There is Power in God's Word

          The month of August has come and gone as a blur and we are almost half-way through September already.  I have only been back in Brazil for seven months, since our last visit to the States but it seems so far away.  So much has happened; so many trips, classes taught, meetings and baptisms that it is a blur.

            In August there were 9 baptisms throughout the state, that I know of.  Three of them were in a small town called Emas.  The evangelist, Givanildo, has lived in this city for several years and the church has grown very little.  I began studying the Bible with Givanildo by phone once a week, every week and he began teaching more people in his city of Emas.  This past month, three people were baptized and more are studying God's Word. 

            I do not believe that my studying with Givanildo was the cause of these three baptisms but I have "seen" or should I say heard a change in his voice and the subjects he talks about.  I have seen him more often on my trips to the interior, where as before, he would hardly show his face, I have grown closer to him and he has helped me to grow in my relationship with Christ.  He is a very humble person with a great desire to serve God.  He is now seeing evidence of the service he is giving.

            This article was written to celebrate the power of God's Word in our lives.  Read it. Study it.  Live it.  It will change your life and the lives of some or all of those around you.

 

Please pray:

• for the maturing of your three new brothers and sisters in the city of Emas;
• for Givanildo's love to study and live God's Word to continue to grow;
• for the congregations throughout the state of Paraíba and their growth.

On The Road Again

I know I have not written or sent any news in the past couple of months.  I am alive and doing well.  I have been very busy and have not taken the time to sit down and write about what has been going on.  I am sorry for not writing.  I will try to catch you up on the main things that have been going on over the past three months.

I travelled to Patos this past weekend to teach a course on Minor Prophets and to meet 

with the evangelists throughout the state. Twelve members of the congregation in Patos 

participated in the course, two of these had left the church and have recently come back and are 

eagerly seeking fellowship with other Christians. The meeting with the evangelists had a 

representative from seven congregations.

The Minor Prophets bring a message of judgment and salvation with a tone of wrath and 

love. Not one of the students present had ever read all of the Minor Prophets. There is a great 

need for teaching and motivating the Christians to spend time with God and also with His Word. 

I want to thank Joe McKinney for allowing me to use his notes and study on the Minor Prophets. 

What a great help his material was to this course! We talked about the historical contexts of each

prophet and the people to whom he spoke. We read just one complete chapter from each of the 

books; I had only 15 hours to teach all 12 books. We talked about the practical lessons one can 

gain from each book and how these prophecies apply to the church and to our lives today. 

The meeting with the evangelists from different congregations went very well. I read 

Psalm 19, we spent five minutes in silence to meditate on the Psalm, we prayed and sang verses 

7-10 and 14 from the Psalm. We then moved to talk about each evangelist's plans for his 

congregation and the communication with other congregations throughout the state. The women 

of Patos have been travelling to different congregations to visit and encourage the women in 

other smaller congregations. It is from their initiative and their showing great joy that even 

others, though not receiving a visit, are being encouraged. The evangelists are phoning one 

another, the next step is for them to begin visiting each other. At the end of the meeting, I asked 

for two volunteers to set up, plan and direct the next state-wide meeting. We are also planning a 

weekend together at the beginning of next year.

Please pray:

• that God take His rightful place in the Christians lives who studied the Minor 

Prophets;

• that the congregations spread throughout the state of Paraíba may be 

blessed by God to grow in love for one another;

• that the love we have for one another may spill over into the lives of people 

who do not know God.

Youth Group and Parents

What does the youth group and parents have in common?  O.k., the youth, but besides that?  Not much nowadays.  I remember when I was growing up there was no youth minister to take care of the teens at my congregation.  The parents did it.  They planned the activities and stayed with us as we learned about Christ.  They opened up their homes and had devos that they gave and taught us to do the same.   

I am not saying that having a youth minister is a bad thing.  Here in João Pessoa we have a good group of young people.  We have had some individuals couples spend time with the youth but our youth needed more involvement from the adults, the parents.  The parents were the ones who saw this need so We, the parents started meeting in August with the youth group.  We sang and prayed together.  The youth would have their Bible study and the parents talked about raising kids and difficulties we are facing as parents, among other things.  The parents have enjoyed their time together.  The youth don't feel like the parents are cramping their style.  Everything is good.  Actually it is better.  There is no substitue for parents taking care of their kids.  There is no better spiritual role model than ones own parents.   

Please pray: 

• that parents will dedicate their time to the spiritual formation of their children; 
• that children and youth will grow to love God more than anything else in this World. 

Finances Presented Through a Biblical Lens

I have taught Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" course three times here in João Pessoa. I requested permission to translate and teach the course before teaching it.

The beginning of August I began the course for the third time. I changed things up a little this time around. Instead of teaching the nine of the thirteen lessons I translated, I only taught four. The whole reason I began searching to better administer my own personal finances was because I was lacking contentment in my relationship with God and the finances He had given me to administer. In this course, the first two classes were all Bible passages looking at how God and His people see, think and handle money. The foundation is contentment forged from a gratitude of what God has given us both spiritually as well as materially. After the first two classes on contentment, I get into how to administer your personal finances using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace material.

As the class went on during the months of August and September, peoples' vernacular changed from worry about how to make ends meet to contentment for what God has given us. That change in mentality, I did not see happen in the first two courses I gave using just Dave's material.

Please pray:

* That the Church will live a life of gratitude and hope for an eternal home in heaven and not make this world their home.

* That the members of the church will invest more in God's kingdom than in their own personal kingdom, supporting evangelists, buying Bibles for those who do not have them, visiting other congregations to encourage and share faith, and make friends who will receive them in heaven.

Investing In God's Kingdom

I spent most of my time in João Pessoa during the months of August and September.  During this time I taught a Finance class, a 30 hour Bible course and worked with the congregation to establish a budget for the rest of the year and all of next year. 

The average offering amount for the year of 2013 was R$1,400.  It was just enough to cover the expenses at the building.  The men of the congregation made a budget of R$3,260, covering the normal expenses and adding more support for missions, an accountant as well as other expenses. After four or five meeting with the congregation to explain the budget and ask for members to commit how much they could give to meet the budget, not meeting the budget, talking to the members again and receiving new amounts, as a congregation we committed R$3.415, surpassing the original amount.  How great is that!  October, was the first month that the collection would be put towards the new budget.  After last Sunday, the collection for October was over R$3,500.   

Please pray: 

• that the congregations in Paraíba will seek God's Kingdom first financially; 
• that the congregations in Paraíba will continue to work towards supporting evangelists and missionaries throughout the state; 
• that all members of the church may live content investing in God's mission. 

Seeds Sprouting in Unexpected Places

I studied the Bible with a deacon from the Presbyterian denomination for months last year. The study ended for lack of interest.

Last week, on a beautiful Sunday morning with rain pouring down, I was teaching Sunday school to the adults. In walks a woman I had never seen. I go up to meet her, yes, in the middle of class, after waiting to see if anyone recognized her and was going to get up and speak to her. No one did, so I went. I said, "Good morning, my name is Jeremy. What's yours?". She said, "Good morning, my name is Flavia. I am Luiz's sister." I immediately began running through the Luizs I knew to make a connection. I guess my brain was a little slow and along with the blank look on my face she saw that I did not make the connection. She explained to me which Luiz to which she was referring, the deacon.

I had been to her house and studied the Bible with her father and her brother but had never met her. She seems open and is seeking the truth. Isn't it interesting where the seeds of the Gospel fall. Did I plant the seed in her life? How? You know what I see through this experience? I see God. He is not far off. The Lord is close and active. Let him use you to share His Word with others.

Please pray:

• that Flavia will continue to seek the truth in God's Word;
• that Luiz will continue his search for truth in God's Word.

Teaching, Cleaning and Planning

I traveled to Patos at the end of June to teach an intensive course on Romans, visited with evangelists from four different congregations and met with three congregations.  It was an encouraging and productive trip.

                The class on Romans was 12 hours long.  It was supposed to be 15 hours but got cut short because of the rain.  The city of Patos got about three inches of rain.  That is a lot of rain for the desert region of the state and it had been a while since such a hard rain.  The drain at the back of the building was stopped up because a cat had crawled into the drain pipe under the building and died.  The water backed up and eventually flowed into the church building.  The class stopped and the clean up began.  Everyone was really excited with the rain.  They all enjoyed the class as well, and we were able to finish the whole book.

                Two of the evangelists were in my class on Romans so it was easy to visit with them.  The other two were about 30 miles away so I went and visited them and met with the two congregations in those cities.  We also planned our next moves for the Great Supper in October (a weekend for all of the Christians in Paraíba to get together for fellowship, learning, teaching, and evangelizing in the host city).

                

Please pray for:

·         The evangelists:  Luciano, Santo, Givanildo, and Silvan

·         The congregations in the cities:  Patos, Belem, Emas, and Catingueira

·         The unity of the church in all of Paraíba