McKinney Report

Pandemic, isolation, viruses, and fears have created some barriers between   brothers and sisters. All the online meetings and Bible studies have been great, BUT they cannot substitute the love and care shared when the family of Christ is physically together.  Some still have a hard time getting to the church meeting so we take the church to them. It’s called the Caravan of Love. We fill up two to four cars of people and visit our love ones two of three houses a night. We sing with them, pray with them, share God’s word, and He is glorified!  Some people are still afraid so we meet them on their sidewalk, in their yard, and little by and by we are breaking down walls, sometimes literally breaking down walls.    At Silvânia’s house, after we had sang and prayed, David started talking about how she and her husband were saving up money to finish the wall of their house. My back was hurting after a long day, so I barely leaned against the wall they had. It gave way ...

Rivaldo Café’s daughter, Rebeca, meets with us at the Luna church of Christ. When she started dating Wesley, she brought him to church. He is a physical therapist, but felt the need for spiritual therapy, demonstrating the desire for Christ in his life.  The same week I invited Wesley to study the Bible, Café was visiting from Cajazeiras. He had already decided he wanted to be baptized, and Cafe baptized his future son-in-law for the remission of his sins.  I knew very little about the guy, but I knew I needed to connect with him. Samuel McKinney and I started giving him Spiritual Milk lessons to ground him in his new life with Christ. The first Bible study was spent mostly listening to him and letting him tell his story.     One side note: Wesley is a big fellow, and we were a little worried Café might not get him out of the water. Somehow he did.  I ask that you pray for God to help Wesley build relationships with other Christians and that he can find weekly ...

LUNA CHURCH OF CHRIST     We started meeting publicly in the church building again in July, but we continue to transmit the meeting online. We have half the church in person and half online. Even when the pandemic passes, we will continue online because several people from other cities who have moved away from João Pessoa are now able to participate.     MANGABEIRA CHURCH OF CHRIST   This congregation has gone completely online until the pandemic passes. It didn’t make sense to pay rent on a building that wouldn’t be used for months.   INDUSTRIAS CHURCH OF CHRIST   The Industrias church of Christ, taking a different approach to the crisis, didn’t miss a single meeting in person. It meets in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town, easily unnoticed by officials shutting down church gatherings. When the pandemic started, they met and decided to continue without fear, and i...

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...

For a long time, we have had powerful technological outreach tools in our hands, but we haven’t taken the time to learn to use them. The pandemic has made us do just that. Mission work has adapted. Connections that weren’t made because of distance now are a part of our daily life.   We are learning to do new things: online church meetings, online weddings, online funerals, online Bible courses like this taught by Hunter Hagewood on Christian Evidences, online weekly small group Bible studies, English Bible outreach classes. I am teaching a weekly class on learning God’s Word through Singing the Bible (last Saturday over 40 people participated).