2020 August Newsletter

Greetings from Keystone, South Dakota, USA!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle” (Psalm 103:1-5).

This was a summer of renewal! As we entered the COVID-laced tourist season, we faced a severe shortage of staff and finances. We considered a number of options, but instead, chose to believe that the Lord would once again prevail and bless us. Indeed, He has. We have been busy all through the summer and have seen lives touched and transformed. At one point, we had so many donations of food that we had to invoke Exodus 36:3-7!

The Keystone Project just completed a five-day training for US leaders over August 17-21, 2020—our first on-site training in over five months. When we postponed this training from its original dates in May, we were only expecting about 30 students; however, we ended up with 63 students and even had to refer some applicants to the October Training instead. We instituted several COVID-19 protocols to help protect everyone, and we were able to successfully practice safe-distancing and the strategic use of face masks. We are blessed with a large enough facility to place some students in overflow classrooms, which allowed us to seat students as far apart as possible. The Lord moved powerfully in our midst as many of the students underwent a paradigm shift in their vision. Two of the leaders were baptized, and many of them have expressed a strong desire to return in October. All of this is the result of your prayers, financial support, and God’s grace.

I am also very excited about a new development that has historic potential. We received from Pastor Joe Cross some critical and strategic documents that will enable us to identify sacred sites in the Black Hills, allowing our Native brothers and sisters to engage in strategic spiritual warfare to redeem the land of the area. In our training, we teach leaders that we must redeem not only the people but also the land; if we fail to redeem the land, the people will continue to suffer under sin, sickness, and poverty. Please pray fervently for us as our intercessory prayer team meets to research these sites and provide our Lakota warrior colleagues key information needed to rid the land of its many curses, setting the captives free! Jesus reigns!

Again, thank you so much for all of your prayers, support, and love. Many of you have encouraged us through some very difficult times. We love you all, in Jesus’ name!

Richard Greene

President, The Keystone Project

Our Keystone Project Online Academy by David Saldivar

Greetings from Texas! 

We are excited to announce that in the upcoming weeks we’ll have our first two modules available in our Keystone Project Online Academy. We are usually restrained by the limitations of international travel and multiple layers of busy local schedules. Not anymore! The Online Academy makes our training available to all disciples and nations. Online courses are revolutionizing ministry and are opening a new opportunity to take our training on fulfilling the Great Commission to the ends of the world. 

The Keystone Project Online Academy is a six-month program, organized in four modules. Each module builds upon the other in a systematic and prophetic way. It delivers a series of modules and lessons designed to equip disciples and the Body of Christ to launch disciple-making movements in the nations. Our unique teaching model includes coaching support for our online students and regional training opportunities within our network. It is a resource for our coaches and network around the world to use with their disciples and key movement leaders. 

As we train and coach our students through this platform, we are looking for Christians who want to be missionaries and leaders who want to equip their followers to be missionaries; we are looking for students who are willing to reach outside the comfort and security of their churches and lay down their lives for the unreached. Stay tuned as we will be opening enrollment the second week of September. Please visit our Facebook page and website for updates on this exciting project. 

David Saldivar 

Director of Operations, The Keystone Project

India Missions Update by Shanmugam Veeran 

Greetings in Jesus Name!

Fruits of the Mission – We have three new families believing in Jesus, two adults are going to be baptized, and one new Redemptive Community is formed:

In the last three months, we have been sharing the Gospel with many families in eight villages in spite of Covid-19 and complete lockdown here. By the Spirit of God, we got connected with three families who are believing now, and we are going to baptize two people (Silambarasan and Gayathri) soon. We are preparing for that by constructing a water tank for baptism.

SANGEETHA has launched a new movement at Kaarai Village:

Sangeetha is my 2^nd generation disciple, a female nurse who is working in a private hospital. She has been faithful to all our teachings and has been walking by the Spirit; she has also launched a movement by multiplying disciples up to the 4^th generation. She shares the Gospel in her village, in her workplace, and wherever God leads her. She is not yet married. Please pray that God would bring her bridegroom in His time. 

My Family is growing! My whole family was sick last month (July 2020) due to the widespread cold and fever here, but all of us are now recovered from that. My wife Shanthi is 12 weeks pregnant, and I am taking good care of her. Her case is a little critical due to high blood pressure and diabetes, which troubles her a lot. It is our 6^th baby, which is very rare in India because the government wants to reduce the population; so they don’t allow us to have more children.

Family planning is compulsory by the government after the 2nd baby in my state—Tamil Nadu. But we are fighting against that; I want to bring forth as many children as possible and make disciples of each one that God brings to us.

We appreciate your continued prayers.

Let us together reach the unreached by discipling all nations (people groups)!

October Training Update by Dustin Stuckey

After a long pause in our training calendar this year, we were very grateful for the opportunity to conduct a weeklong training recently with students and leaders from across the US. However, as we have monitored the global situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have realized that, unfortunately, the situation for international travelers has not improved like we had hoped it would—especially as we quickly approach the international training in October. Many nations are still under a travel ban to the US; some US embassies are closed in certain countries; other countries have closed their international airports; and many travelers are postponing their trips until a later date. While we would normally expect to have a large percentage of our class already confirmed by this point, we have only had a few applicants who were able to purchase airfare so far. For this reason, we are changing the starting date of the training and shortening it to a two-week training, so that more local students in the US will be able to attend. The new dates of this training are October 19-30, 2020. For those who would still prefer to attend the full month-long program, our Spring Training next year is still open to local and international attendees; those dates are scheduled for March 22 – April 16, 2021.

The October Training is still open to international students who are able to secure their visa and airfare; however, the shorter date is intended to make this training more accessible to students who cannot stay for a full month. From our weeklong training in August, we have already had twenty of those students express interest in returning for the two weeks in October. If you are interested in attending this training as well, you can fill out the application on the Training Events page of our website; whether you are coming locally within the US or planning an international trip, we’ll be happy to assist you and look forward to having you join us.