that he can find weekly time in his busy, busy s

LUNA CHURCH OF CHRIST     We started meeting publicly in the church building again in July, but we continue to transmit the meeting online. We have half the church in person and half online. Even when the pandemic passes, we will continue online because several people from other cities who have moved away from João Pessoa are now able to participate.     MANGABEIRA CHURCH OF CHRIST   This congregation has gone completely online until the pandemic passes. It didn’t make sense to pay rent on a building that wouldn’t be used for months.   INDUSTRIAS CHURCH OF CHRIST   The Industrias church of Christ, taking a different approach to the crisis, didn’t miss a single meeting in person. It meets in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town, easily unnoticed by officials shutting down church gatherings. When the pandemic started, they met and decided to continue without fear, and if anybody got sick, the church fam

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and its social distancing, we have had to work out other ways to connect:  We started a telephone ministry to keep members connected, to verify needs, and to keep our prayer lists updated. Some conversations last five minutes, others have lasted two hours. The idea is that every member receives at least one phone call a week. As we discover needs, we are able to act. One thing that surprised me was that I was expecting to hear about many financial needs. This has not been the case. Many requests have been of an emotional nature. Most requests have been of a spiritual nature. This type of contact has brought us closer together. It is interesting how God can use difficult times to bring about good. May God be glorified! Also, we began small group Bible studies with 3 to 6 members depending on the group. We would normally organize groups like these according to neighborhoods. However, since we are online, we created several groups, days and times and let the me