During the Haggai Leader Experience, Haggai Leader Marina Thomazi sensed God asking her to make a life-changing decision: Let go of the business she owned.

The business was her primary source of income, and walking away meant facing an uncertain future. Yet Marina trusted that God was greater than her fear.

When she returned to Brazil, she acted on what she believed God had asked her to do. She dissolved the business partnership and trusted him with whatever would come next.

Since then, Marina has had the privilege of watching God establish a new business, one fully aligned with the purpose he placed in her heart. To develop leaders, serve organizations with excellence, and use her work as a platform to advance his Kingdom.

That decision changed more than Marina’s professional life. It reshaped the way she understood ministry and equipped others to share the Gospel wherever God placed them.

As a business owner, Marina integrates biblical principles into her leadership training and presents Jesus as the ultimate model of leadership. She encourages leaders to serve with integrity, purpose, and influence.

Her commitment to holistic witness also extends into her community. As a volunteer with a community social project, Marina helped host an International Women’s Day breakfast for mothers whose children and teenagers participate in the program. Since then, some have started attending church services and joining small groups. They are now bringing their own families to Jesus as well.

Their growing community reflects the picture of the early church in Acts, where believers shared life, cared for one another, and carried the Gospel into their homes and communities.

Marina has seen this ripple effect continue through Haggai’s Equipping to Evangelize Seminar. In a small Brazilian town, she equipped approximately 100 people to share the Gospel, then sent them out in small groups to meet people throughout the community, and through additional seminars, more than 500 people have received the training.

They returned with stories of praying for people who were sick, ministering to those experiencing spiritual oppression, and praying with families. Today, the church continues to welcome people reached through those evangelistic efforts.

What began as a quiet conviction during the Haggai Leader Experience has grown into something Marina could not have planned for herself. Her obedience changed the direction of her work, strengthened her commitment to evangelism, and equipped others to carry the Gospel into their own families and communities.

Sometimes obedience begins with trusting God in a decision that feels bigger than us. As Marina’s story shows, God can use one person’s faithfulness to reach many others. 

written by Leah Spivak