by J. Randal Matheny

No one will ever know the full results of one's work for the kingdom of God. Trite as it is, it's no less true that only eternity will reveal the fruit of our labors.

Occasionally, however, we are privileged to hear about how God has used our efforts. Below is an email I received yesterday. It bears sharing as a reminder of the Lord's work through our joint efforts.

I couldn't keep from sharing the gladness of the day, for I have an uncle with whom we've been studying some three years, and today he was immersed in the waters of baptism here in Sorocaba.

He attributed his decision to having read our church bulletin that circulates every week here in the Sorocaba congregation. It is in this bulletin that I use the messages of "God with Us."

On November 2nd I didn't have any material, so I searched out one from 2000, "Biblical Baptism," by Tom Tarbet, which was the spark for my uncle's decision.

So I want to thank you for your work, which helps us greatly and pleases God.

May God bless you and your entire team.

--Antonio Marcos Feitosa

"God with Us" (DEUS Conosco) is a devotional thought based on a Scripture verse which I do in Portuguese. The original idea was for it to be daily, but work responsibilities don't always permit me to give it full attention.

A recent meditation from "God with Us" has been translated into English and can be read here.

The article by Tom Tarbet comes from a series we published in Edificacao (Edification) magazine, translated with his permission from a volume of newspapers articles he did in while preaching in New York. Before his death, Tom was an elder in the Baker Heights congregation (Abilene, Tex.) and was an encouraging supporter of our publications ministry.

One of my first thoughts on reading the email from Marcos was that Tom would be pleased.

Above all, the Lord is pleased and the angels rejoice when one more soul is saved and ushered into his fellowship.

BZNS-- The minister of the Central church of Christ in Johnson City, Tenn., joined the staff of Forthright Magazine in November, 2002.

Tim Hall debuted in Forthright November 14 with the article "My Limited Faith."

Having grown up in Cumberland, Kentucky, as the son of a coal miner, Tim graduated from Freed-Hardeman University in 1976 with BAs in Bible and Communications. He received a Masters in 1979 from University of Wisconsin, Madison. Tim has served the Central church since June of 1983.

He is married to Joyce Edlin, whom he met at FHU. They have two sons, Nathan and David, one daughter, Rebecca, and one daughter-in-law, Amy.

Tim has published the popular e-mail devotional HEM-Lines since May of 1997.

Tim writes the "Heavenly Connections" column every Friday.

Forthright Magazine is an online and email magazine whose staff writers include A. A. Neale, Barry Newton, Emmett Smith III, Greg Tidwell, Jeff Jenkins, Jimmy Jividen, and Phil Sanders. Brazil missionary and publisher Randal Matheny serves as editor.

For the magazine's address, click here.

Just arrived in the mail! World Evangelism ministries directed by J. C. Choate has just released the first Brazil edition of The Voice of Truth International with volume 34. Brazil is one of 26 country or regional editions published.

The English-language edition differs from the others only in the information about the church in Brazil on the second page

Kenya and Papua New Guinea also had special editions with this volume.

I will serve as the distributor for the Brazil edition.

For more information, see the previous news item about the magazine.

J. C. Choate of World Evangelism ministries in Winona, Miss., sent an email last week to say that the first Brazilian edition of The Voice of Truth International has been published. Though published in English, the inside front cover has information we provided about churches and ministries in Brazil.

I have written for TVOTI, the last being the poem "The Man I Want to Be" published in the front inside cover of vol. 32. More of my articles ought to be forthcoming.

TVOTI is published in 23 different editions throughout the world. Our cooperative edition is the latest in a long line of good material for Christians and non-Christians alike.

At the National Christian Worker's Conference during Easter weekend we released Alvaro Pestana's new book, The Body of Christ: The Use of Gifts in the Church (my translation from Portuguese). The 63-page book has 13 chapters for a quarterly study, as well as two apendices that include a questionaire to discover one's gifts and suggestions to eliminate "dubious practices."

You can take a peek at his book here. But be warned: the text is in Portuguese.