Descubra a Igreja Brasileira Central Florida

Reaching for the Stars

“God has placed His servants in all secular professions, including astronomy.” Amateur astronomer and Haggai Institute alumnus Eduardo Baldaci de Lima from Brazil, seizes every opportunity to use astronomy to bring people closer to God.

He is one of the only four Brazilians recognised by NASA. Further, as one who studies stars, planets and space on a daily basis, astronomer Eduardo Baldaci de Lima describes the training he received at Haggai Institute in the vocabulary close to his heart: “To me, the Haggai Institute training has been like a powerful observatory instrument.” An observatory is a structure containing telescopes and other instruments for observing celestial objects and phenomena. Eduardo goes on to say that H.I. was placed strategically in his life “to allow me to see the eternal sign of God’s grace in the limitless sky of His Will, well above the clouds that sometimes appear like an interruption to blur optical clarity of divine reality.”

Eduardo Baldaci de Lima (Haggai Institute graduate, 2006) first stepped into Cuiabá, capital of Mato Grosso state, in 2005, to plant a church. It was then that he got involved with the Haggai Institute ministry, through local seminars. He pinpoints that it was “from then on that Haggai Institute’s guiding principles have strongly influenced my life, work and ministry.”

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Baldaci is a Baptist pastor and also an amateur astronomer and a public ombudsman of Mato Grosso in the state’s education department.

Way back in 2005, prior to his teaming up with Haggai Institute, he had believed that his role as a church planter should be limited to that of a traditional pastor who confined himself basically to discipleship. Though discipleship continues to be his chief passion, through experiences and years of ministry, he has also grasped the fact that he could be a self-sustaining tent-maker and use his knowledge of Astronomy to talk about God in places which would not normally be open to a traditional pastor.

He left H.I. with a broader understanding of the hope to which he had been called: “God wants to use me in totality for the extension of His Kingdom; not just my spiritual dimension but also my abilities and capabilities with which He Himself has gifted me. God has placed His servants in all secular professions, including astronomy.”

FIRST OF ALL, SERVANT OF GOD

Baldaci’s professional involvement has given him a wide range of influence as well as enabled him to put together an impressive network of relationships. He founded and continues to lead the movement of political awareness about the vital necessity of building the first observatory planetarium in Mato Grosso. Wherever he goes, he is not a bit bashful about introducing himself as a pastor and servant of God, after which he makes full use of the opportunity to share the Gospel by presenting the telescope as just another tool to get closer to God; he makes other astronomers look anew into the depths of the universe God created to see the beauty that He conceives and places before us every night to show us His glory.

The Haggai Institute training has empowered Eduardo Baldaci de Lima to utilize every open door as an opporunity to evangelize. Today, he is invited to fight violence in schools, which he does, but he also mediates and promotes understanding for the betterment of the state ombudsman network, having already received a commendation as the “Best State Ombudsman”. Hectic though it is, he accepts several invitations to lecture on Astronomy in schools around the state. All these opportunities give Baldaci a unique opportunity to share the Gospel and expand his network to promote what God brought him to do in the first place: plant a church of Jesus Christ.

FAVORITE SEMINAR MEMORY

One of his favorite “seminar related” memories is the fact that during his month at H.I.’s Mid-Pacific Center, he was able to visit the Haleakala Summit and go up to the front doors of the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Observatory, a super computer built strategically above the clouds to enable scientists to visualize the stars 365 days per year.

Some people find a conflict between the bible and modern science. This Haggai Institute alumnus fails to see the disconnect: “The Bible states that God created the universe; I believe science is discovering the way God accomplished this creation. I find that observing the wonders of the universe helps me get closer to Him. I can see with my own eyes the beautiful wonders of the universe.” He looks forward to seeing a Quasar that is about 2.6 billion light years away; and sensing light that has been on its way here for almost 3 billion years.

“I really find God and His works simply amazing,” says Baldaci with unconcealed awe.