Three Years Later
The Lord continues to work among the nations
Last week, biblical counseling leaders from various nations gathered at Mount Hermon for the Biblical Counseling Coalition Global Summit.
For five days, I was able to learn from leaders and pastors from South Africa, India, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Jordan, Australia, and New Zealand. And that’s just to mention those with whom I interacted. Many of them even preached in the plenary sessions. Their different accents demonstrated the redemption of the nations.
It was truly one of the most encouraging gatherings I’ve ever participated. It felt more like a retreat than a conference. There were many conversations, all very stimulating and full of testimonies of what God has been doing through the gospel around the world in the area of care.
Not only was the place beautiful, but the testimonies of what the Lord is doing around the world were refreshing to my soul. I hope the stories of our ministry in Brazil can also be an encouragement to you.
As part of our gathering, Sacha Mendes and I wrote a SWOT analysis document with our perspective on the current state of biblical counseling in Brazil. You can read our report for Brazil at this link.
As you can see in the picture below, we have a young generation of biblical counseling leaders emerging in Brazil. I was very happy to see Eduardo Ross (third, left to right) participating in the summit. He was once my student for two years at Word of Life and graduated last December.
As I was flying back to Brazil, I realized it has now been 3 years since we returned to Brazil for full-time ministry.
I then tried to consider how many lives the Lord has allowed us to “touch” with his message. And so, I write this newsletter not as a way to boast on our own good works, but as evidence of our gratitude for God’s work among us here in Brazil. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:4).
Training Students
My first thought could be no other than to consider my Word of Life students.
In the past three years, I’ve had almost 500 students enrolled for at least one of my courses, and that’s only at Word of Life.
If I were to consider other seminaries, I teach modular and online courses, my guess would be over 1000.
In the pictures below, you can see some recent examples.
Equipping Churches
My other consideration was how many churches we have had direct involvement with to help them envision a biblical counseling ministry or train biblical counselors.
If memory does not fail me, we have actively helped 15 churches (and counting) to move in this direction.
In October, for example, I was invited for a Friday-Saturday training in a Baptist church in Goiás state, at the heart of Brazil's inland and close to our DC.
Another example was the Lidere Conference at Word of Life. We invited church leaders working with younger generations to discuss how they can better care for them with the gospel. We had representatives of tens of churches in our region.
Serving Our Local Church
One of the biggest blessings in these three years of ministry in Brazil has been our local church: Revive Baptist Church.
Revive, in Portuguese, means “to live again.” It points to our new life in Christ. This new life in Christ, lived with the very life of Christ in us, is our hope of glory. And so we care for people as we proclaim him (Col 1:28).
Preparations are almost done for the launching of our biblical counseling ministry, the Village of the Soul (“Vila da Alma”). We, as a local church, want to offer organized, intentional, gospel-centered care for those in our congregation and around our community.
Please be praying for that. Next year will be of intensive biblical counseling training with our new team of counselors and small group leaders.
Thank God With Us
The last thing I want is for this newsletter to be received as a form of proudful self-patting on the back.
Each and every ministry opportunity we’ve had in the past three years is evidence of God’s grace. He is at work. All around the World. We are so thankful to be his instruments. And we must count the blessings.
So, after 3 years of ministry in Brazil, and as 2025 comes to a close, I invite you to pray with us in thanksgiving for all these ministry blessings.
Yes, you can continue to pray for Bella’s health, for our faithful parenting, for wisdom in strategic ministry decisions, and for our support and provision. But no special requests this time.
But I do want to emphatically ask you to pray in thanksgiving to God for all he has done here in Brazil in the past 3 years. For all he is doing. For all he will certainly do.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Your Gospel Partnership
Thank you to all who are praying for us and supporting our ministry.
Your partnership in the gospel is essential to our work and a source of great encouragement.
Our hands here in Brazil do the work of your extended arms.
Your partners in the gospel,
The Leites
Download the Leites’ Mission Plan to learn more about them and their ministry.
Listen to an interview produced by the Biblical Counseling Coalition in which Lucas shares his testimony and ministry vision for Brazil.
Click here if you would like to donate in support of the Leites’ ministry in Brazil.
Thank you for sharing this good news! It’s inspiring to see how God is working around the world. Praying for you, your family and your ministry.