Camila Barbosa

Youth for Christ’s ministry is vibrant and I’m blessed to be a part of it. I found out about Youth for Christ at age 9 at a camp for Christian students. I was a Bible club leader at school and I had leaders who believed and invested in me. Since then I have learned to love this big family.

My love for the Lord and for missions came from living with parents who were in love with the Lord. When I was 14 years old, on an evangelism training, I realized that my faith in Jesus was based on my works for him and not on his sacrifice for me. That day I surrendered my life completely to the Lord, accepting what he had already done on the Cross.

In my early youth, I studied music and ministerial subjects at Instituto Canzion, in Argentina. After returning, I worked for five years in a Foreign Trade Company. At the same time I graduated in International Relations from the Catholic University of Brasilia. Along this journey, I saw the great need missionaries had (and still have) to make their ministries financially sustainable. In 2012 I offered to do fundraising for YFC Brasilia. But it was in 2013 that I understood that the Lord was calling me to work fully with this ministry.

That same year, I was invited to cooperate with fundraising in Brazil. For 8 years, I worked to raise funds, teach the staff to mobilize the personal financial partners and teach the chapters about stewardship as a fundraising principle. In 2014, I was invited to fundraising training in Denver/USA by our area director and I started cooperating with YFC International in Fund Development Ministry.

In the second semester of 2020, Bryan Blomker, director of Fund Development at YFC International, invited me to be the Fund Development Training Manager. In March 2021, I took on that role within YFCI. My job is to plan, develop and evaluate new trainings, as well as the ones that already exist in the Fund Development area. I work to see cultures transformed, nations accessing local resources and workers self-sustaining.

My heart is filled with joy when I receive testimonies like Esther Makuya from YFC in Africa, she attended Growing Generosity training in May 2022: “I felt uncomfortable was when I went to talk to the pastor about donating money to support the YFC program. Once I understood that this is a ministry, I was able to face the pastor and present. With my team I shared and communicated the good news of YFC and they were interested in donating and supporting this ministry. We have communicated with churches, families, friends and some organizations about YFC and presented the projects we are developing […] some of them started donating […] I have learned many things, that generosity is ministry and that we should use our treasures in building the Kingdom of God. This program will be continued and I thank you for this training, it helped me to improve and impacted my life and that of my team”.

I’m Brazilian, married to Marcos Barbosa and we have two daughters, Catarina and Lucy. Marcos has been working for YFC since 2012. He has led the Youth for Christ program in ABC Paulista, participated in the Local Council, implemented the pioneer work of YFC in São Tomé and Príncipe in Africa, exercised school chaplaincy and in the last three years he dedicated himself full time to YFC Surf Camp, managing the camp ministry, the surf project with kids and teenagers and the Surf School.

I would have liked to have told you my trajectory looking into your eyes and sharing a cup of coffee, even if virtually. If you want, we can do that. Feel free to contact me  and I’ll be happy to meet you.