McKinney Report

            Planning seems like something that everyone knows how to do.  I mean we all buy houses, cars, eat three meals a day, etc…, right?  Well, a couple of weekends ago I was helping a congregation learn how to plan.  I explained the steps of planning; vision, why, where we are now, how to get to our vision from where we are and how to constantly evaluate if we are still on track.             I also taught and preached from the book of Ephesians.  I explained the context, the confusion a lot of people have about predestination and what God's wrath is, how it is all around us and how the Gospel saves us from His wrath here and now.  I spoke on listening to our conscience and studying God's Word to train our conscience.               It was a quick trip but a very good one.  On th...

      This year, Vacation Bible School’s theme was The Kilimanjaro Safari , using Proverbs to teach children to use their eyes, their ears, their mouths, and their hands and feet to glorify God. That’s what the children learned; what we learned was that teaching children about Jesus is not only fun but worthwhile.   Something else we came to realize was how hard it is going to be to have VBS next year without Monica Newlin putting so much time and work into organizing it. The Newlins are moving back to the US at the end of the year and will be greatly missed.        This year, though, we have tried something different. We have transformed Sunday School into Fun Bible School, based on some ideas from the Journeyland Program that the Hermosa church in Artesia, NM, introduced us to. We invite the visiting kids to continue coming to church to participate in mini workshops: gardening, cooking, acting, etc., each workshop...

          Far, far away in a little town called Diamond, there lived a fisherman named Heleno. Though it sounds like it, this is no fairy tale. Heleno’s wife became a Christian last year, the only one in Diamond (Diamante). She is Ivani’s sister, whom Francinaldo and Ivani have visited two or three times a year since they became followers of Christ.           Every time they go,  Solange gathers family and neighbors to study the Bible. Most times Heleno would be out fishing, but he would hear the message some times. This and his wife’s example finally became enough for him to come to a decision.           They traveled to João Pessoa, spent the weekend here and we studied the Bible. Since Heleno doesn’t read well, I drew pictures to help him better understand why sin is such a problem in our lives and why only Jesus can resolve it.  He und...

    The Cajazeiras Right Step Program is going strong, young men learning about living godly lives through soccer training, but the fruit for the Kingdom is not restricted to just boys.          Rivaldo Café baptized a couple, Alacide and Jocelha, at the end of July. They came to the church through the program too. Ever since their two sons started training soccer, they showed an interest in studying the Bible. And now they are your brother and sister in Christ. Please pray for them, their faith, their witness, and for the Right Step program to continue set families on the Way of Life.

             I traveled to Caruaru with Samuel McKinney and three young ladies, Beliza, Thaís and Valeska. We went to a youth leadership training camp. This is the first camp of this nature in the Northeast of Brazil. The focus of the event was the need for youth ministers to care for their own spiritual lives and the importance of mentoring others to become future leadership.  So many times, ministers in general use all their energy to care for others and invest very little in their own spiritual well-being. It is very common for church workers to be overloaded with work instead of teaching others and delegating responsibilities.           These subjects are very important for the kind of youth group that we want to build. To instill the idea that we need each other in the Kingdom, and yet caring for each other can be burden, we did the following activity: we were divi...

J uly 10, 1994, I first set foot on Brazilian soil, (a three week visit to Recife) the same as the McKinneys many years before.  Fast-forward, (does anyone born after the year 2000 even know what that really means?) 22 years and 6 days:  A group of 21 people, varying ages, arrive in João Pessoa for a one-week mission trip. We planned their week with many activities: visiting, singing in public squares, handing out flyers (no one more excited about this task than Riley Putman, my nephew), door-to-door invitations to a new School of the Bible course (beginning this Saturday, August 13 th ), spending the night in the home of a non-English speaking family, buying fruit in the open market, buying souvenirs, going to the beach to relax and have fun, meeting with the congregations in J.P. and eating lots and lots of food (even going to a true to life, Brazilian steakhouse). Several from the group want to visit again.  If we could fast-forward again 20 some odd years ...

      As my departure from Brazil nears, I am doing the countdown on the state-wide meetings I will be attending. Just went to my next to the last. I feel like Paul, trying to think of all the right things to say before I go. We talked about what God has done to bring salvation to the world and how our lives should be different from that of those who are not in Christ.       Each congregation gave a presentation of their growth in numbers and maturity, through such activities as visitation, campaigns, retreats, classes, and weekend seminars. While each congregation spoke the others were listening for opportunities to serve through visits, calls or other ways that they believe would help in what is already being done.       We ended our time together studying God's Word about the subject of grace and being filled with the Spirit. We read Ephesians 5:17-21 and discussed how being filled with the Spirit is v...