McKinney Report

After the Men of God weekly meeting started, we have seen more men taking initiative in the Luna congregation. Praise God! Last month, four couples started Bring a Friend Day. They bought and cooked food for the church and told everybody to bring friends and stay for lunch. It was trial run, and there were six visitors, and a couple who couldn't found our building (they finally arrived for lunch). Yesterday was the real thing. Wow! Some put up banners so one would get lost. Others cooked, and everybody invited friends. We had over 30 adult visitors and a ton of kids. We worshiped together, we ate together, and spent a good part of the afternoon talking. We got everybody's contact information to visit them, and Lord willing, we will have another Amigo Day next month. 

          The boys and I went to the Christian Congresso, a three-day spiritual high. Edda stayed at home, taking care of her 93 year old father. My youngest, Lucas (13 years old), had been studying the Bible for a good while, and on the last night of the Congresso at 2 a.m, Samuel woke me up and said that Lucas was going to be baptized. I had been praying for this decision for a long time so I was excited in a dreamy way, but the first thought that came into my mind was – Edda’s not here! She will be disappointed; couldn’t he wait just 7 hours for her to get here?           But no, his decision to be baptized was for Jesus, not for his mother. It’s hard to express my feelings while baptizing my son into eternal life. I’m just so thankful for so much we don’t deserve.           When Edda finally arrived and found out, she was disappoi...

          The last time I wrote you about the Christian Congresso, which unites brethren from all nine states in the Northeast of Brazil, was in 2012.  At that event, a lot of people got sick from food poisoning.  This time that did not happen.  At this Congresso, the 30th,, there were two baptisms, 340 people stayed the four days, and close to 600 came for the Sunday meeting. Mateus (from Maceió) and Lucas McKinney, both 13 years old, were baptized.           The theme was “Our Mission, Our Vision”.  The idea was to focus on gratitude and evangelism.  I left the event excited to tell others about Jesus and edified by the joy in the atmosphere, where I felt I was with family.  I do not remember hearing anyone complain about anything.  What a great time we had together.  Heaven is going to be better than we could ever imagine.   ...

        E manuela watched her mother and sister give their lives to Jesus last year. The change must have made an impression: faith grew, obedience to Jesus too. She decided it was her turn to follow Christ. That only leaves the father and a young brother. May God unite this whole family in His kingdom.

        The church that meets in Mangabeira, João Pessoa’s largest neighborhood, is growing too. Raniere Vieira and Marcelo studied the Bible with João Batista. João decided to be baptized. The same hour of the night, they went to the beach, and he gave his life to Christ.         John the Baptist was a powerful servant of God; let’s pray that João Batista will live up to his name and baptize others

          My family was invited to a really neat experience, a wedding in Caruaru. We spent five years in the 90’s establishing the church there, making a lot of mistakes, but somehow God used our inadequacies, and brought about something good.             1993, my brother and I moved into small house in an alley, without out a sidewalk, so one step out of our door, we were in the street. The neighbors were excited about the Americans moving in, giving them something to talk about, their kids fascinated. One little boy called Hegon (pronounced Ego), three or four years old, was scared of us at first, but once getting used to us, would stand at the bars of the front doors for hours watching our daily affairs in the living room and kitchen.   I guess there was nothing interesting on TV. I don’t know how watching two bachelors burning their lunch made much of an impact on this lit...