2021 November Newsletter

Loving greetings to you from our entire staff, team, and family in the nations!

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise.  And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who was found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and forever.” (Daniel 12:1-3)

This passage from Daniel speaks of the time we call the “great tribulation.” We thank God that despite many dire warnings of trouble, we have the promise and hope of eternal life. This encourages us to persevere through many trials and temptations. God has appointed a “guard” over His people, even Michael the archangel. Michael is a powerful warrior angel who protects the faithful from the attacks of the enemy, which are designed to destroy us. While we may not escape suffering we shall never be destroyed! In the meantime, we continue with our work as stewards of the mysteries of God. May the Lord grant us more insight so that we may shine brightly like the expanse of heaven, leading many to righteousness.

As we enter the holiday season, here are a few observations and thoughts:

• We have the best staff on the planet! They have worked hard and deserve some time to rest in the off season.
• This year has been a year of progress in the development of our internal systems (communications, audio/visual capabilities, our training application process, property development, accounting, and staff processing).
• The addition of Shawn and Carol Walker to our family has been awesome! They are the best!
• Will and Patti Parks deserve The Keystone Project equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
• Rick Greene took us through the best year ever at the hotel.
• James Greene did an outstanding job with the summer internship.
• I am excited to see the beginning of construction of new intern housing!
• Our international ministry is poised to reach thousands of leaders in the nations. We have sent a team to West Africa, led by David Saldivar, and expect to see the emergence of a powerful network of churches and leaders multiplying many generations of disciples.
• We are also sending a team to Monterrey, Mexico to initiate a new movement in that city and beyond.
• The Keystone Project Training Manual has been translated into French and Spanish and is 33% complete in Portuguese.
• The October 2021 training was blessed and anointed with a number of the students completely transformed. We baptized 13 students!

Prayer 

• Pray for our disciples around the world, especially those living and working in dangerous areas of persecution or where they are affected by the pandemic.
• Pray for the financial success and growth of the hotel and The Keystone Project.
• Pray for the next batch of interns, and that recruitment for them will go well.
• Pray for the trips to West Africa and Mexico.
• Pray for a restful off-season for our staff.
• Finally, our individual and church gifts and offerings are well below what they have been in past years. Please pray that the Lord will raise up new supporters so we can continue to grow and expand in the nations.

Have a wonderful and joy-filled holiday season with your loved ones!

For God’s Glory,

Richard W. Greene
President, The Keystone Project, Inc.

One More Unreached People Group!

By the grace of God our mission in India is growing so that we are able to reach one more people group in Tamil Nadu.

Two months back I went to visit one of our disciples in Vandavasi, and his wife and him have a small “Road Side” Shop where they sell rice cakes and ‘dosa’s. While I was eating there with my family I saw some huts across a pool where a different kind of people were living. The Holy Spirit inspired me to go there and talk to them.

Thus we are connected to this “Irular” people group and started building rapport with them through probing, sharing my stories and helpings. 

Since September (2021) we have been helping them with food, edibles, clothing and educational materials for their children. They are very poor in education, so we are teaching them both Tamil and English.

It is the first time they are hearing the name of Jesus as a redemptive community from Kanchipuram. We travel 40 kilometers every week to meet them and minister to them.

The happiest thing we saw was that they prayed to Jesus for the first time on our last visit. Every weekend we 3 families go to serve them.

In September we started working in this village. In October one of our DMM leaders Mr. Mahendran who lives 500 kilometers away from us was sending me a report saying he had also got connected with a “Irular” family. I was amazed to see how connecting us at the same time to work among the same people group. 

Appreciate your prayers and support to reach these people.

The mission of making disciples is thrilling and thriving when we walk in the Spirit!.

Shanmugan Veeran
Regional Coordinator

A Month of Preparing for the Mission

As Jesus led His disciples on the mission, He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38, NASB). That was our prayer for this past training in the month of October – that God would bring the right students to this training, equip them for the work of the harvest, and send them out to the unreached people groups in their nations. Over the course of that month, God accomplished that transformational work in these students, as they received the vision and passion they need to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Many of these students responded wholeheartedly to the call of the Great Commission and committed their lives to reaching the unreached with the gospel of the kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we prayed for the right students to attend, we eventually had 39 total (14 male / 25 female) attend this October Training – which was our first month-long, international training in two years! This group included 10 returning students who had attended a previous training, along with 29 new students. The majority of these students were from different parts of the US, including Minnesota, South Dakota, Arizona, Iowa, California, Texas, and Tennessee; however, in spite of all the challenges posed by international travel over the last two years, we also had 16 students join us from overseas, including 7 Spanish-speakers! These international students traveled all the way to Keystone, SD, from a variety of nations, including 1 from Sri Lanka, 1 from New Zealand, 6 from Kenya, 1 from Ghana, 2 from Guatemala, 1 from Ecuador, and 4 from Costa Rica. In addition to all the students who traveled here, we worked with an outstanding team of coaches and volunteers who traveled here from a variety of regions as well. We had 7 volunteer coaches, including 1 from Peru, who set aside that month to pour into their students and walk through the training with them; we also had 13 more volunteers, including a team of 6 from Guam, who worked diligently at this training and helped with the cooking, serving, cleaning, driving, and other areas. We are extremely grateful to the Lord and to our staff, coaches, and volunteers who helped make this training possible. 

The training ended with a graduation ceremony, followed by a baptism service for 13 students who wanted to demonstrate their rededication to following Jesus on the mission. As part of the graduation, all the students shared communion together and had their feet washed by their coaches, just as Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in preparation for their mission. This served as a profound conclusion to a month of preparing these students for that same mission. Please pray for them, that they would not waver from the mission of making disciples but stay focused on the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would continue working in them to bear fruit and multiply workers for His harvest. “Just as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’” (Romans 10:15, NASB)

Dustin Stuckey
Training Coordinator