Current Message Series - James

James’ primary theme is living out one’s faith. To be a doer and not just a hearer of the word. This theme is developed in view of the social conflict between rich and poor and the spiritual conflict between factions in the church. James rebukes his readers for their worldliness and challenges them to seek divine wisdom in working out these problems and getting right with God.

Story of Impact

We will be posting may "Stories of Impact" in our Missions section soon. Below is the first of many.

Vera (at right in photo) is a grandma concerned about her children and grandchildren. Fifteen years ago she realized neither of her adult children were following the Lord, though she and her long-deceased husband had tried their best to raise them as Christians. She thought to herself, “Perhaps I can make a difference in the next generation … the grandkids.” After her daughter Heidi (at left in photo) went through a traumatic separation from her alcoholic and abusive husband, Vera offered that Heidi could come live with her again, together with Heidi’s 3 small girls. Vera began to take the oldest girl (Nathalie) to the nearby Vila São José MB church where we working at the time. It didn’t take long for Nathalie to open her heart to Jesus, and to begin to pray with her grandma for the whole family to come back to the Lord. Over the next 15 years, God answered those prayers as one-by-one, mother and sisters came to faith and were baptized into the church.

But the story doesn’t end there. Not only did they come to Christ, they began to serve him with gifts of leadership He had given them. The mother Heidi became our “right-hand woman” as we began a daughter church nearby. Nathalie grew into a youth leader and then served on the church council in the mother church. Having warm hearts of compassion, the family became guardians of a young girl who grew up in a very abusive home. This girl, Dayana (center in photo), also came to faith and as the oldest of three, is now responsible for her siblings, whom she is seeking to lead to Jesus. The ripple-effect goes on. Just last year Vera’s wayward son returned home, renewed his faith in God, and was baptized into the daughter church of Rio Bonito. The stories will continue in this extended family because one grandma stood on the promise to “believe … you will be saved – you and your household.”

Vic and Marty Wiens,

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