Carlos Said Pires has a dream. Since graduating from university with a degree in Business Administration in 2009, Carlos has thrown his energies into a new national effort—the National Union of Christian Students (NUCS). The vision of NUCS is Christians serving as opinion leaders in society, well grounded in Christian principles and prepared to lead the transformation of a nation. To achieve this goal, NUCS works with youth in four arenas: sports, arts, politics, social assistance.
Carlos believes it’s time for those who know the truth and believe the Bible to tell people that the problems of the world have one solution: Jesus Christ.
Sports is one natural venue for transforming society. NUCS leaders believe Christian students will respond to leadership training built around sports, and some early results confirm that hunch.
“Two months ago,” Carlos reflects, “we had our first championship soccer match of Christian schools here in Belo Horizonte. Almost 200 students in 20 teams played 45 games.”
Within four years of this first-ever national gathering of Christian athletes, Carlos expects to build a national training program to teach players what the Bible says about sports, equipping them to serve as influencers in every domain of the society. The next tournament is scheduled for September.
Carlos credits DNA’s influence in his life. When Darrow Miller taught in Sao Paulo two years ago, Carlos attended. Darrow’s material on the importance of worldview issues gripped him.
“DNA materials are the basis of our association,” Carlos notes. “[For] every training program … we are building our curriculum on DNA materials: Discipling Nations, LifeWork, The Seed in the Forest …” among others.
Another goal of NUCS is building a Christian perspective on politics and encouraging appropriate engagement in political activity. This includes developing a curriculum including political studies, social realities and citizen involvement in serving the poor and other underserved communities.
Carlos envisions every member “using their profession to develop the quality of life of the people. For example: a nutritionist helping the people use their own resources to make healthy food. Eventually our goal is to train 20,000 children, including those in poor regions here in Brazil.”
Funding for NUCS will include events, memberships and sponsors for all four fronts—Arts, Social Assistance, Sports and Politics.
Carlos represented Brazil at the 4-14 Window Global Summit in New York, September 2-5. This gathering was “to bring together some 500 Christian leaders from 100 nations who are called to mobilize the global body of Christ to reach, equip and empower the 4-14 Generation to transform their communities and nations.”
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Way to go Carlos! I’m excited for what God is doing. Keep up the good work. Using youth to touch the world is a “God Thing”! So happy we got to meet you this summer in Arizona.