Skip to main content

Time To Go

  
This last month and a half I have spent in João Pessoa.  I have not traveled to the interior but there is plenty to do here.  I taught a three week class to the members of the church on "Letters to Asia Minor" (Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians).  I am teaching Sunday School on "Contentment", looking at how Jesus, the apostles and the first Christians thought, taught and dealt with the material wealth that God entrusted to them.  We moved into a more personal and practical aspect this past Sunday and began working on our own personal budgets, living below our income to be able to serve more and not live in debt as so many do here.  I preached the Sunday after Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16) on how God told Moses what to do on this day, what the Jews do today and how Jesus fulfilled this day for all Christians and that the forgiveness we have in Christ is complete and forever as long as we remain faithful to Him.
     Now that my class is over, Sunday school is moving into the direction of working more closely with those who desire to live free of debt and serve God with what He has given them.  I will begin traveling again.  This week I am going to Patos to teach the same class on "Letters to Asia Minor" to evangelists and other members from different cities, meet with those involved in the PORmissões plan (reaching every city in the state with the Good News); we are working on establishing a congregation in the city of Pombal by August 2012, visit one or two other cities close by and go to Cajazeiras to meet with the evangelist living there. 
     Please pray for this trip, especially the PORmissões meeting; our planning and execution of the same. 

May God be praised for allowing us to serve Him.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Second Generation, Part II

In 1993 when we came in contact with a young struggling couple in Caruaru, Paulo and Simone, we never imagined what plans God had in store for them. Now 18 years later (Wow, has it been that long?), after conversion, ups and downs, growing pains, working to further the Kingdom and living it, they have had the pleasure to witness the beginning of their daughter's life in Christ. Juliana (age ten) was baptized by her older brother, Jheymerson, who was also ten years old when he gave his life to Jesus. What a wonderful blessing to have one's whole family saved in Christ! Maria and Cícero were also converted when we lived in Caruaru, though single at the time. They dated and got married, the ceremony performed by yours truly. Maria has been faithful to Jesus all these years though going through several difficulties. Cícero, on the other hand, fell away, but came back and renewed his life and his marriage, and now, along with Juliana, his daughter Vitória (age ten) was baptize...

Out And About

    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....

Pandemic Connection Strategies

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 th...