Rev. Dr. José Carlos Pezini - May 2013 Update
Dear Friends,
The month of April was filled with the challenge of balancing the demands of ministry with our personal life as my wife and I sandwiched a move to a new apartment in-between pastoral retreats in different cities. But God was good, and I am excited share with you the impact of these retreats.
We started off the month of April with a three-day retreat with several pastors whom I had been mentoring on a weekly basis through Skype conversations. It was three days of blessing after blessing. Their testimony about that time was thrilling.
One pastor expressed it this way, “To be here it was like half-time at a soccer game. We had been ‘playing hard’ for one-half, and this was our time to take a breath and gear up for the next half.” Another pastor said, “Like a car almost empty of fuel, I was running out of gas. Being at this retreat was like to stopping at the gas station to refill our tank. I am ready to go back and continue my ministry again.” Still another pastor said, “I was facing burn out and thought that I was the only one in the world who was suffering. Here I understood that many others are suffering with the same problem; here I found my place of healing.”
A week later, I traveled to a corner of the state of São Paulo for another retreat with pastors of Presidente Prudente Presbytery. Again it was a three-day rain of blessings. Our venue was a small farm far from the city where we had no internet connection and where we could not use our cell phones. The pastors had three days of intensive training and time for resting. The testimonies I have received from them have encouraged me to continue mentoring them and helping them in their ministries.
Below are two of the testimonies of the participants:
“I would like to thank you for the blessed time we were able to have in the encounter with the pastors of the Presbytery of Presidente Prudente, “Caring for Those Who Care.” Thank you for the way God used you to speak to my heart... More than any specific thing I learned, our time with you gave me possibilities for a total make-over of my ministry.”
“We need to take seriously all that God ministered to us through Pastor Pezini and begin a new chapter in our presbytery, starting with a change on the part of each of the pastors of the presbytery! New winds will blow through here.”
Thank you for your prayers and for your support of this ministry. Having been back in Brazil for over a year, I can look backward and see the good hand of our God guiding us in this return to our homeland.
Blessings,
J.C. Pezini
Curitiba, Brazil
Prayer Requests
Pray for rest and renewal of energy for Pezini during a time of vacation in June.
Minimum Goal for 2014
$8,000 per month for support and ministry funds
Location
Brazil