CP Stories: Cowserts and Keys, American Peoples

For 100 consecutive years, three generations of Cowserts have served as Southern Baptist missionaries to Brazil.

September 7, 2022
Macala Mays

For 100 consecutive years, three generations of Cowserts have served as Southern Baptist missionaries to Brazil.

In 1921, J. J. and Grace Cowsert established a Baptist publishing house—Latin America’s largest at the time and the first to print Bibles in Brazil. Grace taught music at the local Baptist school and helped form the Young Women’s Christian Training Center (now the Integrated Center of Education and Missions).

Appointed in 1952, the Cowsert’s son, George, pastored 10 churches throughout Brazil while his wife, Hilda, directed the Feminine Union (Brazilian Woman’s Missionary Union).

George and Hilda’s daughter, Elena, and her husband, Guy Key, were appointed in 1984 and through their service have worked with Brazilian Baptist compatriots for wide-scale church multiplication.

THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM is the financial fuel for reaching every person for Jesus Christ in every town, every city, every state, and every nation. Your support through the Cooperative Program allows the global, Gospel work begun generations before to continue to grow and flourish.

PRAY for the work that the Cowsert family began in Brazil to continue for generations.

Macala Mays

In 2022, Macala Mays stepped into her current role as Associate Editor of BRN United and Podcast Producer for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey (BRN). Before taking this position, she worked as a contracted Podcast Producer in 2021 and a freelance writer in 2020 for the BRN. During her time with the BRN, Macala Mays has produced three different podcast series, including 50 Stories of Transformation (2021-2022), The #LovePASJ Podcast (2022), and Celebrating Cooperative Missions (2023). She also has written over 60 articles for the BRN and has been nationally published by The Baptist Paper and Baptist Press. She is also a member of the Baptist Communicators Association (BCA).

Prior to working with the BRN, Macala interned at the State Capitol of Tennessee in the Publications Division under the office of Secretary of State. She also remotely wrote news for TalkErie, a radio station in Erie, Pa., and previously worked as a News Director/Producer for WJET-TV in Erie, Pa.

Macala Mays holds a master of arts in communications from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (EUP) as well as a bachelor of arts in journalism/public relations from EUP. During her graduate years, Macala worked as a Graduate Assistant and helped manage the on-campus radio station. She also served as a managing editor for the university’s newspaper, which led to an interest in music journalism.
Macala and her husband, Robbie, live in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where they attend Big Woods Bible Church and Robbie serves as the Associate Pastor of Campus Ministry. Both Robbie and Macala find great joy in discipling and walking alongside college students at Lock Haven University.