Industrial District Mustard Seed

On the outskirts of João Pessoa is the Industrial District, which began as a group of factories, but now has large residential areas. Francinaldo and Ivani, faithful workers for the Kingdom, bought a house there. Now they are one more step closer to realizing their dream (God’s dream too) of starting a congregation in this neighbor: Carlos and Girlene were baptized. They are a couple who visited the church a while back. They studied the Bible and found out what needed to be done. They had some hard decisions, like separating until they could get legally married. And when Girlene said she was ready to be baptized, we took her to the beach. Carlos surprised all there and said he was ready too. It poured down rain so by the end everybody was soaked but praising God for this new Christian couple.

Their schedules are a little hard to work around. They both work in factories; he, the night shift, and both have to work some Sundays, but none of this dampens the joy they are experiencing about being in Christ.

Carlos, along with some of his co-workers, while others jeer, has a 1 am devotional at the factory. I have been giving them the Spiritual Milk studies along with Francinaldo and can attest to their thirst.

Francinaldo came excitedly to me with a prayer request. He met another family in the same neighborhood who wants to study the Bible. Please pray for Ana Cristina and her family. They visited the church meeting this past Sunday for the first time. The mustard seed grows…

Comments

"What About Baptism?"

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!

For the Kids, Part III

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...

Walking With A Holy God

I was invited to teach a youth class in Recife, a city about 2 hours south of João Pessoa. I have been focusing my time and attention on teaching and training Christians in Paraíba. This would take one of my weekends away from Paraíba. Besides the time away and focus off the state, the subject I was asked to teach on also brought some discomfort: "Masturbation: A Sin Against Holiness." This is not a subject you just bring up in a casual conversation with young people who you do not know. I decided to accept the invitation so that I could better prepare myself to help other young men deal with this problem, and I do confess, I had already been thinking about how to talk to my own sons about this subject. Thankfully, they is not ready yet, but unfortunately, I'm sure it will not be too far off. ...

McKinney Report

Search This Blog