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Manuel Diaz was recently named the national director of Bible League’s newest Latin America ministry in Chile. Diaz brings academic, pastoral and church planting experience to his new position with Bible League. He is academic director of the National Bible Institute in Santiago, where he has taught and influenced pastors in Chile for eighteen years. Two years ago Diaz, his wife Sandra and his family established a new church, which now has more than eighty members.
His first responsibility as national director of Chile will be opening an office in Santiago. Diaz will soon begin training pastors and church leaders in using the Bible League’s scripture placement programs. There is great need for God’s word in Chile. According to the 2005 census, about twenty percent of Chile’s sixteen million people live in poverty.
“There are about three million evangelical Christians in Chile, and we know of only about 120,000 Bibles going into the country each year,” said Tim DeVries, the Bible League’s vice president of ministry in Latin America. “That’s not even enough for replacement, much less ministry to others or for evangelism. So churches are eager for us to begin ministry there. Please pray with us that the first container of materials will arrive without delay.”
Including Chile, the Bible League has ministry in ten Latin American countries. During 2005 the Bible League provided more than 936,000 Bibles and New Testaments to people who completed Bible studies throughout Latin America. The Bible League also helped local Christian leaders establish 526 new churches.
(This article was edited from a Bible League news release.)