Skip to main content

Men of God

By

             In an effort to strengthen João Pessoa’s central church, we have dedicated months to investing time, energy, and prayers on the men’s group, and we are seeing the results, male bonding, more excitement in serving the church, more trust and confidence, better examples at home – wives are commenting, and it’s positive.

          The last weekend of November we had a men’s retreat. About 15 of us were expecting a rough camping experience, but at the last minute someone we don’t know loaned us a huge house with a pool, near a beach for free, God’s blessing no doubt. He wanted us to concentrate on Him, on each other, on confessing sins, on praying, instead of just surviving. Our goal is to become better disciples, better husbands, better fathers, and better servant leaders, and we are having fun along the way.

          Some are taking responsibility for improving the building, others are visiting and encouraging others to take care of each other’s needs, other are praying for needs discovered in the new closeness. It’s hard sometimes for men to get close, when sports are not involved, but the guys in João Pessoa once they got the taste of true, deeper friendships, they want more and more.

          And the church is getting stronger because of it.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Planting, the Watering, and the Increase

By
Emesson started coming to Bible Club over a year ago, when Neil Schultz and Cait Beckloff, our AIM team, were teaching it. For several months, they planted the seed in his and his sister's hearts. Unfortunately Neil and Cait's time in João Pessoa ended. In 2014 Bible Club received a boon when Erick and Jenny Paddy, former AIMers, returned to the field and picked up teaching the Bible Study for English speakers. They watered the sprouting seed in Emesson's life until God's Word became more important for him than just practicing his English. Last Wednesday night, God gave the increase, adding Emesson to the Family of Christ. Sometimes things don't happen when we think they should, but God is in control; His time is best, and we must thank Him for playing a small part in His plan. 
Post a Comment
Read more

For the Kids, Part III

By
    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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Weekend VBS

By
           The end of April, my wife, Monica, traveled to Patos with the AME (Adventures in Evangelistic Missions) group to have VBS with the church there.  It was the first VBS for the AME class and for the church in Patos, the first one in about 10 years.              Monica said that there were 24 children on the first day and 26 on the second.  It was a weekend VBS, Saturday morning, afternoon and Sunday morning.              They also did a campaign around the church building inviting people to the VBS, the church meeting, and an adult class on Friday night.  They also had a couples meeting as well as a youth group meetings happening in between other activities.              Needless to say, they were pretty busy.  They all came back exci...
Post a Comment
Read more