Skip to main content

Baptisms & Other News

By
I am going back to Patos this weekend. I will not be teaching a seminar this time. I will be helping to plan the Grande Ceia (Great Supper) for the church throughout Paraíba in October. I will also be conducting a PORmissões meeting with the churches in the desert region of the state.
Their goal for the last PORmissões meeting was to prepare at least one man to take their place preaching, organizing the order of worship and teaching Bible studies. They all did so. The goal for them to accomplish for this meeting is to train the men they prepared to prepare another man to take his place. You may be asking why. The reason is so that they can leave their congregations and begin a new body of believers, not a different body of believers but "new" because they are "new" in Christ.
Two baptisms in Patos with one more close to picking up his cross. The names of the two baptized in Patos are Aldo and DaGuia. Anderson and Jessica, his wife, were baptized just two months before. They went after this couple, studied the Bible with them and are now meeting together in a city about 6 miles from Patos, called São José do Bomfim. A new congregation is born. They meet every Sunday. They bought 10 chairs with their own contribution and want to grow, and they have. Of course, Anderson and his wife were not alone. Two of the men that Luciano helped prepare baptized Anderson and Jessica. That is exciting!
In Cajazeiras, two teenagers were baptized, Leandro and Lucas. The church in Cajazeiras door-knocked around the church building, handing out invitations. One person came, Leandro. He never missed another church event over the 4 or so months before he was baptized. He is a quiet young man but ready to suffer for Christ. Lucas is the younger brother of one of the boys who is now a Christian through participation in the Passo Certo program (The Right Step Program) that teaches boys and girls about Christ using soccer as a means of contact with the kids and family members. The church now has around 40 members and growing.  (I don't have pictures at this time but will send them as soon as I can.)

Please pray:

  • that these new Christians will grow and teach, at least, one more person about their Lord in the next year;
  • that God will continue to open people's hearts to believe and obey His Word;
  • that God will give us wisdom to train men and women to live a Christ-like life and share this life with others;
  • the church needs vision to guide those who do not know Christ back to their Creator.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Second Generation, Part II

By
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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....
Post a Comment
Read more

Pandemic Connection Strategies

By
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...
Post a Comment
Read more