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The following is written by Matt Carter, E4 Project Chairman of the Board
Of Friendship and Ministry
"Dude, you climb?" These were the first words I heard from Eric Schmidt, and they launched a friendship that has endured for over thirty years.
It was the winter of 1987, and we were second-semester college students at a Campus Crusade gathering. I was wearing a tee shirt with a silk-screened picture of rock-climbing gear on the front.
Up to that point in my life, I’d never met anyone as intentional about friendship as Eric. He essentially moved into my life, set up shop, and, through his actions, communicated that he and I would be friends. We climbed together, hiked, camped, and took multiple groups into the local limestone cave called J4, praying before and after each excursion. Whether in a tent or on a trail, our conversations centered most frequently around anything and everything concerning the Kingdom of God. We were each profoundly captured by the stunning mercy we’d been shown through the cross of Jesus Christ. Those conversations became so central to our relationship that we envisioned launching a ministry focusing on outdoor extreme sports as a platform for discipleship.
Fast-forward thirty years. Eric and Brynn have been stewarding E4 Project for some fourteen years, and I’m in my seventeenth year of pastoral ministry. I just returned from an intense two-week trip to Eastern Tanzania, where I taught the Book of Romans to several hundred church leaders with Equipping Leaders International (ELI). One of the teaching partners I worked with in Tanzania was Daniel Mathuva.
Daniel is a pastor and tremendously gifted teacher from Nairobi, Kenya, who serves full-time with ELI in East Africa. I hope you’ve had the privilege of meeting a few folks throughout your life who’ve filled the words ‘kindred spirit’ up with meaning. As I spent time with Daniel, I discovered so much shared DNA. As a visionary, he can look at ministry from 10,000 feet.
"How can ministry move from being in a hand-to-mouth existence to a model of sustainability – something to be passed to the generations that will follow us? How do we equip people, not just with faithful Biblical interpretation, but with the life skills that grow them as agents of change within their culture?"
As Daniel and I conversed throughout the trip, one thought kept pinging: Eric and Brynn Schmidt needed to meet Daniel Mathuva. He understands and communicates the very values that motivate everything that E4 does.
This past week, we held a get-to-know-you Zoom call during which Eric and Brynn met Daniel. The connection was immediate. Can I tell you what I loved most about that call?
After making the initial introductions, I got to sit back and watch Eric and Brynn do what they do so well. Proverbs 20:5 says, "The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out." Eric and Brynn began dropping their buckets into the cool, pure water of Daniel’s heart to draw out what was there. Their buckets came in the form of questions that have grown out of years in ministry.
"Daniel, let us hear you talk about the importance of doing community analysis before launching ministry."
"Daniel, why is it so important that the vision for any ministry be borne out of the community in which the ministry will be stationed? Why is it important that we not import an American idea?"
"Daniel, why do you think Nairobi might serve as a strategic launchpad for what you have in mind?"
"Daniel, let us hear you talk about the importance of relationships built on integrity and mutual trust in ministry."
"How do you feel about accountability?"
"Daniel, what do you think about starting small and building ministry slowly and intentionally?"
As I listened to Eric and Brynn draw out Daniel’s heart’s deep purposes, I was reminded of the Eric I knew thirty years ago when we were college students, the one who was so intentional about our friendship. The questions I was listening to and Daniel's answers reminded me of why Eric and I became fast friends so many years ago and why we’re still good friends today. Within the first five minutes of our conversation with Daniel, our picks and shovels were out; we were going deep. The questions that Eric and Brynn were asking bore the weight that only seasoned Christians with real-life experience in ministry could craft.
If the God to whom we belong is so relational, then it stands to reason that as we do ministry in his name, we do it while abiding in him and maintaining vital relationships with our ministry partners.
The core values have remained the same in the fourteen years that E4 Project has existed. We find ourselves recommitting to those and wanting to become wiser and even more fruitful stewards of the resources and energies that God gives us. What are a few of those core values?
- We do ministry in the context of the vital relationships that God brings to us. This year, there has been a reset for E4. Several of the relationships which have been part of E4 have been pruned away. We’ve learned more about the importance of doubling down in Godly relationships with ongoing and new potential partners like Daniel from those relationships and the pruning process. As we look forward to 2025, we’re committing again to maintaining consistent and intentional movement toward our ministry partners in Pakistan, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and wherever else God leads us as we pray daily and continue to give this ministry to Him to use however He desires.
We’re excited about new and potential ministry partner relationships that have begun this year and look forward to sharing more with you in the months to come as those relationships start to take root.
- We believe that the glory is down low in those invisible places. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. (Matthew 20:26b-28). This principle motivates where we serve. It also informs how we serve.
Where: E4 will continue to minister in places where the Gospel light is yet so dim and where people's lives are difficult. We're intentionally moving toward the disadvantaged as our core verse has always been Jeremiah 22:16, "He defended the cause of the poor and needy, so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? Declares the Lord."
How: We will rejoice in small beginnings aimed at careful, wise, and intentional growth.
- Inspiration for the launch or growth in any ministry area must flow from our partners to us, not vice versa. What is the Holy Spirit doing in their hearts and context, and how can we come alongside to support that lovingly? This principle is critical to ministry growth and sustainability.
As the board of directors at E4 Project continues to repopulate and revise, this is a time of great anticipation and hope. The ministry partners and potential partners that the Lord has brought us into relationships within this last year demonstrate the kind of potential that first excited Eric and Brynn when they launched the ministry in 2010.
Dear ones, thank you for walking along with us during this year of rebuilding through your prayer and your sacrificial giving. For us, it has been a journey that has required tremendous reliance on the Lord for his provision and his leading, and he has proven faithful regarding both.
In the coming months, we look forward to sharing with you in greater detail as we watch the Lord add fruit to the work of our hands here at E4 Project. For now, we wanted to share a short list of what we have been doing in the last year. The ones with links go directly to our cause pages and the areas where we need financial support.
- Thirteen people came to Christ in Gabon through our Family Stabilization Program and partnership with MINE
- Over 400 people, mainly children, were cared for medically in Gabon and heard the Gospel message through MINE
- The life of a very sick child in Gabon was saved who was abandoned and prayed to God that someone would show up to help him. Our partners at MINE found him and took him to the hospital and have walked alongside him the best they can with our financial support
- 40-50 kids cared for through the Nebobongo Hospital Malnutrition Program, DRC each month
- Medicine and mosquito nets were provided to those most in need in Gabon
- Twenty-four goats were distributed to needy women through a new livestock program in partnership with Messiah Ministries in Youngsonabad, Pakistan. We are currently raising funds for phase two (50 more goats)
- 70 youth participated in a career guidance program through Messiah Ministries in Pakistan held at a local Christian church. A second session took place this past weekend.
- Funded a new program with a new partner organization for women’s literacy training in a more remote area of Pakistan for Afghani refugee women.
- Monthly support to Nebobongo Hospital in DRC and the erasing of debt owed by the poorest patients
- Patients repented and gave their lives to Christ at Nebobongo in the last two months, and lives were saved through treatment that many patients cannot afford.
- 15-20 Children with HIV were provided food for several months in Gabon
- Second graduation from a six-month sewing training program in Pakistan. Twenty more women graduated in this second session and will receive machines for work opportunities from home.
- Scholarship funds send to Nebobobongo Hospital for staff training
Joy and Peace be yours in Abundance,
Rev. Matt Carter
E4 Project
Chairman of the Board
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