I can officially report that we have opened the legal entity and the bank account for the Project Soli Deo Gloria in Brazil! The amount of paperwork, loops and governmental regulations have been a tremendous challenge. God gave us many opportunities to grow in humility and dependence as well as sustaining us with hope along the journey.
The scheduling for 2021 is underway. The local church in Aldeia is uniting with the Project to provide a yearlong course in Biblical counseling. Lord willing, the course will start in March and finish the last week of October. Planting this course in the local church has been an aspiration for many years.
The “future men” retreats are thriving and we have also started a Titus 2 women’s retreat for the local churches in the region. Leah, along with other mature women, were able to speak and encourage many younger ladies from the region. The father and son time has been a welcome outlet, especially for those who were in lockdown for so many months, for training the next generation of young Christian men. The Project plans to provide a “Carnival camp” during Carnival as an alternative to the pagan holiday in Brazil. The theme is “A Biblical Worldview applied,” and several people from the North and Northeast have already signed up. Please pray as we have one more month of planning and work before the camp starts in the middle of February.
Financing a project like this, just as missions, is always a step of faith. It is remarkable to see how God provides! We have experienced this as a family with our supporters over the years. Recently, a man who has a business in Brazil visited us. He saw the vision, situation, progress and direction and wanted to be a part of it. This young man believes that those whom God has blessed financially have a great responsibility before God and he wants to invest in the Project. God’s Word says, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). We need funds to get buildings renovated and make this a safe place for visitors, so we take this as an answer to prayer and as a way to extend the ministry. In 2021, by God’s grace, we will add a structure to the land and use it as a training center for technology and theology. We will select 24 Christian undergraduates from around the nation of Brazil. Many will come from underprivileged families. They will be given concentrated training in technology and receive a year of deep discipleship. The hope is that some of these young men could become tent-maker missionaries. Others will be equipped to provide for their own future families and be responsible members of their local church. We see this as a superb educational opportunity for the strengthening of the local church and the advancement of the gospel in Brazil and beyond!
This is an immense trust and privilege that God has given the Project. Please pray that others, even from Brazil, would partner with us to maximize this ministry for the gospel, strengthening and encouraging the local church, training men for the ministry, supporting Christian education and fighting for a Biblical worldview to be applied to all areas of thought and life.
We would love to see a team from your local church come and visit. Please let us know if you could partner with us. Please pray that we can find a special technology professor as well as a native pastor who could disciple these young men, as we will continue on with the other responsibilities that God has placed before us. May the Lord bless and keep each one in 2021.
