Portuguese-Language Ministries Coordinator

“We become either agents of God’s healing and liberating grace or carriers of the sickness of the world.”
M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Dear brothers and sisters of The Outreach Foundation,

May God bless you indeed. Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. I would like to express my gratitude to you all. It is a great privilege for me to work with people like you who demonstrate humbleness to serve the Lord in motivating the church of Jesus Christ around the world.

Since I concluded my sabbatical in July, I have been very busy traveling all over, teaching, training, mentoring pastors, and leading pastors’ retreats. God continues to open many doors for our ministry here in Brazil and also in other countries. Pastors are still calling us for help.

The number of mentoring groups continue to grow. We have already scheduled retreats at two new places and there are two more retreats to be scheduled. This means that by the beginning of next year the number of groups will be spread out throughout the country and will reach up to 18 in total. We have already established a group in Orlando in the U.S.A. to care for Portuguese-speaking pastors. We have an invitation from Portugal and Spain as well to start the groups there.

Don Wehmeyer, Antioch Partners missionary serving in Mexico, is coming in early October to participate in one of our retreats in Curitiba. He will come to observe how the retreat is done here in order to establish a mentoring retreat group in Mérida, Mexico.

The master's degree program in Spiritual Formation that we started is going well; we began a new class with twenty students. God has transformed the lives of those who participated in the first cycle. I am affirming this because I have received testimonies from many participants in the first cycle. We continue to work with emphasis on mentoring, caring for those who care, Spiritual Formation, and church revitalization.

We have concentrated efforts on training new mentors and group coordinators in order to continue to grow the ministry and to reach as many pastors as possible. This year we have already seen that a lot of the groups have started to hold their retreats without my presence. I have focused most of my time on training mentors and coordinators for the new groups that are emerging. With this we will become more effective. I also continue consulting about congregational revitalization for various presbyteries in different denominations.

In addition to our main ministry with SARA (Retreat Ministry for Pastors in Brazil), I continue to teach for the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil at their Mission Training Centers in Campinas and in Northeast Brazil. I still help the CTPI (Center for Training Church Planters/Pastors) by speaking in different forums all over the country. This year I received a group of pastors from the U.S.A. including Juan Sarmiento, Outreach’s Associate Director for Mission, and two members of the board, Jerry Deck and Wesley Porto. They participated in the church planting conference in Campinas and visited our partners, seeing what God has done there through the churches in partnership with The Outreach Foundation.

The Great Banquet, a partnership with Zionsville Presbyterian Church that we started last year, is doing well. This year four retreats will be held by the end of September. There are two retreats for women and two for men, and the leadership will be provided by and for lay people. I praise God for his mercy and blessings.

Odete and I would like to thank the Board of Trustees of The Outreach Foundation and especially the staff of The Outreach Foundation. They are people who love God and serve faithfully. I would like to also thank Juan Sarmiento for his friendship. I had the privilege of traveling with him to Mexico and it was a blessing. I have learned a lot from him. I am thankful for Rob Weingartner, his leadership, and our monthly talks as well.

I am glad and thankful for the support and prayers I have received from you all these years. I would also like to thank Outreach board members Wesley Porto and Jerry Deck for coming to Brazil to meet our partners and see what God is doing here through our ministries.

Pezini and Odete,
Portuguese-Language Ministries Coordinator

José Carlos Pezini - September 2018 Update

Portuguese-Language Ministries Coordinator