Thank You for Your Prayers

I want to thank everyone for their prayers during carnaval (Mardi Gras). As far as I know, everyone had a safe and peaceful trip to their respective retreats around Brazil.

In Patos we had a wonderful time of fellowship (staying up till 2 or 3 a.m. with the young people) talking about love, salvation and evangelism. The food was plentiful and very good. The lessons we heard made us reflect on our decisions, their consequences and opened our eyes to see God at work in the World.

I asked some people what was their favorite part of the retreat; Dylan said, "the offering" (collection). What a surprising and wonderful answer. Another person was lamenting that they did not spend a lot of time with most of the people at the retreat. She spent most of her time getting to know one of the members from another congregation. Nicholas said, "sometimes it is time better spent getting to know one person more intimately than talking with a lot of people and speaking on a superficial level."

God is maturing His Church. The retreat was a great way to start off the year in fellowship.

Thank you once again for your prayers.

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....

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...

McKinney Report

Search This Blog