Sowing The Seed In A Different Way

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Cubati, Areial, and Campina Grande. I spent most of my time in Cubati, where there are four members of the church. I talked about vision, the mission of the church, and prayer with the couple (Afonso and Vânia) that live in this city. The other two members of the church were weak in their faith; I say "were" because I talked with them and I think they were strengthened with my visit, but it seems to be a recurring theme for them.

Afonso and Vânia pray for their city, but it seems that no one listens to the Gospel. There are many denominations, and the Catholic Church is also present, but these are not the greatest problem for this city of 6,000 inhabitants. This is a city full of immorality. Perhaps it is more evident because of the small population or maybe it is just really immoral. I won't go into details right now. Afonso was telling me of how they are talking to people in the city about Jesus, but no one has come to meet with them. One interesting fact he shared with me is that most of the denominations in Cubati now take the Lord Supper every Sunday because "Afonso's church," as they call it, is doing so. They don't say that out loud, but the reason is so that they do not lose any members. The denominations also started doing some other things because Afonso teaches it. So with that insight I encouraged both Afonso and Vânia to continue teaching and to not be discouraged by numbers because God is working. Who knows, maybe the denominations in Cubati as a whole will begin to obey the Gospel truth. They may not see immediate results in numbers at their church meetings, but God's Word will be working to transform the lives of many and an entire city, wallowing in immorality.

If you have any thoughts on this article, I would love to hear them.

I ask for your prayers for the city of Cubati and the spreading of God's Word.

Comments

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....

Missions In May

I will be traveling this weekend to Cajazeiras to teach an intensive seminar on "Faith and Obedience"over the weekend. Please pray for a safe trip and encouraging, edifying classes. The church in this city has a lot of young people. Most of whom have not grown up around Christian influences. In fact, many of them have seen more drug dealers than people imitating Christ. Helping them understand God's Word and the promises in which their faith is rooted is important for them, as well as any Christian. Helping them understand how that faith will be evident in their lives through words, actions and attitudes will be important for all of those around them. On May 13th , Joe McKinney and I will head out for Patos, returning on May 16th . Our goal is to discover church's needs and how to best help them. We will als...

McKinney Report

Search This Blog