Dear Friends in Christ,
MINISTRY TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS
The month of March brought us a moment of Trial. Neuraci was a faithful charter member who went home to be with the Lord. Like Dorcas in the Bible, Neuraci was a woman of faith who lived her whole life for the Lord she loved. Her loss has been deeply felt in our church as well as in our surrounding neighborhood. Neuraci had a personal ministry of visiting all of the widows and fatherless in our neighborhood. She also worked the public schools with child evangelism fellowship. It has taken many members to fill her shoes and we praise God for an eternal home in heaven where we will see Neuraci again some day.
The month of April has brought Triumph. We had our annual missions conference. Bro. Zach Foust, missionary to Peru was our feature speaker. He did a fantastic job during the week. On Friday night we had a first time visitor from Vila Prudente. Bro. Foust preached a fantastic sermon. When it was over the woman approached my wife. She told her that she felt like Bro. Foust had preached just to her. She had many questions and about an hour later she accepted Christ as her saviour. She has made return visits to the church since her salvation. On Saturday night of the conference we had a first for our church– an international dinner. There were many strange looks and questions but in the end everyone loved it and we had 72 people in attendance! We ended our conference on Easter Sunday. We felt there was no better way to celebrate Christ’s resurrection than by emphasizing missions. Our Easter/ Missions service was exciting and full. We had my father, Dan Johnson, do gospel magic with an emphasis on missions for Sunday School. The service opened with the choir singing an Easter special. After several special songs celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection my mother did a beautiful chalk art for us. We used the chalk art as a prize for the member who brought the most visitors. It was a wonderful evening that ended even better when one of the adult visitors who came accepted Christ as his personal Saviour. Our Faith Promise doubled this year and we are taking on two new missionaries as well as raising the support of our current missionaries. Praise the Lord!
I tell the people after every service “God is good, all the time: All the time, God is good;” and he is.
His for souls,
Bryan & Rebekah Johnson
Jeff, David, & Lee
Jeff, David, & Lee
