At 7:30 p.m., Monday March 29, the Paz Church in Santarém celebrated a new move of God.

Last night was historic for the Paz church in Santarém. We celebrated the laying of the cornerstone for the new church which will hold more than 10,000 people. This has been a church project in the making for a long time, and it was very emotional to see construction finally begin.

The Paz Church in Santarém was planted nearly 30 years ago by PAZ missionaries Luke and Abe Huber. Now pastored and directed by Brazilians, the Paz Church in Santarém has 45 Sunday services at different around the city. With over 5,000 home churches (cell groups) led by leaders in the church, there are an estimated 40,000 plus in attendance. Many services are so full that people are turned away because there is no more room, and these are the people most needing to hear the message of hope in Jesus Christ. They’ve added as many different screens, locations and venues as possible, but now, to fulfill the their vision of 120,000 disciples, a larger building is desperately needed.

Many years of preparation and planning culminated last night when a great celebration was held on the very land where the building will be constructed. A stage was donated to use for the event and was set up at the back of the lot. A huge crowd turned out to praise and worship our Lord for all the amazing things He’s done in Santarém, what He’s doing and what He will do. Thousands upon thousands crowded onto the church’s lot and passionately worshipped the Lord.

Pastor/Missionary Abe Huber spoke about how far the church has come, from its super small beginning to where it is today.

Pastor Abe Huber shared a powerful message about how the Lord is preparing His true temple — each and every believer that makes up His Church — to be the Church that will win and disciple the nations. This building is important because each and every person represents a soul of eternal worth to God — a soul that has been made with the purpose of being a temple of the Holy Spirit.

After the sermon, the cornerstone was brought out to be consecrated. Paz pastors — who have invested their lives for the Kingdom of God — spoke and prayed. Tears were shed over how much grace God has poured out over the Amazon in just the past 30 years. It was a powerful, prophetic moment as the whole project was put before the Lord — the next step to winning and discipling the people of the Amazon Basin!

The atmosphere was electric as the pastors descended into the middle of the crowd to lay the cornerstone. God’s presence could be felt as in tears the cornerstone was laid and the Church sang “God of this City.” Great things have happened, and greater things are yet to come, as an entire city is not only coming to the Lord, but producing a new generation of leaders to take the Kingdom of God to all of the Amazon, Brazil and yes — the world.

Slideshow

Click the first picture to enter slideshow mode to see these great pictures full-size. Then use your arrow keys to advance the show.

A special thanks to Micah Gregory for these great pictures. To see even more great pictures from this event, visit PAZ’s facebook page.

With thousands of new leaders being won and trained, your partnership with us is even more vital than ever. Having started these churches, Project AmaZon now supports our churches and their church-planting efforts. It takes large churches like the church in Santarém to support a huge church-planting effort to the rural and unreached parts of Brazil all around them. We have planted several bases across the Amazon and our vision is to equip our churches to win and disciple new leaders who will do the same. With thousands of new leaders being raised up to reach the rest of the Amazon, are you ready to join with us to equip these men and women of God and send them to the lost?! As you can see, our churches and the leaders they produce are having a huge impact. There are many practical ways you can get involved and help the Gospel go to unreached.

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