Some years don’t simply pass — they rearrange you.
We are officially in the final week of the year, and 2025 has been an adventurous journey. This was the year that turned my life upside down, took me to the other side of the world, and challenged me at levels I had never experienced before.
Yesterday, during a long walk by the beach, I found myself praying and remembering my first week of 2025. Back then, I was also on a long walk — this time in Brazil — sharing the road and my thoughts with a dear friend. I was processing the year ahead, standing on the edge of a major decision. I was about to sign a rental agreement to open my counseling clinic, after a season of seriously considering stepping out of ministry.
Behind that decision was a genuine search for purpose. Although I love ministry and consider it both a privilege and a high calling, I was coming out of a long and demanding season of church planting. After serving in three pastoral positions, in three different churches, and being involved in a revival ministry over a seven-year period, I felt empty, tired, and uncertain about my future.
During that walk, my friend gently asked if I had ever considered moving to New Zealand. I had just returned from a three-month English school in Auckland, and there were a few ministry doors that seemed possibly open. As we walked, he shared a revelatory insight — a deep conviction that my next season would be in New Zealand, and that it was not time for me to step out of ministry. Right there, in the middle of a running track, he prayed for me. Then we finished our cardio and went on with our day.
What struck me was how quickly God responded.
The very next day, I received an email inviting me to enter a hiring process for a pastoral position in New Zealand. Three months later, I was flying across the Pacific Ocean to move to Aotearoa. This year has been filled with challenges and adjustments, but overcoming difficulties was not the main story of 2025.
I came to New Zealand to serve as an associate pastor, focusing on intergenerational ministry. There was no mention of music or worship in my job description. Yet, God had already marked a moment in His own timing to revive a worship ministry in my life. It began simply — with a need. A local church lacked musically skilled worship leaders, and I was invited to sing in one service. All of a sudden, I found myself singing again, and soon, on a regular basis.
From the age of thirteen until thirty, worship ministry had been central to my life. I led worship weekly and sang almost every Sunday. I recorded my own music, released an album back in the era of CDs — vintage alert — and even went on a tour, performing at a major festival and events.
Over time, however, disappointment grew within me toward the worship movement in the Charismatic evangelical church. I also realized that breaking into the Christian music industry in Brazil required levels of compromise I was not willing to make. Somewhere along the way, disappointment clouded my vision, and I buried my purpose alongside my musical dreams and gifts.
I never stopped singing. I continued worshipping in prayer meetings, often hosting or attending spaces where singing felt free and sincere. Occasionally, I would lead worship when it was necessary — when you are a musically skilled pastor planting a church, avoiding the worship team roster is almost impossible. Still, what I recognize now is that my passion was gone. A part of my soul felt numb.
Throughout 2025, I sensed God leading me back to the foundations of a worship life. I returned to the book of Psalms in my devotional time, studying God’s revelation while also practicing my English. In the process, I reconnected with the teenage Diego — the one who spent hundreds of hours immersed in the Psalms and studying the life of David.
I intentionally made space to listen to God, allowing Him to confront me — and He did. I had to face disappointment, bitterness, and unbelief. At times, it felt as if the Holy Spirit was injecting a shot of adrenaline into my heart, filling me again with fresh life and drawing me back to the heart of worship.
And He did.
I can testify that during 2025, God revived my inner life of worship — not the visible worship we lead on a stage, but the hidden worship where only God’s gaze matters. A worship life where the most meaningful songs are quietly hummed for an audience of One: the One who created us.
As the year progressed, I also found myself praying non-stop about my ministry. Around November, something became clear in my spirit. God gently brought a verse to my heart:
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).
This verse closes the book of Psalms, yet it has followed me closely over the years. Ten years ago, I developed a documentary and a book in Brazil centered on this passage. God revealed to me then that worship is not confined to music on a Sunday morning, but is found in seizing every breath as an opportunity to glorify Him.
That revelation shaped my theology and formed my heart: worship as a living sacrifice, where ordinary moments matter just as much as moments on a platform or in a sanctuary. God already receives perfect worship in heaven, yet He searches for worshippers — His people living for His glory, His children walking in deep relationship with Him.
And here I was again, hearing something familiar and life-giving from God’s voice:
“This is your message. Preach it. This is your purpose. Live it.”
After years as a worship leader and years in pastoral ministry, I now see how everything connects. My message is the glory of God. My ministry is to shepherd God’s people into a life of dwelling in His presence and to form worshippers. My life’s calling is to see worship revived across the nations.
After God revived my soul, I believe He is now resurrecting my ministry.
I don’t know what 2026 holds, but I finish 2025 with renewed dreams, holy wonder, and fresh plans. I am recording a song I wrote years ago — my first in English — and I recently preached my first sermon filmed in English, called “The Ordinary Worshipper,” which you can watch below.
As you close this year, I invite you to reflect: what does worship look like in your everyday life?
If this message resonates with you, I encourage you to watch the sermon with an open heart and allow God to speak into your own journey.
Thank you for reading my blog in 2025. I wish you a Merry Christmas, filled with the presence of God, and a 2026 where your life is daily drawn into His glory.
With love,
Diego
