He was just 9-years-old, the son of Brazilian immigrants. He played little league, loved to ride his bike, and never missed a kickball game with the kids in their Florida neighborhood. The day he got the invitation, he swiftly ran home to ask his mom for permission to attend. It was an invitation to a Good News club, and he didn’t want to miss out on it, all the neighborhood kids were going to be there. Mama smiled; she could never resist those eager eyes, so she nodded, and he celebrated as he ran out the door and down the street.
Mary Jane Neville was just an average middle-aged mom. Her own children were now teenagers, but when Children’s Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) presented their vision for reaching kids through Good News clubs at her Central Bible Church in St Petersburg, FL, she was excited about reaching kids for Jesus. She took the training, prepared materials. She hoped to make Thursday afternoon a special time for the kids in her neighborhood. Every week she would share a Bible story and challenge the children to memorize scripture verses. Her husband made her an easel for the flannel graph and a lollipop tree for the memory verse prize.
That eager-eyed 9-year-old boy was there every week. He wouldn’t miss it for the world. He would learn the Scripture, so he could get a prize from the treasure chest and the lollipop tree. He loved the salvation songs and the stories, so on the day when Mrs. Neville gave the invitation for those who wanted to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior; he didn’t hesitate. He prayed the “repeat-after-me” prayer and that moment turned out to be better than all the prizes from the treasure chest and the lollipop tree. Then Mrs. Neville wrote the date of his “born-again” birthday inside the cover of a shiny new Bible and gave it to the boy. It was November 7th, 1974.
Soon after the Brazilian family moved back to Connecticut, the recession had hit, times were hard, and so they moved in with relatives. The Brazilian boy went to the Catholic school with his cousins, and he pondered the meaning of the Christ on the crucifix and the Christ of the flannel graph. The Scriptures and the lollipop tree were replaced with candles and rituals but the seeds of the Good News were planted deep in his heart. And though he left the Bible in a drawer to collect dust, what happened on November 7th 1974, would not let his teenage heart run away too far.
So in 1979, after the big move back to Florida, when the family settled in once again in St Petersburg, the boy who was now a teenager was walking in the halls of a new high school filled with invitations to drugs, partying, and girls. It was just at that crucial crossroads when Robby Kaufman knocked on his door with another invitation. Robby invited him to youth group at Glad Tidings Assembly of God. That very first Wednesday night youth group, the seeds that were planted in his heart by Mary Jane Neville took root and over the months they blossomed as he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and followed the Lord in water baptism.
The Glad Tidings church discipled that young man; Charlie Aldridge picked him up every Sunday and Wednesday in the church van, Roger and LInda were his Bible Quiz coaches, and someone else in the church gave him a scholarship to go to Youth camp. It was at that Youth Camp that the Lord called him to full time ministry at the age of 16.
About that time, he began to wonder about Mrs. Neville and the Good News Club. He wondered if she was still living in St. Petersburg, so he looked her up in the yellow pages, and sure enough, she was still living in the same home. So he went by on a Saturday afternoon to visit Mrs. Neville. When Mary Jane opened the door she could scarcely recognize that tall and handsome 16-year-old young man standing on her front porch, he was barely a shadow of the 9-year-old boy with the funny last name. She welcomed him in with glass of sweet tea and they chatted about his family and all that had happened in his life.
“Mrs. Neville, I came here today to thank you for telling me about Jesus and I want you to know that I am serving him today and I’ve been called to the ministry.” he shared with all the enthusiasm of a young man dreaming about his future. And as he shared the tears ran out of the wrinkles in her loving eyes.
Over the years Mary Jane watched the kids lose interest in the Good News club, most of the kids in the neighborhood never really followed through on those “repeat-after-me” prayers. Some had completely rejected the faith of their childhood. There were many days when Mary Jane wondered if all the investment of her time, talent, and finances was really worth it. Until that day when Nelson de Freitas showed up at her door step, there with his Bible under his arm and dreams of reaching the world for Jesus.
And those dreams became reality. Nelson and his wife Rennae have had the privilege to invite children in many countries of Latin American to church, Sunday school and to hear about Jesus under mango trees and on street corners. They have heard countless “repeat-after-me” prayers and some of those kids grown up to become pastors and missionaries.
Nelson always says that he wants to be on the front row in heaven when Jesus calls out the name “Mary Jane Neville” on that Judgment day. As Jesus shows her final reward, she may be expecting to see the face of Nelson de Freitas but what shock when she sees all those brown faces from Dominican Republic and Haiti. She may want to question Jesus, ask him if he could possibly be mistaken. But he will point to Nelson.
“Remember him?” he will ask.
“Oh, how could I forget that boy with the eager eyes and the funny last name?” Mrs. Neville will reply.
“Mary Jane, because of your faithfulness to reach the kids in your neighborhood, that young man has been reaching kids in neighborhoods across the ocean. Great is your reward!”
Mary Jane Neville is now in her 80’s. Since we began our missionary career she has been among our most faithful supporters.
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