2022 November Newsletter

Greetings from The Keystone Project and All Our Disciples in the Nations!

“NOW ABRAHAM WAS OLD, ADVANCED IN AGE; AND THE LORD HAD BLESSED ABRAHAM IN EVERY WAY.” (Genesis 24:1)

An extensive study done in 2018 by the New England Journal of Medicine found that the most productive time in human life is between 60-70 years of age. The second most productive stage is from 70 to 80 years of age. The third most productive stage is from 50 to 60 years of age. The average age of Nobel prize winners is 62 years old. The average age of presidents of prominent companies in the world is 63. The average age of the pastors of the 100 largest churches in the USA is 71. These statistics indicate that the best and potentially most fruitful years of your life are between 60 to 80 years old. This should be good and challenging news to many of us who are in the above age categories.

Many years ago, I listened to an elderly ministry colleague addressing the seniors’ group at his church. He reminded his audience that most of them were relatively healthy, financially secure, and retired from full-time work. They had a lifetime of varied experiences, talents, and abilities. He challenged them to become more involved in the work of the Lord and move beyond simply attending church. He listed a number of missional opportunities they could easily become engaged in, such as visiting unreached neighbors, volunteering in various social assistance ministries, discipling younger members of the church, and prayer walking.

In Genesis 24:1, Abraham was 140 years old, but he was not yet finished. After the death of Sarah and after sending his servant to find a bride for Isaac, Abraham remarried and had 6 more sons and lived to be 175! 

I think of our aging Christian population and see an army of warriors who could be mobilized as a powerful evangelistic force to finish the work of the Great Commission. I urge my fellow saints, no matter what your age may be, to not sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to reach the lost. We all sense the end is drawing near, and we must not coast to the finish but be filled with a sense of urgency that will compel us to make Christ known to those who do not know Him. We need you – young and old – to join us in the greatest harvest of souls in the history of the world. Work for the Lord for as long as you are able. If you cannot work, you can pray, you can encourage, you can love. May we all finish well, in Jesus’ name!

Updates

• Wow! Let me say that backwards, “Wow!” This October training was beyond all our expectations and hopes. We had 65 students from 16 different countries. The Lord moved in a powerful way. Many of the students were pastors and ministry leaders and were transformed in a paradigm-shifting way. Twenty-two students were baptized. Our coaches took the students out on mission four times, praying for over 300 people on the streets and leading 120 of them to Christ. I thank the Lord for all our staff, coaches, and precious volunteers, without whom we could not do this training. I also thank the Lord for your faithful financial support. As you know, we do not charge anything for our training, and we do not take up any offerings. The students stay in the hotel at no charge, and we joyfully feed them all their meals at our own expense. Freely we have received, and freely we give. While there is no cost for our students, the estimated cost for us is around $35,000, so we appreciate any support you can give towards the training ministry. Though our support levels have dropped, we are still seeing God’s hand of provision and blessing upon us. I want to encourage you to help us. Even a small donation of ten dollars a month will move us forward in completing the mission God has given to us to make disciples of all the nations. You can easily give online through our website, www.keystoneproject.org, or by sending a check to The Keystone Project, Inc., P.O. Box 473, Rapid City, SD 57709.

• We continue to volunteer with Feeding South Dakota by distributing food to the residents of the town. This is something we truly enjoy as we meet the great people of Keystone.

• We will be in Tampa, FL, in February to do a Vision-Casting Training.

• We will also be in Benin, West Africa, to conduct a training program and visit some unreached villages from January 18-February 2.

• From February 20-24, we will hold a five-day training for US and Canadian pastors and leaders in Keystone, SD.

• Our next international training will take place from March 13-31 here in Keystone, SD, and will be translated into Spanish and French.

• We will do a two-week training from April 17-28 also here in Keystone, SD.

• Our summer intern discipleship program will be from May 10-August 15.

• Please pray as we will be in Southeast Asia (India and Nepal) from August 22-September 12.

• From October 2-27, we will conduct an International Leaders Training program here in Keystone, SD. It will be translated into Spanish and French.

• You can also apply to attend any of these training programs on our website.

• We are sending a team to Peru and Ecuador in November. Please ask the Lord for His timing, provision, protection, and anointing.

For God’s Glory,

Richard Greene,
President, The Keystone Project, Inc.

Africa Missions Trip Report

A few weeks ago, I returned from my trip to Africa. In this article, I might mention some things I already shared with you in my previous reports, but I just want to present a final report to you in this one. I saw God awakening His Church to embrace a kingdom vision to multiply His glory in the nations. I had the privilege of visiting four countries and held four Vision-Casting Trainings with the attendance of more than 500 pastors and leaders. God opened doors, led us to the mission, strengthened the disciples and churches everywhere we went, and showed up with signs and wonders as He always does. The level of response from the leadership was off the charts. I witnessed how God prepared them to receive the vision of multiplying His Glory in the nations through disciple-making movements. As mentioned before, they are eager to continue to receive further training from us. As part of my missions trip, I ended up preaching in two crusades where more than 400 people committed their lives to Christ. It is always a privilege to preach the Gospel and to see people responding to the word of the Kingdom. We received numerous reports of healings and God-moments from the attendees.

I also met with senior leaders from four African federations to discuss our training materials and opportunities. A federation in Africa is typically a fellowship/network of churches and evangelical denominations that work together to extend the Kingdom of God in a designated area. It is challenging to determine how many churches belong to those federations, but the number is high. The federation in Ghana comprises more than 200 evangelical denominations, and the one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has more than 80 evangelical-protestant denominations. Both are on board to receive our training. We are exploring ways to make that happen.

Another part of my trip was to follow-up with our alumni. It is always refreshing to visit Keystone Project alumni and to see the lasting effects of our training in their lives and ministries. Overall, our trip was a home run for the Kingdom. I’m forever grateful to belong to a ministry making a global impact and continually multiplying the vision for others to run with it. Don’t second guess your desire to support this mission. We need all the financial help we can get to continue doing missions trips like this one. May the Lord bless you and keep you and use you mightily for His glory. In Jesus’s name, amen.

 

David Saldivar,
Director of Global Operations

Keeping the Momentum Going!

All year, God has been leading us to expect the impossible! It has made our prayers bigger and our faith stronger! God has answered our prayers! During the recently completed October International Leaders Training, we were sensing something entirely different and fresh. We came to realize that this training was a continuation of a momentum that had been building all year! From the start, we recognized that God was bringing in leaders from many different nations in numbers we have not seen since the pandemic. Our Keystone Project coaches and volunteers were detecting in the Spirit that God was going to show up in a big way! God once again has proven that He is on the mission!

During our first missional activity, many of the teams went to strategic areas around South Dakota by the leading of the Holy Spirit. That first week, many people were saved and prayed for, and strongholds were broken in key areas. Some of our teams went into areas where no missional team had ever gone before, which have traditionally been areas where the Gospel was not welcome. The reports from that first week were incredible! That is when many of us realized there was something special about this class and what God was doing. Over the subsequent weeks, the energy continued to build, and the testimonies from the students reflected powerful revelations from God! By the end of the training, over 120 people professed salvation, and over 400 received prayer! Following the training, we received several additional reports from students already bearing fruit on the mission!

Now, often as the year progresses and we hit November, we are either planning for a mission trip somewhere or preparing for a few months “off.” Everyone works hard all year, and we welcome the break to refresh and prepare for the coming year. However, God had other plans this time. When the training ended in October, many of us received a call from the Lord to go back into Rapid City and help start disciple-making movements with those God had chosen. Furthermore, we had made a promise to the class that we would follow up with those who had professed faith in Christ during the missional activities. So that is what we did. We met with a small group of disciples who had just completed the training to pray and seek the Lord. Well, God was already working. At the first meeting, it was apparent that this small group of disciples had stayed on the mission from the moment the training ended! They had already made one disciple and were in the planning stages of making more! Wow!

As a coaching team from The Keystone Project, we are coming alongside this Redemptive Community to encourage them, pray, focus the vision, and support the movement in whatever capacity we are able. Please pray for us and these movements that are starting! Matthew 16:18 states, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The momentum is continuing. God is on the mission, and nothing will stop His move!

Shawn Walker,
Director of Operations